3. Python Services

The modules described in this chapter provide a wide range of services related to the Python interpreter and its interaction with its environment. Here's an overview:

sys

-- Access system specific parameters and functions.

types

-- Names for all built-in types.

UserDict

-- Class wrapper for dictionary objects.

UserList

-- Class wrapper for list objects.

operator

-- All Python's standard operators as built-in functions.

traceback

-- Print or retrieve a stack traceback.

pickle

-- Convert Python objects to streams of bytes and back.

cPickle

-- Faster version of pickle, but not subclassable.

copy_reg

-- Register pickle support functions.

shelve

-- Python object persistency.

copy

-- Shallow and deep copy operations.

marshal

-- Convert Python objects to streams of bytes and back (with different constraints).

imp

-- Access the implementation of the import statement.

parser

-- Retrieve and submit parse trees from and to the runtime support environment.

symbol

-- Constants representing internal nodes of the parse tree.

token

-- Constants representing terminal nodes of the parse tree.

keyword

-- Test whether a string is a keyword in the Python language.

code

-- Code object services.

pprint

-- Data pretty printer.

dis

-- Disassembler.

site

-- A standard way to reference site-specific modules.

user

-- A standard way to reference user-specific modules.

__builtin__

-- The set of built-in functions.

__main__

-- The environment where the top-level script is run.