Python in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition View Larger Image | Alex Martelli
O'Reilly Media, Paperback, 2nd edition, Published July 2006, 712 pages, ISBN 0596100469 | List Price: $39.99
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Chapter 4: The Python Language
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This book offers Python programmers one place to look when they need help remembering
or deciphering the syntax of this open source language and its many powerful
but scantily documented modules. This comprehensive reference guide makes it
easy to look up the most frequently needed information--not just about the Python
language itself, but also the most frequently used parts of the standard library
and the most important third-party extensions.
Ask any Python aficionado and you'll hear that Python programmers have it all:
an elegant object-oriented language with readable and maintainable syntax, that
allows for easy integration with components in C, C++, Java, or C#, and an enormous
collection of precoded standard library and third-party extension modules. Moreover,
Python is easy to learn, yet powerful enough to take on the most ambitious programming
challenges. But what Python programmers used to lack is a concise and clear
reference resource, with the appropriate measure of guidance in how best to
use Python's great power. Python in a Nutshell fills this need.
Python in a Nutshell, Second Edition covers more than the language itself;
it also deals with the most frequently used parts of the standard library, and
the most popular and important third party extensions. Revised and expanded
for Python 2.5, this book now contains the gory details of Python's new subprocess
module and breaking news about Microsoft's new IronPython project. Our "Nutshell"
format fits Python perfectly by presenting the highlights of the most important
modules and functions in its standard library, which cover over 90% of your
practical programming needs. This book includes:
* A fast-paced tutorial on the syntax of the Python language
* An explanation of object-oriented programming in Python
* Coverage of iterators, generators, exceptions, modules, packages, strings,
and regular expressions
* A quick reference for Python's built-in types and functions and key modules
* Reference material on important third-party extensions, such as Numeric and
Tkinter
* Information about extending and embedding Python
Python in a Nutshell provides a solid, no-nonsense quick reference to information
that programmers rely on the most. This book will immediately earn its place
in any Python programmer's library.
Praise for the First Edition:
"In a nutshell, Python in a Nutshell serves one primary goal: to act as
an immediately accessible goal for the Python language. True, you can get most
of the same core information that is presented within the covers of this volume
online, but this will invariably be broken into multiple files, and in all likelihood
lacking the examples or the exact syntax description necessary to truly understand
a command."
--Richard Cobbett, Linux Format
"O'Reilly has several good books, of which Python in a Nutshell by Alex
Martelli is probably the best for giving you some idea of what Python is about
and how to do useful things with it."
--Jerry Pournelle, Byte Magazine
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Preface
I. Getting Started with Python
1. Introduction to Python
The Python Language
The Python Standard Library and Extension Modules
Python Implementations
Python Development and Versions
Python Resources
2. Installation
Installing Python from Source Code
Installing Python from Binaries
Installing Jython
Installing IronPython
3. The Python Interpreter
The python Program
Python Development Environments
Running Python Programs
The jython Interpreter
The IronPython Interpreter
II. Core Python Language and Built-ins
4. The Python Language
Lexical Structure
Data Types
Variables and Other References
Expressions and Operators
Numeric Operations
Sequence Operations
Set Operations
Dictionary Operations
The print Statement
Control Flow Statements
Functions
5. Object-Oriented Python
Classes and Instances
Special Methods
Decorators
Metaclasses
6. Exceptions
The try Statement
Exception Propagation
The raise Statement
Exception Objects
Custom Exception Classes
Error-Checking Strategies
7. Modules
Module Objects
Module Loading
Packages
The Distribution Utilities (distutils)
8. Core Built-ins
Built-in Types
Built-in Functions
The sys Module
The copy Module
The collections Module
The functional Module
The bisect Module
The heapq Module
The UserDict Module
The optparse Module
The itertools Module
9. Strings and Regular Expressions
Methods of String Objects
The string Module
String Formatting
The pprint Module
The repr Module
Unicode
Regular Expressions and the re Module
III. Python Library and Extension Modules
10. File and Text Operations
Other Chapters That Also Deal with Files
Organization of This Chapter
File Objects
Auxiliary Modules for File I/O
The StringIO and cStringIO Modules
Compressed Files
The os Module
Filesystem Operations
Text Input and Output
Richer-Text I/O
Interactive Command Sessions
Internationalization
11. Persistence and Databases
Serialization
DBM Modules
Berkeley DB Interfacing
The Python Database API (DBAPI) 2.0
12. Time Operations
The time Module
The datetime Module
The pytz Module
The dateutil Module
The sched Module
The calendar Module
The mx.DateTime Module
13. Controlling Execution
Dynamic Execution and the exec Statement
Internal Types
Garbage Collection
Termination Functions
Site and User Customization
14. Threads and Processes
Threads in Python
The thread Module
The Queue Module
The threading Module
Threaded Program Architecture
Process Environment
Running Other Programs
The mmap Module
15. Numeric Processing
The math and cmath Modules
The operator Module
Random and Pseudorandom Numbers
The decimal Module
The gmpy Module
16. Array Processing
The array Module
Extensions for Numeric Array Computation
The Numeric Package
Array Objects
Universal Functions (ufuncs)
Auxiliary Numeric Modules
17. Tkinter GUIs
Tkinter Fundamentals
Widget Fundamentals
Commonly Used Simple Widgets
Container Widgets
Menus
The Text Widget
The Canvas Widget
Layout Management
Tkinter Events
18. Testing, Debugging, and Optimizing
Testing
Debugging
The warnings Module
Optimization
IV. Network and Web Programming
19. Client-Side Network Protocol Modules
URL Access
Email Protocols
The HTTP and FTP Protocols
Network News
Telnet
Distributed Computing
Other Protocols
20. Sockets and Server-Side Network Protocol Modules
The socket Module
The SocketServer Module
Event-Driven Socket Programs
21. CGI Scripting and Alternatives
CGI in Python
Cookies
Other Server-Side Approaches
22. MIME and Network Encodings
Encoding Binary Data as Text
MIME and Email Format Handling
23. Structured Text: HTML
The sgmllib Module
The htmllib Module
The HTMLParser Module
The BeautifulSoup Extension
Generating HTML
24. Structured Text: XML
An Overview of XML Parsing
Parsing XML with SAX
Parsing XML with DOM
Changing and Generating XML
V. Extending and Embedding
25. Extending and Embedding Classic Python
Extending Python with Python's C API
Extending Python Without Python's C API
Embedding Python
Pyrex
26. Extending and Embedding Jython
Importing Java Packages in Jython
Embedding Jython in Java
Compiling Python into Java
27. Distributing Extensions and Programs
Python's distutils
py2exe
py2app
cx_Freeze
PyInstaller
Index
About the Author
Alex Martelli spent 8 years with IBM Research, winning three Outstanding Technical
Achievement Awards. He then spent 13 as a Senior Software Consultant at think3
inc, developing libraries, network protocols, GUI engines, event frameworks,
and web access frontends. He has also taught programming languages, development
methods, and numerical computing at Ferrara University and other venues. He's
a C++ MVP for Brainbench, and a member of the Python Software Foundation. He
currently works for AB Strakt, a Python-centered software house in Göteborg,
Sweden, mostly by telecommuting from his home in Bologna, Italy. Alex's proudest
achievement is the articles that appeared in Bridge World (January/February
2000), which were hailed as giant steps towards solving issues that had haunted
contract bridge theoreticians for decades.
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