Book Description

“Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python” is a free book (as in, open source) and a free eBook (as in, no cost to download) that teaches you how to program in the Python programming language. Each chapter gives you the complete source code for a new game, and then teaches the programming concepts from the example.

“Invent with Python” was written to be understandable by kids as young as 10 to 12 years old, although it is great for anyone of any age who has never programmed before.

This second edition has revised and expanded content, including a Pygame tutorial library to make games with graphics, animation, and sound.

Reviews
“This book is totally appropriate for someone who has never programmed before. Everything is explained, right from the ground up, in a lively, interesting style which doesn’t dumb things down.”
– J. Hartley, tartley.com

“I am a college professor who occasionally teaches courses for liberal arts students. [...] I offered a game programming course in the Python programming language using Sweigart’s book. Download Now »

Book Description

For programmers, working with text is not about reading their newspaper on a break; it’s about taking textual data in one form and doing something to it. Extract, decrypt, parse, restructure – these are just some of the text tasks that can occupy much of a programmer’s life. If this is your life, this book will make it better – a practical guide on how to do what you want with textual data in Python.

Python 2.6 Text Processing Beginner’s Guide is the easiest way to learn how to manipulate text with Python. Packed with examples, it will teach you text processing techniques and give you the skills to work with the most popular Python libraries for transforming text from one form to another.

The book gets you going with a quick look at some data formats, and installing the supporting libraries and components so that you’re ready to get started. You move on to extracting text from a collection of sources and handling it using Python’s built-in string functions and regular expressions. You look into processing structured text documents such as XML and HTML, JSON, and CSV. Then you progress to generating documents and creating templates. Finally you look at ways to enhance text output via a collection of third-party packages such as Nucular, PyParsing, NLTK, and Mako.

Learn text processing techniques and work with the most popular Python libraries for transforming text from one form to another. Download Now »

Book Description

You want to create an AJAX application. Why would you use Django? Why would you use jQuery? Why would you use both together? Enter Django JavaScript Integration: AJAX and jQuery – your comprehensive answer to all these questions and the only extensive, practical, and hands-on guide to developing any AJAX application with Django and jQuery.

Gone are the days when you used to lament over the lack of official documentation on AJAX with Django. This book will teach you exactly why Django is called “The web framework for perfectionists with deadlines“, how jQuery – the “write less do more” JavaScript library – is practically a virtual higher-level language, and why they both deserve to be integrated with AJAX.

This hands-on-guide shows you how to put Django and jQuery together in the process of creating an AJAX application. In this book, they are brought together in a real-world scenario, with attention to usability, to build and develop an AJAX application.

The first two chapters provide a short and necessary introduction to the world of Django, jQuery, and AJAX; and the remaining chapters are based on a case study that will make you realize the immense potential and benefits of integrating Django and jQuery with your AJAX application.

By the time you are done with this book, you’ll be developing your AJAX applications with Django and jQuery in less time than you can say “integrate”. Download Now »

Book Description

Open Source GIS (Geographic Information System) is a growing area with the explosion of applications such as Google Maps, Google Earth, and GPS. The GIS market is growing rapidly and as a Python developer you will find yourself either wanting grounding in GIS or needing to get up to speed to do your job. In today’s location-aware world, all commercial Python developers can benefit from an understanding of GIS development gained using this book.

Working with geo-spatial data can get complicated because you are dealing with mathematical models of the Earth’s surface. Since Python is a powerful programming language with high-level toolkits, it is well suited to GIS development. will familiarize you with the Python tools required for geo-spatial development such as Mapnik, which is used for mapping in Python. It introduces GIS at the basic level with a clear, detailed walkthrough of the key GIS concepts such as location, distance, units, projections, datums, and GIS data formats. We then examine a number of Python libraries and combine these with geo-spatial data to accomplish a variety of tasks. The book provides an in-depth look at the concept of storing spatial data in a database and how you can use spatial databases as tools to solve a variety of geo-spatial problems.

It goes into the details of generating maps using the Mapnik map-rendering toolkit, and helps you to build a sophisticated web-based geo-spatial map-editing application using GeoDjango, Mapnik, and PostGIS. By the end of the book, you will be able to integrate spatial features into your applications and build a complete mapping application from scratch. Download Now »

Book Description

In Using JRuby you’ll venture into the wide world of open-source Ruby and Java libraries. Write Ruby on Rails web applications that run on Java servers like Tomcat. Use Java’s JDBC or Hibernate to easily connect Ruby to industry-standard databases. Test your Java program using Ruby’s elegant Cucumber and RSpec frameworks. Create dazzling desktop user interfaces with frameworks like Limelight and Monkeybars. Package a Rails or plain Ruby project for easy deployment to any Java environment.

JRuby lets you merge the best of several possible worlds, so you can create unique software using the best tools available. This book is your definitive guide.

About the Author
Charles O Nutter is the principal developer of JRuby. He has worked at Ventera, Sun, and now, EngineYard. During his time on the project, he has steered JRuby to its place as the fastest Ruby implementation.

Thomas Enebo has striven since 2003 to make JRuby a piece of software that will capture the hearts and minds of Ruby and Java developers everywhere. He works at EngineYard alongside Charles and Nick.

Nick Sieger is a prolific blogger and programmer who contributes not only to the JRuby core, but also to numerous libraries that Ruby programmers depend on every day in their work with JRuby. He works at EngineYard. Download Now »



Book Description

If you’ve mastered Python’s fundamentals, you’re ready to start using it to get real work done. Programming Python will show you how, with in-depth tutorials on the language’s primary application domains: system administration, GUIs, and the Web. You’ll also explore how Python is used in databases, networking, front-end scripting layers, text processing, and more. This book focuses on commonly used tools and libraries to give you a comprehensive understanding of Python’s many roles in practical, real-world programming.

You’ll learn language syntax and programming techniques in a clear and concise manner, with lots of examples that illustrate both correct usage and common idioms. Completely updated for version 3.x, Programming Python also delves into the language as a software development tool, with many code examples scaled specifically for that purpose.

Topics include:

• Quick Python tour: Build a simple demo that includes data representation, object-oriented programming, object persistence, GUIs, and website basics
• System programming: Explore system interface tools and techniques for command-line scripting, processing files and folders, running programs in parallel, and more
• GUI programming: Learn to use Python’s tkinter widget library Download Now »