Home > Store

Python Standard Library by Example, The

Register your product to gain access to bonus material or receive a coupon.

Python Standard Library by Example, The

Book

  • Sorry, this book is no longer in print.
Not for Sale

Description

  • Copyright 2011
  • Dimensions: 7" x 9"
  • Pages: 672
  • Edition: 1st
  • Book
  • ISBN-10: 0-321-76734-9
  • ISBN-13: 978-0-321-76734-9

“Hellmann’s writing has become an indispensable resource for me and many others as it fills a critical gap in Python Documentation with examples.”

– Jesse Noller, Python Core Developer and PSF Board Member

Master the Powerful Python Standard Library through Real Code Examples

 

The Python Standard Library contains hundreds of modules for interacting with the operating system, interpreter, and Internet–all extensively tested and ready to jump-start your application development. The Python Standard Library by Example (2 Volume Set) introduces virtually every important area of the Python 2.7 library through concise, stand-alone source code/output examples, designed for easy learning and reuse.

Building on his popular Python Module of the Week blog series, author and Python expert Doug Hellmann focuses on “showing” not “telling.” He explains code behavior through downloadable examples that fully demonstrate each feature.

You’ll find practical code for working with text, data types, algorithms, math, file systems, networking, the Internet, XML, email, cryptography, concurrency, runtime and language services, and much more. Each section fully covers one module, and links to valuable additional resources, making this book an ideal tutorial and reference. Coverage includes

  • Manipulating text with string, textwrap, re, and difflib
  • Implementing data structures: collections, array, queue, struct, copy, and more
  • Reading, writing, and manipulating files and directories
  • Regular expression pattern matching
  • Exchanging data and providing for persistence Archiving and data compression
  • Managing processes and threads
  • Using application “building blocks”: parsing command-line options, prompting for passwords, scheduling events, and logging
  • Testing, debugging, and compilation
  • Controlling runtime configuration
  • Using module and package utilities

If you’re new to Python, this book will quickly give you access to a whole new world of functionality. If you’ve worked with Python before, you’ll discover new, powerful solutions and better ways to use the modules you’ve already tried.

Sample Content

Online Sample Chapter

The Python Standard Library: Data Structures

Sample Pages

Download the sample pages (includes Chapter 2 and Index)

Table of Contents

Tables xxxi

Foreword xxxiii

Acknowledgments xxxvii

About the Author xxxix

 

Introduction 1

 

Chapter 1: Text 3

1.1 string—Text Constants and Templates 4

1.2 textwrap—Formatting Text Paragraphs 9

1.3 re—Regular Expressions 13

1.4 difflib—Compare Sequences 61

Chapter 2: Data Structures 69

2.1 collections—Container Data Types 70

2.2 array—Sequence of Fixed-Type Data 84

2.3 heapq—Heap Sort Algorithm 87

2.4 bisect—Maintain Lists in Sorted Order 93

2.5 Queue—Thread-Safe FIFO Implementation 96

2.6 struct—Binary Data Structures 102

2.7 weakref—Impermanent References to Objects 106

2.8 copy—Duplicate Objects 117

2.9 pprint—Pretty-Print Data Structures 123

Chapter 3: Algorithms 129

3.1 functools—Tools for Manipulating Functions 129

3.2 itertools—Iterator Functions 141

3.3 operator—Functional Interface to Built-in Operators 153

3.4 contextlib—Context Manager Utilities 163

Chapter 4: Dates and Times 173

4.1 time—Clock Time 173

4.2 datetime—Date and Time Value Manipulation 180

4.3 calendar—Work with Dates 191

Chapter 5: Mathematics 197

5.1 decimal—Fixed and Floating-Point Math 197

5.2 fractions—Rational Numbers 207

5.3 random—Pseudorandom Number Generators 211

5.4 math—Mathematical Functions 223

Chapter 6: The File System 247

6.1 os.path—Platform-Independent Manipulation of Filenames 248

6.2 glob—Filename Pattern Matching 257

6.3 linecache—Read Text Files Efficiently 261

6.4 tempfile—Temporary File System Objects 265

6.5 shutil—High-Level File Operations 271

6.6 mmap—Memory-Map Files 279

6.7 codecs—String Encoding and Decoding 284

6.8 StringIO—Text Buffers with a File-like API 314

6.9 fnmatch—UNIX-Style Glob Pattern Matching 315

6.10 dircache—Cache Directory Listings 319

6.11 filecmp—Compare Files 322

Chapter 7: Data Persistence and Exchange 333

7.1 pickle—Object Serialization 334

7.2 shelve—Persistent Storage of Objects 343

7.3 anydbm—DBM-Style Databases 347

7.4 whichdb—Identify DBM-Style Database Formats 350

7.5 sqlite3—Embedded Relational Database 351

7.6 xml.etree.ElementTree—XML Manipulation API 387

7.7 csv—Comma-Separated Value Files 411

Chapter 8: Data Compression and Archiving 421

8.1 zlib—GNU zlib Compression 421

8.2 gzip—Read and Write GNU Zip Files 430

8.3 bz2—bzip2 Compression 436

8.4 tarfile—Tar Archive Access 448

8.5 zipfile—ZIP Archive Access 457

Chapter 9: Cryptography 469

9.1 hashlib—Cryptographic Hashing 469

9.2 hmac—Cryptographic Message Signing and Verification 473

Chapter 10: Processes and Threads 481

10.1 subprocess—Spawning Additional Processes 481

10.2 signal—Asynchronous System Events 497

10.3 threading—Manage Concurrent Operations 505

10.4 multiprocessing—Manage Processes like Threads 529

Chapter 11: Networking 561

11.1 socket—Network Communication 561

11.2 select—Wait for I/O Efficiently 594

11.3 SocketServer—Creating Network Servers 609

11.4 asyncore—Asynchronous I/O 619

11.5 asynchat—Asynchronous Protocol Handler 629

Chapter 12: The Internet 637

12.1 urlparse—Split URLs into Components 638

12.2 BaseHTTPServer—Base Classes for Implementing Web Servers 644

12.3 urllib—Network Resource Access 651

12.4 urllib2—Network Resource Access 657

12.5 base64—Encode Binary Data with ASCII 670

12.6 robotparser—Internet Spider Access Control 674

12.7 Cookie—HTTP Cookies 677

12.8 uuid—Universally Unique Identifiers 684

12.9 json—JavaScript Object Notation 690

12.10 xmlrpclib—Client Library for XML-RPC 702

12.11 SimpleXMLRPCServer—An XML-RPC Server 714

Chapter 13: Email 727

13.1 smtplib—Simple Mail Transfer Protocol Client 727

13.2 smtpd—Sample Mail Servers 734

13.3 imaplib—IMAP4 Client Library 738

13.4 mailbox—Manipulate Email Archives 758

Chapter 14: Application Building Blocks 769

14.1 getopt—Command-Line Option Parsing 770

14.2 optparse—Command-Line Option Parser 777

14.3 argparse—Command-Line Option and Argument Parsing 795

14.4 readline—The GNU Readline Library 823

14.5 getpass—Secure Password Prompt 836

14.6 cmd—Line-Oriented Command Processors 839

14.7 shlex—Parse Shell-Style Syntaxes 852

14.8 ConfigParser—Work with Configuration Files 861

14.9 logging—Report Status, Error, and Informational Messages 878

14.10 fileinput—Command-Line Filter Framework 883

14.11 atexit—Program Shutdown Callbacks 890

14.12 sched—Timed Event Scheduler 894


Chapter 15: Internationalization and Localization 899

15.1 gettext—Message Catalogs 899

15.2 locale—Cultural Localization API 909

Chapter 16: Developer Tools 919

16.1 pydoc—Online Help for Modules 920

16.2 doctest—Testing through Documentation 921

16.3 unittest—Automated Testing Framework 949

16.4 traceback—Exceptions and Stack Traces 958

16.5 cgitb—Detailed Traceback Reports 965

16.6 pdb—Interactive Debugger 975

16.7 trace—Follow Program Flow 1012

16.8 profile and pstats—Performance Analysis 1022

16.9 timeit—Time the Execution of Small Bits of Python Code 1031

16.10 compileall—Byte-Compile Source Files 1037

16.11 pyclbr—Class Browser 1039

Chapter 17: Runtime Features 1045

17.1 site—Site-Wide Configuration 1046

17.2 sys—System-Specific Configuration 1055

17.3 os—Portable Access to Operating System Specific Features 1108

17.4 platform—System Version Information 1129

17.5 resource—System Resource Management 1134

17.6 gc—Garbage Collector 1138

17.7 sysconfig—Interpreter Compile-Time Configuration 1160

Chapter 18: Language Tools 1169

18.1 warnings—Nonfatal Alerts 1170

18.2 abc—Abstract Base Classes 1178

18.3 dis—Python Bytecode Disassembler 1186

18.4 inspect—Inspect Live Objects 1200

18.5 exceptions—Built-in Exception Classes 1216

Chapter 19: Modules and Packages 1235

19.1 imp—Python’s Import Mechanism 1235

19.2 zipimport—Load Python Code from ZIP Archives 1240

19.3 pkgutil—Package Utilities 1247

Index of Python Modules 1259

Index 1261

Updates

Submit Errata

More Information

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020