Advanced Python Programming / Next-Level Python

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Leverage OS services
• Add enhancements to classes
• Code graphical interfaces for applications
• Understand advanced Python metaprogramming concepts
• Create easy-to-use and easy-to-maintain modules and packages
• Implement and run unit tests
• Create multithreaded and multi-process applications
• Interact with network services
• Design professional scripts
• Query databases
• Process XML, CSV, and JSON data
• Working with more data types if time permits
• Using type hints if time permits

This in an intermediate and beyond level Python course geared for students experienced with Python who want to use Python in web development projects or automate or simplify common tasks with the use of Python scripts.
 

Basic incoming practical experience working with Python is required, along with a working, user-level knowledge of Unix/Linux, Mac, or Windows. This course does not cover Python fundamentals.
 

Bug Hunting Foundation

• Why Hunt Bugs?
  • Security and Insecurity
  • Dangerous Assumptions

Python Quick Refresher

• Builtin data types
• Lists and tuples
• Dictionaries and sets
• Program structure
• Files and console I/O
• If statement
• for and while loops

OS Services

• The os and os.path modules
• Environment variables
• Launching external commands with subprocess
• Walking directory trees
• Paths, directories, and filenames
• Working with file systems

Dates and Times

• Basic date and time classes
• Different time formats
• Converting between formats
• Formatting dates and times
• Parsing date/time information

Binary Data

• What is Binary Data?
• Binary vs text
• Using the Struct module

Pythonic Programming

• The Zen of Python
• Tuples
• Advanced unpacking
• Sorting
• Lambda functions
• List comprehensions
• Generator expressions
• String formatting

Functions, modules, and packages

• Four types of function parameters
• Four levels of name scoping
• Single/multi dispatch
• Relative imports
• Using __init__ effectively
• Documentation best practices

Intermediate classes

• Class/static data and methods
• Inheritance (or composition)
• Abstract base classes
• Implementing protocols (context, iterator, etc.) with special methods

Metaprogramming

• Implicit properties
• globals() and locals()
• Working with object attributes
• The inspect module
• Callable classes
• Decorators
• Monkey patching

Developer Tools

• Analyzing programs with pylint
• Using the debugger
• Profiling code
• Testing speed with benchmarking

Unit testing with PyTest

• What is a unit test?
• Writing tests
• Working with fixtures
• Test runners
• Mocking resources

Database access

• The DB API
• Available Interfaces
• Connecting to a server
• Creating and executing a cursor
• Fetching data
• Parameterized statements
• Using Metadata
• Transaction control
• ORMs and NoSQL overview

PyQt

• Overview
• Qt Architecture
• Using designer
• Standard widgets
• Event handling
• Extras

Network Programming

• Builtin classes
• Using requests
• Grabbing web pages
• Sending email
• Working with binary data
• Consuming RESTful services
• Remote access (SSH)

Multiprogramming

• The threading module
• Sharing variables
• The queue module
• The multiprocessing module
• Creating pools
• About async programming

Scripting for System Administration

• Running external programs
• Parsing arguments
• Creating filters to read text files
• Logging

Serializing data – XML and JSON

• Working with XML
• XML modules in Python
• Getting started with ElementTree
• Parsing XML
• Updating an XML tree
• Creating a new document
• About JSON
• Reading JSON
• Writing JSON
• Reading/writing CSV files
• YAML, other formats as time permits

Time Permitting Sessions Advanced data handling

• Discover the collections module
• Use defaultdict, Counter, and namedtuple
• Create dataclasses
• Store data offline with pickle

Type hinting

• Annotate variables
• Learn what type hinting does NOT do
• Use the typing module for detailed type hints
• Understand union and optional types
• Write stub interfaces