The hashlib module defines an API for accessing different cryptographic hashing algorithms. To work with a specific hash algorithm, use the appropriate constructor function or new() to create a hash object. From there, the objects use the same API, no matter what algorithm is being used. 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.

datetime contains functions and classes for working with dates and times, separately and together. 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 OpenStack Release Management team has been focusing a lot on automation during the Mitaka release cycle. At the start of the cycle we set out our goals, and we’re making good progress toward completing them. We’ve made quite a few supporting changes to the release process, with considerable help from the Infrastructure team. Standard Release Models We have standardized projects on one of three different release “models”, describing the frequency of releases.

Abstract base classes are a form of interface checking more strict than individual hasattr() checks for particular methods. By defining an abstract base class, a common API can be established for a set of subclasses. This capability is especially useful in situations where someone less familiar with the source for an application is going to provide plug-in extensions, but can also help when working on a large team or with a large code-base where keeping track of all of the classes at the same time is difficult or not possible.

The csv module can be used to work with data exported from spreadsheets and databases into text files formatted with fields and records, commonly referred to as comma-separated value (CSV) format because commas are often used to separate the fields in a record. 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 array module defines a sequence data structure that looks very much like a list , except that all of the members have to be of the same primitive type. The types supported are all numeric or other fixed-size primitive types such as bytes. 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.

What’s new in 2.0.2? fixed #2 python3 bug on next reader (contributed by stijnvanhoey) Remove duplicate ‘the’ word (contributed by Rick Lin)

The Fraction class implements numerical operations for rational numbers based on the API defined by Rational in the numbers module. 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.

Even though the glob API is small, the module packs a lot of power. It is useful in any situation where a program needs to look for a list of files on the file system with names matching a pattern. To create a list of filenames that all have a certain extension, prefix, or any common string in the middle, use glob instead of writing custom code to scan the directory contents.