Course Description

This 3-day Python Programming Advanced training course picks up where our Python Programming Introduction training course leaves off, covering some topics in more detail, and adding many new ones, with a focus on enterprise development. This is a hands-on programming class. All concepts are reinforced by informal practice during the lecture followed by lab exercises. Many labs build on earlier labs, which helps students retain the earlier material.

Pre-requisites

Attendance at our Python Programming Introduction training course or equivalent experience. All students should be able to write simple Python scripts, using basic data types, program structures, and use the standard Python library.

Who is this course for?

Advanced users, system administrators and web site administrators who want to use Python to support their server installations, as well as anyone else who wants to automate or simplify common tasks with the use of Python scripts.

Further Training

Course content

Python Refresher
Variables
Python Data Types
Sequences
Mapping Types
Program Structure
Files an Console I/O
Conditionals
Loops
Defining a Function
Function Parameters
Builtins
OS Services
The os Module
Environment Variables
Launching external programs
Paths, Directories & Filenames
Walking Directory Trees
Dates & Times
The Time Module
The Calendar Module
Pythonic Programming
Common Python Idioms
Slicing & Dicing
Unpacking Function Arguments
Lambda Functions
Nested Functions
List Comprehensions
Iterables
Generator Expressions
Writing Generators
Python Time Travel
Three Python Easter Eggs
A String Trick
String Formatting
Modules & Packages
Modules
Using import
Initialization Code
Namespaces
Executing Modules as Scripts
Packages
Configuring Import with __init__.py
Name Resolution (AKA scope)
Nested Functions
Python Style
Classes
About OO Programming
Defining Classes
Constructors
Instance Methods
Properties
Class Methods & Data
Static Methods
“Private” Methods
Inheritance
Untangling the Nomenclature
Metaprogramming
Special Attributes
globals() & locals()
Working with Attributes
The inspect module
Decorators
Decorator Functions
Decorator Classes
Decorating Classes
Creating Classes at Runtime
Monkey Patching
Objectives
Program Development
Comments
Pylint
Customizing pylint
Using pyreverse
The unittest module
Skipping Tests
Making a suite of tests
Automated test discovery
Using Nose
The Python Debugger
Starting debug mode
Stepping through a Program
Setting Breakpoints
Profiling
Benchmarking
Distributing Modules
Installing Packages
Ways to distribute code
Overview of distutils
Preparing for distribution
Creating a source distribution
Creating built distributions
Setup.py Options
Setup.py Commands
Code Portability
Database Access
The DB API
Available Interfaces
Connecting to a Server
Creating a Cursor
Executing a Statement
Fetching Data
Tip: Making an iterator for large queries
Parameterized Statements
Dictionary Cursors
Metadata
Transactions
Object-relational Mappers
GUI Programming with PyQt4
What is PyQt4?
Event-Driven Applications
GUI Application Flow Chart
External Anatomy of a PyQt4 Application
Internal Anatomy of a PyQt4 Application
Using designer
Anatomy of a designer-based application
Naming Conventions
Common Widgets
Layouts
Selectable Buttons
Making your application stretch
Actions & Events
Menu Bar
Status Bar
Using predefined dialogs
Creating Custom Dialogs
Tabs
Niceties
Working with Images
GUI Programming with Tkinter
Objectives
Tkinter Overview
Basic Tkinter Programming
Object-oriented Tkinter
Widgets
Labels
Buttons
Setting Fonts
Colors
Standard Colors
Variable Wrappers
Selectable Buttons
Text Entry Blanks
Multiline Text Entry/Display
Listbox
Arranging Widgets
Using pack()
Tweaking the layout
Frames
Adding Scrollbars
Callbacks
Callback Parameters
Binding Events
Event Specifications
Creating Menus
Network Programming
Sockets
Socket options
Client Concepts
Server Concepts
Application Protocols
Forking Servers
Grabbing HTML from the Web
Consuming Web Services
Web Data the Easier Way
Sending email
Binary Data
The struct module
Multiprogramming
What are Threads?
The Python Thread Manager
The threading module
Threads for the impatient
Creating a thread class
Variable Sharing
Using Queues
Debugging threaded programs
The multiprocessing module
Alternatives to multiprogramming
System Administration
The subprocess module
subprocess convenience functions
Using the sh module
Remote access
Other useful modules
Permissions
Saving Information
Creating a useful command line script
Creating Filters
Parsing the command line
Simple logging
Logging Levels
Formatting Log Entries
Logging to other Destinations
XML & JSON
About XML
Normal approaches to XML
Which module to use?
Getting Started with ElementTree
How ElementTree works
Creating a new XML Document
Parsing an XML Document
Navigating the XML Document
Using XPath
About JSON
Reading JSON
Writing JSON
Extending Python
Why extend Python?
Ways to extend Python with C
Hand-coded C
Overview
The C Program
Methods
The Method Table
The init function
Handling errors
Custom exception objects
Putting it all together
Using SWIG
The interface file
Generating the Wrappers
Building and installing the extension