www.it-ebooks.info Learning Python www.it-ebooks.info www.it-ebooks.info FOURTH EDITION Learning Python Mark Lutz Beijing • Cambridge • Farnham • Köln • Sebastopol • Taipei • Tokyo www.it-ebooks.info Learning Python, Fourth Edition by Mark Lutz Copyright © 2009 Mark Lutz. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Published by O’Reilly Media, Inc., 1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472. O’Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. Online editions are also available for most titles (http://my.safaribooksonline.com). For more information, contact our corporate/institutional sales department: (800) 998-9938 or corporate@oreilly.com. Editor: Julie Steele Production Editor: Sumita Mukherji Copyeditor: Rachel Head Production Services: Newgen North America Indexer: John Bickelhaupt Cover Designer: Karen Montgomery Interior Designer: David Futato Illustrator: Robert Romano Printing History: March 1999: First Edition. December 2003: Second Edition. October 2007: Third Edition. September 2009: Fourth Edition. Nutshell Handbook, the Nutshell Handbook logo, and the O’Reilly logo are registered trademarks of O’Reilly Media, Inc. Learning Python, the image of a wood rat, and related trade dress are trademarks of O’Reilly Media, Inc. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and O’Reilly Media, Inc., was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information con- tained herein. ISBN: 978-0-596-15806-4 [M] 1252944666 www.it-ebooks.info To Vera. You are my life. www.it-ebooks.info www.it-ebooks.info Table of Contents Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxi Part I. Getting Started 1. A Python Q&A Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Why Do People Use Python? 3 Software Quality 4 Developer Productivity 5 Is Python a “Scripting Language”? 5 OK, but What’s the Downside? 7 Who Uses Python Today? 7 What Can I Do with Python? 9 Systems Programming 9 GUIs 9 Internet Scripting 10 Component Integration 10 Database Programming 11 Rapid Prototyping 11 Numeric and Scientific Programming 11 Gaming, Images, Serial Ports, XML, Robots, and More 12 How Is Python Supported? 12 What Are Python’s Technical Strengths? 13 It’s Object-Oriented 13 It’s Free 13 It’s Portable 14 It’s Powerful 15 It’s Mixable 16 It’s Easy to Use 16 It’s Easy to Learn 17 It’s Named After Monty Python 17 How Does Python Stack Up to Language X? 17 vii www.it-ebooks.info Chapter Summary 18 Test Your Knowledge: Quiz 19 Test Your Knowledge: Answers 19 2. How Python Runs Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Introducing the Python Interpreter 23 Program Execution 24 The Programmer’s View 24 Python’s View 26 Execution Model Variations 29 Python Implementation Alternatives 29 Execution Optimization Tools 30 Frozen Binaries 32 Other Execution Options 33 Future Possibilities? 33 Chapter Summary 34 Test Your Knowledge: Quiz 34 Test Your Knowledge: Answers 34 3. How You Run Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 The Interactive Prompt 35 Running Code Interactively 37 Why the Interactive Prompt? 38 Using the Interactive Prompt 39 System Command Lines and Files 41 A First Script 42 Running Files with Command Lines 43 Using Command Lines and Files 44 Unix Executable Scripts (#!) 46 Clicking File Icons 47 Clicking Icons on Windows 47 The input Trick 49 Other Icon-Click Limitations 50 Module Imports and Reloads 51 The Grander Module Story: Attributes 53 import and reload Usage Notes 56 Using exec to Run Module Files 57 The IDLE User Interface 58 IDLE Basics 58 Using IDLE 60 Advanced IDLE Tools 62 Other IDEs 63 Other Launch Options 64 viii | Table of Contents www.it-ebooks.info Embedding Calls 64 Frozen Binary Executables 65 Text Editor Launch Options 65 Still Other Launch Options 66 Future Possibilities? 66 Which Option Should I Use? 66 Chapter Summary 68 Test Your Knowledge: Quiz 68 Test Your Knowledge: Answers 69 Test Your Knowledge: Part I Exercises 70 Part II. Types and Operations 4. Introducing Python Object Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Why Use Built-in Types? 76 Python’s Core Data Types 77 Numbers 78 Strings 80 Sequence Operations 80 Immutability 82 Type-Specific Methods 82 Getting Help 84 Other Ways to Code Strings 85 Pattern Matching 85 Lists 86 Sequence Operations 86 Type-Specific Operations 87 Bounds Checking 87 Nesting 88 Comprehensions 88 Dictionaries 90 Mapping Operations 90 Nesting Revisited 91 Sorting Keys: for Loops 93 Iteration and Optimization 94 Missing Keys: if Tests 95 Tuples 96 Why Tuples? 97 Files 97 Other File-Like Tools 99 Other Core Types 99 How to Break Your Code’s Flexibility 100 Table of Contents | ix www.it-ebooks.info [...]... Contents | xxix www.it-ebooks.info www.it-ebooks.info Preface This book provides an introduction to the Python programming language Python is a popular open source programming language used for both standalone programs and scripting applications in a wide variety of domains It is free, portable, powerful, and remarkably easy and fun to use Programmers from every corner of the software industry have found... rather than specific applications of it As such, it’s intended to serve as the first in a two-volume set: • Learning Python, this book, teaches Python itself • Programming Python, among others, shows what you can do with Python after you’ve learned it That is, applications-focused books such as Programming Python pick up where this book leaves off, exploring Python’s role in common domains such as the... edition for 3.0 and 2.6, I’ve also added five new chapters to address new topics and add context: • Chapter 27 is a new class tutorial, using a more realistic example to explore the basics of Python object-oriented programming (OOP) • Chapter 36 provides details on Unicode and byte strings and outlines string and file differences between 3.0 and 2.6 • Chapter 37 collects managed attribute tools such as properties... Function Annotations in 3.0 Anonymous Functions: lambda lambda Basics Why Use lambda? How (Not) to Obfuscate Your Python Code Nested lambdas and Scopes Mapping Functions over Sequences: map Functional Programming Tools: filter and reduce Chapter Summary Test Your Knowledge: Quiz Test Your Knowledge: Answers 463 465 465 466 467 468 469 469 470 471 472 474 474 475 477 478 479 481 483 483 483 20 Iterations... included here, and it is designed to supplement this book Because of this book’s foundations focus, though, it is able to present Python fundamentals with more depth than many programmers see when first learning the language And because it’s based upon a three-day Python training class with quizzes and exercises throughout, this book serves as a self-paced introduction to the language xxxi www.it-ebooks.info... also freely introduce new features, such as the nonlocal statement in 3.0 and the string format method in 2.6 and 3.0, and will point out when such extensions are not present in older Pythons If you are learning Python for the first time and don’t need to use any legacy code, I encourage you to begin with Python 3.0; it cleans up some longstanding warts in the language, while retaining all the original... from every corner of the software industry have found Python’s focus on developer productivity and software quality to be a strategic advantage in projects both large and small Whether you are new to programming or are a professional developer, this book’s goal is to bring you quickly up to speed on the fundamentals of the core Python language After reading this book, you will know enough about Python . 9 Systems Programming 9 GUIs 9 Internet Scripting 10 Component Integration 10 Database Programming 11 Rapid Prototyping 11 Numeric and Scientific Programming. www.it-ebooks.info Learning Python www.it-ebooks.info www.it-ebooks.info FOURTH EDITION Learning Python Mark Lutz Beijing • Cambridge • Farnham • Köln • Sebastopol • Taipei • Tokyo www.it-ebooks.info Learning