Pro Python Best Practices: Debugging, Testing and Maintenance

by Kristian Rother

Overview

Learn software engineering and coding best practices to write Python code right and error free. In this book you’ll see how to properly debug, organize, test, and maintain your code, all of which leads to better, more efficient coding.

Software engineering is difficult. Programs of any substantial length are inherently prone to errors of all kinds. The development cycle is full of traps unknown to the apprentice developer. Yet, in Python textbooks little attention is paid to this aspect of getting your code to run. At most, there is a chapter on debugging or unit testing in your average basic Python book. However, the proportion of time spent on getting your code to run is much higher in the real world. Pro Python Best Practices aims to solve this problem.

What You'll Learn

• Learn common debugging techniques that help you find and eliminate errors

• Gain techniques to detect bugs more easily
discover best practices to prevent bugscarry out automated testing discover problems fasteruse maintain a project over long timeLearn techniques to keep your project under control

Who This Book Is For

Experienced Python coders from web development, big data, and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781484222409
Publisher:	Apress
Publication date:	03/17/2017
Edition description:	1st ed.
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	7.01(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Kristian Rother is a freelance Python developer and trainer with over 30 years of experience.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Why Do We Need Best Practices?.- 2. Exceptions in Python.- 3. Semantic Errors in Python.- 4. Debugging with the Scientific Method.- 5. Debugging with print Statements.- 6. Debugging with Introspection Functions.- 7. Using an Interactive Debugger.- 8. Writing Automated Tests.- 9. Organizing Test Data.- 10. Writing a Test Suite.- 11. Testing Best Practices.- 12. Version Control.- 13. Setting Up a Python Project.- 14. Cleaning Up Code.- 15. Decomposing Programming Tasks.- 16. Static Typing in Python.- 17. Documentation.

Editorial Reviews

As your Python programs grow, so do your problems: debugging gets harder; the need for well-written tests becomes more urgent; and maintenance issues intrude; bringing the need for a better approach to version control, code organisation, and documentation. Pro Python Best Practices is a neat exploration of all of these topics, which starts by making the case for best practices. … Essential material.” (The MagPi, Issue 59, July, 2017)

From the Publisher