This book is meant for Python software developers who want to learn how Python can be used in new ways to improve application performance. Working knowledge of Python is a must to make the most of the book.

Chapter 1, Working with Python Modules, looks at Python packages, modules, and namespaces, using virtual environments, and wrapping up Python code for distribution.

Chapter 2, Utilizing the Python Interpreter, explores Python command-line options, customizing interactive sessions, working with Python on Windows OS, and alternative Python interactive shells.

 Chapter 3, Working with Decorators, reviews Python functions and shows how to improve them with decorators.

Chapter 4, Using Python Collections, covers containers and takes an in-depth look at the collections available in Python.

Chapter 5, Generators, Coroutines, and Parallel Processing, focuses on iteration within Python and how it works with generators and then it moves into concurrent and parallel processing.

Chapter 6, Working with Python's Math Module, takes a deep dive into how Python implements a variety of mathematical operations.

Chapter 7, Improving Python Performance with PyPy, outlines improving Python performance using just-in-time compilation.

Chapter 8, Python Enhancement Proposals, discusses how improvements to the Python language are handled and looks at several current proposals.

Chapter 9, Documenting with LyX, demonstrates different techniques and tools to document code.

Intermediate knowledge of Python is required though many topics are covered in a way that even beginners should have an understanding of the basic principles being covered. Specifically, the experience of using both the interactive Python interpreter and writing Python files, how to import modules, and how to work with object-oriented principles is assumed.

This book uses Python 3.6 for the examples, unless otherwise indicated. While alternative implementations are briefly discussed, the book assumes the basic CPython implementation is being used.

def print_funct(arg):
    print(arg)
    if __name__ == "__main__":
        import sys
        print_funct(sys.argv[1])

>>> import random
>>> random.randint(0, 1000)
607

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