The power and capabilities of a modern computer programming language are often found in the libraries associated with the language. Python is no exception. Python’s standard library is a large body of modules and classes that can provide the functionalities needed to solve many problems. It is also the foundational library underlying other libraries of great utility, such as NumPy and matplotlib. The complete reference manual for the standard library is an eight gigabyte (GB), 1900-plus-page portable document format (PDF) in the documentation zip file that can be downloaded from the Python website (https://www.python.org). What is the benefit of a 1300-plus-page printed book on the same standard library?
There are several advantages to a separate printed volume. For many people (myself included), a printed volume is simply easier to use. If I want to check a cross-reference, I simply open the book to the index in the back to find the page. Scrolling through a large electronic document can be very inconvenient. Convenience, however, is of secondary importance to the content.
This book is the author’s second volume on the standard Python library. The first one was on Python 2. This one is on Python 3. There are differences between the two standard libraries corresponding to the differences in the language. Both books are based on the author’s Python Module of the Week blog entries (https://pymotw.com). Not every topic in the complete reference is included in this book. The author selected a large fraction of the topics and applications most Python users are likely to encounter. He then illustrated the use of the modules and classes selected with complete (but brief) programs with their expected output. The complete reference also has some programs included, but not to the extent present in this guide. Everything selected by the author is illustrated with programs. The author also regrouped modules and classes in many cases based on his own insight into how these software components are logically connected and the similarity of the kinds of problems in which they may be used.
Topics in the standard library document appearing in their entirety, or nearly so, in this book include text processing services, binary data services, data types, numeric and mathematical methods, functional programming modules, file and directory access, data persistence, data compression and archiving, file formats, cryptographic services, concurrent execution, interprocess communication and networking, Internet protocols and support, internationalization, program frameworks, debugging and profiling, Python runtime services, and importing modules. Other chapters in the standard library document are covered partially: generic operating system services, Internet data handling, development tools, and Python language services. Some are not covered at all, such as built-ins, multimedia services, graphical user interfaces with Tk, custom Python interpreters, Windows-specific services, and Unix-specific services.
The book is intended to supplement the standard library reference manual. It does so in a very practical manner. The topics included cover situations and uses that are the most common and are cross platform. The programs are all downloadable from the author’s website (given in the book) as either a zip file or as a TGZ file.
More reviews about this item: Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, IProgrammer
