Holden Steve - Python in a nutshell

• covers the general characteristics ofthe Python language and its implementations, and discusses where toget help and information.

• explains how to obtain and installPython.

• covers the Python interpreter program,its command-line options, and its use for running Python programs andin interactive sessions. The chapter also mentions text editors thatare particularly suitable for editing Python programs, and examinessome full-fledged integrated development environments, includingIDLE, which comes free with standard Python.

• covers Python syntax, built-in datatypes, expressions, statements, and how to write and call functions.

• explains object-oriented programming inPython.

• covers how to deal with errors andabnormal conditions in Python programs.

• covers the ways in which Python letsyou group code into modules and packages, and how to define andimport modules.

• is a reference to built-in data typesand functions, and some of the most fundamental modules in thestandard Python library.

• covers Pythonspowerful string-processing facilities, including regular expressions.

• explains how to deal with files andtext processing using built-in Python file objects, modules fromPythons standard library, and platform-specificextensions for rich text I/O.

• introduces Pythonsserialization and persistence mechanisms, as well asPythons interfaces to DBM databases and relational(SQL-based) databases.

• covers how to deal with times and datesin Python, using the standard library and popular extensions.

• explains how to achieve advancedexecution control in Python, including execution of dynamicallygenerated code, restricted execution environments, and control ofgarbage collection.

• covers Pythonsfunctionality for concurrent execution, both via multiple threadsrunning within one process and via multiple processes running on asingle machine.

• shows Pythonsfeatures for numeric computations, both in standard library modulesand in the popular extension package calledNumeric.

• explains how to develop graphical userinterfaces in Python with the Tkinter package included with thestandard Python distribution, and mentions other alternative PythonGUI frameworks.

• deals with Python tools and approachesthat help ensure your programs do what theyre meantto do, find and correct errors in your programs, and check andenhance performance.

• covers many modules inPythons standard library that help you writenetwork client programs.

• explains Pythonsinterfaces to low-level network mechanisms (sockets), standard Pythonlibrary modules that help you write network server programs, andasynchronous (event-driven) network programming with standard modulesand popular extensions.

• covers the basics of CGI programmingand how to perform CGI programming in Python with standard Pythonlibrary modules. The chapter also mentions alternatives to CGIprogramming for server-side web programming through Pythonextensions.

• shows how to process email and othernetwork-structured and encoded documents in Python.

• covers Python library modules that letyou process and generate HTML documents.

• covers Python library modules andpopular extensions that let you process, modify, and generate XMLdocuments.

• shows how to code Python extensionmodules using C and other classic compiled languages, and how toembed Python in applications coded in such languages.

• shows how to use Java classes from theJython implementation of Python, and how to embed Jython inapplications coded in Java.

• covers the tools that let you packagePython extensions, modules, and applications for distribution.

Used for filenames, program names, URLs, and to introduce new terms.

Used for all code examples, as well as for commands and all itemsthat appear in code, including keywords, methods, functions, classes,and modules.

Used to show text that can be replaced with user-supplied values incode examples.

Used for commands that must be typed on the command line, andoccasionally for emphasis in code examples or to indicate codeoutput.