Python: Real-World Data Science

Chapter 9. Strings and Serialization

Before we get involved with higher level design patterns, let's take a deep dive into one of Python's most common objects: the string. We'll see that there is a lot more to the string than meets the eye, and also cover searching strings for patterns and serializing data for storage or transmission.

In particular, we'll visit:

• The complexities of strings, bytes, and byte arrays
• The ins and outs of string formatting
• A few ways to serialize data
• The mysterious regular expression

Strings

Strings are a basic primitive in Python; we've used them in nearly every example we've discussed so far. All they do is represent an immutable sequence of characters. However, though you may not have considered it before, "character" ...