Lean Python (eBook)

Paul Gerrard is a consultant, teacher, author, webmaster, programmer, tester, conference speaker, rowing coach and publisher.

Contents at a Glance 4
Contents 5
About the Author 10
About the Technical Reviewer 11
Preface 12
Acknowledgments 19
Chapter 1: Getting Started 21
The Python Interpreter 21
Interactive Mode 21
Command-Line Mode 23
Coding, Testing and Debugging Python Programs 23
Comments, Code Blocks, and Indentation 24
Variables 25
Common Assignment Operations 25
Other Assignment Operations 26
Python Keywords 26
Special Identifiers 27
Python Modules 28
Typical Program Structure 28
Chapter 2: Python Objects 30
Object Types 30
Factory Functions 30
Numbers 31
Arithmetic Operators 31
Other Operators 32
Conversion Functions 32
Boolean Numbers 33
Random Numbers 33
Sequences: Strings, Lists, and Tuples 33
Sequence Storage and Access 33
Membership 34
Concatenation2 34
Sequence Elements and Slices 35
Sequence Built-In Functions 35
Strings 35
Assignment 36
Accessing Substrings 36
String Comparison 36
Membership (Searching) 37
Special Characters and Escaping 37
Triple Quotes 37
String Formatting 38
String Functions 38
Lists 39
Creating Lists 39
Updating Lists 40
Indexing 40
Sequence Operations and Functions 41
Tuples 41
Creating Tuples 41
Sequence Operations and Functions 41
Dictionaries 41
Creating a Dictionary 42
Updating a Dictionary 42
Dictionary Operations 42
Chapter 3: Program Structure 44
Decision Making 44
The if Statement 44
The pass Statement 45
Types of Test 45
Loops and Iteration 46
For Statement 47
While Statement 47
Break Statement 48
Continue Statement1 48
List Comprehensions 49
Using Functions 49
Why Write Functions? 49
What Is a Function? 50
Return Values 51
Calling a Function 51
Named Arguments 52
Variable Scope 52
Chapter 4: Input and Output 53
Displaying Output 53
Getting User Input 54
Writing and Reading Files 55
Opening Files 55
Closing Files 56
Reading Files 56
Writing to Files 57
Accessing the File System 58
Command-Line Arguments 59
Chapter 5: Using Modules 60
Importing Code from a Module 60
Modules Come from the Python Path 60
Creating and Using Your Own Modules 61
Chapter 6: Object Orientation1 63
What Is Object Orientation? 63
Creating Objects Using Classes 64
Chapter 7: Exception and Error Handling 69
Exceptions and Errors 69
Chapter 8: Testing Your Code 73
Modularizing Code and Testing It1 73
Test-Driven Development 73
The unittest Framework 74
Assertions 77
More Complex Test Scenarios 77
Chapter 9: Accessing the Web1 78
Chapter 10: Searching 81
Searching for Strings 81
More Complex Searches 81
Introducing Regular Expressions1 82
Simple Searches 82
Using Special Characters 82
Finding Patterns in Text 84
Capturing Parentheses 86
Finding Links in HTML 86
Chapter 11: Databases1 88
SQLite 88
Database Functions 88
Connecting and Loading Data into SQLite 89
Chapter 12: What Next? 92
Appendices 93
References 93
Web1 93
Books 93
Tools 94
Python Built-In Exceptions Hierarchy2 94
Appendix: Further Information 96
Contacting the Author 96
Are You Interested in Training? 96
Learning Python (1- or 2-day course) 96
Online Training 97
leanpy.com 97
Index 98