programming pythonamong othersmoves on to show what you can do with python after you've learned it this division of labor is deliberate while application goals can vary per readerthe need for useful language fundamentals coverage does not applications-focused books such as programming python pick up where this book leaves offusing realistically scaled examples to explore python' role in common domains such as the webguissystemsdatabasesand text in additionthe book python pocket reference provides reference materials not included hereand it is designed to supplement this book because of this book' focus on foundationsthoughit is able to present python language fundamentals with more depth than many programmers see when first learning the language its bottom-up approach and self-contained didactic examples are designed to teach readers the entire language one step at time the core language skills you'll gain in the process will apply to every python software system you'll encounter--be it today' popular tools such as djangonumpyand app engineor others that may be part of both python' future and your programming career because it' based upon three-day python training class with quizzes and exercises throughoutthis book also serves as self-paced introduction to the language although its format lacks the live interaction of classit compensates in the extra depth and flexibility that only book can provide though there are many ways to use this booklinear readers will find it roughly equivalent to semester-long python class about this fifth edition the prior fourth edition of this book published in covered python versions and it addressed the many and sometimes incompatible changes introduced in the python line in general it also introduced new oop tutorialand new on advanced topics such as unicode textdecoratorsand metaclassesderived from both the live classes teach and evolution in python "best practice this fifth edition completed in is revision of the priorupdated to cover both python and the current latest releases in the and lines it incorporates and ' short-lived third edition covered python and its simpler--and shorter--single-line python world see in size and complexity in direct proportion to python' own growth per appendix cpython alone introduced additions and changes in the language that found their way into this bookand python continues this trend today' python programmer faces two incompatible linesthree major paradigmsa plethora of advanced toolsand blizzard of feature redundancy--most of which do not divide neatly between the and lines that' not as daunting as it may sound (many tools are variations on theme)but all are fair game in an inclusivecomprehensive python text xxxiv preface