python.md

Python

Getting Started

Install Python

• Go to http://python.org/
• Download and install
• Alternatively use apt-get or whatever

Install setuptools:

• http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools
• Select matching version, download and install (make sure you really match your interpreter)

Install pip:

• Go to http://pypi.python.org/pypi/pip
• Download the package
• Extract and install by invoking python setup.py install

From here on, everything is fun:

pip install [whatever]

Using Virtualenv

Installing new packages is fun in the beginning. However, quite quickly you may end up requiring different configurations for different projects.

With virtualenv, you can create project-specific configurations of Python modules and packages.

Craeting a new virtualenv:

virtualenv [envname]

Activating it:

./envname/Scripts/activate

Note: if you are using Windows [[PowerShell]], you may need to change your execution policy!

REST Programming in Python

Check out python-requests library: https://github.com/kennethreitz/requests

Prebuilt packages for Windows

See: http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/

Deployment

Deploying on Linux Server with Fabric

Framework-specific guides:

• Deploying Flask on Fabric: http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/patterns/fabric/
• Django with Fabric: http://lethain.com/deploying-django-with-fabric/

On server:

pip install fabric

Preparing for Python 3

Some background: http://www.python.org/doc/essays/ppt/euro2008/Py3kEuro08.pdf

Use -3 switch to warn about obsolete stuff:

python -3 yourscript.py

Make sure test suite is comprehensive.