Python Unlocked

Arun Tigeraniya

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9781785885990
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Programming in Python
• Index: Computer Science

Become more fluent in Python—learn strategies and techniques for smart and high-performance Python programming

About This Book

• Write smarter, bug-free, high performance code with minimal effort
• Uncover the best tools and options available to Python developers today
• Deploy decorators, design patters, and various optimization techniques to use Python 3.5 effectively

Who This Book Is For

If you are a Python developer and you think that you don't know everything about the language yet, then this is the book for you. We will unlock the mysteries and re-introduce you to the hidden features of Python to write efficient programs, making optimal use of the language.

What You Will Learn

• Manipulate object creation processes for instances, classes, and functions
• Use the best possible language constructs to write data structures with super speed and maintainability
• Make efficient use of design patterns to decrease development time and make your code more maintainable
• Write better test cases with an improved understanding of the testing framework of Python and unittests, and discover how to develop new functionalities in it
• Write fully-optimized code with the Python language by profiling, compiling C modules, and more
• Unlock asynchronous programming to build efficient and scalable applications

In Detail

Python is a versatile programming language that can be used for a wide range of technical tasks—computation, statistics, data analysis, game development, and more. Though Python is easy to learn, it's range of features means there are many aspects of it that even experienced Python developers don't know about. Even if you're confident with the basics, its logic and syntax, by digging deeper you can work much more effectively with Python – and get more from the language.

Python Unlocked walks you through the most effective techniques and best practices for high performance Python programming - showing you how to make the most of the Python language. You'll get to know objects and functions inside and out, and will learn how to use them to your advantage in your programming projects. You will also find out how to work with a range of design patterns including abstract factory, singleton, strategy pattern, all of which will help make programming with Python much more efficient. Finally, as the process of writing a program is never complete without testing it, you will learn to test threaded applications and run parallel tests.

If you want the edge when it comes to Python, use this book to unlock the secrets of smarter Python programming.

Style and approach

This is book had been created to help you to "unlock" the best ways to tackle the challenges and performance bottlenecks that many Python developers face today. The keys are supported with program examples to help you understand the concepts better and see them in action.

Python Unlocked

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Table of Contents

Python Unlocked

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

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Why subscribe?

Free access for Packt account holders

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Objects in Depth

Understanding objects

Identity

Value

Type

Making calls to objects

How objects are created

Creation of function objects

Creation of instances

Creation of class objects

Playing with attributes

Descriptors

Class, static, and instance methods

Summary

2. Namespaces and Classes

How referencing objects work – namespaces

Functions with state – closures

Understanding import and modules

Customizing imports

Class inheritance

Method resolution order

Super's superpowers

Using language protocols in classes

Iteration protocol

Context manager protocol

Using abstract classes

Summary

3. Functions and Utilities

Defining functions

Decorating callables

Utilities

Summary

4. Data Structures and Algorithms

Python built-in data structures

Python library data structures

Third party data structures

Arrays/List

Binary tree

Sorted containers

Trie

Algorithms on scale

Summary

5. Elegance with Design Patterns

Observer pattern

Strategy pattern

Singleton pattern

Template pattern

Adaptor pattern

Facade pattern

Flyweight pattern

Command pattern

Abstract factory

Registry pattern

State pattern

Summary

6. Test-Driven Development

Mock for tests

Parameterization

Creating custom test runners

Testing threaded applications

Running test cases in parallel

Summary

7. Optimization Techniques

Writing optimized code

Profiling to find bottlenecks

Using fast libraries

Using C speeds

SWIG

CFFI

Cython

Summary

8. Scaling Python

Going multithreaded

Using multiple processes

Going asynchronous

Scaling horizontally

Summary

Index

Python Unlocked

Copyright © 2015 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: December 2015

Production reference: 1181215

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

35 Livery Street

Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78588-599-0

www.packtpub.com

Credits

Author

Arun Tigeraniya

Reviewers

Mike Driscoll

Chetan Giridhar

Sanjeev Jaiswal

Vishrut Mehta

Commissioning Editor

Veena Pagare

Acquisition Editor

Vivek Anantharaman

Content Development Editors

Neeshma Ramakrishnan

Deepti Thore

Technical Editor

Vijin Boricha

Copy Editor

Priyanka Ravi

Project Coordinator

Shweta H Birwatkar

Proofreader

Safis Editing

Indexer

Mariammal Chettiyar

Production Coordinator

Arvindkumar Gupta

Cover Work

Arvindkumar Gupta

About the Author

Arun Tigeraniya has a BE in electronics and communication. After his graduation, he worked at various companies as a Python developer. His main professional interests are AI and Big Data. He enjoys writing efficient and testable code, and interesting technical articles. He has worked with open source technology since 2008. He currently works at Jaarvis Labs Limited, India.

I would like to thank my parents and elder siblings, Ashok and Asha, who have always supported me in completing this book with good quality. A special thanks to the people at Packt for being so understanding even though I missed a few deadlines.

About the Reviewers

Mike Driscoll has been programming in Python since 2006. He enjoys writing about Python on his blog at http://www.blog.pythonlibrary.org/. He co-authored Core Python Refcard for DZone. Mike has also been a technical reviewer for Python 3 Object Oriented Programming, Python 2.6 Graphics Cookbook and Tkinter GUI Application Development Hotshot, all by Packt Publishing. He recently wrote the book Python 101, and is working on his next book.

I would like to thank my beautiful wife, Evangeline, for always supporting me. I would also like to thank my friends and family for all that they do to help me. Finally, I would like to thank Jesus Christ for saving me.

Chetan Giridhar is a Python developer, open source enthusiast, and start-up specialist. He has authored/reviewed books on Python, published papers in journals, and delivered talks in conferences around the world. You can get in touch with him at <[email protected]>.

He has also reviewed IPython Interactive Computing and Visualization Cookbook by Packt Publishing.

I would like thank my mentors, friends, colleagues, and my ever-supporting family.

Sanjeev Jaiswal is a computer graduate having 6 years of industrial experience. He uses Perl, Python, and GNU/Linux for his day-to-day work. Sanjeev teaches Perl, Python, web development online as well. Sanjeev has worked closely with major clients, such as CSC, IBM, United Online, and Syniverse. He has also developed an interest in web application security since 2013.

Sanjeev loves teaching technical stuff to engineering students and IT professionals, and he has been teaching since 2008. He founded Alien Coders (http://www.aliencoders.org/) based on the Learning through sharing principle for computer science students and IT professionals in 2010, and it became a huge hit in India amongst engineering students.

He usually uploads technical videos on YouTube under the AlienCoders tag. One can follow him on:

• Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/jassics
• Twitter at http://twitter.com/jassics

He wrote an Instant book called WebSpeed Optimization Techniques, and Learning Django Web Development by Packt Publishing, and he is always looking forward to author or review more and more books from Packt and other publishers.

I would like to thank my parents and my wife, Shalini Jaiswal, for moral support at every phase of life and growth. I also give deep thanks and gratitude to my best friends Ritesh Kamal and Ranjan Pandey for their personal and professional help all the time.

It is because of them and other friends that I learned and achieved a set of impossible goals in a short time.

Vishrut Mehta is a dual degree student of IIIT Hyderabad, currently in his 5th year. He is completing his MS under Dr. Vasudeva Varma, Research Dean of IIIT, at Search and Information Extraction Lab (SIEL). He works in areas related to software-defined networks and cloud computing. He completed his internship at Google last summer and a research internship at INRIA, France, in 2014. During his internship, he worked on various areas of cloud computing, such as automatic reconfiguration of a multicloud application. Vishrut also participated in Google Summer of Code in 2013 and was also was the admin for the Google Code-in between 2013 and 2014 for Sahana Software Foundation.

He has also reviewed Learning Python Network Programming, Untangle Network Security, and Python Network Programming Cookbook, all by Packt Publishing.

I would like to thank my guides Dr. Vasudeva Varma and Dr. Reddy Raja for constantly supporting my ideas and helping me in my work. I would also like to thank my parents who never lost their faith in me.

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Table of contents

• Python Unlocked