The Well-Grounded Python Developer: How the pros use Python and Flask

contents  
foreword  
preface  
acknowledgments  
about this book  
Who should read this book  
How this book is organized: A road map  
About the code  
liveBook discussion forum  
about the author  
about the cover illustration  
brief contents  
1 Becoming a Pythonista  
1.1 Commitment to learning  
1.2 Reaching goals  
1.2.1 Thinking like a developer  
1.2.2 Building applications  
1.3 Using Python  
1.3.1 Programming paradigms  
1.3.2 Creating maintainable code  
1.3.3 Performance  
1.3.4 The language community  
1.3.5 Developer tooling  
1.4 Selecting which Python version to use  
1.5 Closing thoughts  
Summary  
Part 1 Groundwork  
2 That’s a good name  
2.1 Names  
2.1.1 Naming things  
2.1.2 Naming experiment  
2.2 Namespaces  
2.3 Python namespaces  
2.3.1 Built-ins level  
2.3.2 Module level  
2.3.3 Function level  
2.3.4 Namespace scope  
2.3.5 Namespace experiment  
Summary  
3 The API: Let’s talk  
3.1 Starting a conversation  
3.1.1 A contract between pieces of code  
3.1.2 What’s passed as input  
3.1.3 What’s expected as output  
3.2 Function API  
3.2.1 Naming  
3.2.2 Parameters  
3.2.3 Return value  
3.2.4 Single responsibility  
3.2.5 Function length  
3.2.6 Idempotence  
3.2.7 Side effects  
3.3 Documentation  
3.4 Closing thoughts  
Summary  
4 The object of conversation  
4.1 Object-oriented programming (OOP)  
4.1.1 Class definition  
4.1.2 Drawing with class  
4.1.3 Inheritance  
4.1.4 Polymorphism  
4.1.5 Composition  
4.2 Closing thoughts  
Summary  
5 Exceptional events  
5.1 Exceptions  
5.2 Handling exceptions  
5.2.1 Handling an exception if the code can do something about it  
5.2.2 Allowing exceptions to flow upward in your programs  
5.2.3 Informing the user  
5.2.4 Never silence an exception  
5.3 Raising an exception  
5.4 Creating your own exceptions  
5.5 Closing thoughts  
Summary  
Part 2 Fieldwork  
6 Sharing with the internet  
6.1 Sharing your work  
6.1.1 Web application advantages  
6.1.2 Web application challenges  
6.2 Servers  
6.2.1 Request-response model  
6.3 Web servers  
6.4 Flask  
6.4.1 Why Flask?  
6.4.2 Your first web server  
6.4.3 Serving content  
6.4.4 More Jinja2 features  
6.5 Running the web server  
6.5.1 Gunicorn  
6.5.2 Commercial hosting  
6.6 Closing thoughts  
Summary  
7 Doing it with style  
7.1 Application styling  
7.1.1 Creating appealing styles  
7.1.2 Styling consistency  
7.1.3 Normalizing styles  
7.1.4 Responsive design  
7.2 Integrating Bootstrap  
7.2.1 The previous example, now with Bootstrap  
7.3 Helping MyBlog grow  
7.3.1 The Flask app instance  
7.4 Namespaces  
7.4.1 Flask Blueprints  
7.4.2 Add Blueprints to MyBlog  
7.4.3 Create the about page  
7.4.4 Refactored app instance  
7.5 Navigation  
7.5.1 Creating navigation information  
7.5.2 Displaying navigation information  
7.5.3 MyBlog’s current look  
7.6 Application configuration  
7.6.1 Configuration files  
7.6.2 Private information  
7.7 Flask Debug Toolbar  
7.7.1 FlaskDynaConf  
7.8 Logging information  
7.8.1 Configuration  
7.9 Adding a favicon  
7.10 Closing thoughts  
Summary  
8 Do I know you? Authentication  
8.1 The HTTP protocol is stateless  
8.1.1 Sessions  
8.2 Remembering someone  
8.2.1 Authentication  
8.2.2 Logging in  
8.3 News flash  
8.3.1 Improving the login form  
8.4 Making new friends  
8.4.1 Auth Blueprint  
8.4.2 New user form  
8.4.3 Oh yeah: logging out  
8.5 What’s next  
Summary  
9 What can you do? Authorization  
9.1 Login/logout navigation  
9.2 Confirming new friends  
9.2.1 Sending email  
9.3 Resetting passwords  
9.4 User profiles  
9.5 Security  
9.5.1 Protecting routes  
9.6 User authorization roles  
9.6.1 Creating the roles  
9.6.2 Authorizing routes  
9.7 Protecting forms  
9.8 Closing thoughts  
Summary  
10 Persistence is good: Databases  
10.1 The other half  
10.1.1 Maintaining information over time  
10.2 Accessing data  
10.3 Database systems  
10.3.1 Tables  
10.3.2 Relationships  
10.3.3 Transaction database  
10.3.4 Structured query language: SQL  
10.4 SQLite as the database  
10.5 SQLAlchemy  
10.5.1 Benefits  
10.6 Modeling the database  
10.6.1 Defining the classes  
10.7 Creating and using the database  
10.7.1 Adding data  
10.7.2 Using the data  
10.8 Closing thoughts  
Summary  
11 I’ve got something to say  
11.1 MyBlog posts  
11.1.1 Modeling the database  
11.2 Change of direction  
11.3 Content Blueprint  
11.4 Displaying and creating posts  
11.4.1 Display handler  
11.4.2 Display template  
11.5 Creating posts  
11.5.1 Creation handler  
11.5.2 Creation form  
11.5.3 Creation template  
11.6 Displaying and editing a post  
11.6.1 Display handler  
11.6.2 Display template  
11.6.3 Update handler  
11.6.4 Update form  
11.6.5 Update template  
11.7 Content to comment hierarchy  
11.7.1 Modifying the post class  
11.7.2 Display handler  
11.7.3 Display template  
11.8 Creating comments  
11.8.1 Creation template  
11.8.2 Creation form  
11.8.3 Creation handler  
11.9 Notifying users  
11.10 Handling site errors  
11.11 Closing thoughts  
Summary  
12 Are we there yet?  
12.1 Testing  
12.1.1 Unit testing  
12.1.2 Functional testing  
12.1.3 End-to-end testing  
12.1.4 Integration testing  
12.1.5 Load testing  
12.1.6 Performance testing  
12.1.7 Regression testing  
12.1.8 Accessibility testing  
12.1.9 Acceptance testing  
12.2 Debugging  
12.2.1 Reproducing bugs  
12.2.2 Breakpoints  
12.2.3 Logging  
12.2.4 Bad results  
12.2.5 Process of elimination  
12.2.6 Rubber-ducking the problem  
12.3 Tools  
12.3.1 Source control  
12.3.2 Optimization  
12.3.3 Containers  
12.3.4 Databases  
12.3.5 Languages  
12.4 OS environments  
12.5 Cloud computing  
12.6 Networking  
12.7 Collaboration  
12.8 Closing thoughts  
Summary  
appendix Your development environment  
A.1 Installing Python  
A.1.1 Windows  
A.1.2 Mac  
A.1.3 Linux  
A.2 Python virtual environment  
A.2.1 Windows  
A.2.2 Mac and Linux  
A.3 Setting up Visual Studio Code  
A.3.1 Installing Visual Studio Code  
A.3.2 Installing the Python extension  
A.3.3 Other useful extensions  
A.3.4 Starting from the command line  
A.3.5 Starting a project  
A.4 Some advice  
index  
Symbols  
A  
B  
C  
D  
E  
F  
G  
H  
I  
J  
K  
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M  
N  
O  
P  
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The Well-Grounded Python Developer - back

If you’re new to Python, it can be tough to understand when, where, and how to use all its language features. This friendly guide shows you how the Python ecosystem fits together, and grounds you in the skills you need to continue your journey to being a software developer.

Inside The Well-Grounded Python Developer you will discover:

• Building modules of functionality

• Creating a well-constructed web server application

• Integrating database access into your Python applications

• Refactor and decoupling systems to help scale them

• How to think about the big picture of your application

The Well-Grounded Python Developer builds on Python skills you’ve learned in isolation and shows you how to unify them into a meaningful whole. It helps you understand the dizzying array of libraries and teaches important concepts, like modular construction, APIs, and the design of a basic web server. As you work through this practical guide, you’ll discover how all the bits of Python link up as you build and modify a typical web server application—the kind of web app that’s in high demand by modern businesses.

About the technology

As a new programmer, you’re happy just to see your code run. A professional developer, on the other hand, needs to create software that runs reliably. It must be fast, maintainable, scalable, secure, well designed and documented, easy for others to update, and quick to ship. This book teaches you the skills you need to go from Python programmer to Python developer.

About the book

The Well-Grounded Python Developer shows you why Python, the world’s most popular programming language, is a fantastic tool for professional development. It guides you through the most important skills, like how to name variables, functions, and classes, how to identify and write a good API, and how to use objects. You’ll also learn how to deal with inevitable failures, how to make software that connects to the internet, core security practices, and many other professional-grade techniques.

What's inside

• Create a web application

• Connect to a database

• Design programs to handle big tasks

About the reader

For experienced beginners who want to learn professional-level skills.