Module 10 of 11

Standard Library & Third-Party Packages

Lessons

About This Module

You rarely have to build everything from scratch in Python — a huge amount of functionality already ships with the language itself, and an even bigger ecosystem exists outside of it. This module is about knowing what's already available before you reach for a hand-rolled solution.

It starts with the standard library: how to import modules, explore what's already installed, and find your way around commonly used built-ins. From there it moves into the wider Python ecosystem, covering pip for installing third-party packages and virtual environments for keeping each project's dependencies isolated and reproducible.

Watch the lessons in order, then continue on to Testing, Debugging & Concurrency.

Lessons

3 videos
01

Import Modules and Exploring the Standard Library

Importing modules you've written yourself as well as modules from the standard library, and how sys.path decides where Python looks for them.

02

pip - An In-Depth Look at the Package Management System

Installing, upgrading, and removing third-party packages with pip, and where they come from on PyPI.

03

virtualenv and Why You Should Use Virtual Environments

Keeping each project's dependencies isolated with virtual environments, so packages for one project don't clash with another.