Book Image

Mastering Object-Oriented Python - Second Edition

By : Steven F. Lott
Book Image

Mastering Object-Oriented Python - Second Edition

By: Steven F. Lott

Overview of this book

Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a relatively complex discipline to master, and it can be difficult to see how general principles apply to each language's unique features. With the help of the latest edition of Mastering Objected-Oriented Python, you'll be shown how to effectively implement OOP in Python, and even explore Python 3.x. Complete with practical examples, the book guides you through the advanced concepts of OOP in Python, and demonstrates how you can apply them to solve complex problems in OOP. You will learn how to create high-quality Python programs by exploring design alternatives and determining which design offers the best performance. Next, you'll work through special methods for handling simple object conversions and also learn about hashing and comparison of objects. As you cover later chapters, you'll discover how essential it is to locate the best algorithms and optimal data structures for developing robust solutions to programming problems with minimal computer processing. Finally, the book will assist you in leveraging various Python features by implementing object-oriented designs in your programs. By the end of this book, you will have learned a number of alternate approaches with different attributes to confidently solve programming problems in Python.
Table of Contents (25 chapters)
Free Chapter
1
Section 1: Tighter Integration Via Special Methods
11
Section 2: Object Serialization and Persistence
17
Section 3: Object-Oriented Testing and Debugging

Summary

We looked at using unittest and doctest to create automated unit tests. We also looked at creating a test suite so that collections of tests can be packaged for reuse and aggregation into suites with larger scopes, without relying on the automated test discovery process.

We looked at how to create mock objects so that we can test software units in isolation. We also looked at the various kinds of setup and teardown features. These allowed us to write tests with complex initial states or persistent results.

The FIRST unit test properties fit well with both doctest and unittest. The FIRST properties are as follows:

  • Fast: Unless we write egregiously bad tests, the performance of doctest and unitest should be very fast.
  • Isolated: The unittest package offers us a mock module that we can use to isolate our class definitions. In addition, we can exercise some care in our design...