Python is well-known as a robust and elegant language, with support for both functional and object-oriented programming styles. When you choose to use Python, however, you get more than just a language-you also become part of an incredibly enthusiastic and supportive community of Python programmers who reach out to help each other learn and grow in their use of the language. Python Cookbook, 2nd Edition is just one tangible manifestation of that Python community. In it, you'll find practical solutions to many common Python programming problems. These solutions come from the community, from Python programmers who for many years have contributed to the online Python Cookbook hosted by ActiveState at http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python. These are battle-tested solutions; contributed, reviewed, enhanced, and now brought together in book form. Here is just a sampling of the many topic areas covered by the more than 300 recipes in this book:

• Searching and sorting
• Manipulating text
• Working with files
• Object-oriented programming
• Multithreaded programming
• System administration
• Web programming
• Network programming
• Processing XML
• Distributed programming
• Debugging and testing
• Metaprogramming

Solutions in this book are organized by topic area. All of the chapters begin with introductions written by well-known Python luminaries such as: Facundo Batista, David Beazley, Donn Cave, Fred L. Drake, Jr., Paul F. Dubois, Mark Hammond, Raymond Hettinger, Jeremy Hylton, Fredrik Lundh, Mark Lutz, Andy McKay, Gustavo Niemeyer, Tim Peters, Paul Prescod, Aaron Watters, and Greg Wilson.

This book is a treasure trove of useful code for all Python programmers, from novices to advanced practitioners. It's a gift, from the community to you. By purchasing this book, you are also giving back to the community: 25 percent of all royalties from this book are donated to the Python Software Foundation.

The recipes in Python Cookbook, 2nd Edition were edited by Alex Martelli, also the author of Python in a Nutshell; Anna Martelli Ravenscroft, an avid Python user and frequent conference speaker; and David Ascher of ActiveState, coauthor of Learning Python. The book contains a foreword by Guido van Rossum, the creator of Pyfhon.

• Preface
• Text
• Files
• Time and Money
• Python Shortcuts
• Searching and Sorting
• Object-Oriented Programming
• Persistence and Databases
• Debugging and Testing
• Processes, Threads, and Synchronization
• System Administration
• User Interfaces
• Processing XML
• Network Programming
• Web Programming
• Distributed Programming
• Programs About Programs
• Extending and Embedding
• Algorithms
• Iterators and Generators
• Descriptors, Decorators, and Metaclasses
• Index