If you're ready to write better Python code and use more advanced features, Advanced Python Programming was written for you. Brian Overland and John Bennett distill advanced topics down to their essentials, illustrating them with simple examples and practical exercises. Building on Overland's widely-praised approach in Python Without Fear, the authors start with short, simple examples designed for easy entry, and quickly ramp you up to creating useful utilities and games, and using Python to solve interesting puzzles. Everything you'll need to know is patiently explained and clearly illustrated, and the authors illuminate the design decisions and tricks behind each language feature they cover. You'll gain the in-depth understanding to successfully apply all these advanced features and techniques: Coding for runtime efficiency Lambda functions (and when to use them) Managing versioning Localization and Unicode Regular expressions Binary operators Radix conversions Data formatting, in depth Creating, building, and importing packages Using the Django web-development package Graphics programming Magic methods and advanced object orientation Reading and writing binary files, and more

Taking the same approach as he did in his best-selling C++ Without Fear, Brian Overland offers the perfect guide to Python for anyone moving from another language, or seeking to go beyond basic Python skills they've already mastered. Overland's Python Without Fear reveals the "whys," "tricks," and especially the "gotchas" behind each essential Python language feature. You'll learn how to use Python the right way, avoiding mistakes that trip up programmers coming from other languages -- and avoiding hours of unnecessary debugging, too. Best of all, you'll enjoy learning Python. That's because Overland teaches Python by showing how to leverage its power to solve fascinating, challenging puzzles and games. Along the way, you'll learn how to use mutable and immutable objects; work with strings, functions, local and global variables, lists, data, inheritance, properties, files, exceptions, enumerators, generators, iterators, and even multi-file apps. Throughout, you'll never get bogged down in unnecessarily complex examples or pointless discussions: Overland keeps you 100% focused on learning what works -- and what matters.