Programming Python is a classic O'Reilly Nutshell Handbook(R) describing the use of the Python programming/scripting language. Python is a popular scripting language freely available over the Net. Like Perl, Python is powerful, but easier to use than a traditional compiler language like C or C++. Although it is used mostly in UNIX environments (including Linux), it is available on Windows and Mac platforms as well. Unlike Perl, Python uses an object-oriented paradigm, making it a particularly useful scripting language for C++ programmers and the Windows/OLE and Mac environments. This book will serve the Python community as our Programming Perl book does for the Perl community. This book complements the online reference material provided with the Python releases. It is endorsed by the creator of Python, Guido van Rossum, who wrote the foreword. The CD-ROM included with the book contains Python 1.3 binaries for most popular UNIX platforms, as well as Linux, Windows, NT, and the Mac. This book is the most comprehensive Python user material available from any publisher. It contains a number of running examples, presented simply at first but becoming more complex as new issues appear. Examples describing Graphical User Interface (GUI) programming use the Tk language. (Tk is usually considered a part of the Tcl scripting language, but is in fact usable with other scripting languages like Perl and Python.) An appendix contains a separate short language tutorial.