Advanced Python
Syllabus
Python Review
o A brief review of Python basics including syntax, core datatypes, file
I/O, functions, error handling, and classes.
Classes and Objects
o An introduction to creating and using user-defined objects in Python.
o Describes how to use the class statement to create new objects and
presents details on various special methods that can be defined to
customize object behavior.
o Commonly used object oriented programming techniques are also
presented.
Advanced I/O Handling
o An in-depth examination of the Python I/O system including text
handling, binary data handling, and different I/O models such as
blocking, non-blocking, and event-driven I/O.
Idiomatic Data Handling
o An introduction to various tools and techniques for effective data
processing.
o Discusses different options for creating data structures and gives an
inside look at how the built-in datatypes are put together along with
their performance and memory usage properties.
o Students will learn how to apply list, set, and dictionary
comprehensions to various problems in data handling.
Inside the Python Object Model
o A detailed tour of how the Python object system is implemented.
o Topics include the definition of objects, object representation,
attribute binding, inheritance, descriptors, properties, slots, private
attributes, static methods, and class methods.
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o Cover important details concerning Python memory management and
garbage collection.
Testing, Debugging and Logging
o Coverage of how to test and debug Python programs with a focus on
three major topics.
o First, testing Python programs with the doctest and unittest modules
is described.
o Next, the Python Debugger and profiler are presented.
o Finally, the logging package is described.
Packages and Distribution
o How to organize Python code into packages and how to distribute
packages to users and programmers.
o Covers the underlying mechanics of how packages are put together
and the distutils module for creating distributions.
o Also covers more advanced packaging options such as Distribute and
setuptools.
Iterators, Generators, Coroutines
o The section starts with a description of the iteration protocol and
moves on to practical use of generators and coroutines.
o A major focus on this section is on the use of generators and
coroutines to set up processing pipelines, much like pipes in Unix
programming.
o You will see how generators and coroutines can lead to very elegant
programming abstractions for processing data and how such
programs can be used to process huge datafiles and streaming I/O.
Functional Programming
o Advanced details of how to program with functions in Python.
o Discusses more advanced features of functions including variadic
parameters, nested functions, closures, lazy evaluation,
anonymousfunctions (lambda), and function attributes.
Metaprogramming
o Loosely defined, metaprogramming refers to programs that are able
to manipulate their own program structure (functions, classes, etc.) or
the structure of other programs as data.
o This section introduces and covers practical examples of Python's
metaprogramming features including function decorators, class
decorators, metaclasses, and context managers.
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o A major emphasis of this section is to understand how advanced
programming frameworks utilize these features to provide a richer
programming environment for their end users.
Extension Programming
o How to create C and C++ extensions to Python. Covers the absolute
basics of the Python C API followed by some details on using the
ctypes library and Swig code generator.
o A major focus of this section is on how to organize extension code so
that it can more seamlessly integrate with the Python environment.
o Topics include memory management, data handling, encapsulation,
and common pitfalls.
Concurrent Programming with Threads
o An introduction to programming with Python threads.
o Starts with the basics of using the threading library and dives into a
variety of more advanced topics including a survey of how and when
to use the different thread synchronization primitives, queues,
deadlock avoidance, and thread debugging.
o Also includes detailed information on how the Python interpreter
executes programs and properties of the global interpreter lock (GIL).
Multiprocessing
o An introduction to the multiprocessing library that allows programs to
distribute their work across independent processes or machines.
o Covers processes, queues, pipes, connections and process pools.
Python 3
o A look at new features added to Python 3 and migration strategies.
o Topics include new data processing features such a set and dictionary
comprehensions, function annotations, and metaclasses.
o In addition, details of the 2to3 conversion tool are presented.
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