Part II - Learning from the LibraryΒΆ
In Part II, you will get an abbreviated tour of some of the Python Standard Library. The reason it’s abbreviated is that the Python Standard Library is HUGE! So this section is to get you acquainted with using the modules that come with Python. I will be going over the modules I use the most in my day-to-day job and the modules I’ve seen used by my co-workers. I think this mini-tour will prepare you for digging in on your own.
Let’s take a look at what we’ll be covering:
- Introspection
- csv
- ConfigParser
- logging
- os
- smtplib / email
- subprocess
- sys
- thread / queues
- time / datetime
The first chapter in this section will give you a quick tutorial into Python’s introspection abilities; basically you’ll learn how to make Python tell you about itself, which sounds kind of weird but is really quite valuable to know about. Next we’ll learn how to use ConfigParser, a neat little module that let’s you read and write config files. After that we’ll take a look at logging. The os module can do lots of fun things, but we’ll try to focus on the ones that I think you’ll find most useful. The subprocess allows you to open other processes.
You will find the sys module allows you to exit a program, get the Python path, acquire version information, redirect stdout and a whole lot more. The thread module allows you to create threads in your program. We won’t dive too deep into that subject as it can get confusing pretty quickly. The time and datetime modules allow you to manipulate dates and time in Python, which has many applications when it comes to developing programs.
Let’s get started!