Python Essential Reference

by Beazley, David M.

• ISBN13: 9780735709010
• ISBN10: 0735709017
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-10-01
• Publisher: Pearson P T R

Summary

Python Essential Reference, 3rd Edition, is a comprehensive reference to the Python programming language. The focus of& this latest& edition is to add coverage of significant new features and new library modules added to the language over the past five years.& Clearly written with concise organization, & the new& features covered& include new style classes, unification of types and classes, xmlrpclip, intertools, bz2 and optparse, making it the most up-to-date Python book on the market.

Author Biography

David M. Beazley is the developer of SWIG, a popular software package for integrating C and C++ software with interpreted languages including Python, Perl, and Tcl. Beazley spent seven years working in the Theoretical Physics Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory and has been at the forefront of integrating Python with high-performance simulation software running on parallel computers. He is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Chicago, where he enjoys tormenting students with insane systems-programming projects.

Table of Contents

Introduction	xvii
Conventions and Typographical Features	xviii
A Tutorial Introduction	1	(12)
Variables and Arithmetic Expressions	2	(2)
Conditionals	4	(1)
File Input and Output	4	(1)
Strings	5	(1)
Lists and Tuples	5	(2)
Loops	7	(1)
Dictionaries	8	(1)
Functions	8	(1)
Classes	9	(1)
Exceptions	10	(1)
Modules	10	(3)
Lexical Conventions and Syntax	13	(4)
Line Structure and Indentation	13	(1)
Identifiers and Reserved Words	14	(1)
Literals	14	(2)
Operators, Delimiters, and Special Symbols	16	(1)
Documentation Strings	16	(1)
Types and Objects	17	(20)
Terminology	17	(1)
Object Identity and Type	18	(1)
Reference Counting	18	(1)
References and Copies	19	(1)
Built-in Types	20	(8)
The None Type	21	(1)
Numeric Types	21	(1)
Sequence Types	21	(1)
Mapping Types	22	(1)
Callable Types	23	(2)
Modules	25	(1)
Classes	26	(1)
Class Instances	26	(1)
Files	26	(1)
Internal Types	27	(1)
Code Objects	27	(1)
Frame Objects	27	(1)
Traceback Objects	27	(1)
Slice Objects	27	(1)
Ellipsis Objects	27	(1)
Special Methods	28	(6)
Object Creation, Destruction, and Representation	29	(1)
Attribute Access	30	(1)
Sequence and Mapping Methods	30	(2)
Mathematical Operations	32	(1)
Callable Objects	33	(1)
Performance and Memory Considerations	34	(3)
Operators and Expressions	37	(10)
Operations on Numbers	37	(2)
Operations on Sequences	39	(3)
Operations on Dictionaries	42	(1)
The Attribute (.) Operator	42	(1)
Type Conversion	42	(1)
Boolean Expressions and Truth Values	43	(1)
Object Equality and Identity	44	(1)
Order of Evaluation	44	(3)
Control Flow	47	(8)
Conditionals	47	(1)
Loops	47	(2)
Exceptions	49	(2)
Defining New Exceptions	51	(2)
Assertions and__debug__	53	(2)
Functions and Functional Programming	55	(8)
Functions	55	(2)
Parameter Passing and Return Values	57	(1)
Scoping Rules	57	(1)
The apply() Function	58	(1)
The lambda Operator	58	(1)
map(), reduce(), and filter()	59	(1)
eval(), exec, execfile(), and compile()	60	(3)
Classes and Object-Oriented Programming	63	(8)
The class statement	63	(1)
Class Instances	64	(1)
Reference Counting and Instance Destruction	65	(1)
Inheritance	66	(1)
Information Hiding	67	(1)
Operator Overloading	67	(1)
Classes, Types, and Membership Tests	68	(3)
Modules and Packages	71	(6)
Modules	71	(1)
The Module Search Path	72	(1)
Module Loading and Compilation	73	(1)
Module Reloading	73	(1)
Packages	74	(3)
Input and Output	77	(6)
Reading Options and Environment Variables	77	(1)
Files	78	(1)
Standard Input, Output, and Error	79	(1)
The print Statement	80	(1)
Persistence	80	(3)
Execution Environment	83	(4)
Interpreter Options and Environment	83	(1)
Interactive Sessions	84	(1)
Launching Python Applications	85	(1)
Site Configuration Files	85	(1)
Program Termination	86	(1)
The Python Library	87	(160)
Built-in Functions and Exceptions	88	(7)
Built-in Functions	88	(5)
Built-in Exceptions	93	(2)
Python Services	95	(11)
copy	95	(1)
copy-reg	96	(1)
marshal	96	(1)
new	97	(1)
operator	98	(1)
pickle and cPickle	99	(2)
site	101	(1)
sys	101	(2)
traceback	103	(1)
types	104	(1)
UserDict and UserList	105	(1)
Mathematics	106	(5)
array	106	(1)
cmath	107	(1)
math	108	(1)
random	109	(1)
whrandom	110	(1)
String Handling	111	(8)
re	111	(4)
string	115	(2)
StringIO and cStringIO	117	(1)
struct	118	(1)
Data Management and Object Persistence	119	(6)
anydbm	120	(1)
bsddb	121	(1)
dbhash	122	(1)
dbm	122	(1)
dumbdbm	123	(1)
gdbm	123	(1)
shelve	124	(1)
whichdb	124	(1)
Operating System Services	125	(49)
cmp	125	(1)
commands	126	(1)
crypt	126	(1)
errno	127	(5)
fcnt1	132	(1)
fileinput	133	(1)
findertools	134	(1)
fnmatch	135	(1)
getopt	136	(1)
getpass	136	(1)
glob	137	(1)
grp	137	(1)
gzip	138	(1)
locale	138	(2)
macfs	140	(3)
macostools	143	(1)
msvcrt	143	(2)
os	145	(1)
Process Environment	145	(2)
File Creation and File Descriptors	147	(2)
Files and Directories	149	(2)
Process Management	151	(3)
os.path	154	(2)
popen2	156	(1)
pwd	157	(1)
readline	158	(1)
resource	159	(2)
shutil	161	(1)
signal	161	(3)
stat	164	(1)
statvfs	165	(1)
tempfile	165	(1)
termios	166	(1)
Input Modes	166	(1)
Output Modes	167	(1)
Control Modes	167	(1)
Local Modes	168	(1)
Speeds	168	(1)
Control Characters	168	(2)
time	170	(2)
tty	172	(1)
zlib	173	(1)
Threads	174	(1)
Thread Basics	174	(8)
Python Threads	175	(1)
thread	175	(2)
threading	177	(1)
Thread Objects	177	(1)
Lock Objects	178	(1)
Rlock	178	(1)
Condition Variables	179	(1)
Semaphore	180	(1)
Events	180	(1)
Queue	181	(1)
Network Programming	182	(30)
asyncore	185	(3)
BaseHTTPServer	188	(2)
cgi	190	(4)
CGIHTTPServer	194	(1)
ftplib	195	(1)
httplib	195	(3)
imaplib	198	(1)
nntplib	199	(1)
poplib	199	(1)
select	199	(1)
SimpleHTTPServer	200	(1)
smtplib	201	(1)
socket	202	(5)
SocketServer	207	(2)
urllib	209	(2)
urlparse	211	(1)
Internet Data Handling and Encoding	212	(16)
base64	212	(1)
binascii	212	(1)
binhex	213	(1)
mailcap	213	(1)
mimetools	214	(2)
mimetypes	216	(3)
MimeWriter	219	(1)
multifile	220	(2)
quopri	222	(1)
rfc822	223	(2)
uu	225	(1)
xdrlib	226	(2)
Restricted Execution	228	(4)
rexec	229	(3)
Bastion	232	(1)
Miscellaneous Modules	232	(5)
bisect	232	(1)
cmd	233	(2)
md5	235	(1)
sha	236	(1)
shlex	237	(1)
The Python Debugger	237	(3)
The Python Profiler	240	(2)
profile	240	(1)
pstats	241	(1)
Undocumented Modules	242	(5)
Python Services	242	(1)
String Processing	243	(1)
Operting System Modules	243	(1)
Network	243	(1)
Internet Data Handling	244	(1)
Multimedia Services	244	(1)
SGI Irix	244	(1)
Sun-Specific Services	245	(1)
Miscellaneous	245	(2)
Extending and Embedding Python	247	(28)
Enabling Optional Modules	247	(1)
Extension Module Example	248	(2)
Compilation of Extensions	250	(1)
Converting Data from Python to C	251	(2)
Converting Data from C to Python	253	(1)
Error Handling	254	(2)
Reference Counting	256	(1)
Abstract Object Layer	257	(2)
Low-Level Functions on Built-in Types	259	(3)
Defining New Types	262	(7)
Special Methods for Types	269	(2)
Threads	271	(1)
Embedding	271	(2)
Extension Building Tools	273	(2)
Extension Classes	273	(1)
CXX	273	(1)
SWIG	273	(2)
Index	275