# Review of Using Google App Engine by Charles Severance

DevFeed: [Review of Using Google App Engine by Charles Severance](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/new-app-engine-book-38882.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<http://neopythonic.blogspot.com/2009/06/new-app-engine-book.html>)

Author: Guido van Rossum (noreply@blogger.com)

Published: 2009-06-15T16:20:00Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Guido van Rossum](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/guido-van-rossum.md>)

Topics: [Web Development](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/web-development.md>), [Programming](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/programming.md>), [Python](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/python.md>), [JavaScript](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/javascript.md>), [CSS](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/css.md>), [HTML](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/html.md>), [Caching](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/caching.md>), [Ajax](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ajax.md>)

Tags: [ajax](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ajax.md>), [appengine](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/appengine.md>), [book](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/book.md>), [book-review](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/book-review.md>), [caching](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/caching.md>), [css](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/css.md>), [google](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/google.md>), [html](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/html.md>), [javascript](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/javascript.md>), [python](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/python.md>), [web](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/web.md>)

## AI overview

A review of Charles Severance's book Using Google App Engine, describing it as an introductory resource for web programming and App Engine. The book covers enough HTML, CSS, Python, and JavaScript to help beginners create dynamic websites, including datastore models, forms, simple AJAX patterns, caching, and debugging, while directing readers to other resources for deeper study.

## Source excerpt

At Google I/O I received a copy of Using Google App Engine by Charles Severance, published by O'Reilly. I haven't kept track, but this appears one of the first App Engine books to actually hit the stores -- an Amazon search for App Engine showed up one other book (Developing with Google App Engine by Eugene Ciara, published by APress) and many titles available for pre-order (including additional titles from the same publishers). Severance's book is a quick read if you're already familiar with the basic premises of web programming. I think it would do well in an introductory course about the topic. (The author teaches at the University of Michigan so this is likely how he developed the material in the first place.) In fact, quite a bit of the book could well have come from a pre-existing earlier course: the chapters on HTML, CSS, Python and JavaScript barely mention App Engine. Don't get me wrong, I think that's a good approach: in my experience quite a few App Engine users are new to web programming in general, or could at least use a refresher course. If you don't fall in this category, don't feel offended: you just probably aren't the intended audience for this book. On the other hand, if you've developed for the web but haven't used Python before, you could probably just skip the HTML/CSS chapter and dive right into Python and App Engine. If you're a blank sheet where it comes to programming, don't expect to come out an experienced Python developer: the book only covers enough of the language so you can get started with App Engine without feeling you're just copying and pasting text. The same is actually true for any topic covered -- in many cases the book actually recommends that you study a topic more in-depth using other resources. But in each case the book's coverage is enough to get you started with the creation of dynamic web sites, and that's the important part. After all, you didn't learn your mother tongue by studying the rules of grammar either: you lea