Black Hat Python: Python Programming for Hackers and Pentesters 1st Edition

Some really, fundamentally good python in this book. It's about really thinking out of the box with python, and as a learning tool, it's fun, as a reference, it's on my shelf. The author knows his OSINT really well, and this is a part of the field, so it is also valuable for those in the field, and those who are curious about the dynamics of network programming, not a "how to commit a felony" book. Sure, an evil guy could make a payload, but really?The book was a great learning tool and a lot of fun in exploring python and security issues in general.

Going to give this book 5 stars because the author does an excellent job of explaining Python in an informal way. Easily taking someone from a beginner level to a more advanced level. However I must add that in Chapter 1, it was nowhere near as easy to set up WingIDE as he explained. Now to be fair I was installing on Kali 2.0, but I downloaded the newest versions as well as the exact versions that were in the book. Still with no success. Yes I also tried the dependency command that was given as well as hours of Linux "dependency" posts. The program looks great so I still try to correct the dependency issue from time to time but initially I just gave up and continued with the book. Do not let this deter you. If you are interested in Python development or learning it for pen-testing purposes, then this book should be on your bookshelf.

I use this as a supplemental text in both my undergraduate systems programming course and in my advanced graduate class in data security. In the undergraduate class it lets the students practice their python and see some of network programming without getting lost in all the structs and pointers of the C language API. (Python neatly wraps the system calls, then once the students are more comfortable with C we look at those). In the advanced class, seeing how tools like nmap, netcat, and wget can be emulated with a python program is very informative. Especially when we use it to get around software installation restrictions imposed by the i****ts at the university.

This is a well written book. The content is pertinent and easy to follow.

Coming from more of a network and security generalist's background I found this book to be very informative and direct to the point depending on what you are trying to accomplish at what stage of your attack. I did find that you have to follow the precise instructions in chapter 1 - setting up your enviornment, for most of the code to work. Python has changed quite a bit from version 2 and you have to pay attention while attempting to write and use the code. Don't skip chapter 1.What I found very useful was the socket programming and client/server/netcat examples found early on in the book. The examples get more complex quckly after chapter 2 but Justin does a great job at notating the relevant sections and walking the reader through it carefully. Great reference book to keep by your side.

I have finally read this book - in one sitting - a lot of good information that gives a good sense of how TCP/UDP/SSH etc works. Good examples with tools, the only thing is that this was written for python 2.7 I believe, so I had to google some of the library imports because of name changes

Great book with the best examples. You should brush up on your Python first as this book does expect some understanding of Python beforehand, however, Python being the easy language that it is to learn, this shouldn't be a difficult task to complete.

While I applaud the authors enthusiasm for the subject matter, and the method to why you learn on python2.7 (that part want actually explained, but it makes sebse) the editing in this book is pretty terrible. On to the second chapter and half the code doesn't work. You end up spending a significant amount of time debugging or finding similar examples that work on the web.Fortunately, the author does have an online link to all the code, however, that link is located in the preface.I am a proponent of typing things out manually to learn them, sure. But after you type something out and it doesn't work because the author put it in the book wrong... well, it is disheartening. My suggestion is to use the code online and just follow along in the book.