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Introduction
When I was a little kid, I had this dream where a snake would rule and dominate the entire world
(actually, I guess that a penguin was also part of the dream…but never mind). I didn't pay much
attention to the fact at that time because I thought the dream was caused by an overexposure to all those
Japanese series that were popping up on the screens. Later, in my teenage years, there was this science
project where I had to spend some time studying snakes to display at an exhibition. After analyzing
Red Tail boas and coral snakes, I found this 3-year old giant of 10 feet, 40+ pounds. Instantly, I
recognized that snake as being the same one that I had seen in my dream years before. Its name was
Python, but at that time, I still couldn't figure out what was the relationship between that reptile and the
world domination.
Fifteen years ago, I was trying to select a channel in my old TV set, when a special program caught my
attention—A huge animated foot was dancing in the opening titles. After the program started, there
were a group of funny guys who were playing jokes about parrots and lumberjacks. After watching
tons of episodes and all their five films, I decided to write a book about them. I noticed that they were
called Python too. Maybe that was the answer. That troupe would dominate the entire world. I wanted
to let everyone know about it. Initially I had planned to write about the actors and their most famous
sketches, but I had to abandon the idea when I realized that my editors wouldn't give me enough time to
write a book of approximately 25,030 pages. That would be a nice bestseller, though.
Even though none of the previous facts has really happened, both have at least one thing in
common—the name Python. Python is also a scripting language whose name's origin has much to do
with the English troupe than with the legless reptile. This book will guide you step-by-step through the
universe of Python, a fantastic programming language that can help you to implement solutions for
almost all types of IT challenges that you might face. Almost all IT-related tasks, such as the
manipulation of database systems, or the design of Web-driven applications can be managed using
Python. Maybe that's the answer for my dream.
For the last couple of months, I've been trying to organize all the information about Python that I have
available, arranging them in this book. I can't say that I have included every little thing in the book, but
I do know that I have covered the most important aspects of the Python language. Note that along the 5-
month development period of this book, Python had several version upgrades, which made things way
more difficult to organize. So, I apologize if something important is missing.
This book is organized into 18 chapters and some additional appendixes, where each one covers a
specific aspect of the language. Inside each chapter, you will find many hints about how to use Python
