See more Amazon Details

Contents Listing

Foreword

Preface for the Second Edition

1. Introducing Python
The Life of Python
The Compulsory Features List
What's Python Good For?
What's Python Not Good For?

I. System Interfaces

2. System Tools
Why Python Here?
System Scripting Overview
The sys Module
The os Module
Script Execution Context
Current Working Directory
Command-Line Arguments
Shell Environment Variables
Standard Streams
File Tools
Directory Tools

3. Parallel System Tools
Forking Processes
Threads
Program Exits
Interprocess Communication
Pipes
Signals
Launching Programs on Windows
Other System Tools

4. Larger System Examples I
Splitting and Joining Files
Generating Forward-Link Web Pages
A Regression Test Script
Packing and Unpacking Files
User-Friendly Program Launchers

5. Larger System Examples II
Fixing DOS Line Ends
Fixing DOS Filenames
Searching Directory Trees
Visitor: Walking Trees Generically
Copying Directory Trees
Deleting Directory Trees
Comparing Directory Trees
II. GUI Programming

6. Graphical User Interfaces
Python GUI Development Options
Tkinter Overview
Climbing the GUI Learning Curve
The End of the Tutorial
Python/Tkinter for Tcl/Tk Converts

7. A Tkinter Tour, Part 1
Configuring Widget Appearance
Toplevel Windows
Dialogs
Binding Events
Message and Entry
Checkbutton, Radiobutton, and Scale
Running GUI Code Three Ways
Images

8. A Tkinter Tour, Part 2
Menus
Listboxes and Scrollbars
Text
Canvas
Grids
Time Tools, Threads, and Animation
The End of the Tour
The PyDemos and PyGadgets Launchers

9. Larger GUI Examples
Advanced GUI Coding Techniques
Complete Program Examples
PyEdit: A Text Editor Program/Object
PyView: An Image and Notes Slideshow
PyDraw: Painting and Moving Graphics
PyClock: An Analog/Digital Clock Widget
PyToe: A Tic-Tac-Toe Game Widget
Where to Go from Here

III. Internet Scripting

10. Network Scripting
Plumbing the Internet
Socket Programming
Handling Multiple Clients
A Simple Python File Server

11. Client-Side Scripting
Transferring Files over the Net
Processing Internet Email
The PyMailGui Email Client
Other Client-Side Tools

12. Server-Side Scripting
What's a Server-Side CGI Script?
Climbing the CGI Learning Curve
The Hello World Selector
Coding for Maintainability
More on HTML and URL Escapes
Sending Files to Clients and Servers

13. Larger Web Site Examples I
The PyMailCgi Web Site
The Root Page
Sending Mail by SMTP
Reading POP Email
Utility Modules
CGI Script Trade-offs

14. Larger Web Site Examples II
The PyErrata Web Site
The Root Page
Browsing PyErrata Reports
Submitting PyErrata Reports
PyErrata Database Interfaces
Administrative Tools
Designing for Reuse and Growth

15. Advanced Internet Topics
Zope: A Web Publishing Framework
HTMLgen: Web Pages from Objects
JPython ( Jython): Python for Java
Grail: A Python-Based Web Browser
Python Restricted Execution Mode
XML Processing Tools
Windows Web Scripting Extensions
Python Server Pages
Rolling Your Own Servers in Python

IV. Assorted Topics

16. Databases and Persistence
Persistence Options in Python
DBM Files
Pickled Objects
Shelve Files
SQL Database Interfaces
PyForm: A Persistent Object Viewer

17. Data Structures
Implementing Stacks
Implementing Sets
Binary Search Trees
Graph Searching
Reversing Sequences
Permuting Sequences
Sorting Sequences
Data Structures Versus Python Built-ins
PyTree: A Generic Tree Object Viewer

18. Text and Language
Strategies for Parsing Text in Python
String Module Utilities
Regular Expression Matching
Parser Generators
Hand-Coded Parsers
PyCalc: A Calculator Program/Object

V. Integration

19. Extending Python
C Extensions Overview
A Simple C Extension Module
The SWIG Integration Code Generator
Wrapping C Environment Calls
A C Extension Module String Stack
A C Extension Type String Stack
Wrapping C++ Classes with SWIG

20. Embedding Python
C Embedding API Overview
Basic Embedding Techniques
Registering Callback Handler Objects
Using Python Classes in C
ppembed: A High-Level Embedding API
Other Integration Topics

VI. The End

21. Conclusion: Python and the Development Cycle
"Something's Wrong with the Way We Program Computers"
The "Gilligan Factor"
Doing the Right Thing
Enter Python
But What About That Bottleneck?
On Sinking the Titanic
So What's Python: The Sequel
In the Final Analysis...
Postscript to the Second Edition

A. Recent Python Changes

B. Pragmatics

C. Python Versus C++

Index