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Ask HN: Really great Python code

10 points by jobeirne 17y ago

So I've got an intermediate fluency with Python, but it's time for me to start writing some serious software and I'd like to get a feel for how things are Actually Done in Python. Sifting through books is fun and all, but it seems to me that the most expedient route to cutting my teeth would be to dive into an existing code-base. Is there a well written, publicly accessible Python project somewhere that can be perused to the end of getting an advanced feel for the language?

yan 17y ago
django is a very tidy and pythonic code base. Ditto for twisted, but twisted might be more complicated than what you're trying to do (edit: or not). The recent Tornado server is of a an approachable size and from the look of it, very well engineered.
- swolchok 17y ago
  Doesn't Twisted have a lot of crusty, poorly-documented parts? I remember seeing a lot of old-style classes in Twisted Words.
kakooljay 17y ago
There's tons of Python examples on Toby Segaran's blog: http://blog.kiwitobes.com http://blog.kiwitobes.com I know you've read some Python books, but you might want to check out Segaran's books too. The examples in Programming Collective Intelligence [http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596529321 http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596529321] are all Python too I think..
- plinkplonk 17y ago
  "The examples in Programming Collective Intelligence are all Python too I think.." The code in PCI was terrible, very unpythonic code the last time I looked at it.Not "really great" , which is what OP asked for. Maybe someone has done a rewrite, but otherwise I'd be very careful using the PCI code as an exemplar.
d0mine 17y ago
* How to Write a Spelling Corrector http://norvig.com/spell-correct.html http://norvig.com/spell-correct.html * Case Study: Metaclass Hacking in fetchmailconf http://catb.org/esr/writings/taoup/html/ch09s01.html http://catb.org/esr/writings/taoup/html/ch09s01.html
- icey 17y ago
  All of Peter Norvig's Python code is fun to read.
mace 17y ago
The Python standard has some pure Python modules may be worth looking at. Doug Hellmann's Python Module of the Week, http://www.doughellmann.com/PyMOTW/contents.html http://www.doughellmann.com/PyMOTW/contents.html, is good place to start. I'd recommend looking at code that interests you. It will make reading the code more interesting and perhaps more useful. Here are some popular projects arrange by interest: Web framework: Django, Pylons TCP/IP networking: the official Bittorrent client, Mercurial, Tornado Database: SQLAlchemy, SQLObject Past HN submissions are generally a good place to find interesting projects too: http://searchyc.com/submissions/python?sort=by_points http://searchyc.com/submissions/python?sort=by_points
CyberFonic 17y ago
I have gleaned many good ideas from the python libraries that are shipped with the standard CPython distribution. I found the implementation of the various TCP, HTTP, etc server classes very interesting. Learnt quite a bit by reading the Tkinter support stuff.

10 points by jobeirne 17y ago

yan 17y ago

django is a very tidy and pythonic code base. Ditto for twisted, but twisted might be more complicated than what you're trying to do (edit: or not). The recent Tornado server is of a an approachable size and from the look of it, very well engineered.

swolchok 17y ago
Doesn't Twisted have a lot of crusty, poorly-documented parts? I remember seeing a lot of old-style classes in Twisted Words.

kakooljay 17y ago

There's tons of Python examples on Toby Segaran's blog: http://blog.kiwitobes.com http://blog.kiwitobes.com I know you've read some Python books, but you might want to check out Segaran's books too. The examples in Programming Collective Intelligence [http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596529321 http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596529321] are all Python too I think..

plinkplonk 17y ago
"The examples in Programming Collective Intelligence are all Python too I think.." The code in PCI was terrible, very unpythonic code the last time I looked at it.Not "really great" , which is what OP asked for. Maybe someone has done a rewrite, but otherwise I'd be very careful using the PCI code as an exemplar.

d0mine 17y ago

* How to Write a Spelling Corrector http://norvig.com/spell-correct.html http://norvig.com/spell-correct.html * Case Study: Metaclass Hacking in fetchmailconf http://catb.org/esr/writings/taoup/html/ch09s01.html http://catb.org/esr/writings/taoup/html/ch09s01.html

icey 17y ago
All of Peter Norvig's Python code is fun to read.

mace 17y ago

The Python standard has some pure Python modules may be worth looking at. Doug Hellmann's Python Module of the Week, http://www.doughellmann.com/PyMOTW/contents.html http://www.doughellmann.com/PyMOTW/contents.html, is good place to start. I'd recommend looking at code that interests you. It will make reading the code more interesting and perhaps more useful. Here are some popular projects arrange by interest: Web framework: Django, Pylons TCP/IP networking: the official Bittorrent client, Mercurial, Tornado Database: SQLAlchemy, SQLObject Past HN submissions are generally a good place to find interesting projects too: http://searchyc.com/submissions/python?sort=by_points http://searchyc.com/submissions/python?sort=by_points

CyberFonic 17y ago

I have gleaned many good ideas from the python libraries that are shipped with the standard CPython distribution. I found the implementation of the various TCP, HTTP, etc server classes very interesting. Learnt quite a bit by reading the Tkinter support stuff.