Get a comprehensive, in-depth introduction to the core Python language with this hands-on book. Based on author Mark Lutz’s popular training course, this updated fifth edition will help you quickly write efficient, high-quality code with Python. It’s an ideal way to begin, whether you’re new to programming or a professional developer versed in other languages.

Complete with quizzes, exercises, and helpful illustrations, this easy-to-follow, self-paced tutorial gets you started with both Python 2.7 and 3.3— the latest releases in the 3.X and 2.X lines—plus all other releases in common use today. You’ll also learn some advanced language features that recently have become more common in Python code.

Explore Python’s major built-in object types such as numbers, lists, and dictionaries
Create and process objects with Python statements, and learn Python’s general syntax model
Use functions to avoid code redundancy and package code for reuse
Organize statements, functions, and other tools into larger components with modules
Dive into classes: Python’s object-oriented programming tool for structuring code
Write large programs with Python’s exception-handling model and development tools
Learn advanced Python tools, including decorators, descriptors, meta classes, and Unicode processing

Contents:
Part I Getting Started
1. A Python Q & A Session
2. How Python Runs Programs
3. How You Run Programs

Part II Types and Operations
4. Introducing Python Object Types
5. Numeric Types
6. The Dynamic Typing Interlude
7. String Fundamentals
8. Lists and Dictionaries
9. Tuples, Files, and Everything Else

Part III Statements and Syntax
10. Introducing Python Statements
11. Assignments, Expressions, and Prints
12. If Tests and Syntax Rules
13. While and for Loops
14. Iterations and Comprehensions
15. The Documentation Interlude

Part IV Functions and Generators
16. Function Basics
17. Scopes
18. Arguments
19. Advanced Function Topics
20. Comprehensions and Generations
21. The Benchmarking Interlude

Part V Modules and Packages
22. Modules: The Big Picture
23. Module Coding Basics
24. Module Packages
25. Advanced Module Topics

Part VI Classes and OOP
26. OOP: The Big Picture
27. Class Coding Basics
28. A More Realistic Example
29. Class Coding Details
30. Operator Overloading
31. Designing with Classes
32. Advanced Class Topics

Part VII Exceptions and Tools
33. Exception Basics
34. Exception Coding Details
35. Exception Objects
36. Designing with Exceptions

Part VIII Advanced Topics
37. Unicode and Byte Strings
38. Managed Attributes
39. Decorators
40. Metaclasses
41. All Good Things

Part IX Appendixes
A. Installation and Configuration
B. The Python 3.3 Windows Launcher
C. Python Changes and This Book
D. Solutions to End-Of-Part Exercises