Python: The Complete Reference

by Martin C Brown (Conducted by)

Overview

Python is an intergrated, object-orientated development language for use in computer programming. This text is split into distinct sections, each concentrating on a core angle of the language. The book also contains sections for Web and application development, the two most popular uses for Python. It is designed to teach a programmer how to use Python by explaining the mechanics of Python. The appendixes offer a quick guide to the main features of the Python language, as well as additional guides to non-essential systems such as the IDLE development environment and general guidelines for migrating from another language.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780072127188
Publisher:	McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media
Publication date:	09/21/2001
Series:	Complete Reference
Pages:	1200
Product dimensions:	7.52(w) x 9.28(h) x 1.58(d)

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	xxiii
	Introduction	xxv
Part I	Fundamentals of the Language
1	Introducing Python	3
	What Is Python?	4
	What Is Python Good For?	6
	What Isn't Python Good For?	9
	Who Uses Python?	9
	Python History	10
	Similar Languages	12
2	Python Fundamentals	19
	Executing Python Programs	20
	Script, Program, or Module?	31
3	Components of a Python Program	33
	Built-in Object Types	34
	Statements	69
4	Functions	81
	Function Definition and Execution	83
	Scoping	84
	Arguments	88
	Return Values	95
	Advanced Function Calling	96
5	Modules	101
	Importing a Module	102
	Tricks for Importing Modules	106
	Packages	109
	Creating a Module	111
6	Object Orientation	113
	Creating a Class	114
7	Exceptions and Error Trapping	125
	What Is an Exception?	127
	What Happens When an Exception Occurs?	128
	Exception Handling	131
	Built-In Exceptions	138
	Rolling Your Own Exceptions	144
Part II	Applying the Python Libraries
8	Python's Built-In Functions	149
9	Interfacing to the OS	169
	Working with the System (sys Module)	170
	Working with the Operating System (os Module)	176
	Multithreading	191
10	Processing Information	207
	Manipulating Numbers	208
	Text Manipulation	214
	Time	232
	Data Types and Operators	239
	Unicode Strings	247
11	Working with Files	257
	File Processing	258
	Controlling File I/O	266
	Getting File Lists	269
	Basic File/Directory Management	270
	Access and Ownership	272
	Manipulating File Paths	275
12	Data Management and Storage	277
	Managing Internal Structures	278
	Object Persistence	281
13	Communicating over a Network	289
	Networking 101	290
	Obtaining Networking Information	294
	Basic Socket Functions	295
	Creating a Network Server	302
	Client Modules	307
	Handling Internet Data	314
14	Using Python for Multimedia	329
	Audio Modules	330
	Graphics Modules	345
15	Interface Building with Tk	351
	Installing Python/Tk under Unix	353
	Installing Python/Tk under Windows	354
	Installing Python/Tk under MacOS	354
	Introduction to Tk	354
	Using Widgets	361
	Controlling Window Geometry	388
Part III	Application Development
16	Using Python as a RAD Tool	395
	What RAD Really Is	396
	Why Python?	400
17	Application Development with Python	405
	Integrated Development Environments	406
	Python Standard Library	413
	Vaults of Parnassus	420
	Zope and Jython	420
18	Distributing Python Modules	421
	Using distutils	423
	Future Features	424
Part IV	Web Development
19	Web Development Basics	427
	Writing HTML	428
	Uniform Resource Locators	430
	Dynamic Websites Using CGI	432
	Cookies	448
	Security	451
20	Standard Markup Language Processing	453
	Processing SGML	455
	Processing HTML	455
	Processing XML	460
21	Other Python Web Tools	471
	Zope, the Z-Objects Publishing Environment	472
	Jython	475
	Python.NET	478
	Python Server Pages	479
	Python and ActiveScript	480
	Mailman	480
	Grail	481
	Apache and Python	481
	SocketServer and BaseHTTPServer	482
	Medusa	483
Part V	Cross-platform Development
22	Paths to Cross-platform Development	487
	Basic Platform Support	488
	Execution Environment	489
	Line Termination	497
	Character Sets	498
	Files and Pathnames	499
	Data Differences	499
	Performance and Resources	500
Part VI	Inside Python
23	The Python Architecture	503
	Namespaces, Code Blocks, and Frames	505
	Built-in Types	509
	Bytecode	517
24	Debugging and Tuning	533
	An Introduction to Debugging	534
	Debugging Techniques	542
	Optimizing Python Applications	556
25	Documenting and Documentation	567
	Comments	568
	Embedded Document Strings	571
	Translating Embedded Strings into Documentation	573
26	Extending Python	581
	Basic Interface	582
	Data Conversion	589
	Managing Reference Counts	592
	Exceptions	594
	Low-Level Object Access	600
	Where Next?	609
27	Embedding Python	611
	Embedding Principles	612
	Python Embedding Types	620
	Where Next?	629
A	Python Library Guide	631
B	Python Resources	659
	Web Resources	660
	Email, Newsgroup, and Mailing List Resources	663
	Online Documentation	664
	Print Resources	665
	Index	667