About Python Pocket Reference, 5th Edition

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[January 2014] The 5th Edition of the book Python Pocket Reference—a quick-reference guide to the Python language and libraries—is now available.

This new 260-page edition has been updated and expanded to cover both Python 3.4 and 2.7, but remains a multiple version book, designed to apply to all Pythons in common use in both the 3.X and 2.X lines. This edition has also been expanded substantially with new topics and material, as described in its Introduction. It's the most comprehensive and complete version of this book to date.

As for its prior editions, this book is intended to serve as a quick-reference supplement and companion to other books such as Learning Python, filling in the gaps in details omitted elsewhere. Its dual-version coverage also provides a resource for programmers migrating to Python 3.X, now or in the future.

Python Pocket Reference, 5th Edition is available in print, ebook, and online forms from bookstores and online retailers, including Amazon and O'Reilly. For purchase options and links, please see the Purchase pointers page.

Update 2024: please note that, while still broadly useful, this book does not cover additions and changes in Python since its 2014 publication, and there are currently no plans to update this book. For up-to-date language coverage, see Learning Python, 6th Edition. For up-to-date reference resources to complement LP6E, consider using Python's online manuals.

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Contents

In sum, this edition's coverage spans usage, language, and libraries:

Command-line options and tools Arguments, environment, Windows launcher
Built-in types and operations Objects, literals, expressions, methods
Statements and syntax Formal syntax, name rules, indentation model
Functions and modules Namespaces, scopes, imports, packages
Object-oriented programming tools Inheritance algorithms, new-style classes
Operator overloading methods Documentation for all __X__ methods
Built-in functions, exceptions, attributes Coverage for both 3.X and 2.X built-ins
Commonly used standard library modules sys, os, re, [tT]kinter, pickling, threading,...
Python SQL Database API Portable relational database access
Python idioms and hints Common coding and usage patterns

Among this edition's new material are super() and MRO coverage; formal algorithms of inheritance, indentation, imports, and context managers; and new standard library modules including json and timeit. For more details, check out its Introduction.

Related Books

This book is designed to be a reference-only extension to other Python books, including the foundations tutorial text Learning Python, whose latest editions similarly cover both Python 3.X and 2.X. Because it covers both Python 2.X and 3.X, this book also applies to both the prior and current editions Programming Python, whose applications focus serves as a follow-up to Learning Python.



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