Sam's Teach Yourself Python Programming for Raspberry Pi in 24 Hours, Second Edition

Pearson, 2016

by Richard Blum and Christine Bresnahan



Description

In just 24 sessions of one hour or less, Sams Teach Yourself Python Programming for Raspberry Pi in 24 Hours teaches you Python programming on Raspberry Pi, so you can start creating awesome projects for home automation, home theater, gaming, and more. Using this book’s straight-forward, step-by-step approach, you’ll move from the absolute basics all the way through network and web connections, multimedia, and even connecting with electronic circuits for sensing and robotics. Every lesson and case study application builds on what you’ve already learned, giving you a rock-solid foundation for real-world success!

Step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through the most common Raspberry Pi Python programming tasks.
Quizzes at the end of each chapter help you test your knowledge.
By the Way notes present interesting information related to the discussion.
Did You Know? tips offer advice or show you easier ways to perform tasks.
Watch Out! cautions alert you to possible problems and give you advice on how to avoid them.

Get your Raspberry Pi and choose the right low-cost peripherals
Set up Raspian Linux and the Python programming environment
Learn Python basics, including arithmetic and structured commands
Master Python 3 lists, tuples, diction-aries, sets, strings, files, and modules
Reuse the same Python code in multiple locations with functions
Manipulate string data efficiently with regular expressions
Practice simple object-oriented programming techniques
Use exception handling to make your code more reliable
Program modern graphical user interfaces with Raspberry Pi and OpenGL
Create Raspberry Pi games with the PyGame library
Learn network, web, and database techniques you can also use in business software
Write Python scripts that send email
Interact with other devices through Raspberry Pi’s GPIO interface
Walk through example Raspberry Pi projects that inspire you to do even more

Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Programming with Python . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Who Should Read This Book? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Conventions Used in This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Part I: Python Programming on the Raspberry Pi

HOUR 1: Setting Up the Raspberry Pi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Obtaining a Raspberry Pi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Acquiring a Raspberry Pi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Determining the Necessary Peripherals . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Nice Additional Peripherals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Deciding How to Purchase Peripherals . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Getting Your Raspberry Pi Working . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Troubleshooting Your Raspberry Pi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 27

HOUR 2: Understanding the Raspbian Linux Distribution . . . . . 29
Learning About Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Interacting with the Raspbian Command Line . . . . . . . . . . 30
Interacting with the Raspbian GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
The LXDE Graphical Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

HOUR 3: Setting Up a Programming Environment . . . . . . . . .. 47
Exploring Python . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 47
Checking Your Python Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 48
Installing Python and Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 50
Learning About the Python Interpreter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Learning About the Python Interactive Shell . . . . . . . . . . 53
Learning About the Python Development Environment . . . . . . . 57
Creating and Running Python Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Knowing Which Tool to Use and When . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 68
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Part II: Python Fundamentals

HOUR 4: Understanding Python Basics . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 73
Producing Python Script Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Formatting Scripts for Readability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Understanding Python Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Assigning Value to Python Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Learning About Python Data Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Allowing Python Script Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

HOUR 5: Using Arithmetic in Your Programs . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Working with Math Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Calculating with Fractions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Using Complex Number Math . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Getting Fancy with the math Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Using the NumPy Math Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 115

HOUR 6: Controlling Your Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Working with the if Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Grouping Multiple Statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Adding Other Options with the else Statement . . . . . . . . . 121
Adding More Options Using the elif Statement . . . . . . . . . 123
Comparing Values in Python . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Checking Complex Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Negating a Condition Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 133

HOUR 7: Learning About Loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 137
Performing Repetitive Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 137
Using the for Loop for Iteration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 137
Using the while Loop for Iteration . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 148
Creating Nested Loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Part III: Advanced Python

HOUR 8: Using Lists and Tuples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 159
Introducing Tuples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 159
Introducing Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Using Multidimensional Lists to Store Data . . . . . . . . . . 171
Working with Lists and Tuples in Your Scripts . . . . . . . . . 172
Creating Lists by Using List Comprehensions . . . . . .. . . . 173
Working with Ranges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 176

HOUR 9: Dictionaries and Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. 179
Understanding Python Dictionary Terms . . . . . . . . . . . .. 179
Exploring Dictionary Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Programming with Dictionaries . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 186
Understanding Python Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Exploring Set Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Obtaining Information from a Set . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 194
Modifying a Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Programming with Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

HOUR 10: Working with Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
The Basics of Using Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Using Functions to Manipulate Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Formatting Strings for Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 223
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

HOUR 11: Using Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 225
Understanding Linux File Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 225
Managing Files and Directories via Python . . . . . . . . . . 227
Opening a File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 229
Reading a File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 233
Closing a File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 239
Writing to a File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .. 240
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 247

HOUR 12: Creating Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 249
Utilizing Python Functions in Your Programs . . . . . . . . . . 249
Returning a Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Passing Values to Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Handling Variables in a Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Using Lists with Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Using Recursion with Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 266

HOUR 13: Working with Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Introducing Module Concepts . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Exploring Standard Modules . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 271
Learning About Python Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Creating Custom Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 288
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

HOUR 14: Exploring the World of Object-Oriented Programming . . 291
Understanding the Basics of Object-Oriented Programming . . . . 291
Defining Class Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Sharing Your Code with Class Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 305

HOUR 15: Employing Inheritance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Learning About the Class Problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Understanding Subclasses and Inheritance . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Using Inheritance in Python . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
Using Inheritance in Python Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

HOUR 16: Regular Expressions . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 331
What Are Regular Expressions? . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 331
Working with Regular Expressions in Python. . . . . . . . . . . 333
The match() Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 333
The search() Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
The findall() and finditer() Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
Defining Basic Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Using Advanced Regular Expressions Features . . . . . . . . . . 343
Working with Regular Expressions in Your Python Scripts . . . . 346
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

HOUR 17: Exception Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 351
Understanding Exceptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Handling Exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
Handling Multiple Exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371

Part IV: Graphical Programming

HOUR 18: GUI Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 373
Programming for a GUI Environment . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. 373
Examining Python GUI Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
Using the tkinter Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
Exploring the tkinter Widgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

HOUR 19: Game Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
Understanding Game Programming . . . . . . . . .. . .. . . . . 397
Learning About Game Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
Setting Up the PyGame Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
Using PyGame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
Learning More About PyGame . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 409
Dealing with PyGame Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

Part V: Business Programming

HOUR 20: Using the Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 427
Finding the Python Network Modules . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 427
Working with Email Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 428
Working with Web Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
Linking Programs Using Socket Programming . . . . . . . . . . . 442
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 449
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450

HOUR 21: Using Databases in Your Programming . . . . . . . . . 453
Working with the MySQL Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
Using the PostgreSQL Database . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 464
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 473

HOUR 22: Web Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
Running a Web Server on the Pi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
Programming with the Common Gateway Interface . . . . . . . . 478
Expanding Your Python Webpages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 481
Processing Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494

Part VI: Raspberry Pi Python Projects

HOUR 23: Creating Basic Pi/Python Projects . . . . . . . . . . 497
Thinking About Basic Pi/Python Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
Displaying HD Images via Python . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
Playing Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530

HOUR 24: Working with Advanced Pi/Python Projects . . . . . .. 533
Exploring the GPIO Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 533
Using the RPi.GPIO Module . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 539
Controlling GPIO Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 541
Detecting GPIO Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 546
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 554

Appendixes

APPENDIX A: Loading the Raspbian Operating System onto an SD Card 557
Downloading NOOBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 558
Verifying NOOBS Checksum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
Unpacking the NOOBS Zip File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 561
Formatting the MicroSD Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 562
Copying NOOBS to a MicroSD Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566

APPENDIX B: Raspberry Pi Models Synopsis . . . . . . . . . . . .. 567
Raspberry Pi 2 Model B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 567
Raspberry Pi 1 Model B+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568
Raspberry Pi 1 Model A+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
Older Raspberry Pi Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570

Index ........................................................... 573

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