Book Image

Secret Recipes of the Python Ninja

Book Image

Secret Recipes of the Python Ninja

Overview of this book

This book covers the unexplored secrets of Python, delve into its depths, and uncover its mysteries. You’ll unearth secrets related to the implementation of the standard library, by looking at how modules actually work. You’ll understand the implementation of collections, decimals, and fraction modules. If you haven’t used decorators, coroutines, and generator functions much before, as you make your way through the recipes, you’ll learn what you’ve been missing out on. We’ll cover internal special methods in detail, so you understand what they are and how they can be used to improve the engineering decisions you make. Next, you’ll explore the CPython interpreter, which is a treasure trove of secret hacks that not many programmers are aware of. We’ll take you through the depths of the PyPy project, where you’ll come across several exciting ways that you can improve speed and concurrency. Finally, we’ll take time to explore the PEPs of the latest versions to discover some interesting hacks.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
Packt Upsell
Foreword
Contributors
Preface
Index

PEP 543 – Unified TLS API


PEP 543 was introduced in October, 2016, for Python version 3.7, and is still in Draft status. Its goal is to define a standard TLS interface for Python, as a collection of abstract base classes. This interface would allow Python to bind to TLS libraries other than OpenSSL, to reduce dependence on the OpenSSL environment. By using abstract classes, programs can still use the Python interface for the standard ssl module, while actually using a different security library.

With the ssl module as a part of the Python standard library, it naturally has become the go-to tool for TLS encryption. However, some developers would prefer to use a different library other than OpenSSL, and incorporating these alternate libraries into their programs requires them to learn how to do it effectively, while maintaining a cohesive experience for the target platform.

The following is a list of problems with the current Python TLS configuration:

  • Improvements in OpenSSL, such as higher-security...