11.3. Working with Binary Data Record Layouts

The struct module provides pack() and unpack() functions for working with variable length binary record formats. The following example shows how to loop through header information in a ZIP file without using thezipfile module. Pack codes "H" and "I" represent two and four byte unsigned numbers respectively. The "<" indicates that they are standard size and in little-endian byte order:

import struct

data = open('myfile.zip', 'rb').read()
start = 0
for i in range(3):                      # show the first 3 file headers
    start += 14
    fields = struct.unpack('<IIIHH', data[start:start+16])
    crc32, comp_size, uncomp_size, filenamesize, extra_size = fields

    start += 16
    filename = data[start:start+filenamesize]
    start += filenamesize
    extra = data[start:start+extra_size]
    print filename, hex(crc32), comp_size, uncomp_size

    start += extra_size + comp_size     # skip to the next header

11.4. Multi-threading

Threading is a technique for decoupling tasks which are not sequentially dependent. Threads can be used to improve the responsiveness of applications that accept user input while other tasks run in the background. A related use case is running I/O in parallel with computations in another thread.

The following code shows how the high level threading module can run tasks in background while the main program continues to run:

import threading, zipfile

class AsyncZip(threading.Thread):
    def __init__(self, infile, outfile):
        threading.Thread.__init__(self)
        self.infile = infile
        self.outfile = outfile
    def run(self):
        f = zipfile.ZipFile(self.outfile, 'w', zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED)
        f.write(self.infile)
        f.close()
        print 'Finished background zip of: ', self.infile

background = AsyncZip('mydata.txt', 'myarchive.zip')
background.start()
print 'The main program continues to run in foreground.'

background.join()    # Wait for the background task to finish
print 'Main program waited until background was done.'

The principal challenge of multi-threaded applications is coordinating threads that share data or other resources. To that end, the threading module provides a number of synchronization primitives including locks, events, condition variables, and semaphores.

While those tools are powerful, minor design errors can result in problems that are difficult to reproduce. So, the preferred approach to task coordination is to concentrate all access to a resource in a single thread and then use the Queue module to feed that thread with requests from other threads. Applications usingQueue.Queue objects for inter-thread communication and coordination are easier to design, more readable, and more reliable.

11.5. Logging

The logging module offers a full featured and flexible logging system. At its simplest, log messages are sent to a file or to sys.stderr:

import logging
logging.debug('Debugging information')
logging.info('Informational message')
logging.warning('Warning:config file %s not found', 'server.conf')
logging.error('Error occurred')
logging.critical('Critical error -- shutting down')

This produces the following output:

WARNING:root:Warning:config file server.conf not found
ERROR:root:Error occurred
CRITICAL:root:Critical error -- shutting down

By default, informational and debugging messages are suppressed and the output is sent to standard error. Other output options include routing messages through email, datagrams, sockets, or to an HTTP Server. New filters can select different routing based on message priority: DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, and CRITICAL.

The logging system can be configured directly from Python or can be loaded from a user editable configuration file for customized logging without altering the application.

11.6. Weak References

Python does automatic memory management (reference counting for most objects and garbage collectionto eliminate cycles). The memory is freed shortly after the last reference to it has been eliminated.

This approach works fine for most applications but occasionally there is a need to track objects only as long as they are being used by something else. Unfortunately, just tracking them creates a reference that makes them permanent. The weakref module provides tools for tracking objects without creating a reference. When the object is no longer needed, it is automatically removed from a weakref table and a callback is triggered for weakref objects. Typical applications include caching objects that are expensive to create:

>>> import weakref, gc
>>> class A:
...     def __init__(self, value):
...             self.value = value
...     def __repr__(self):
...             return str(self.value)
...
>>> a = A(10)                   # create a reference
>>> d = weakref.WeakValueDictionary()
>>> d['primary'] = a            # does not create a reference
>>> d['primary']                # fetch the object if it is still alive
10
>>> del a                       # remove the one reference
>>> gc.collect()                # run garbage collection right away
0
>>> d['primary']                # entry was automatically removed
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
    d['primary']                # entry was automatically removed
  File "C:/python26/lib/weakref.py", line 46, in __getitem__
    o = self.data[key]()
KeyError: 'primary'

11.7. Tools for Working with Lists

Many data structure needs can be met with the built-in list type. However, sometimes there is a need for alternative implementations with different performance trade-offs.

The array module provides an array() object that is like a list that stores only homogeneous data and stores it more compactly. The following example shows an array of numbers stored as two byte unsigned binary numbers (typecode "H") rather than the usual 16 bytes per entry for regular lists of Python int objects:

>>> from array import array
>>> a = array('H', [4000, 10, 700, 22222])
>>> sum(a)
26932
>>> a[1:3]
array('H', [10, 700])

The collections module provides a deque() object that is like a list with faster appends and pops from the left side but slower lookups in the middle. These objects are well suited for implementing queues and breadth first tree searches:

>>> from collections import deque
>>> d = deque(["task1", "task2", "task3"])
>>> d.append("task4")
>>> print "Handling", d.popleft()
Handling task1

unsearched = deque([starting_node])
def breadth_first_search(unsearched):
    node = unsearched.popleft()
    for m in gen_moves(node):
        if is_goal(m):
            return m
        unsearched.append(m)

In addition to alternative list implementations, the library also offers other tools such as the bisect module with functions for manipulating sorted lists:

>>> import bisect
>>> scores = [(100, 'perl'), (200, 'tcl'), (400, 'lua'), (500, 'python')]
>>> bisect.insort(scores, (300, 'ruby'))
>>> scores
[(100, 'perl'), (200, 'tcl'), (300, 'ruby'), (400, 'lua'), (500, 'python')]

The heapq module provides functions for implementing heaps based on regular lists. The lowest valued entry is always kept at position zero. This is useful for applications which repeatedly access the smallest element but do not want to run a full list sort:

>>> from heapq import heapify, heappop, heappush
>>> data = [1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 2, 4, 6, 8, 0]
>>> heapify(data)                      # rearrange the list into heap order
>>> heappush(data, -5)                 # add a new entry
>>> [heappop(data) for i in range(3)]  # fetch the three smallest entries
[-5, 0, 1]

11.8. Decimal Floating Point Arithmetic

The decimal module offers a Decimal datatype for decimal floating point arithmetic. Compared to the built-infloat implementation of binary floating point, the class is especially helpful for

• financial applications and other uses which require exact decimal representation,
• control over precision,
• control over rounding to meet legal or regulatory requirements,
• tracking of significant decimal places, or
• applications where the user expects the results to match calculations done by hand.

For example, calculating a 5% tax on a 70 cent phone charge gives different results in decimal floating point and binary floating point. The difference becomes significant if the results are rounded to the nearest cent:

>>> from decimal import *
>>> x = Decimal('0.70') * Decimal('1.05')
>>> x
Decimal('0.7350')
>>> x.quantize(Decimal('0.01'))  # round to nearest cent
Decimal('0.74')
>>> round(.70 * 1.05, 2)         # same calculation with floats
0.73

The Decimal result keeps a trailing zero, automatically inferring four place significance from multiplicands with two place significance. Decimal reproduces mathematics as done by hand and avoids issues that can arise when binary floating point cannot exactly represent decimal quantities.

Exact representation enables the Decimal class to perform modulo calculations and equality tests that are unsuitable for binary floating point:

>>> Decimal('1.00') % Decimal('.10')
Decimal('0.00')
>>> 1.00 % 0.10
0.09999999999999995

>>> sum([Decimal('0.1')]*10) == Decimal('1.0')
True
>>> sum([0.1]*10) == 1.0
False

The decimal module provides arithmetic with as much precision as needed:

>>> getcontext().prec = 36
>>> Decimal(1) / Decimal(7)
Decimal('0.142857142857142857142857142857142857')