Python

Exploring Python takes an active learning approach which engages the student as an equal partner in the process of learning the fun, educational, and powerful programming language. This approach instills habits that students will carry with them throughout their programming career and helps them retain and use the information they have learned.

Tim Budd is one of the best-known authors in Computer Science and has a reputation for producing writing texts along the leading edge of the discipline. Exploring Python provides an accessible and reliable introduction into programming with the Python language.

We are visual animals. But before we can see the world in its true splendor, our brains, just like our computers, have to sort and organize raw data, and then transform that data to produce new images of the world. Beginning Python Visualization: Crafting Visual Transformation Scripts talks about turning many types of small data sources into useful visual data. And you will learn Python as part of the bargain.

What you’ll learn

• Write ten lines of code and present visual information instead of data soup.
• Set up an open source environment ready for data visualization.
• Forget Excel: use Python.
• Learn numerical and textual processing.
• Draw graphs and plots based on textual and numerical data.
• Learn how to deal with images.

Who is this book for?

IT personnel, programmers, engineers, and hobbyists interested in acquiring and displaying data from the Web, sensors, economic trends, and even astronomical sources.

About the Apress Beginning Series

The Beginning series from Apress is the right choice to get the information you need to land that crucial entry–level job. These books will teach you a standard and important technology from the ground up because they are explicitly designed to take you from “novice to professional.” You’ll start your journey by seeing what you need to know—but without needless theory and filler. You’ll build your skill set by learning how to put together real–world projects step by step. So whether your goal is your next career challenge or a new learning opportunity, the Beginning series from Apress will take you there—it is your trusted guide through unfamiliar territory!

You’ve learned the basics of Python, but how do you take your skills to the next stage? Even if you know enough to be productive, there are a number of features that can take you to the next level in Python. Pro Python explores concepts and features normally left to experimentation, allowing you to be even more productive and creative.

In addition to pure code concerns, Pro Python will develop your programming techniques and approaches, which will help make you a better Python programmer. Not only will this book help your code, it will also help you understand and interact with the many established Python communities, or even start your own.

• Take your Python knowledge and coding skills to the next level.
• Write clean, innovative code that will be respected among your peers.
• Make your code do more with introspection and metaprogramming.
• Design complete frameworks and libraries (two are included in the book!).

What you’ll learn

• Write strong Python code that will be respected in the Python community.
• Understand the reasons behind big design decisions in Python.
• Write programs that can reconfigure themselves in Python.
• Disguise your code as different types of objects in Python.
• Inspect just about any object in Python.
• Prepare your code for international audiences.
• Ensure code quality with rigorous testing.

Who this book is for

This book is for intermediate to advanced Python programmers who are looking to understand how and why Python works the way it does and how they can take their code to the next level.

We are visual animals. But before we can see the world in its true splendor, our brains, just like our computers, have to sort and organize raw data, and then transform that data to produce new images of the world. Beginning Python Visualization: Crafting Visual Transformation Scripts talks about turning many types of small data sources into useful visual data. And you will learn Python as part of the bargain.

What you’ll learn

• Write ten lines of code and present visual information instead of data soup.
• Set up an open source environment ready for data visualization.
• Forget Excel: use Python.
• Learn numerical and textual processing.
• Draw graphs and plots based on textual and numerical data.
• Learn how to deal with images.

Who is this book for?

IT personnel, programmers, engineers, and hobbyists interested in acquiring and displaying data from the Web, sensors, economic trends, and even astronomical sources.

About the Apress Beginning Series

The Beginning series from Apress is the right choice to get the information you need to land that crucial entry–level job. These books will teach you a standard and important technology from the ground up because they are explicitly designed to take you from “novice to professional.” You’ll start your journey by seeing what you need to know—but without needless theory and filler. You’ll build your skill set by learning how to put together real–world projects step by step. So whether your goal is your next career challenge or a new learning opportunity, the Beginning series from Apress will take you there—it is your trusted guide through unfamiliar territory!

You’ve learned the basics of Python, but how do you take your skills to the next stage? Even if you know enough to be productive, there are a number of features that can take you to the next level in Python. Pro Python explores concepts and features normally left to experimentation, allowing you to be even more productive and creative.

In addition to pure code concerns, Pro Python will develop your programming techniques and approaches, which will help make you a better Python programmer. Not only will this book help your code, it will also help you understand and interact with the many established Python communities, or even start your own.

• Take your Python knowledge and coding skills to the next level.
• Write clean, innovative code that will be respected among your peers.
• Make your code do more with introspection and metaprogramming.
• Design complete frameworks and libraries (two are included in the book!).

What you’ll learn

• Write strong Python code that will be respected in the Python community.
• Understand the reasons behind big design decisions in Python.
• Write programs that can reconfigure themselves in Python.
• Disguise your code as different types of objects in Python.
• Inspect just about any object in Python.
• Prepare your code for international audiences.
• Ensure code quality with rigorous testing.

Who this book is for

This book is for intermediate to advanced Python programmers who are looking to understand how and why Python works the way it does and how they can take their code to the next level.

Exploring Python takes an active learning approach which engages the student as an equal partner in the process of learning the fun, educational, and powerful programming language. This approach instills habits that students will carry with them throughout their programming career and helps them retain and use the information they have learned.

Tim Budd is one of the best-known authors in Computer Science and has a reputation for producing writing texts along the leading edge of the discipline. Exploring Python provides an accessible and reliable introduction into programming with the Python language.

This book gives you everything you need to know about network programming using Python 3, the latest version of the Python language. It will benefit both scripters and serious application developers who want a feature-rich, yet simple language. Fully updated, this second edition includes all the new developments in network programming such as WSGI, FastCGI, and asynchronous communication.

Foundations of Python 3 Network Programming, Second Edition explains multitasking network servers using several models, including forking, threading, and non-blocking sockets. Extensive examples throughout the book demonstrate important concepts and practices, and provide a cadre of fully-functioning stand alone programs. Readers may even use the examples included as building blocks to create their own software.

What you’ll learn

• Understand low level networking
• Handle sending and receiving email including composing and decoding emails, SMTP, POP and IMAP
• Program the lower levels of web application programming such as FastCGI and WSGI
• Script file transfer and backups
• Access web services using Python
• Master multitasking with threads, forking, and asynchronous communication

Who is this book for?

This book will be of interest to python programmers who need to program networked applications using Python. From web application developers, to systems integrators, to system administrators—this book has everything you need to know.

Integrate the flexibility of Python and the power of MySQL to boost the productivity of your Python applications

• Implement the outstanding features of Python's MySQL library to their full potential
• See how to make MySQL take the processing burden from your programs
• Learn how to employ Python with MySQL to power your websites and desktop applications
• Apply your knowledge of MySQL and Python to real-world problems instead of hypothetical scenarios
• A manual packed with step-by-step exercises to integrate your Python applications with the MySQL database server

In Detail

Python is a dynamic programming language, which is completely enterprise ready, owing largely to the variety of support modules that are available to extend its capabilities. In order to build productive and feature-rich Python applications, we need to use MySQL for Python, a module that provides database support to our applications. Although you might be familiar with accessing data in MySQL, here you will learn how to access data through MySQL for Python efficiently and effectively.

This book demonstrates how to boost the productivity of your Python applications by integrating them with the MySQL database server, the world's most powerful open source database. It will teach you to access the data on your MySQL database server easily with Python's library for MySQL using a practical, hands-on approach. Leaving theory to the classroom, this book uses real-world code to solve real-world problems with real-world solutions.

The book starts by exploring the various means of installing MySQL for Python on different platforms and how to use simple database querying techniques to improve your programs. It then takes you through data insertion, data retrieval, and error-handling techniques to create robust programs. The book also covers automation of both database and user creation, and administration of access controls. As the book progresses, you will learn to use many more advanced features of Python for MySQL that facilitate effective administration of your database through Python. Every chapter is illustrated with a project that you can deploy in your own situation.

By the end of this book, you will know several techniques for interfacing your Python applications with MySQL effectively so that powerful database management through Python becomes easy to achieve and easy to maintain.

A practical manual packed with step-by-step examples to manage your MySQL database efficiently through Python

What you will learn from this book

• Explore the various means to install MySQL for Python, from using an egg to unrolling a tarball
• Query the database and retrieve records through MySQL for Python
• Implement insertion of data into a MySQL database in Python
• Carry out error-handling in MySQL for Python in order to ensure the robustness of programs
• Use secure logging techniques to record how your users use your programs
• Carry out record-by-record retrieval to save a lot of overhead while retrieving data
• Handle insertion of large amounts of data using iteration and the executemany function
• Automate the creation and removal of databases and tables using MySQL for Python
• Use the MySQL for Python library to automate user creation and to administer access controls
• Log user activity with MySQL for Python by using MySQL's date and time support
• See how to revise database programs to include more functionality
• Use aggregate functions to make MySQL take the burden off your web server
• Save time and processing resources by scripting JOINs and subqueries

Approach

This is a practical, tutorial-style book that includes many examples to demonstrate the full potential of MySQL for Python. Every chapter starts with an explanation of the various areas for using MySQL for Python and ends with work on a sample application using the programming calls just learned. All complicated concepts are broken down to be very easy to understand.

Everything in the book is designed to help you learn and use MySQL for Python to address your programming needs in the fastest way possible.

Who this book is written for

This book is meant for intermediate users of Python who want hassle-free access to their MySQL database through Python. If you are a Python programmer who wants database-support in your Python applications, then this book is for you. This book is a must-read for every focused user of the MySQL for Python library who wants real-world applications using this powerful combination of Python and MySQL.

Harness the power of Python 3 objects

• Learn how to do Object Oriented Programming in Python using this step-by-step tutorial
• Design public interfaces using abstraction, encapsulation, and information hiding
• Turn your designs into working software by studying the Python syntax
• Raise, handle, define, and manipulate exceptions using special error objects
• Implement Object Oriented Programming in Python using practical examples

In Detail

Object Oriented Programming is a very important aspect of modern programming languages. The basic principles of Object Oriented Programming are relatively easy to learn. Putting them together into working designs can be challenging.

This book makes programming more of a pleasure than a chore using powerful Python 3 object-oriented features of Python 3. It clearly demonstrates the core OOP principles and how to correctly implement OOP in Python.

Object Oriented Programming ranks high in importance among the many models Python supports. Yet, many programmers never bother learning the powerful features that make this language object oriented.

The book teaches when and how OOP should be correctly applied. It emphasizes not only the simple syntax of OOP in Python, but also how to combine these objects into well-designed software.

This book will introduce you to the terminology of the object-oriented paradigm, focusing on object-oriented design with step-by-step examples. It will take you from simple inheritance, one of the most useful tools in the object-oriented programmer's toolbox, all the way through to cooperative inheritance, one of the most complicated. You will be able to raise, handle, define, and manipulate exceptions.

You will be able to integrate the object-oriented and the not-so-object-oriented aspects of Python. You will also be able to create maintainable applications by studying higher level design patterns. You'll learn the complexities of string and file manipulation, and how Python distinguishes between binary and textual data. Not one, but two very powerful automated testing systems will be introduced to you. You'll understand the joy of unit testing and just how easy they are to create. You'll even study higher level libraries such as database connectors and GUI toolkits and how they apply object-oriented principles.

Harness the power of Python 3 objects; it's not just a scripting language

What you will learn from this book

• Implement objects in Python by creating classes and defining methods
• Separate different objects into a taxonomy of classes, and describe the properties and behaviors of those objects via the class interface
• Design public interfaces using abstraction, encapsulation, and information hiding
• Turn your designs into working software by learning the Python syntax
• Share implementation using inheritance
• Add functionality to the existing classes and built-ins using inheritance
• Share similar code between classes by abstracting it into a parent class
• Raise, handle, define, and manipulate exceptions using special error objects
• Understand when to use object-oriented features, and more importantly when not to
• Learn what design patterns are, and why they are different in Python
• Uncover the simplicity of unit testing and why it's so important in Python
• Utilize common Python 3 modules, libraries, and frameworks

Approach

The book begins with the very foundations of OOP and then uses practical examples to show how to correctly implement Object Oriented Programming in Python. Many examples are taken from real-world projects. The book focuses on high-level design as well as the gritty details of the Python syntax. The provided exercises inspire the reader to think about his or her own code, rather than providing solved problems.

Who this book is written for

If you're new to Object Oriented Programming techniques, or if you have basic Python skills and wish to learn in depth how and when to correctly apply Object Oriented Programming in Python, this is the book for you.

If you are an object-oriented programmer for other languages, you too will find this book a useful introduction to Python, as it uses terminology you are already familiar with.

Python 2 programmers seeking a leg up in the new world of Python 3 will also find the book beneficial, and you need not necessarily know Python 2.