Core Python Programming (Prentice Hall Ptr Core Series) (Paperback)

by Wesley J. Chun (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
A quick guide to everything anyone would want to know about the soaringly popular Internet programming language, Python. Provides an introduction to new features introduced in Python 1.6, and topics covered include regular expressions, extending Python, and OOP. The CD-ROM includes the source code for all of the examples in the text. Softcover.

From the Back Cover

• New to Python? This is the developer's guide to Python development!
• Learn the core features of Python as well as advanced topics such as regular expressions, multithreaded programming, Web/Internet and network development, GUI development with Tk(inter) and more
• Also includes features found in the new Python 1.6 and 2.0 releases
• CD-ROM: Complete Python distributions (source code, documentation, and various binaries) plus all example scripts in the book

Python is an Internet and systems programming language that is soaring in popularity in today's fast-paced software development environment, and no wonder: it's simple (yet robust), object-oriented (yet can be used as a procedural language), extensible, scalable and features an easy to learn syntax that is clear and concise. Python combines the power of a compiled object language like Java and C++ with the ease of use and rapid development time of a scripting language. In fact, it's syntax is so easy to understand that you are more likely to pick it up faster than any of the other popular scripting languages in use today!

In Core Python Programming, Internet software engineer and technical trainer Wesley Chun provides intermediate and experienced developers all they need to know to learn Python-fast. Like all Core Series books, Core Python Programming delivers hundreds of industrial-strength code snippets and examples, all targeted at professional developers who want to leverage their existing skills! In particular, Core Python Programming presents numerous interactive examples that can be entered into the Python interpreter right in front of you! Finally, we present a chapter that shows you step-by-step how to extend Python using C or C++.

• Python syntax and style
• Development and Run-time Environments
• Objects and Python memory management
• Standard data types, methods, and operators
• Loops and conditionals
• Files and Input/Output
• Exceptions and error handling
• Functions, scope, arguments, and functional programming
• Importing modules and module attributes
• Object-oriented Programming with classes, methods, and instances
• Callable Objects
• Extending Python

Coverage of the Python standard module library and client-server application development includes comprehensive introductions to the following topics in Python programming:

• Regular expressions
• TCP/IP and UDP/IP Network programming using sockets
• Operating system interface
• GUI development with Tk using Tkinter
• Multithreaded programming
• Interactive Web/CGI/Internet applications
• Executing code in a restricted environment
• Inheritance, type emulation, operator overloading, and delegation in an OOP environment

Finally, we provide an introduction to the new features introduced in Python 1.6. These include Unicode string support, the new function invocation syntax which lets the caller provide a tuple of positional arguments and/or a dictionary of keyword arguments, and the new string methods. We also provide a glimpse into features that will only be found in the newer 2.0 release.

Every Core Series book:

• DEMONSTRATES how to write commercial-quality code
• FEATURES dozens of programs and examples!
• FOCUSES on the features and functions most important to real developers
• PROVIDES objective, unbiased coverage of cutting-edge technologies-no
• hype!

Core Python Programming delivers:

• Coverage of the core parts of the Python language
• Real-world insights for developing Web/Internet, network, multithreaded and GUI applications
• Tables and charts detailing Python modules, built-in functions, operators, and attributes
• Code snippets to try live with Python's interactive interpreter, hammering the concepts home
• Extensive code examples-including several complete sample applications

CD-ROM includes complete Python source code and documentation distributions for Unix/Linux along with binaries for Windows and Macintosh platforms plus source code for all examples in the book.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 816 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR (December 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130260363
• ISBN-13: 978-0130260369
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #932,981 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This item is part of The Core Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended for beginners, January 13, 2002

By	Paul Ammann (New Fairfield, CT United) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For the last few months I was developing in Perl. But I found myself very frustrated with the syntax, and the Perl books on the market did a so-so job on explaining how everything worked.

And then I came across this book. I had read a review about in the Linux Journal. In 2 days I "inhaled" 200+ pages of this book, about 7 chapters. To begin with, this book is easy to understand, has numerous examples to go long with the text, and does an excellent job in progessing through Python.

The first 400 pages cover syntax, style, functions, classes, modules, etc. If you've ever programmed in another language (C, C++, Java, Perl), Mr. Chun compares Python to each of them in simularities and differences. You should be pick up on these quite easily. The last part of the book in more advanced topics, which I found quite enjoyable.

I don't program in Perl anymore. After reading this book, I wonder why I didn't look at Python first. Aside from a book on Tkinter, this is the only book that I keep on my desk. It's great for teaching and learning, but makes a great reference book also.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I agree with the reader from Menlo Park, CA..., February 4, 2001

By A Customer

The author's writing style is very similar to Bruce Eckel's. Both authors present somewhat abstract concepts in a clear and concise way that makes reading their material enjoyable. I highly recommend this book for any novice programmer wanting to learn Python. Chun does a good job explaining OOP concepts, so if you only have experience with a procedural language (C, Pascal, etc.)don't worry. If you are a programming expert, purist, guru, or OOP king you may find this book a bit long and shallow.:)

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars good all around python book, December 14, 2001

By	C. Goldberg (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is an excellent read for someone new to python but with some other programming knowledge. This was my first exposure to Python (coming from Perl) and I found this book very helpful. The author explains things very thoroughly and intuitively. He writes a lot of prose and not just all code examples, but good explanations also. I found myself reading this most times without a computer in front of me. So by the time I actually sat down and dug into the syntax, I was already very familiar with the basic concepts of the language. It touches on most subjects I was looking for.

It may not be for the extreme beginner or as the end-all reference for gurus, but for us in between its just whats needed.

this is easily one of the better programming books I've read.