Overview

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Build practical Python web development skills across the application lifecycle—from preparing web content to testing, integration, and distribution. Designed for learners who want to strengthen their Python skills, this course provides hands-on experience with server-side scripting and cross-platform development. You’ll clean malformed HTML with Tidy, parse structured web content with Python libraries and Beautiful Soup, and create dynamic CGI applications. You’ll diagnose CGI errors, configure Apache for script execution, generate server-side HTML with Python Server Pages, map URLs with Publisher, and produce RSS content. You’ll also implement XML-RPC communication, validate code with doctest and unittest, and use profiling tools to assess application performance. Finally, you’ll explore Python integration with Java and .NET through Jython and IronPython, extend Python with C, examine memory management through reference counting, and package modules for distribution with distutils. By the end, you’ll be able to prepare and serve web content, build and debug server-side applications, test reliability, analyze performance, integrate Python across runtime environments, and package applications for distribution. Its distinctive end-to-end focus connects web parsing, server configuration, testing, optimization, interfacing, and packaging in one structured learning path. Enroll to develop practical skills for building dependable Python-based web systems.

Syllabus

Web Content Parsing and Preparation
- This module introduces learners to foundational techniques in parsing and preparing web content using Python. It begins with cleaning malformed HTML using the Tidy library and progresses into parsing structured data with HTML parsers. Learners then explore advanced parsing with Beautiful Soup and apply these techniques to build dynamic content through CGI scripting. The module concludes by guiding learners through CGI debugging practices and configuring servers for CGI-based execution using Apache. By the end, learners will have the practical ability to clean, parse, serve, and debug web-based data pipelines in Python.
Server-Side Scripting and Integration
- This module introduces learners to the foundational techniques of dynamic web application development using Python. Through hands-on exploration of Python Server Pages (PSP), RSS generation, remote communication protocols like XML-RPC, and structured testing frameworks such as doctest and unittest, learners will gain the ability to build, test, and optimize server-side applications. The module also explores methods for enhancing performance using profiling tools, ensuring efficiency and reliability in deployed systems.
Advanced Python Interfacing and Packaging
- This module explores advanced integration and extension techniques in Python, focusing on cross-platform compatibility, performance optimization, and distribution workflows. Learners will understand how to integrate Python with other runtimes like Java and .NET using Jython and IronPython, extend Python with C for computational efficiency, and apply concepts such as reference counting for memory management. The module concludes with practical strategies for packaging and distributing Python modules using the distutils library.