Doc/ref/ref.tex

   1 \documentclass{manual}
   2
   3 \title{Python Reference Manual}
   4
   5 \input{boilerplate}
   6
   7 \makeindex
   8
   9 \begin{document}
  10
  11 \maketitle
  12
  13 \ifhtml
  14 \chapter*{Front Matter\label{front}}
  15 \fi
  16
  17 \input{copyright}
  18
  19 \begin{abstract}
  20
  21 \noindent
  22 Python is an interpreted, object-oriented, high-level programming
  23 language with dynamic semantics.  Its high-level built in data
  24 structures, combined with dynamic typing and dynamic binding, make it
  25 very attractive for rapid application development, as well as for use
  26 as a scripting or glue language to connect existing components
  27 together.  Python's simple, easy to learn syntax emphasizes
  28 readability and therefore reduces the cost of program
  29 maintenance.  Python supports modules and packages, which encourages
  30 program modularity and code reuse.  The Python interpreter and the
  31 extensive standard library are available in source or binary form
  32 without charge for all major platforms, and can be freely distributed.
  33
  34 This reference manual describes the syntax and ``core semantics'' of
  35 the language.  It is terse, but attempts to be exact and complete.
  36 The semantics of non-essential built-in object types and of the
  37 built-in functions and modules are described in the
  38 \citetitle[../lib/lib.html]{Python Library Reference}.  For an
  39 informal introduction to the language, see the
  40 \citetitle[../tut/tut.html]{Python Tutorial}.  For C or
  41 \Cpp{} programmers, two additional manuals exist:
  42 \citetitle[../ext/ext.html]{Extending and Embedding the Python
  43 Interpreter} describes the high-level picture of how to write a Python
  44 extension module, and the \citetitle[../api/api.html]{Python/C API
  45 Reference Manual} describes the interfaces available to
  46 C/\Cpp{} programmers in detail.
  47
  48 \end{abstract}
  49
  50 \tableofcontents
  51
  52 \input{ref1}            % Introduction
  53 \input{ref2}            % Lexical analysis
  54 \input{ref3}            % Data model
  55 \input{ref4}            % Execution model
  56 \input{ref5}            % Expressions and conditions
  57 \input{ref6}            % Simple statements
  58 \input{ref7}            % Compound statements
  59 \input{ref8}            % Top-level components
  60
  61 \input{ref.ind}
  62
  63 \end{document}