The pydoc module imports a Python module and uses the contents to generate help text at runtime. The output includes docstrings for any objects that have them, and all of the classes, methods, and functions of the module are described. Read more… This post is part of the Python Module of the Week series for Python 3. See PyMOTW.com for more articles from the series.

The multiprocessing module includes an API for dividing work up between multiple processes based on the API for threading . In some cases multiprocessing is a drop-in replacement, and can be used instead of threading to take advantage of multiple CPU cores to avoid computational bottlenecks associated with Python’s global interpreter lock. Read more… This post is part of the Python Module of the Week series for Python 3. See PyMOTW.

Signals are an operating system feature that provide a means of notifying a program of an event, and having it handled asynchronously. They can be generated by the system itself, or sent from one process to another. Since signals interrupt the regular flow of the program, it is possible that some operations (especially I/O) may produce errors if a signal is received in the middle. Read more… This post is part of the Python Module of the Week series for Python 3.

The subprocess module supports three APIs for working with processes. The run() function, added in Python 3.5, is a high-level API for running a process and optionally collecting its output. The functions call() , check_call() , and check_output() are the former high-level API, carried over from Python 2. They are still supported and widely used in existing programs. The class Popen is a low-level API used to build the other APIs and useful for more complex process interactions.

The sched module implements a generic event scheduler for running tasks at specific times. The scheduler class uses a time function to learn the current time, and a delay function to wait for a specific period of time. The actual units of time are not important, which makes the interface flexible enough to be used for many purposes. Read more… This post is part of the Python Module of the Week series for Python 3.

What’s new in 1.7.0? decode message subjects before logging add –dry-run option

The logging module defines a standard API for reporting errors and status information from applications and libraries. The key benefit of having the logging API provided by a standard library module is that all Python modules can participate in logging, so an application’s log can include messages from third-party modules. Read more… This post is part of the Python Module of the Week series for Python 3. See PyMOTW.com for more articles from the series.

New Features whereto now uses the PCRE library - the same regex library used by mod_alias - for compiling regular expressions. Bug Fixes Literal ‘$’ characters are now handled correctly when they appear in substitution strings for RedirectMatch directives.

A Mind At Play by Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman should be on every techie’s gift list this year because it is superb and because everyone in a technology or information field should know who Claude Shannon is. When Jimmy Soni offered me a review copy of this new biography of Claude Shannon, I immediately said yes. I knew a little about Shannon from reading The Idea Factory and The Information, and I was looking forward to learning more.

The cmd module contains one public class, Cmd , designed to be used as a base class for interactive shells and other command interpreters. By default it uses readline for interactive prompt handling, command line editing, and command completion. Read more… This post is part of the Python Module of the Week series for Python 3. See PyMOTW.com for more articles from the series.