Skip to Main Content
Programming Python, 3rd Edition
book

Programming Python, 3rd Edition

by Mark Lutz
August 2006
Intermediate to advanced content levelIntermediate to advanced
1600 pages
51h 46m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Programming Python, 3rd Edition

“Things to Do When Visiting Chicago”

This chapter is the fifth in our survey of Python Internet programming, and it continues Chapter 16’s discussion. There, we explored the fundamentals of server-side Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripting in Python. Armed with that knowledge, this chapter moves on to a larger case study that underscores advanced CGI topics.

This chapter presents PyMailCGI—a web site for reading and sending email that illustrates security concepts, hidden form fields, URL generation, and more. Because this system is similar in spirit to the PyMailGUI program we studied in Chapter 15, this example also serves as a comparison of web and nonweb applications. This case study is based on CGI scripting, but it implements a complete web site that does something more useful than Chapter 16’s examples.

As usual, in this book, this chapter splits its focus between application-level details and Python programming concepts. Because this is a fairly large case study, it illustrates system design concepts that are important in actual projects. It also says more about CGI scripts in general. PyMailCGI expands on the notions of state retention and security concerns and encryption.

The system presented here is neither particularly flashy nor feature rich as web sites go (in fact, the initial cut of PyMailCGI was thrown together during a layover at Chicago’s O’Hare airport). Alas, you will find neither dancing bears nor blinking lights at this site. On the other hand, it was written ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Start your free trial

You might also like

Learning Python, 3rd Edition

Learning Python, 3rd Edition

Mark Lutz

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0596009259Supplemental ContentErrata Page