new python toys

My organization has hired a new programmer who's into Python and I've been learning from him. I was always able to use Python to get done whatever I needed to get done but there are plenty of things I didn't know about until he showed me. Here's a quick list:

• the * and ** operators
• Generators, though I have not yet used them (ideas)
• ipython: an interactive python shell (not necessarily IronPython). It's been allowing me explore the language quickly (much quicker to type '?' than google the documentation) and interactively; e.g.

  sh-4.2$ ipython
  Python 2.7.2 (default, Oct 27 2011, 01:40:22) 
  Type "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
  
  IPython 0.12 -- An enhanced Interactive Python.
  ?         -> Introduction and overview of IPython's features.
  %quickref -> Quick reference.
  help      -> Python's own help system.
  object?   -> Details about 'object', use 'object??' for extra details.
  
  In [1]: 1+
    File "", line 1
      1+
        ^
  SyntaxError: invalid syntax
  
  
  In [2]: import ldap.<tab>
  ldap.async       ldap.dn          ldap.ldapobject  ldap.sasl        ldap.thread      
  ldap.cidict      ldap.filter      ldap.modlist     ldap.schema      ldap.threading   
  ldap.controls    ldap.functions   ldap.resiter     ldap.sys         ldap.traceback   
  
  In [2]: import ldap.filter
  
  In [3]: ldap.filter.<tab>
  ldap.filter.escape_filter_chars  ldap.filter.filter_format        
  
  In [3]: ldap.filter.escape_filter_chars?
  Type:       function
  Base Class: 
  String Form:
  Namespace:  Interactive
  File:       /usr/lib64/python2.7/site-packages/ldap/filter.py
  Definition: ldap.filter.escape_filter_chars(assertion_value, escape_mode=0)
  Docstring:
  Replace all special characters found in assertion_value
  by quoted notation.
  
  escape_mode
      If 0 only special chars mentioned in RFC 2254 are escaped.
      If 1 all NON-ASCII chars are escaped.
      If 2 all chars are escaped.
  
  In [4]:
  
  In [4]: ldap.filter.escape_filter_chars??
  Type:       function
  Base Class: 
  String Form:
  Namespace:  Interactive
  File:       /usr/lib64/python2.7/site-packages/ldap/filter.py
  Definition: ldap.filter.escape_filter_chars(assertion_value, escape_mode=0)
  Source:
  def escape_filter_chars(assertion_value,escape_mode=0):
    """
    Replace all special characters found in assertion_value
    by quoted notation.
    
    escape_mode
        If 0 only special chars mentioned in RFC 2254 are escaped.
        If 1 all NON-ASCII chars are escaped.
        If 2 all chars are escaped.
    """
    if escape_mode:
      r = []
      if escape_mode==1:
        for c in assertion_value:
          if c < '0' or c > 'z' or c in "\\*()":
            c = "\\%02x" % ord(c)
          r.append(c)
      elif escape_mode==2:
        for c in assertion_value:
          r.append("\\%02x" % ord(c))
      else:
        raise ValueError('escape_mode must be 0, 1 or 2.')
      s = ''.join(r)
    else:
      s = assertion_value.replace('\\', r'\5c')
      s = s.replace(r'*', r'\2a')
      s = s.replace(r'(', r'\28')
      s = s.replace(r')', r'\29')
      s = s.replace('\x00', r'\00')
    return s
  
  In [5]:
  ...
  In [60]: import string
  
  In [61]: string.<tab>
  string.Formatter        string.capwords         string.ljust            string.rsplit
  string.Template         string.center           string.lower            string.rstrip
  string.ascii_letters    string.count            string.lowercase        string.split
  string.ascii_lowercase  string.digits           string.lstrip           string.splitfields
  string.ascii_uppercase  string.expandtabs       string.maketrans        string.strip
  string.atof             string.find             string.octdigits        string.swapcase
  string.atof_error       string.hexdigits        string.printable        string.translate
  string.atoi             string.index            string.punctuation      string.upper
  string.atoi_error       string.index_error      string.replace          string.uppercase
  string.atol             string.join             string.rfind            string.whitespace
  string.atol_error       string.joinfields       string.rindex           string.zfill
  string.capitalize       string.letters          string.rjust            
  
  In [61]: string.whitespace
  Out[61]: '\t\n\x0b\x0c\r '
  
  In [62]: string.punctuation
  Out[62]: '!"#$%&\'()*+,-./:;<=>?@[\\]^_`{|}~'
  
  In [63]: