Programmer’s Python: Everything is Data
Program Listings
Errata
Extras:
A clearer account of Python's Unicode Strings can be found at Programmer's Python Data - Unicode Strings
ISBN: 978-1871962598
Buy from: Amazon
Python is currently a very popular programming language and rightly so. It has more flexibility than most modern languages which makes it a very easy language to get started with and has features that make it a very capable language for lots of purposes. There is, however, much more to Python than most programmers appreciate. Python really does do things differently, and while it might look like a traditional class-based language, it isn’t.
Programmer’s Python: Everything is Data is part of a set of Something Completely Different books that look at what makes Python special and sets it apart from other programming languages. These books aren’t for the complete beginner and some familiarity with both object-oriented programming and Python is assumed.
The first title in the series, Programmer’s Python: Everything is an Object, now in its second edition, reveals how Python has a unique and unifying approach with regards to class and objects. Following the same philosophy the language also treats data in a distinctly Pythonic way. What we have in Python are data objects that are very usable and very extensible. From the unlimited precision integers, referred to as bignums, through the choice of a list to play the role of the array, to the availability of the dictionary as a built-in data type, Python never fails to please and this book is what you need to help you make the most of these special features. There are also complete chapters on Boolean logic, dates and times, regular expressions, bit manipulation, files, pickle and using ctypes.
When you move beyond the basic data types you discover that Python has concepts like iterable and sequence that cross the usual data structure classifications. The reliance on magic “dunder” methods to implement standard operations, something that seems like a strange choice when you first meet it, makes Python amazingly extendable from within Python. That is, Python is exceptional at metaprogramming. At a more practical level, Python is perhaps the only language to not only do Unicode right but also to provide ways to do Unicode and other encodings in custom ways.
Mike James has had a long career as a programmer and has mastered many programming languages. He is the founder and chief editor of I-Programmer, the online magazine written by programmers for programmers and the author of dozens of books.
His recent books include Deep C#, JavaScript Jems, Programmer’s Guide to Kotlin, Programmer’s Guide To Theory and The Trick Of The Mind: Programming and Computational Thought.
Mike James has a BSc in Physics, an MSc in Mathematics and a PhD in Computer Science, a discipline he taught at undergraduate level.
- Publisher : I/O Press (May 4, 2022)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 347 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1871962757
- ISBN-13 : 978-1871962758
- Item Weight : 1.67 pounds
- Dimensions : 7 x 0.98 x 10 inches
