Expert Python Programming Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Preface

• Chapter 1: Getting started
• Installing Python
• Python Implementations
• Jython
• IronPython
• PyPy
• Other Implementations
• Linux Installation
• Package Installation
• Compiling the Sources
• Windows Installation
• Installing Python
• Installing MinGW
• Installing MSYS
• Mac OS X Installation
• Package Installation
• Compiling the Source
• The Python Prompt
• Customizing the Interactive Prompt
• iPython: An Advanced Prompt
• Installing setuptools
• Understanding How It Works
• setuptools Installation Using EasyInstall
• Hooking MinGW into distutils
• Working Environment
• Using an Editor and Complementary Tools
• Code Editor
• Installing and Configuring Vim
• Using Another Editor
• Extra Binaries
• Using an Integrated Development Environment
• Installing Eclipse with PyDev
• Summary

• Chapter 2: Syntax Best Practices—Below the Class Level
• List Comprehensions
• Iterators and Generators
• Generators
• Coroutines
• Generator Expressions
• The itertools Module
• islice: The Window Iterator
• tee: The Back and Forth Iterator
• groupby: The uniq Iterator
• Other Functions
• Decorators
• How to Write a Decorator
• Argument checking
• Caching
• Proxy
• Context Provider
• with and contextlib
• The contextlib Module
• Context Example
• Summary

• Chapter 3: Syntax Best Practices—Above the Class Level
• Subclassing Built-in Types
• Accessing Methods from Superclasses
• Understanding Python's Method Resolution Order (MRO)
• super Pitfalls
• Mixing super and classic Calls
• Heterogeneous Arguments
• Best Practices
• Descriptors and Properties
• Descriptors
• Introspection Descriptor
• Meta-descriptor
• Properties
• Slots
• Meta-programming
• The__new__ Method
• __metaclass__ Method
• Summary

• Chapter 4: Choosing Good Names
• PEP 8 and Naming Best Practices
• Naming Styles
• Variables
• Constants
• Public and Private Variables
• Functions and Methods
• The Private Controversy
• Special Methods
• Arguments
• Properties
• Classes
• Modules and Packages
• Naming Guide
• Use "has" or "is" Prefix for Boolean Elements
• Use Plural for Elements That Are Sequences
• Use Explicit Names for Dictionaries
• Avoid Generic Names
• Avoid Existing Names
• Best Practices for Arguments
• Build Arguments by Iterative Design
• Trust the Arguments and Your Tests
• Use *args and **kw Magic Arguments Carefully
• Class Names
• Module and Package Names
• Working on APIs
• Tracking Verbosity
• Building the Namespace Tree
• Splitting the Code
• Using Eggs
• Using a Deprecation Process
• Useful Tools
• Pylint
• CloneDigger
• Summary

• Chapter 5: Writing a Package
• A Common Pattern for All Packages
• setup.py, the Script That Controls Everything
• sdist
• build and bdist
• bdist_egg
• install
• How to Uninstall a Package
• develop
• test
• register and upload
• Creating a New Command
• setup.py Usage Summary
• Other Important Metadata
• The Template-Based Approach
• Python Paste
• Creating Templates
• Creating the Package Template
• Development Cycle
• Summary

• Chapter 6: Writing an Application
• Atomisator: An Introduction
• Overall Picture
• Working Environment
• Adding a Test Runner
• Adding a packages Structure
• Writing the Packages
• atomisator.parser
• Creating the Initial Package
• Creating the Initial doctest
• Building the Test Environment
• Writing the Code
• atomisator.db
• SQLAlchemy
• Providing the APIs
• atomisator.feed
• atomisator.main
• Distributing Atomisator
• Dependencies between Packages
• Summary

• Chapter 7: Working with zc.buildout
• zc.buildout Philosophy
• Configuration File Structure
• Minimum Configuration File
• [buildout] Section Options
• The buildout Command
• Recipes
• Notable Recipes
• Creating Recipes
• Atomisator buildout Environment
• buildout Folder Structure
• Going Further
• Releasing and Distributing
• Releasing the Packages
• Adding a Release Configuration File
• Building and Releasing the Application
• Summary

• Chapter 8: Managing Code
• Version Control Systems
• Centralized Systems
• Distributed Systems
• Distributed Strategies
• Centralized or Distributed?
• Mercurial
• Project Management with Mercurial
• Setting Up a Dedicated Folder
• Configuring hgwebdir
• Configuring Apache
• Setting Up Authorizations
• Setting Up the Client Side
• Continuous Integration
• Buildbot
• Installing Buildbot
• Hooking Buildbot and Mercurial
• Hooking Apache and Buildbot
• Summary

• Chapter 9: Managing Life Cycle
• Different Approaches
• Waterfall Development Model
• Spiral Development Model
• Iterative Development Model
• Defining a Life Cycle
• Planning
• Development
• Global Debug
• Release
• Setting Up a Tracking System
• Trac
• Installation
• Apache Settings
• Permission Settings
• Project Life Cycle with Trac
• Planning
• Development
• Cleaning
• Release
• Summary

• Chapter 10: Documenting Your Project
• The Seven Rules of Technical Writing
• Write in Two Steps
• Target the Readership
• Use a Simple Style
• Limit the Scope of the Information
• Use Realistic Code Examples
• Use a Light but Sufficient Approach
• Use Templates
• A reStructuredText Primer
• Section Structure
• Lists
• Inline Markup
• Literal Block
• Links
• Building the Documentation
• Building the Portfolio
• Design
• Usage
• Operations
• Make Your Own Portfolio
• Building the Landscape
• Producer's Layout
• Consumer's Layout
• Summary

• Chapter 11: Test-Driven Development
• I Don't Test
• Test-Driven Development Principles
• Preventing Software Regression
• Improving Code Quality
• Providing the Best Developer Documentation
• Producing Robust Code Faster
• What Kind of Tests?
• Acceptance Tests
• Unit Tests
• Python Standard Test Tools
• I Do Test
• Unittest Pitfalls
• Unittest Alternatives
• nose
• py.test
• Fakes and Mocks
• Building a Fake
• Using Mocks
• Document-Driven Development
• Writing a Story
• Summary

• Chapter 12: Optimization: General Principles and Profiling Techniques
• The Three Rules of Optimization
• Make It Work First
• Work from the User's Point of View
• Keep the Code Readable(and thus maintainable)
• Optimization Strategy
• Find Another Culprit
• Scale the Hardware
• Write a Speed Test
• Finding Bottlenecks
• Profiling CPU Usage
• Macro-Profiling
• Micro-Profiling
• Measuring Pystones
• Profiling Memory Usage
• How Python Deals with Memory
• Profiling Memory
• Profiling Network Usage
• Summary

• Chapter 13: Optimization: Solutions
• Reducing the Complexity
• Measuring Cyclomatic Complexity
• Measuring the Big-O Notation
• Simplifying
• Searching in a List
• Using a Set Instead of a List
• Cut the External Calls, Reduce the Workload
• Using Collections
• Multithreading
• What is Multithreading?
• How Python Deals with Threads
• When Should Threading Be Used?
• Building Responsive Interfaces
• Delegating Work
• Multi-User Applications
• Simple Example
• Multiprocessing
• Pyprocessing
• Caching
• Deterministic Caching
• Non-Deterministic Caching
• Pro-Active Caching
• Memcached
• Summary

• Chapter 14: Useful Design Patterns
• Creational Patterns
• Singleton
• Structural Patterns
• Adapter
• Interfaces
• Proxy
• Facade
• Behavioral Patterns
• Observer
• Visitor
• Template
• Summary

• Index