Python Standard Library: An Annotated Reference for Python 2.0 - Softcover

Lundh, Fredrik; Lutz, Mark

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0596000960 ISBN 13: 9780596000967

Publisher: O'Reilly Media, 2001

Synopsis

Python Standard Library is an essential guide for serious Python programmers. Python is a modular language that imports most useful operations from the standard library (basic support modules; operating system interfaces; network protocols; file formats; data conversions; threads and processes; and data storage). You can't really program in Python without using it. In this book, author Fredrik Lundh, creator of the Python Imaging Library (PIL), delivers tested, accurate documentation of all the modules in the Python Standard Library, along with over 300 annotated example scripts using the modules.Python Standard Library renders this valuable information in a clean, easy-to-read format, yet doesn't talk down to readers. This accurate and complete reference documentation is for the Python programmer who wants the facts and little else.The book is based on the author's work with the Python newsgroup: he reviewed more than 2500 questions and answers to that newsgroup in order to make sure the book covered what Python users really wanted to know. An earlier version of this book has been available electronically for over a year, so the material has been tested by Python programmers in real-life applications.This version of Python Standard Library covers all the new modules and related information for Python 2.0, the first new major release of Python in four years.

About this title

Review

Ideal for any working Python developer, Fredrik Lundh's Python Standard Library provides an excellent tour of some of the most important modules in today's Python 2.0 standard. Mixing sample code and plenty of expert advice, this title will be indispensable for programmers.

The book presents sample script code--written by a frequent contributor to Python newsgroups--for almost 200 of the built-in modules in Python 2.0 and shows how to solve common programming problems in Python. Instead of a function-based reference, you get sample scripts for a wide variety of solutions centering on different Python modules.

Early sections look at core modules for working with the operating system, math, and strings, among other functions. Material on Python's excellent support for files and directories will help you master the file system. Explanations of various encryption schemes will let you add security to your Python scripts.

Getting Python to multitask with multiple threads comes next, along with getting Python programs to communicate using pipes and signals. After the sample scripts for pickling Python objects to and from files, the book delves into modules that are geared toward today's Internet. First, there's coverage of Python's support for XML, HTML, and SGML, followed by a discussion of its extensive networking support for low-level sockets to high-level Internet protocols, including e-mail and FTP. Sample scripts for e-mail will be really useful for any Python programmer.

Later chapters provide coverage of internationalization support in Python and its support for multimedia. The book closes with material on platform-specific modules (which are specific to Unix and/or Windows) as well as modules that are obsolete but necessary to understanding legacy Python code.

There's a lot of expertise on display in Python Standard Library. The code does much of the talking in this example-packed text, which is sure to earn its place on any working Python programmer's bookshelf. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered:

• Introduction to the Python 2.0 standard modules
• Core modules (including modules for operating system functions, string, math, time, and garbage collection)
• File and directory modules
• Encryption and security modules
• Threads, processes, pipes, and signals in Python
• Persisting Python objects (marshalling and pickling objects)
• Python modules for XML, HTML, and SGML
• Modules for e-mail and news support
• Internet programming with Python (including sockets, a chat example, FTP, SMTP, IMAP, POP, and Telnet)
• Internationalization support
• Modules for multimedia support (image and sound files)
• Data storage in Python (with shelves)
• Python tools
• Platform-specific modules (including Unix- and Windows-specific modules)
• Miscellaneous and legacy Python modules

About the Author

Fredrik Lundh is a principal of Secret Labs, Inc., the creators of PythonWorks, an integrated development environment (IDE) for Python. He is an expert on the use of Python with images and graphics and is also the creator of the Python Imaging Library (PIL). He is an active member of the Python community and a frequent contributor to the Python newsgroups.

Edition details

• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0596000960
• ISBN 13: 9780596000967
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 300