Book excerpt: Praise for Core Python Programming The Complete Developer's Guide to Python New to Python? The definitive guide to Python development for experienced programmers Covers core language features thoroughly, including those found in the latest Python releases–learn more than just the syntax! Learn advanced topics such as regular expressions, networking, multithreading, GUI, Web/CGI, and Python extensions Includes brand-new material on databases, Internet clients, Java/Jython, and Microsoft Office, plus Python 2.6 and 3 Presents hundreds of code snippets, interactive examples, and practical exercises to strengthen your Python skills Python is an agile, robust, expressive, fully object-oriented, extensible, and scalable programming language. It combines the power of compiled languages with the simplicity and rapid development of scripting languages. In Core Python Programming, Second Edition , leading Python developer and trainer Wesley Chun helps you learn Python quickly and comprehensively so that you can immediately succeed with any Python project. Using practical code examples, Chun introduces all the fundamentals of Python programming: syntax, objects and memory management, data types, operators, files and I/O, functions, generators, error handling and exceptions, loops, iterators, functional programming, object-oriented programming and more. After you learn the core fundamentals of Python, he shows you what you can do with your new skills, delving into advanced topics, such as regular expressions, networking programming with sockets, multithreading, GUI development, Web/CGI programming and extending Python in C. This edition reflects major enhancements in the Python 2.x series, including 2.6 and tips for migrating to 3. It contains new chapters on database and Internet client programming, plus coverage of many new topics, including new-style classes, Java and Jython, Microsoft Office (Win32 COM Client) programming, and much more. Learn professional Python style, best practices, and good programming habits Gain a deep understanding of Python's objects and memory model as well as its OOP features, including those found in Python's new-style classes Build more effective Web, CGI, Internet, and network and other client/server applications Learn how to develop your own GUI applications using Tkinter and other toolkits available for Python Improve the performance of your Python applications by writing extensions in C and other languages, or enhance I/O-bound applications by using multithreading Learn about Python's database API and how to use a variety of database systems with Python, including MySQL, Postgres, and SQLite Features appendices on Python 2.6 & 3, including tips on migrating to the next generation!