Learning Python

“In the Python way of thinking, explicit is better than implicit, and simple is better than complex.”
- Mark Lutz, Learning Python

>>> import this

Module installation

• Installing Python Modules in the Python v2.7.2 Documentation: “This document describes the Python Distribution Utilities (Distutils) from the end-user’s point-of-view, describing how to extend the capabilities of a standard Python installation by building and installing third-party Python modules and extensions.”
• Building and Distributing Packages with setuptools on Python Enterprise Application Kit (PEAK): “setuptools is a collection of enhancements to the Python distutils that allow you to more easily build and distribute Python packages, especially ones that have dependencies on other packages.”
• Distribute is a fork of the Setuptools project and is intended to replace Setuptools as the standard method for working with Python module distributions.”
• Pip is a tool for installing and managing Python packages, such as those found in the Python Package Index. pip is a replacement for easy_install.
• Better Package Management

Additional resources

• Is it worth using Python’s re.compile? on Stack Overflow
• New-style and classic classes on Python Documentation
• Google Python Style Guide
• PEP 8: Style Guide for Python Code has emerged as the style guide that most projects adhere to; it promotes a very readable and eye-pleasing coding style. Every Python developer should read it at some point. ⁵
• PEP 257: Docstring Conventions explains what distinguishes a good docstring from a great docstring. ⁶
• SWIG is a software development tool that connects programs written in C and C++ with a variety of high-level programming languages, including Python.
• PyPy is a fast, compliant alternative implementation of the Python language (2.7.1).
• Protocol Buffers is Google’s data interchange format, which encodes structured data in an efficient yet extensible format.
• Google I/O 2011: Python @ Google: A brief introduction to Python for developers familiar with other languages, followed by a Q&A section about Google’s use of Python and related tools.
• Matplotlib is a Python 2D plotting library that produces publication quality figures in a variety of hardcopy formats and interactive environments across platforms.
• Generator Expressions are a more efficient type of list comprehension that does not store a full list in memory.

Production

• Dependabot - Automatic dependency updates