The Quick Python Book, Third Edition

Summary This third revision of Manning's popular The Quick Python Book offers a clear, crisp updated introduction to the elegant Python programming language and its famously easy-to-read syntax. Written for programmers new to Python, this latest edition includes new exercises throughout. It covers features common to other languages concisely, while introducing Python's comprehensive standard functions library and unique features in detail. Foreword by Nicholas Tollervey, Python Software Foundation. Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the Technology Initially Guido van Rossum's 1989 holiday project, Python has grown into an amazing computer language. It's a joy to learn and read, and powerful enough to handle everything from low-level system resources to advanced applications like deep learning. Elegantly simple and complete, it also boasts a massive ecosystem of libraries and frameworks. Python programmers are in high demand/mdash;you can't afford not to be fluent! About the Book The Quick Python Book, Third Edition is a comprehensive guide to the Python language by a Python authority, Naomi Ceder. With the personal touch of a skilled teacher, she beautifully balances details of the language with the insights and advice you need to handle any task. Extensive, relevant examples and learn-by-doing exercises help you master each important concept the first time through. Whether you're scraping websites or playing around with nested tuples, you'll appreciate this book's clarity, focus, and attention to detail. What's Inside Clear coverage of Python 3 Core libraries, packages, and tools In-depth exercises Five new data science-related chapters About the Reader Written for readers familiar with programming concepts--no Python experience assumed. About the Author Naomi Ceder is chair of the Python Software Foundation. She has been learning, using, and teaching Python since 2001. Table of Contents PART 1 - STARTING OUT 1. About Python 2. Getting started 3. The Quick Python overview PART 2 - THE ESSENTIALS 4. The absolute basics 5. Lists, tuples, and sets 6. Strings 7. Dictionaries 8. Control flow 9. Functions 10. Modules and scoping rules 11. Python programs 12. Using the filesystem 13. Reading and writing files 14. Exceptions PART 3 - ADVANCED LANGUAGE FEATURES 15. Classes and object-oriented programming 16. Regular expressions 17. Data types as objects 18. Packages 19. Using Python libraries PART 4 - WORKING WITH DATA 20. Basic file wrangling 21. Processing data files 22. Data over the network 23. Saving data 24. Exploring data brief contents......Page 3 contents......Page 5 foreword......Page 15 preface......Page 16 about this book......Page 17 Why should I use Python?......Page 23 What Python does well......Page 24 What Python doesn’t do as well......Page 27 Summary......Page 29 Start......Page 31 Installing Python......Page 32 Basic interactive mode and IDLE......Page 33 Using IDLE’s Python shell window......Page 35 Using the interactive prompt to explore Python......Page 37 Summary......Page 38 Quick Python overview......Page 40 Built-in data types......Page 41 Control flow structures......Page 48 Module creation......Page 51 Object-oriented programming......Page 52 Summary......Page 54 --- Essentials......Page 55 Indentation and block structuring......Page 56 Variables and assignments......Page 58 Expressions......Page 60 Strings......Page 61 Numbers......Page 62 Getting input from the user......Page 65 Basic Python style......Page 66 Summary......Page 67 Lists, tuples & sets......Page 68 List indices......Page 69 Modifying lists......Page 71 Sorting lists......Page 74 Other common list operations......Page 76 Nested lists and deep copies......Page 79 Tuples......Page 81 Sets......Page 85 Summary......Page 86 Strings as sequences of characters......Page 87 Basic string operations......Page 88 Special characters and escape sequences......Page 89 String methods......Page 91 Converting from objects to strings......Page 100 Using the format method......Page 101 Formatting strings with %......Page 103 String interpolation......Page 105 Bytes......Page 106 Summary......Page 107 Dictionaries......Page 108 What is a dictionary?......Page 109 Other dictionary operations......Page 110 Word counting......Page 113 What can be used as a key?......Page 114 Sparse matrices......Page 115 Dictionaries as caches......Page 116 Summary......Page 117 The while loop......Page 118 The if-elif-else statement......Page 119 The for loop......Page 120 List and dictionary comprehensions......Page 123 Statements, blocks, and indentation......Page 125 Boolean values and expressions......Page 128 Writing a simple program to analyze a text file......Page 130 Summary......Page 131 Basic function definitions......Page 132 Function parameter options......Page 134 Mutable objects as arguments......Page 137 Local, nonlocal, and global variables......Page 138 Assigning functions to variables......Page 140 Generator functions......Page 141 Decorators......Page 143 Summary......Page 144 What is a module?......Page 146 A first module......Page 147 The import statement......Page 150 The module search path......Page 151 Private names in modules......Page 152 Library and third-party modules......Page 153 Python scoping rules and namespaces......Page 154 Summary......Page 160 Python programs......Page 161 Creating a very basic program......Page 162 Making a script directly executable on UNIX......Page 167 Script execution options in Windows......Page 168 Programs and modules......Page 169 Distributing Python applications......Page 174 Summary......Page 175 Using the filesystem......Page 177 Paths and pathnames......Page 178 Getting information about files......Page 186 More filesystem operations......Page 187 Processing all files in a directory subtree......Page 190 Summary......Page 191 Opening files and file objects......Page 194 Opening files in write or other modes......Page 195 Functions to read and write text or binary data......Page 196 Reading and writing with pathlib......Page 198 Screen input/output and redirection......Page 199 Reading structured binary data with the struct module......Page 201 Pickling objects files......Page 203 Shelving objects......Page 206 Summary......Page 208 Exceptions......Page 209 Introduction to exceptions......Page 210 Exceptions in Python......Page 213 Context managers using the with keyword......Page 222 Summary......Page 223 --- Advanced Language Features......Page 224 Classes & OOP......Page 225 Defining classes......Page 226 Instance variables......Page 227 Methods......Page 228 Class variables......Page 229 Static methods and class methods......Page 232 Inheritance......Page 234 Inheritance with class and instance variables......Page 236 Recap: Basics of Python classes......Page 237 Private variables and private methods......Page 239 Using @property for more flexible instance variables......Page 240 Scoping rules and namespaces for class instances......Page 241 Destructors and memory management......Page 245 Multiple inheritance......Page 246 Summary......Page 248 Regular expressions......Page 249 Regular expressions with special characters......Page 250 Regular expressions and raw strings......Page 251 Extracting matched text from strings......Page 253 Substituting text with regular expressions......Page 256 Summary......Page 258 Data types as objects......Page 259 Types and user-defined classes......Page 260 What is a special method attribute?......Page 263 Making an object behave like a list......Page 264 The __getitem__ special method attribute......Page 265 Giving an object full list capability......Page 267 Subclassing from built-in types......Page 270 Summary......Page 272 What is a package?......Page 273 A first example......Page 274 A concrete example......Page 275 The __all__ attribute......Page 279 Proper use of packages......Page 280 Summary......Page 281 Python libraries......Page 282 “Batteries included”: The standard library......Page 283 Moving beyond the standard library......Page 287 Installing Python libraries using pip and venv......Page 288 Summary......Page 290 --- Data......Page 291 The problem: The never-ending flow of data files......Page 292 Scenario: The product feed from hell......Page 293 More organization......Page 295 Saving storage space: Compression and grooming......Page 296 Summary......Page 299 Processing data files......Page 300 Reading text files......Page 301 Excel files......Page 309 Data cleaning......Page 311 Writing data files......Page 314 Summary......Page 316 Fetching files......Page 317 Fetching data via an API......Page 321 Structured data formats......Page 323 Scraping web data......Page 331 Summary......Page 335 Saving data......Page 336 SQLite: Using the sqlite3 database......Page 337 Using MySQL, PostgreSQL, and other relational databases......Page 339 Making database handling easier with an ORM......Page 340 key:value stores with Redis......Page 347 Documents in MongoDB......Page 350 Summary......Page 353 Python tools for data exploration......Page 354 Jupyter notebook......Page 355 Python and pandas......Page 358 Data cleaning......Page 360 Data aggregation and manipulation......Page 365 Why you might not want to use pandas......Page 369 Summary......Page 370 Downloading the data......Page 371 Parsing the inventory data......Page 375 Selecting a station based on latitude and longitude......Page 376 Selecting a station and getting the station metadata......Page 378 Parsing the weather data......Page 381 Saving the weather data in a database (optional)......Page 385 Using pandas to graph your data......Page 386 A.1 Accessing Python documentation on the web......Page 388 A.2 Best practices: How to become a Pythonista......Page 391 A.3 PEP 8—Style guide for Python code......Page 393 A.4 Comments......Page 398 A.5 The Zen of Python......Page 406 B.1 Chapter 4......Page 408 B.2 Chapter 5......Page 410 B.3 Chapter 6......Page 413 B.4 Chapter 7......Page 416 B.5 Chapter 8......Page 418 B.6 Chapter 9......Page 420 B.7 Chapter 10......Page 423 B.8 Chapter 11......Page 424 B.9 Chapter 12......Page 425 B.10 Chapter 13......Page 426 B.11 Chapter 14......Page 429 B.12 Chapter 15......Page 431 B.13 Chapter 16......Page 435 B.14 Chapter 17......Page 436 B.16 Chapter 20......Page 438 B.17 Chapter 21......Page 440 B.18 Chapter 22......Page 441 B.19 Chapter 23......Page 444 B.20 Chapter 24......Page 446 Index......Page 448 La 4ème de couverture indique : "About the Technology : Initially Guido van Rossum's 1989 holiday project, Python has grown into an amazing computer language. It's a joy to learn and read, and powerful enough to handle everything from low-level system resources to advanced applications like deep learning. Elegantly simple and complete, it also boasts a massive ecosystem of libraries and frameworks. Python programmers are in high demand-you can't afford not to be fluent! About the book : The Quick Python Book, Third Edition is a comprehensive guide to the Python language by a Python authority, Naomi Ceder. With the personal touch of a skilled teacher, she beautifully balances details of the language with the insights and advice you need to handle any task. Extensive, relevant examples and learn-by-doing exercises help you master each important concept the first time through. Whether you're scraping websites or playing around with nested tuples, you'll appreciate this book's clarity, focus, and attention to detail."

This third revision of Manning's popular The Quick Python Book offers a clear, crisp updated introduction to the elegant Python programming language and its famously easy-to-read syntax. Written for programmers new to Python, this latest edition includes new exercises throughout. It covers features common to other languages concisely, while introducing Python's comprehensive standard functions library and unique features in detail.