Preface

Python rocks!

From the earliest version in the late 1980s to the current version, it has evolved with the same philosophy: providing a multiparadigm programming language with readability and productivity in mind.

People used to see Python as yet another scripting language and wouldn't feel right about using it to build large systems. However, over the years and thanks to some pioneer companies, it became obvious that Python could be used to build almost any kind of system.

In fact, many developers that come from another language are charmed by Python and make it their language of choice.

This is something you are probably aware of if you have bought this book, so there's no need to convince you about the merits of the language any further.

This book is written to express many years of experience of building all kinds of applications with Python, from small system scripts done in a couple of hours to very large applications written by dozens of developers over several years.

It describes the best practices used by developers when working with Python.

This book covers some topics that do not focus on the language itself but rather on the tools and techniques used to work with it.

In other words, this book describes how an advanced Python developer works every day.