Language Reference

This section covers Python language features, design patterns, standard library modules, and internal details like the AST and time complexity of built-in operations. It is a mix of explanations, proposals, and discussions – some of it historical, some still useful as reference. If you want to understand how a particular feature works under the hood, or why Python made the design choices it did, look here.

Core Language Features

• Decorators – syntax, use cases, and links to the decorator library on PyPI

• Generators – how generator functions work and how to use them as iterators

• Iterator – the iterator protocol, __iter__ and __next__ explained

• With Statement – discussion of PEP 343 and context managers

• Abstract Base Classes – the proposed Python 3K class tree

• Switch Statement – historical proposals for adding switch/case to Python

• Alternate Lambda Syntax – community proposals for lambda alternatives before Python 3

AST and Internals

• AST – overview of Python’s Abstract Syntax Tree for source analysis

• AST-Based Optimization – performing peephole optimizations at the AST level instead of bytecode

• Byteplay Documentation – docs for the byteplay bytecode manipulation library

Patterns and Design

• Observer Pattern – implementing the observer pattern in Python

• Adapter Registry – a component that adapts one interface to another

• Computed Attributes Using Property Objects – using property() for computed attributes

• Alternative Description of Property – another take on how Python properties work

Configuration Parsing

• ConfigParser – overview of the ConfigParser module and its design

• ConfigParser Examples – basic usage examples for configparser

• ConfigParser Goals – separating in-memory config from persistent storage

• ConfigParser Shootout – comparing ConfigParser alternatives and debating future directions

Path Handling

• Alternative Path Class – directory-based path classes as an alternative to PEP 355

• Alternative Path Discussion – community discussion on path class design decisions

• Alternative Path Module – source code for the proposed alternative path module

• Alternative Path Module Tests – test suite for the alternative path module

Data and Text

• Data Representation – working with data on the web and in Python

• Structured Text – StructuredText markup language resources and discussion

• Structured Text – creating rich documents without explicit markup

• Structure Annotation – annotating web page regions to map onto data structures

• Language Parsing – evaluation of different parser libraries available for Python

Concurrency

• Concurrency – collected resources on concurrent programming in Python

• Concurrency – overview of concurrency approaches and threading

Performance Reference

• Time Complexity – Big-O time and space complexity for Python built-in types

• Time Complexity (Set Code) – analysis and implementation notes for set operation complexity