Learning Python, 3rd Edition
by Mark Lutz
from O'Reilly Media, Inc.
The authors of Learning Python show you enough essentials of the Python scripting language to enable you to begin solving problems right away, then reveal more powerful aspects of the language one at a time. This approach is sure to appeal to programmers and system administrators who have urgent problems and a preference for learning by semi-guided experimentation.
First off, Learning Python shows the relationships among Python scripts and their interpreter (in a mostly platform-neutral way). Then, the authors address the mechanics of the language itself, providing illustrations of how Python conceives of numbers, strings, and other objects as well as the operators you use to work with them. Dictionaries, lists, tuples, and other data structures specific to Python receive plenty of attention including complete examples.
Authors Mark Lutz and David Ascher build on that fundamental information in their discussions of functions and modules, which evolve into coverage of namespaces, classes, and the object-oriented aspects of Python programming. There's also information on creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for Python applications with Tkinter.
In addition to its careful expository prose, Learning Python includes exercises that both test your Python skills and help reveal more elusive truths about the language.
Portable, powerful, and a breeze to use, Python is ideal for both standalone programs and scripting applications. With this hands-on book, you can master the fundamentals of the core Python language quickly and efficiently, whether you're new to programming or just new to Python. Once you finish, you will know enough about the language to use it in any application domain you choose. Learning Python is based on material from author Mark Lutz's popular training courses, which he's taught over the past decade. Each chapter is a self-contained lesson that helps you thoroughly understand a key component of Python before you continue. Along with plenty of annotated examples, illustrations, and chapter summaries, every chapter also contains Brain Builder, a unique section with practical exercises and review quizzes that let you practice new skills and test your understanding as you go. This book covers: Types and Operations -- Python's major built-in object types in depth: numbers, lists, dictionaries, and more Statements and Syntax -- the code you type to create and process objects in Python, along with Python's general syntax model Functions -- Python's basic procedural tool for structuring and reusing code Modules -- packages of statements, functions, and other tools organized into larger components Classes and OOP -- Python's optional object-oriented programming tool for structuring code for customization and reuse Exceptions and Tools -- exception handling model and statements, plus a look at development tools for writing larger programs. Learning Python gives you a deep and complete understanding of the language that will help you comprehend any application-level examples of Python that you later encounter. If you're ready to discover what Google and YouTube see in Python, this book is the best way to get started.
Python in a Nutshell, Second Edition (In a Nutshell (O'Reilly))
by Alex Martelli
from O'Reilly Media, Inc.
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-pacedtutorial 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"
Python Cookbook
by Alex Martelli
from O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Portable, powerful, and a breeze to use, Python is the popular open source object-oriented programming language used for both standalone programs and scripting applications. It is now being used by an increasing number of major organizations, including NASA and Google.
Updated for Python 2.4, The "Python Cookbook," 2nd Edition offers a wealth of useful code for all Python programmers, not just advanced practitioners. Like its predecessor, the new edition provides solutions to problems that Python programmers face everyday.
It now includes over 200 recipes that range from simple tasks, such as working with dictionaries and list comprehensions, to complex tasks, such as monitoring a network and building a templating system. This revised version also includes new chapters on topics such as time, money, and metaprogramming.
Here's a list of additional topics covered:
Manipulating text
Searching and sorting
Working with files and the filesystem
Object-oriented programming
Dealing with threads and processes
System administration
Interacting with databases
Creating user interfaces
Network and web programming
Processing XML
Distributed programming
Debugging and testing
Another advantage of The "Python Cookbook," 2nd Edition is its trio of authors--three well-known Python programming experts, who are highly visible on email lists and in newsgroups, and speak often at Python conferences.
With scores of practical examples and pertinent background information, The "Python Cookbook," 2nd Edition is the one source you need if you're looking to build efficient, flexible, scalable, and well-integrated systems.
Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner, Second Edition (For the Absolute Beginner)
by Michael Dawson
from Course Technology PTR
Ready to learn Python programming? Are you new to programming with Python? Do you need a solid introduction to the fundamental concepts? You've found it in "Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner, Second Edition," the updated version of the successful "Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner." As part of the for the absolute beginner series developed by computer science instructors exclusively for Cengage Learning Course Technology PTR, this book will teach you the basics of Python programming through simple game creation. You can then take the skills you learn and use them for more practical Python programming applications and real-world programming scenarios. Better still, by the time you finish this book you will be able to apply the basic principles you've learned to the next programming language you tackle. Create simple, fun games while you learn to program with Python.
Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science
by John M. Zelle
from Franklin Beedle & Associates
This book is designed to be used as the primary textbook in a college-level first course in computing. It takes a fairly traditional approach, emphasizing problem solving, design, and programming as the core skills of computer science. However, these ideas are illustrated using a non-traditional language, namely Python.
Although I use Python as the language, teaching Python is not the main point of this book. Rather, Python is used to illustrate fundamental principles of design and programming that apply in any language or computing environment. In some places, I have purposely avoided certain Python features and idioms that are not generally found in other languages. There are already many good books about Python on the market; this book is intended as an introduction to computing.
Features include the following:
*Extensive use of computer graphics.
*Interesting examples.
*Readable prose.
*Flexible spiral coverage.
*Just-in-time object coverage.
*Extensive end-of-chapter problems.
Regular Expression Pocket Reference: Regular Expressions for Perl, Ruby, PHP, Python, C, Java and .NET (Pocket Reference (O'Reilly))
by Tony Stubblebine
from O'Reilly Media, Inc.
This handy little book offers programmers a complete overview of the syntax and semantics of regular expressions that are at the heart of every text-processing application. Ideal as a quick reference, Regular Expression Pocket Reference covers the regular expression APIs for Perl 5.8, Ruby (including some upcoming 1.9 features), Java, PHP, .NET and C#, Python, vi, JavaScript, and the PCRE regular expression libraries.
This concise and easy-to-use reference puts a very powerful tool for manipulating text and data right at your fingertips. Composed of a mixture of symbols and text, regular expressions can be an outlet for creativity, for brilliant programming, and for the elegant solution. Regular Expression Pocket Reference offers an introduction to regular expressions, pattern matching, metacharacters, modes and constructs, and then provides separate sections for each of the language APIs, with complete regex listings including:
- Supported metacharacters for each language API
- Regular expression classes and interfaces for Ruby, Java, .NET, and C#
- Regular expression operators for Perl 5.8
- Regular expression module objects and functions for Python
- Pattern-matching functions for PHP and the vi editor
- Pattern-matching methods and objects for JavaScript
- Unicode Support for each of the languages
Programming Python
by Mark Lutz
from O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Completely revised and improved, the second edition of Programming Python is an excellent compendium of material geared toward the more knowledgeable Python developer. It includes dozens of reusable scripts for common scripting tasks, and is one of the best available sources of information for this popular object-oriented scripting language.
In over 1,200 pages of material, this book offers an extremely comprehensive guide to Python development. Though his book is densely packed with information, Mark Lutz is a lively and witty writer whose focus is on getting things done using the natural strengths of the Python language. To that end, after an introduction and history of the language, the book shows how to use Python for performing automated tasks with files and directories (for example, for doing backups both locally and on Web servers). Not only will this book teach you more about Python, but it will also give you a library of code that you can use as is or adapt for your own projects.
The text covers every conceivable facet of Python and the language's support for networking, files and directories, task management, and even persistence (through its support for shelves). Complete Python programs show how to create e-mail clients, do reporting, and create Web applications (for an online errata database). Chapters on doing graphics programming in Python, as well as coverage of both built-in and custom data structures, are especially good. Because Python is often used for automating installations (in some Linux distributions, for instance), readers will appreciate the sample code and tips for using Python to create bulletproof installs.
Later sections show how get Python to work with C, Java (through JPython), and other languages. The book concludes with useful reference sections summarizing key aspects of Python, like its revision history, relationship to C++, and other material. There aren't many titles on Python, and fans of this up-and-coming language are lucky to have such a solid tutorial and guide available in Programming Python. Perfect for those with just a little previous exposure to the language, it's all you need to master Python in-depth and tap its considerable power for virtually any software project. --Richard Dragan
Topics covered:
- Introduction to Python
- Basic system scripts with Python (including file and directory tools)
- Working with processes and threads
- Pipes and signals
- Sample scripts for system and Web utilities (including backing up files, program launching, replicating and managing directories)
- Graphical user interface design in Python (including the Tkinter module)
- Widgets and basic components
- Layout options
- Event handling
- GUI examples (including a working text editor, image viewer, and clock)
- Network scripting (sockets, FTP, and e-mail clients)
- Server-side scripting
- Sample server scripts for an online errata database
- Python on the Internet (including Zope, JPython, and XML tools)
- Databases and persistence in Python (including pickled objects and shelf files)
- Custom and built-in data structures in Python
- Text and string handling
- C integration with Python (including the SWIG module)
- Embedding Python calls within C
- Hints for using Python in real projects
- Reference to recent changes to Python
- Python vs. C++ quick-start guide
Already the industry standard for Python users, "Programming Python" from O'Reilly just got even better. This third edition has been updated to reflect current best practices and the abundance of changes introduced by the latest version of the language, Python 2.5.
Whether you're a novice or an advanced practitioner, you'll find this refreshed book more than lives up to its reputation. "Programming Python," 3rd Edition, teaches you the right way to code. It explains Python language syntax and programming techniques in a clear and concise manner, with numerous examples that illustrate both correct usage and common idioms. By reading this comprehensive guide, you'll learn how to apply Python in real-world problem domains such as: GUI programming Internet scripting Parallel processing Database management Networked applications
"Programming Python," Third Edition covers each of these target domains gradually, beginning with in-depth discussions of core concepts and then progressing toward complete programs. Large examples do appear, but only after you've learned enough to understand their techniques and code.
Along the way, you'll also learn how to use the Python language in realistically scaled programs--concepts such as Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) and code reuse are recurring side themes throughout this text. If you're interested in Python programming, then this O'Reilly classic needs to be within arm's reach. The wealth of practical advice, snippets of code, and patterns of program design can all be put into use on a daily basis--making your life easier and more productive.
Reviews of the second edition:
,,"."about as comprehensive as any book can be.""
--Dr.Dobb's Journal
""If the language had manuals, they would undoubtedly be the texts from O'Reilly...'Learning Python' and 'Programming Python' are definitive treatments.""
--SD Times
Python Pocket Reference (Pocket Reference (O'Reilly))
by Mark Lutz
from O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Python is optimized for quality, productivity, portability, and integration. Hundreds of thousands of Python developers around the world rely on Python for general-purpose tasks, Internet scripting, systems programming, user interfaces, and product customization. Available on all major computing platforms, including commercial versions of Unix, Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X, Python is portable, powerful and remarkable easy to use. With its convenient, quick-reference format, Python Pocket Reference, 3rd Edition is the perfect on-the-job reference. More importantly, it's now been refreshed to cover the language's latest release, Python 2.4. For experienced Python developers, this book is a compact toolbox that delivers need-to-know information at the flip of a page. This third edition also includes an easy-lookup index to help developers find answers fast! Python 2.4 is more than just optimization and library enhancements; it's also chock full of bug fixes and upgrades. And these changes are addressed in the Python Pocket Reference, 3rd Edition. New language features, new and upgraded built-ins, and new and upgraded modules and packages--they're all clarified in detail. The Python Pocket Reference, 3rd Edition serves as the perfect companion to Learning Python and Programming Python.
Python Essential Reference (3rd Edition) (Developer's Library)
by David M. Beazley
from Sams
Every so often a book comes along that makes you ask yourself, "Gee, when was the last time I had my eyes checked?" David M. Beazley's Python: Essential Reference is just such a book. Condensing thousands of pages of Python online documentation into a compact 319-page softcover, Beazley and his editors used the old-college trick (often performed in reverse) of dickering with the font size to meet a putative page-limit requirement. The result is a truly condensed product fit for the occularly well-adjusted (nota bene).
Beazley's subject is Python, a full-featured, freely-redistributable, POSIX-compliant (platforms include Linux, Unix, Macintosh, and Windows) scripting language that is based on object-oriented design principles. As advertised, Beazley's source release (1.5.2) is available from an unfortunately slow server at www.python.org. The installation under Linux (Redhat 5.2) proceeded without incident.
Beazley holds true to his catalogic purpose: fully 230 pages are formatted as technical appendices and indices covering the standard litany: built-in function syntax, database features, OS-level interfaces, Internet interfaces, and compiling/profiling/debugging. All references are fully annotated and illustrated with example source code that runs from a couple of lines to a couple of pages. In lock step with competing scripting languages, Python is extensible and embeddable in C and C++, and with blitzkrieg efficiency, Beazley summarizes these crucial practical issues in the final 30 pages. Python users who are tired of chasing questions through hyperlinked online documents will benefit from the expansive random-access index.
Python the book captures the orderliness of Python the language. Beazley begins with an 86-page précis of Python in the fashion of Kernighan and Ritchie: too brief for a newbie tutorial but enough to propel old hands into a scripting language that aspires to the elegance of a compiled language.
Indeed, it is a byte-compiling language. The line bytecode=compile("some_python_script",'','exec')) creates 'bytecode' as a token executed by exec bytecode. But a five-minute investigation through Beazley's book does not describe how 'bytecode' can be written into a separate executable file. If writing the byte-compiled code to a file is not possible, Python suffers from the limitations of other scripting languages: the executable is the source and cannot be hidden from the user, at least not without some difficulty. Despite its extensibility, embeddability, and pleasing architecture, Python is like other scripting languages: appropriate for solving small nonproprietary problems.
Those familiar with more established scriptors like Perl may ask, "Why Python?" Unlike Perl, Python is a product of the fully object-oriented (OO) era, and its constructs reflect design principles that aspire beyond keystroke shortcuts of the succinct-but-often-arcane Perl. Python creator Guido van Rossum cleansed Perl's idiosyncracies and objectified basic data structure, data manipulations, and I/O. With Python, OO is so intrinsic that learning Python is equivalent to learning OO. The same cannot be said of Perl.
Unfortunately, comparisons with other languages are missing from Beazley's book. Van Rossum, in an embarrassingly self-serving foreword, preemptively asserts that we readers need "neither evangelizing nor proselytizing"--after all, we already own the book--but we do need galvanizing and we don't find it. Specifically, we need a response to the oft-repeated wisdom that new computer languages are only worth learning if they teach us to organize our thinking along new lines.
Scripting languages, however, are for quick and dirty projects: quick to write, easy to hack, and ultimately disposable. The essential tension created by van Rossum and friends is between the elegance of object-oriented principles and the utility of a quick-hacked script. Sadly, the tension remains unresolved in Beazley's reference. There is little to convince us that Python has earned its place in the firmament by changing our thinking. But Beazley has given us much to get us going if we have already taken the leap of faith. --Peter Leopold
Python Essential Reference, 3rd Edition, is a comprehensive reference to the Python programming language. The focus of this latest edition is to add coverage of significant new features and new library modules added to the language over the past five years. Clearly written with concise organization, the new features covered include new style classes, unification of types and classes, xmlrpclip, intertools, bz2 and optparse, making it the most up-to-date Python book on the market.
Core Python Programming (2nd Edition) (Core Series)
by Wesley Chun
from Prentice Hall PTR
Praise for Core Python Programming
"The long-awaited second edition of Wesley Chun's Core Python Programming proves to be well worth the wait—its deep and broad coverage and useful exercises will help readers learn and practice good Python."
—Alex Martelli, author of Python in a Nutshell and editor of Python Cookbook
"There has been lot of good buzz around Wesley Chun's Core Python Programming. It turns out that all the buzz is well earned. I think this is the best book currently available for learning Python. I would recommend Chun's book over Learning Python (O'Reilly), Programming Python (O'Reilly), or The Quick Python Book (Manning)."
—David Mertz, Ph.D., IBM DeveloperWorks®
"I have been doing a lot of research [on] Python for the past year and have seen a number of positive reviews of your book. The sentiment expressed confirms the opinion that Core Python Programming is now considered the standard introductory text."
—Richard Ozaki, Lockheed Martin
"Finally, a book good enough to be both a textbook and a reference on the Python language now exists."
—Michael Baxter, Linux Journal
"Very well written. It is the clearest, friendliest book I have come across yet for explaining Python, and putting it in a wider context. It does not presume a large amount of other experience. It does go into some important Python topics carefully and in depth. Unlike too many beginner books, it never condescends or tortures the reader with childish hide-and-seek prose games. [It] sticks to gaining a solid grasp of Python syntax and structure."
—http://python.org bookstore Web site
"[If ] I could only own one Python book, it would be Core Python Programming by Wesley Chun. This book manages to cover more topics in more depth than Learning Python but includes it all in one book that also more than adequately covers the core language. [If] you are in the market for just one book about Python, I recommend this book. You will enjoy reading it, including its wry programmer's wit. More importantly, you will learn Python. Even more importantly, you will find it invaluable in helping you in your day-to-day Python programming life. Well done, Mr. Chun!"
—Ron Stephens, Python Learning Foundation
"I think the best language for beginners is Python, without a doubt. My favorite book is Core Python Programming."
—s003apr, MP3Car.com Forums
"Personally, I really like Python. It's simple to learn, completely intuitive, amazingly flexible, and pretty darned fast. Python has only just started to claim mindshare in the Windows world, but look for it to start gaining lots of support as people discover it. To learn Python, I'd start with Core Python Programming by Wesley Chun."
—Bill Boswell, MCSE, Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine Online
"If you learn well from books, I suggest Core Python Programming. It is by far the best I've found. I'm a Python newbie as well and in three months time I've been able to implement Python in projects at work (automating MSOffice, SQL DB stuff, etc.)."
—ptonman, Dev Shed Forums
"Python is simply a beautiful language. It's easy to learn, it's cross-platform, and it works. It has achieved many of the technical goals that Java strives for. A one-sentence description of Python would be: 'All other languages appear to have evolved over time--but Python was designed.' And it was designed well. Unfortunately, there aren't a large number of books for Python. The best one I've run across so far is Core Python Programming."
—Chris Timmons, C. R. Timmons Consulting
"If you like the Prentice Hall Core series, another good full-blown treatment to consider would be Core Python Programming. It addresses in elaborate concrete detail many practical topics that get little, if any, coverage in other books."
—Mitchell L Model, MLM Consulting
"Core Python Programming is an amazingly easy read! The liberal use of examples helps clarify some of the more subtle points of the language. And the comparisons to languages with which I'm already familiar (C/C++/Java) get you programming in record speed."
—Michael Santos, Ph.D., Green Hills Software
The Complete Developer's Guide to Python—Fully Updated for Python 2.5
- New to Python? The definitive guide to Python development for experienced programmers
- Covers core language features thoroughly, including those found in the latest Python releases
- Learn advanced topics such as regular expressions, networking, multithreading, GUI, and Web/CGI
- Includes brand-new chapters on database, Internet, Jython, and COM Client programming
- Presents hundreds of code samples and practical exercises to strengthen your Python skills
Python is an agile, robust, expressive, fully object-oriented, extensible, and scalable programming language. It combines the power of compiled languages with the simplicity and rapid development of scripting languages. In Core Python Programming, Second Edition, leading Python developer and trainer Wesley Chun helps you learn Python quickly and comprehensively so that you can immediately succeed with any Python project.
Using practical code examples, Chun introduces all the fundamentals of Python programming: syntax, objects and memory management, data types, operators, files and I/O, functions, generators, error handling and exceptions, loops, iterators, functional programming, object-oriented programming and more. After you learn the core fundamentals of Python, he shows you what you can do with your new skills, delving into advanced topics, such as regular expressions, networking programming with sockets, multithreading, GUI development, Web/CGI programming and extending Python in C.
This edition reflects major enhancements in the Python 2.x series, including 2.5 as well as capabilities set for future versions. It contains new chapters on database and Internet client programming, plus coverage of many new topics, including new-style classes, Java and Jython, Microsoft Office (Win32 COM Client) programming, and much more.
- Learn professional Python style, best practices, and good programming habits
- Gain a deep understanding of Python's objects and memory model as well as its OOP features, including those found in Python's new-style classes
- Build more effective Web, CGI, Internet, and network and other client/server applications
- Learn how to develop your own GUI applications using Tkinter and other toolkits available for Python
- Improve the performance of your Python applications by writing extensions in C and other languages, or enhance I/O-bound applications by using multithreading
- Learn about Python's database API and how to use a variety of database systems with Python, including MySQL, Postgres, and SQLite
Core Python Programming delivers
- Systematic, expert coverage of Python's core features
- Powerful insights for developing complex applications
- Easy-to-use tables and charts detailing Python modules, operators, functions, and methods
- Dozens of professional-quality code examples, from quick snippets to full-fledged applications
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