Python standard Modules
Laura Cassell, Alan Gauld · 2014
The Python standard library contains well over 200 modules, although the exact number varies between distributions.Not all of these modules are recommended for use by the typical Python programmer; many have specialized uses associated with the Python internal modules and are intended mainly for use by developers working on Python itself.And certain other modules, remnants of older Python versions now superseded by more modern alternatives, are retained mainly for compatibility with old code.This appendix lists all of the standard packages and modules that are recommended for "normal use" and highlights, in bold, those used or discussed in this book.Modules marked in the offi cial documentation as deprecated, or intended for use by core developers, as well as some designed to be development tools, have been omitted from the list.A few minor clarifi cations to the descriptions have been added.Not all packages have been expanded to show the individual modules, and in these cases a package-level description is provided.a aifc Read and write audio fi les in AIFF or AIFC format.argparse Command-line option and argument-parsing library.array Space-effi cient arrays of uniformly typed numeric values.asynchat Support for asynchronous command/response protocols.asyncio Asynchronous I/O, event loop, coroutines, and tasks.asyncore A base class for developing asynchronous socket-handling services.atexit Register and execute cleanup functions.