Beginning Python

Magnus Lie Hetland is an experienced Python programmer, having used the language since the late 1990s. He is also an associate professor of algorithms at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, having taught algorithms for the better part of a decade. Hetland is the author of Practical Python and Beginning Python, first and second editions, as well as several scientific papers. Fabio Nelli is an IT Scientific Application Specialist at IRBM Science Park, a private research center in Pomezia, Roma, Italy. He has been a computer consultant for many years at IBM, EDS, Merck Sharp, and Dohme, along with several banks and insurance companies. He has an Organic Chemistry degree and many years of experience in Information technologies and Automation systems applied to Life Sciences (Tech Specialist at Beckman Coulter Italy and Spain). He is currently developing Java applications that interface Oracle databases with scientific instrumentation generating data and web server applications providing analysis of the results to researchers in real time.

Ch. 1 Instant hacking : the basics.- Ch. 2 Lists and tuples.- Ch. 3 Working with strings.- Ch. 4 Dictionaries : when indices won't do.- Ch. 5 Conditionals, loops, and some other statements.- Ch. 6 Abstraction.- Ch. 7 More abstraction.- Ch. 8 Exceptions.- Ch. 9 Magic methods, properties, and iterators.- Ch. 10 Batteries included.- Ch. 11 Files and stuff.- Ch. 12 Graphical user interfaces.- Ch. 13 Database support.- Ch. 14 Network programming.- Ch. 15 Python and the Web.- Ch. 16 Testing, 1-2-3.- Ch. 17 Extending Python.- Ch. 18 Packaging your programs.- Ch. 19 Playful programming.- Ch. 20 Project 1 : instant markup.- Ch. 21 Project 2 : painting a pretty picture.- Ch. 22 Project 3 : XML for all occasions.- Ch. 23 Project 4 : in the news.- Ch. 24 Project 5 : a virtual tea party.- Ch. 25 Project 6 : remote editing with CGI.- Ch. 26 Project 7 : your own bulletin board.- Ch. 27 Project 8 : file sharing with XML-RPC.- Ch. 28 Project 9 : file sharing II - now with GUI!.- Ch. 29 Project 10 : do-it-yourself arcade game.- Appendix A: The Short Version.- Appendix B: Python Reference.