Beginning Python: Using Python 2.6 and Python 3.1

Beginning Python: Using Python 2.6 and Python 3.1 introduces this open source, portable, interpreted, object-oriented programming language that combines remarkable power with clear syntax. This book enables you to quickly create robust, reliable, and reusable Python applications by teaching the basics so you can quickly develop Web and scientific applications, incorporate databases, and master systems tasks on various operating systems, including Linux, MAC OS, and Windows. You'll get a comprehensive tutorial that guides you from writing simple, basic Python scripts all the way through complex concepts, and also features a reference of the standard modules with examples illustrating how to implement features in the various modules. Plus, the book covers using Python in specific program development domains, such as XML, databases, scientific applications, network programming, and Web development.

Table of Contents:
Introduction xxvii Part I: Dipping Your Toe into Python 1 Chapter 1: Programming Basics and Strings 3 How Programming is Different from Using a Computer 3 The First Steps 5 Beginning to Use Python — Strings 7 Putting Two Strings Together 11 Putting Strings Together in Different Ways 12 Summary 13 Exercises 14 Chapter 2: Numbers and Operators 15 Different Kinds of Numbers 15 Program Files 18 Using Numbers 24 Summary 28 Exercises 29 Chapter 3: Variables — Names for Values 31 Referring to Data — Using Names for Data 31 Using More Built-in Types 34 Other Common Sequence Properties 43 Summary 47 Exercises 48 Part II: Python Language and the Standard Library 49 Chapter 4: Making Decisions 51 Comparing Values — Are They the Same? 51 Doing the Opposite — Not Equal 53 Comparing Values — Which One Is More? 54 Reversing True and False 56 Looking for the Results of More Than One Comparison 56 Repetition 60 Handling Errors 65 Summary 67 Exercises 69 Chapter 5: Functions 71 Putting Your Program into Its Own File 71 Functions: Grouping Code under a Name 73 Layers of Functions 88 Summary 89 Exercises 90 Chapter 6: Classes and Objects 93 Thinking About Programming 93 Defining a Class 96 Summary 107 Exercises 108 Chapter 7: Organizing Programs 111 Modules 112 Packages 118 Modules and Packages 120 Basics of Testing Your Modules and Packages 124 Summary 124 Exercises 125 Chapter 8: Files and Directories 127 File Objects 127 Paths and Directories 131 Exceptions in os 132 Summary 142 Exercises 142 Chapter 9: Other Features of the Language 143 Lambda and Filter: Short Anonymous Functions 143 Map: Short-Circuiting Loops 144 Decisions within Lists — List Comprehension 145 Generating Iterators for Loops 146 Special String Substitution Using Dictionaries 148 Featured Modules 149 Summary 156 Exercises 156 Chapter 10: Building a Module 157 Exploring Modules 157 Creating Modules and Packages 162 Working with Classes 163 Finishing Your Modules 166 Creating a Whole Module 179 Installing Your Modules 183 Summary 187 Exercises 188 Chapter 11: Text Processing 189 Why Text Processing Is So Useful 189 Navigating the File System with the os Module 192 Working with Regular Expressions and the re Module 199 Summary 203 Exercises 204 Part III: Putting Python to Work 205 Chapter 12: Testing 207 Assertions 208 Test Cases and Test Suites 209 Test Fixtures 213 Putting It All Together with Extreme Programming 216 Formal Testing in the Software Life Cycle 224 Summary 225 Chapter 13: Writing a GUI with Python 227 GUI Programming Toolkits for Python 228 Tkinter Introduction 229 Creating GUI Widgets with Tkinter 229 Summary 238 Exercises 238 Chapter 14: Accessing Databases 239 Working with DBM Persistent Dictionaries 240 Working with Relational Databases 245 Using the Python Database APIs 252 Summary 262 Exercises 263 Chapter 15: Using Python for XML 265 What Is XML? 265 What Is a Schema/DTD? 268 Document Type Definitions 268 Schemas 270 XPath 272 HTML as a Subset of XML 272 XML Libraries Available for Python 274 What Is SAX? 274 Why Use SAX or DOM 275 SAX and DOM Parsers Available for Python 276 Intro to XSLT 280 What Is lxml? 280 Element Classes 281 Parsing with lxml 283 Summary 285 Exercises 285 Chapter 16: Network Programming 287 Understanding Protocols 289 Sending Internet E-mail 293 Retrieving Internet E-mail 305 Socket Programming 314 Introduction to Sockets 314 Binding to an External Hostname 316 Other Topics 332 Summary 334 Exercises 335 Chapter 17: Extension Programming with C 337 Extension Module Outline 338 Building and Installing Extension Modules 340 Passing Parameters from Python to C 342 Returning Values from C to Python 345 The LAME Project 346 The LAME Extension Module 350 Using Python Objects from C Code 363 Summary 366 Exercises 366 Chapter 18: Numerical Programming 367 Numbers in Python 368 Mathematics 374 Complex Numbers 378 Arrays 380 Summary 384 Exercises 384 Chapter 19: An Introduction to Django 387 What Are Frameworks and Why Would I Use One? 388 Other Features of Web Frameworks 388 Django — How It All Began 389 Understanding Django’s Architecture 390 Working with Templates 396 Using Templates and Views 398 Creating a Model: Creating an Application 403 Working with Models: Installation 404 Summary 405 Exercises 406 Chapter 20: Web Applications and Web Services 407 REST: The Architecture of the Web 408 HTTP: Real-World REST 411 CGI: Turning Scripts into Web Applications 417 HTML Forms’ Limited Vocabulary 422 Safety When Accessing Form Values 423 Building a Wiki 428 Web Services 441 REST Web Services 442 XML-RPC 456 SOAP 465 Documenting Your Web Service API 472 Choosing a Web Service Standard 478 Web Service Etiquette 479 Summary 480 Exercises 480 Chapter 21: Integrating Java with Python 481 Scripting within Java Applications 482 Comparing Python Implementations 483 Installing Jython 483 Running Jython 484 Running Jython on Your Own 488 Packaging Jython-Based Applications 488 Integrating Java and Jython 489 Testing from Jython 506 Embedding the Jython Interpreter 507 Handling Differences between C-Python and Jython 510 Summary 511 Exercises 512 Part IV: Appendices 513 Appendix A: Answers to the Exercises 515 Appendix B: Online Resources 549 Appendix C: What’s New in Python 3.1 553 Appendix D: Glossary 559 Index 569