this book is tutorial introduction to using python in common application domains and tasks it teaches how to apply python for system administrationguisand the weband explores its roles in networkingdatabasesfrontend scripting layerstext processingand more although the python language is used along the waythis book' focus is on application to real-world tasks instead of language fundamentals this book' ecosystem because of its scopethis book is designed to work best as the second of two-volume setand to be supplemented by third most importantlythis book is an applications programming follow-up to the core language book learning pythonwhose subjects are officially prerequisite material here here' how the three books are relatedlearning python covers the fundamentals of python programming in depth it focuses on the core python languageand its topics are prerequisite to this book programming pythonthis bookcovers the application of python to real-world programming tasks it focuses on libraries and toolsand it assumes you already know python fundamentals python pocket reference provides quick reference to details not listed exhaustively here it doesn' teach muchbut it allows you to look up details fast in some sensethis book is to application programming what learning python is to the core language-- gradual tutorialwhich makes almost no assumptions about your background and presents each topic from the ground up by studying this book' coverage of web basicsfor exampleyou'll be equipped to build simple websitesand you will be able to make sense of more advanced frameworks and tools as your needs evolve guis are similarly taught incrementallyfrom basic to advanced in additionthis book is designed to be supplemented by the quick-reference book python pocket referencewhich provides the small details finessed here and serves as resource for looking up the fine points that book is reference onlyand is largely void of both examples and narrativebut it serves to augment and complement both learning python' fundamentals and programming python' applications because its current fourth edition gives both python and versions of the tools it coversthat book also serves as resource for readers transitioning between the two python lines (more on this in momentdisclosurei am the author of all three books mentioned in this sectionwhich affords me the luxury of tightly controlling their scopes in order to avoid overlap it also means that as an authori try to avoid commenting on the many other python books availablesome of which are very good and may cover topics not addressed in any of my own books please see the web for other python resources all three of my books reflect my years on the python training trail and stem from the original programming python written back in <insert grizzled prospector photo herexxiv preface