The Python Apprentice
This book is 100% complete
Completed on 2020-04-05
About the Book
The Python Apprentice together with The Python Journeyman and The Python Master comprise a trilogy of books on the Python programming language and the Python Standard Library. The material in these books is derived from Sixty North's popular and battle-tested training courses which have led thousands of programmers on a journey to being productive with Python.
Our books, which use Python 3, follow a spiral curriculum: We introduce topics gently and then revisit them on multiple occasions to add the depth required to support your progression as a Python developer. We've worked hard to structure the syllabus to avoid forward references. On only a few occasions do we require you to accept techniques on trust, before explaining them later; where we do, it's to deliberately establish good habits.
About the Authors
Bundles that include this book
Table of Contents
-
Preface
- Errata and Suggestions
- Conventions Used in This Book
- Welcome Apprentice!
- Python Promo
- Overview
-
What is Python?
- It’s a programming language!
- It’s a standard library!
- It’s a philosophy
- The journey of a thousand miles…
-
Chapter 1 – Getting started
- Obtaining and installing Python 3
- Starting Python command line REPL
- Leaving the REPL
- Code structure and significant indentation
- Python culture
- Importing standard library modules
-
Getting
help() - Scalar data types: integers, floats, None and bool
- Relational operators
- Control flow: if-statements and while-loops
- Summary
-
Chapter 2 – Strings and collections
-
str– an immutable sequence of Unicode code points - Moment of zen
-
bytes– an immutable sequence of bytes -
list– a sequence of objects -
dict– associating keys with values - For-loops – iterating over series of items
- Putting it all together
- Summary
-
-
Chapter 3 – Modularity
- Organizing code in a .py file
- Defining functions
- Organizing our module into functions
- The Python execution model
- Setting up a main function with command line argument
- Moment of zen
- Docstrings
- Comments
- Shebang
- Summary
-
Chapter 4 – Built-in types and the object model
- The nature of Python object references
- Argument passing semantics – pass by object-reference
- Python return semantics
- Function arguments in detail
- The Python type system
- Variable declaration and scoping
- Moment of zen
- Everything is an object
- Summary
-
Chapter 5 – Exploring built in collection types
-
tuple– an immutable sequence of objects - The tuple constructor
- Strings in action
- Moment of zen
-
range– a collection of evenly spaced integers -
listin action - Dictionaries
-
set– an unordered collection of unique elements - Collection protocols
- Summary
-
-
Chapter 6 – Exceptions
- Exceptions and control flow
- Handling exceptions
- Handling multiple exceptions
- Programmer errors
-
Empty blocks – the
passstatement - Exception objects
- Imprudent return codes
- Re-raising exceptions
- Exceptions are part of your function’s API
- Guard clauses
- Exceptions, APIs, and protocols
-
Choosing not to guard against
TypeError - Pythonic style – EAFP versus LBYL
- Clean-up actions
- Moment of zen
- Platform-specific code
- Summary
-
Chapter 7 - Comprehensions, iterables, and generators
- Comprehensions
- Moment of zen
- Iteration protocols
- Generator functions
- Generator expressions
- “Batteries included” iteration tools
- Pulling it all together
- Summary
-
Chapter 8 – Defining new types with classes
- Defining classes
- Instance methods
- Instance initializers
- Validation and invariants
- Adding a second class
- Collaborating classes
- Moment of zen
- Booking seats
- Naming methods for implementation details
- Sometimes the only object you need is a function
- Polymorphism and duck-typing
- Inheritance and implementation sharing
- Summary
-
Chapter 9 – Files and resource management
- Files
- Context managers
- Moment of zen
- Binary files
- File-like objects
- Other resources
- Summary
-
Chapter 10 – Unit testing with the Python standard library
- Test cases
- Fixtures
- Assertions
- Unit testing example: text analysis
- Using fixtures to create temporary files
- Using the new fixtures
- Using assertions to test behavior
- Testing for exceptions
- Testing for file existence
- Moment of zen
- Summary
-
Chapter 11 – Debugging with PDB
- Debugging commands
- Palindrome debugging
- Summary
- Afterword: Just the Beginning
-
Appendix A – Virtual environments
- Creating a virtual environment
- Activating a virtual environment
- Deactivating a virtual environment
- Other tools for working with virtual environments
-
Appendix B – Packaging and distribution
-
Configuring a package with
distutils -
Installing with
distutils -
Packaging with
distutils
-
Configuring a package with
-
Appendix C – Installing third-party packages
-
Introducing
pip - The Python Package Index
-
Installing local packages with
pip - Uninstalling packages
-
Introducing
- Notes
Authors have earned$9,104,312writing, publishing and selling on Leanpub,
earning 80% royalties while saving up to 25 million pounds of CO2 and up to 46,000 trees.
Learn more about writing on Leanpub
The Leanpub 45-day 100% Happiness Guarantee
Within 45 days of purchase you can get a 100% refund on any Leanpub purchase, in two clicks.
See full terms
Free Updates. DRM Free.
If you buy a Leanpub book, you get free updates for as long as the author updates the book! Many authors use Leanpub to publish their books in-progress, while they are writing them. All readers get free updates, regardless of when they bought the book or how much they paid (including free).
Most Leanpub books are available in PDF (for computers), EPUB (for phones and tablets) and MOBI (for Kindle). The formats that a book includes are shown at the top right corner of this page.
Finally, Leanpub books don't have any DRM copy-protection nonsense, so you can easily read them on any supported device.
Learn more about Leanpub's ebook formats and where to read them
