Expert Python Programming

Most recently (09/24/08) Tarek Ziadé announced the publication of his wonderful book ( IMHO ).

Who is it written for

First of all, it is intended for people with Python programming experience who want to improve their skills.

Expert Python Programming is not another book about the syntax of the Python programming language, it is a book about the Python platform, about the main libraries and tools used to write professional applications. It discusses software development processes such as continuous integration , documentation, testing, release, refactoring, and more.
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From the book you will learn what to use IDE, DVCS, testing frameworks, optimization techniques; how to release and maintain developed applications; how to document code using reStructuredText and Sphynx ; how to distribute using setuptools and other tools ( PasteScript , zc.buildout , builbots ); how to use the issue / bag system Trac tracking.

Links

* Detailed information about the book
* Detailed review by Michele Simionato
* Author's blog
* Chapter 10, Documenting Your Project. [PDF 3MB]

Some information about each chapter.

Chapter 1 , Introduction. Describes the process of installing and configuring a convenient developer environment for working with Python.

Chapter 2 and 3 , Best programming practice. From these chapters, you'll learn why super () is dangerous, how MRO works, meta-programming, and so on.

Chapter 4 , Choosing the Right Names. This chapter will teach you to choose good names, introduce you to the Python coding style, and also show you how to properly organize and build a modular application.

Chapter 5 , Writing a Package. The basic idea: to write and distribute all your packages in one way, for this use templates and distutils.

Chapter 6 , Writing the Application. Same as chapter 5, but at the application level. In this area, much depends on what frameworks you use and what part of the community you are.

Chapter 7 , Working with zc.buildout. Buildout is widely used in Plone and Zope. This chapter explains how it works and how to use it to distribute your application.

Chapter 8 , Source Code Management. It is about state-of-the-art version control systems and the principles of continuous integration. Work with mercurial and buildbot is considered.

Chapter 9 , Lifecycle Management. Same as Chapter 8, but focused on software life cycles, and why iterative ways are driving. Also about how to use Trac.

Chapter 10 , Project Documentation.

Chapter 11 , Test-Driven Development.

Chapters 12 and 13 , Optimization. Everyone wants to know how to calculate the complexity of the code? How to measure and how to optimize?

Chapter 14 , Useful Design Patterns, From a Python Programmer's Perspective.