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

Alternative Python implementations


Python has been ported to a number of other environments, such as Java and .NET. This means Python can be used in these environments like normal, but gains access to the APIs and code underpinnings for these environments.

Jython is used for Java integration, IronPython is used for the .NET framework, Stackless Python is available for enhanced threading performance, and MicroPython is for use with microcontrollers.

How to do it...

  1. To use Jython, a Java .jar file provides the installation executable. Two options are available for installation.
  2. Normal GUI installation is available by using the following:
      java -jar jython_installer-2.7.1.jar
  1. For console-based systems, such as headless servers, the following command can be used for installation:
      java -jar jython_installer-2.7.1.jar --console
  1. IronPython can be installed using a Windows .msi installer, via a .zip file, or downloading source code. Installation with the .msi file is like a normal Windows software...