Core Python Applications Programming (3rd Edition) (Core Series) [Paperback]

Wesley Chun (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 19, 2012 | ISBN-10: 0132678209 | ISBN-13: 978-0132678209 | Edition: 3

• Already know Python but want to learn more? A lot more? Dive into a variety of topics used in practice for real-world applications.
• Covers regular expressions, Internet/network programming, GUIs, SQL/databases/ORMs, threading, and Web development.
• Learn about contemporary development trends such as Google+, Twitter, MongoDB, OAuth, Python 3 migration, and Java/Jython. Presents brand new material on Django, Google App Engine, CSV/JSON/XML, and Microsoft Office. Includes Python 2 and 3 code samples to get you started right away!
• Provides code snippets, interactive examples, and practical exercises to help build your Python skills.

The Complete Developer’s Guide to Python

Python is an agile, robust, and expressive programming language that continues to build momentum. It combines the power of compiled languages with the simplicity and rapid development of scripting languages. In Core Python Applications Programming, Third Edition , leading Python developer and corporate trainer Wesley Chun helps you take your Python knowledge to the next level.

 

This book has everything you need to become a versatile Python developer. You will be introduced to multiple areas of application development and gain knowledge that can be immediately applied to projects, and you will find code samples in both Python 2 and 3, including migration tips if that’s on your roadmap too. Some snippets will even run unmodified on 2.x or 3.x.

 

• Learn professional Python style, best practices, and good programming habits
• Build clients and servers using TCP, UDP, XML-RPC, and be exposed to higher-level libraries like SocketServer and Twisted
• Develop GUI applications using Tkinter and other available toolkits
• Improve application performance by writing extensions in C/C++, or enhance I/O-bound code with multithreading
• Discover SQL and relational databases, ORMs, and even non-relational (NonSQL) databases like MongoDB
• Learn the basics of Web programming, including Web clients and servers, plus CGI and WSGI
• Expose yourself to regular expressions and powerful text processing tools for creating and parsing CSV, JSON, and XML data
• Interface with popular Microsoft Office applications such as Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook using COM client programming
• Dive deeper into Web development with the Django framework and cloud computing with Google App Engine
• Explore Java programming with Jython, the way to run Python code on the JVM
• Connect to Web services Yahoo! Finance to get stock quotes, or Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, and others to download or send e-mail
  
• Jump into the social media craze by learning how to connect to the Twitter and Google+ networks

 

Core Python Applications Programming, Third Edition, delivers

• Broad coverage of a variety of areas of development used in real-world applications today
• Powerful insights into current and best practices for the intermediate Python programmer
• Dozens of code examples, from quick snippets to full-fledged applications
• A variety of exercises at the end of every chapter to help hammer the concepts home

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Update for 2012

6:04PM PST, December 11, 2011

Unbelieveably 4 years have passed since my last post. Some of you saw the Amazon page for Core Python Applications Programming with a "3rd edition" tag. I'm sure you'll naturally assume that it's the 3rd ed. of Core Python Programming but may be confused by the name change. To clarify: it is... sort of.

Two things occurred which led us here: the 1st is a shortage of books on the market to help the intermediate Python developer. What do you do after you've learned Python? You may have read Dive into Python, Beginning Python, or Learning Python, and have written some basic tools/apps but have nowhere to turn other than dive deeply into specific topics w/books about game programming, databases, graphics/multimedia, GUIs, networking, etc.

If you want more than one skill you'd have to buy a book on every topic. This is overkill, esp. if you're only interested in expanding your skillset. In those cases you're not ready to dive that deep. You'll spend a lot, read a few chapters, then they'll collect dust (unless you're being paid or want to become an expert). This is the exact reason why I wrote "Part II" of Core Python Programming calling it "Advanced Topics". After spending a year (most of 2000) writing what I thought was the entire book, I asked myself, "Wait, I've just taught all these folks Python, but I didn't really show what they could build with it." Part II was written as a result.

Another thing that happened is that the book grew quite significantly. Originally 810 pages long, it bloomed to 1120 for the 2nd ed. With the new material for the 3rd ed., a massive tome would be difficult & expensive to publish plus would cause an unnecessary burden upon readers (unless getting an electronic edition). Thus I am pleased to announce that those chapters have been extracted to form their own book, Core Python Applications Programming!

The contents have been cleaned up and retrofitted w/Python 3 examples paired w/their 2.x friends as a hybrid to help you learn both 2.x & 3.x. You'll find that many chapters have new material including: NoSQL/non-relational databases featuring MongoDB, more Microsoft Office® examples using Outlook & PowerPoint (including the text-to-slide generator some of you have seen me use at conferences), interfacing w/Twitter, using Yahoo!Mail & Gmail to send/receive email, and even doing social media analysis w/Google+! There are also brand new chapters on Web framework development using Django, an introduction to cloud computing w/Google App Engine, and text processing w/CSV, JSON, and XML. The purpose is to provide comprehensive intros to but not go deep into any particular topic; please adjust any expectations appropriately. We hope you are as excited about the new book as we are!

The material making up "Part I" of the original book will take another couple of years to complete due to all the changes coming from Python 3 and not on the horizon at this time, so if you are a programmer completely new to Python, we still recommend the 2nd edition of Core Python Programming as the best place to go learn Python as quickly and as in-depth as possible. You'll get a great preview of Core Python Applications Programming there too! Also I look forward to meeting some of you at an upcoming conference or in one of my training courses!

About the Author

Wesley J. Chun, MSCS, is the author of Prentice Hall's bestselling Core Python book series, the Python Fundamentals LiveLessons companion video lectures, coauthor of Python Web Development with Django (withdjango.com), and has written for Linux Journal, CNET, and InformIT. In addition to being a software architect and Developer Advocate at Google, he runs CyberWeb (cyberwebconsulting.com), a consulting business specializing in Python training and engineering. He has more than twenty-five years of programming, teaching, and writing experience, including more than a decade of Python. While at Yahoo!, he helped create Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! People Search using Python. He holds degrees in computer science, mathematics, and music from the University of California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 888 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 3 edition (March 19, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0132678209
• ISBN-13: 978-0132678209
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 1.1 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #80,473 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #49 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Languages & Tools > Python

More About the Author

WESLEY J. CHUN, MSCS, is the author of Prentice Hall's bestselling "Core Python" book series (corepython.com), the "Python Fundamentals" companion video lectures, co-author of "Python Web Development with Django" (withdjango.com), and has written for Linux Journal, CNET, and InformIT. In addition to being a software architect & Developer Advocate at Google, he runs CyberWeb (cyberwebconsulting.com), a consultancy specializing in Python education & engineering. Wesley has over 25 years of programming, teaching, and writing experience, including more than a decade of Python. While at Yahoo!, he helped create Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! People Search using Python. Wesley holds degrees in Computer Science, Mathematics, and Music from the University of California.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for expanding your Python knowledge May 13, 2012

By Patric Brown

Format:Paperback

I like this book a lot. I spend a lot of time training staff who are new to Python, and this book fills a really nice niche for that purpose. This book will not teach you the language fundamentals, nor will it be a good reference in a general sense, but more importantly, it will take you through a broad array of development topics, and show you how an experienced programmer might approach them. The toughest thing when learning a new language is getting comfortable doing real-world tasks, and gaining insights into the pitfalls and best practices that will help you master the language. The author succeeds quite well in this case - providing engaging examples, line-by-line explanations of the code, and exercises to help you become a better Python programmer. In most cases, I find the depth of coverage "just right" for learning, providing enough detail to learn the basics, and building enough familiarity and vocabulary pertaining to the topic to encourage further discussion and exploration if necessary.

There are better books to learn the language fundamentals (The Quick Python Book by Vern Ceder), and other books that I would suggest as references (The Python Essential Reference by David Beazley, and The Python Standard Library by Example by Doug Hellmann). This book, however, remains one of my favorites for taking a beginning/intermediate Python programmer to the next level.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Clarity, Great Info March 28, 2012

By Benjamin White

Format:Paperback

This book is well written and provides a lot of good information.

I've gone through several Python books and this one is by far the most clearly written. For example, when Chun explain the basics of TCP/IP, sockets, servers and how Python interact with them, his explanations are vivid, concise, and extremely clear. The author strikes me as unique in his ability to state what amount to fairly abstract technical details in a extremely straightforward way.

I found the information in this book to be extremely valuable. The focus is generally on higher-level, practical applications of Python, and not on the fundamentals of the language. This is the perfect book for the intermediate programmer who, having gained a firm grasp of the basic constructs of Python, is looking to move beyond obligatory 'Hello World!'-type apps that demonstrate Python's functionality, to create full-fledged Python-driven applications.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Enhance your Python Foo February 3, 2013

By code and coffee

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I met the author at Pycon 2010. We discussed some things that I really wanted to see in the next edition and he really delivered. My only complaint about this book is that this edition took so long to release. He spends a good amount of time getting you to understand the background/foundation of a subject area before you just jump into the code. This book isn't for beginners. It's for that person who already has a basic grasp on Python and wants to take it to the next level.

My advice check out the Table of Contents. If you see something in it that interests you grab this book. I bought ebook version first, but honestly when it comes to programming books I need the print copy....so I bought it twice. ./sigh

I'm happy with this purchase.