Python, the language notes

Syntax

Variables

Variables are not boxes, they are labels attached to boxes.

>>> a = [1, 2, 3]
>>> b = a
>>> a.append(4)
>>> a
[1, 2, 3, 4]
>>> b
[1, 2, 3, 4]
>>> id(a)
4467670856
>>> id(b)
4467670856
>>> c = '123'
>>> d = '123'
>>> id(c)
4469989304
>>> id(d)
4469989304
>>> c = '1234'
>>> id(c)
4469989248
>>> id(d)
4469989304

The sharing of string literals is an optimization technique called interning. CPython also uses it for small numbers.

Non-ASCII identifiers in Python 3

Python 3 allows non-ASCII identifiers in sourse code:

>>> こ = 'ko'

May be useful for teaching children programming.

Objects

Everything in Python is an object:

>>> type('1')
<class 'str'>
>>> type(1)
<class 'int'>
>>> type(None)
<class 'NoneType'>
>>> import sys
>>> type(sys)
<class 'module'>
>>> def a():
...   pass
...
>>> type(a)
<class 'function'>

object to type relation

The classes object and type have unique relationship: object is an instance of type, and type is a subclass of object. This is magic.

== vs is

The == operator compares the values (uses __eq__() method) of objects (the data they hold), while is compares their identities.

Private attributes

Never, ever use two leading underscores. This is annoyingly private. If name clashes are a concern, use explicit name mangling insted (e.g, _MyThing_blahblah). This is essentially the same thing as double-underscore, only it's transparent where double underscore obscures.

Ian Bicking, creator of pip, virtualenv and many other projects

>>> class A(object):
...   __a = 1
...   def get(self):
...     return self.__a
...
>>> a = A()
>>> a.__a
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
AttributeError: 'A' object has no attribute '__a'
>>> a.get()
1
>>> a._A__a
1

__str__ vs __repr__

__repr__ returns a string representing the object sa the developer wants to see it.
__str__ returns a string representing the object as the user wants to see it.

Magic methods

Why we use len(collection) instead of collection.length() or why we use a == b instead of a.is_equal(b)?

The answer is: following Python data model API allows your own objects play well with the most idiomatic language features.

Object model

object model is the properties of objects in general in a specific computer programming language.

Talking about len, it is not just a shortcut to sequence.__len__(), it can work even with objects without __len__ method (if the object is iterable, then len will try to count all items iterating throw them).

Another benefit of len is that you don't need to memorize which function name you used to return number of items: .length() or .size(). According to PEP-20: There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it.

bool function also has pretty interesting logic behind:

>>> class A(object):
...   pass
...
>>> class B(object):
...   def __bool__(self):
...     return False
...
>>> class C(object):
...   def __len__(self):
...     return 0
...
>>> D = []
>>>
>>> bool(A)
True
>>> bool(B)
True
>>> bool(C)
True
>>> bool(D)
False

Classes

Class is an object. Therefore each class must be an instance of some other class. By default, Python classes are instances of type. To avoid infinite regress, type is an instance of itself.

>>> object.__class__
<class 'type'>
>>> type.__class__
<class 'type'>

Inheritance

Multiple inheritance in Python is allowed but it is bad practice.
In many cases inheritance may be replaced by composition.

Functions

Functions in Python are first-class objects (like integers, strings, dictionaries):

First-class object

In programming, something is said to be a first-class citizen when it can be used as a value, meaning it can be passed into a function, returned from a function, and assigned to a variable.

>>> dir(a)
['__annotations__', '__call__', ... , '__str__', '__subclasshook__']
>>> a.__str__()
'<function a at 0x10ab872f0>'

Key-only arguments in Python 3

To specify keyword-only arguments when defining a function, name them after the argument prefixed with *. If you don't wan't to support variable positional arguments but still want keyword-only arguments, put a * by itself in the signature:

>>> def f(a, *, b):
...   print(a, b)
...
>>> f(1, 2)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: f() takes 1 positional argument but 2 were given
>>> f(1, b=2)
1 2
>>> f(1, 2, b=3)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: f() takes 1 positional argument but 2 positional arguments (and 1 keyword-only argument) were given

Function annotation

Python 3 provides syntax to attach metadata to the parameters of a function declaration and it's return value.

>>> def f(a:str, b:'int < 10') -> str:
...   return a * b
...
>>> f('a', 2)
'aa'
>>> f('a', 15)
'aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa'
>>> f(a=1, b=15)
15
>>> f.__annotations__
{'a': <class 'str'>, 'return': <class 'str'>, 'b': 'int < 10'}

No processing is done with the annotations. They are merely stored in the __annotations__ attribute of the function and have no meaning to the Python interpreter. Annotations may be used by tools such as IDEs, frameworks, and decorators.

Local and global variables

>>> def a():
...   print(id)
...
>>> def b():
...   print(id)
...   id = 1
...
>>> a()
<built-in function id>
>>> b()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "<stdin>", line 2, in b
UnboundLocalError: local variable 'id' referenced before assignment
>>> def c():
...   global id
...   print(id)
...   id = 1
...
>>> c()
<built-in function id>
>>> c()
1

When Python compiles the body of the b function, it decides that id is a local variable because it is assigned within the function.

Variable name length

Lean toward short local variables with small scopes. The larger the scope of a name, the longer and more meaningful it should be.

Mutable types as parameter defaults

Don't do it.

>>> def f(a=[]):
...   a.append(1)
...   print(a)
...
>>> f()
[1]
>>> f()
[1, 1]

Modification in place

When we pass mutable object as argument to function where it would be modified. This type of functions must return None value (it makes clear to the caller that the object itself was changed, and no new object was created).

>>> a = {'a': 1}
>>> def f(x):
...   x['a'] += 1
...
>>> f(a)
>>> a
{'a': 2}

Closures

A closure is a function with an extended scope that encompasses nonglobal variables referenced in the body of the function but not defined there (can access nonglobal variables that are defined outside of its body).

Another explanation: closures retain access to the local variables that were in scope when they were defined, even if they are invoked from a different scope.

One more: closure is an object that is both an invocable function and a variable binding for that function.

An example from the Fluent Python book:

>>> def make_averager():
...   series = []
...   def averager(value):
...     series.append(value)
...     total = sum(series)
...     return total / len(series)
...   return averager
...
>>> avg = make_averager()
>>> avg(10)
10.0
>>> avg(11)
10.5
>>> avg(12)
11.0
>>> avg.__code__.co_varnames
('value', 'total')
>>> avg.__code__.co_freevars
('series',)
>>> avg.__closure__[0].cell_contents
[10, 11, 12]

Each item in avg.__closure__ corresponds to a name in avg.__code__.co_freevars.

Tuples

Unpacking a tuple:

>>> a, b = (1, 2)
>>> a
1
>>> a, b, *other = range(5)
>>> a
0
>>> other
[2, 3, 4]
>>> a, *middle, b = range(5)
>>> b
4
>>> a, **middle, b = range(2)
  File "<stdin>", line 1
    a, **middle, b = range(2)
        ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

Strings

Strings comparison:

>>> s1 = 'café'
>>> s2 = 'cafe\u0301'
>>> s2, s2
('café', 'café')
>>> len(s1), len(s2)
(4, 5)
>>> s1 == s2
False

Two strings are canonical equivalents but different sequences. We need to normalize strings before comparison (see unicodedata.normalize).

Arrays

Arrays is mutable sequence that may contain only the same type objects. Also it supports additional methods allows to load and dump data to file.

>>> import array
>>> a = array.array('u')
>>> a.append(u'a')
>>> a.append(u'b')
>>> a.append(u'c')
>>> a
array('u', u'abc')

See also memoryview.

A memoryview is essentially a generalized NumPy array structure in Python itself (without the math). It allows you to share memory between data-structures (things like PIL images, SQLite databases, NumPy arrays, etc.) without first copying. This is very important for large data sets.

Travis Oliphant

Dicts

Dicts are fast but have significant memory overhead (because of hash table usage). They provide fast access regardless of the size of the dictionary.

Modifying the contents of a dict while iterating through it is a bad idea. Python may decide to rebuild the hash table and so positions of elements in the table may be changed.

In Python 3, the .keys(), .items() and .values() methods return dictionary views, so they immediately reflect any changes to the dict.

List comprehensions

List comprehensions has their own local scope in Python 3:

# python3.5
>>> [i for i in '123']
['1', '2', '3']
>>> i = 1
>>> [i for i in '123']
['1', '2', '3']
>>> i
1

# python2.7
>>> [i for i in '123']
['1', '2', '3']
>>> i = 1
>>> [i for i in '123']
['1', '2', '3']
>>> i
'3'

Slycing

Excluding the last item in slices and ranges works well:

a = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10)
# a = [start:stop:step]
>>> a = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10)
>>> a[0:6:1]
(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
>>> a[0:6:2]
(1, 3, 5)
>>> a[0:6:3]
(1, 4)

Reverse:

>>> a = '123'
>>> a[::-1]
'321'

Sorting

Sort list in place:

>>> a = [1, 3, 2]
>>> a.sort()
>>> a
[1, 2, 3]

Sort using sorted function:

>>> a = [1, 3, 2]
>>> sorted(a)
[1, 2, 3]
>>> a
[1, 3, 2]

Sorting algorithm Python uses in Timsort, an adaptive algorithm that switches from insertion sort to merge sort strategies depending on how ordered the data is.

Iterators

Every collection in Python is iterable.

>>> s = 'abc'
>>> for c in s:
...   print(c)
...
a
b
c

If an object has __getitem__ and __len__ methods, it is iterable:

>>> class C(object):
...   _a = (1, 2, 3)
...   def __len__(self):
...     return len(self._a)
...   def __getitem__(self, index):
...     return self._a[index]
...
>>> for c in C():
...   print(c)
...
1
2
3

Another way to create an iterable object is to define __iter__ method that returns an iterator:

>>> class C(object):
...   def __init__(self):
...     self._a = (1, 2, 3)
...   def __iter__(self):
...     return self._a.__iter__()
...
>>> for c in C():
...   print(c)
...
1
2
3

We can create our own iterator, it sould be a class with __iter__ and __next__ methods. __iter__ should return self and __next__ should raise StopIteration when there are no further items:

>>> class CIterator(object):
...   def __init__(self, items):
...     self._items = items
...     self._position = 0
...   def __iter__(self):
...     return self
...   def __next__(self):
...     if self._position >= len(self._items):
...       raise StopIteration()
...     self._position += 1
...     return self._items[self._position - 1]
...
>>> class C(object):
...   def __init__(self):
...     self._items = (1, 2, 3)
...   def __iter__(self):
...     return CIterator(items=self._items)
...
>>> for c in C():
...   print(c)
...
1
2
3

Also we can return a generator as iterator:

>>> class C(object):
...   def __init__(self):
...     self._items = (1, 2, 3)
...   def __iter__(self):
...     return (i for i in self._items)
...
>>> for c in C():
...   print(c)
...
1
2
3

Iterator vs iterable

Any object from which the iter built-in function can obtain an iterator is iterable. Objects implementing an __iter__ method returning an iterator are iterable. Sequences are always iterable; as are objects implementing a __getitem__ method that takes 0-based indexes.

Any object that implements the __next__ no-argument method that returns the next item in a series or raises StopIteration when there are no more items. Python iterators also implement the __iter__ method, so they are iterable as well.

Generators

There are two ways to define a generator:

>>> a = (i for i in (1, 2, 3))
>>> type(a)
<class 'generator'>
>>> def b():
...   for i in (1, 2, 3):
...     yield i
...
>>> type(b)
<class 'function'>
>>> for i in a:
...   print(i)
...
1
2
3
>>> for i in b():
...   print(i)
...
1
2
3

Generator vs iterator

Every generator is an iterator: generators fully implement the iterator interface.
Generator retrieves items from a collection, while a generator can produce items "out of thin air."

In the Python community lingo iterator and generator are fairly close synonyms.

Generator vs function

According to Improve Your Python: 'yield' and Generators Explained by Jeff Knupp:

When we call a normal Python function, execution starts at function's first line and continues until a return statement, exception, or the end of the function (which is seen as an implicit return None) is encountered. Once a function returns control to its caller, that's it. Any work done by the function and stored in local variables is lost. A new call to the function creates everything from scratch.

This is all very standard when discussing functions (more generally referred to as subroutines) in computer programming. There are times, though, when it's beneficial to have the ability to create a "function" which, instead of simply returning a single value, is able to yield a series of values. To do so, such a function would need to be able to "save its work," so to speak.

I said, "yield a series of values" because our hypothetical function doesn't "return" in the normal sense. return implies that the function is returning control of execution to the point where the function was called. "Yield," however, implies that the transfer of control is temporary and voluntary, and our function expects to regain it in the future.

New in Python 3.3: Delegating to a Subgenerator

See PEP 380: Syntax for Delegating to a Subgenerator.

def subgenerator():

  for i in (0, 1, 2, 3):
    yield i


def generator():

  # For Python < 3.3:
  # for i in subgenerator():
  #     yield i

  yield from subgenerator()


if __name__ == '__main__':
  for i in generator():
    print(i)

Coroutines

  • Generators produce data for iteration
  • Coroutines are consumers of data
  • To keep your brain from exploding, you don't mix the two concepts together
  • Coroutines are not related to iteration
  • Note: There is a use of having yield produce a value in a coroutine, but it's not tied to iteration.

David Beazley, A Curious Course on Coroutines and Concurrency

An ability of generators to accept data was added in 2005, see PEP-342.

As for me, the essential of coroutine is that it consumes data while generator can only produce it:

>>> def coroutine():
...   print("Start")
...   for i in range(2):
...     x = yield
...     print("Received:", x)
...   print("Finish")
...
>>> c = coroutine()
>>> next(c)
Start
>>> c.send(1)
Received: 1
>>> c.send(2)
Received: 2
Finish
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
StopIteration

For comprehensive explanation see: Coroutines at wla.berkeley.edu.

New in Python 3.5: async and await syntax

See PEP 492 - Coroutines with async and await syntax.

Since Python 3.5 native coroutines are their own completely distinct type, before they were just enhanced generators. async syntax makes coroutines a native Python language feature, and clearly separates them from generators.

@asyncio.coroutine
def py34_coroutine():
    yield from avaitable()


async def py35_coroutine():
    await avaitable()

Exceptions

EAFP stands for Easier to Ask for Forgiveness than Permission.

In Python, try/except commonly used for control flow, and not just for error handling.

>>> def f(value):
...   try:
...     value = value + 1
...   except TypeError as e:
...     print("Error:", e)
...   else:
...     print("Success")
...   finally:
...     print('Runs anyway.')
...   return value
...
>>> f(1)
Success
Runs anyway.
2
>>> f('a')
Error: Can't convert 'int' object to str implicitly
Runs anyway.
'a'

Reraise a catched exception

Just use raise.

except Exception as e: raise is equal to except Exception as e: raise e.

>>> try:
...   a = int('a')
... except Exception as e:
...   raise
...
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 2, in <module>
ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 10: 'a'
>>> try:
...   a = int('a')
... except Exception as e:
...   raise e
...
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 4, in <module>
  File "<stdin>", line 2, in <module>
ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 10: 'a'

raise is preferable as we don't have File "<stdin>", line 4, in <module> line in the traceback.

Context managers

The context manager protocol consists of the __enter__ and __exit__ methods.

>>> class ContextManager(object):
...   def __enter__(self):
...     print('Enter')
...   def __exit__(self, exc_type, exc_value, traceback):
...     print('Exit')
...
>>> with ContextManager() as cm:
...   print('Inner')
...
Enter
Inner
Exit

The same using contextlib:

>>> import contextlib
>>> @contextlib.contextmanager
... def context_manager():
...   print('Enter')
...   yield None
...   print('Exit')
...
>>> with context_manager() as cm:
...   print('Inner')
...
Enter
Inner
Exit

Flow control

match statement

def http_error(status):
    match status:
        case 400:
            return "Bad request"
        case 404:
            return "Not found"
        case 418 | 420:
            return "I'm a teapot"
        case _:
            return "Something's wrong with the internet"

Standard library

More notes about Python 3 standard library is here.

asyncio

asyncio is a part of the standard library since Python 3.4.

asyncio provides infrastructure for writing single-threaded concurrent code using coroutines, multiplexing I/O access over sockets and other resources, running network clients and servers, and other related primitives.

collections.namedtuple

Namedtuple represents object with only data user attributes, it uses less memory and is immutable.

>>> class A(object):
...   def __init__(self, a, b):
...     self.a = a
...     self.b = b
...
>>> from collections import namedtuple
>>> B = namedtuple('B', ['a', 'b'])
>>> a = A(a=1, b=2)
>>> b = B(a=1, b=2)
>>> type(a)
<class '__main__.A'>
>>> type(b)
<class '__main__.B'>
>>> a.a
1
>>> b.a
1
>>> a.a = 3
>>> b.a = 3
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
AttributeError: can't set attribute

collections.defaultdict

>>> a = {}
>>> b = defaultdict(list)
>>> a['x'].append(1)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
KeyError: 'x'
>>> b['x'].append(1)
>>> a
{}
>>> b
defaultdict(<type 'list'>, {'x': [1]})
>>> dict(b)
{'x': [1]}

http

A simple way to serve static:

cd static
python -m http.server 8001

See http.server.

map, filter, reduce

Use list/generator comprehensions instead.

>>> list(map(int, '123'))
[1, 2, 3]
>>> list(filter(lambda i: i > 2, [1, 2, 3]))
[3]
>>> from functools import reduce
>>> from operator import add
>>> reduce(add, [1, 2, 3])
6

functools.lru_cache

Functools docs.
LRU stands for Least Recently Used.

weekref

Objects are never explicitly destroyed; hower, when they become unreachable they may be garbage-collected.

"Data Model" chapter of The Python Language Reference

The weakref module allows the Python programmer to create weak references to objects.

A weak reference to an object is not enough to keep the object alive: when the only remaining references to a referent are weak references, garbage collection is free to destroy the referent and reuse its memory for something else. Commonly uses to implement caches.

>>> import weakref
>>> class A(object):
...   pass
...
>>> a = A()
>>> b = weakref.ref(a)
>>> id(a)
4359552808
>>> id(b())
4359552808
>>> del(a)
>>> b() is None
True

list and dict types do not directly support weak references.

abc

ABC stands for Abstract Base Classes.

An abstract class represents an interface.

Bjarne Stroustrup, creator of c++

ABC uses to check if the object has an interface we need (for example, if it can behave like a dict or an iterable). We can check if the object has necessary attributes and so if it walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. Alternative way is to check if the object subclasses an ABC that describes necessary interface.

abc module contains decorators that can be used to define abstract methods (methods that must be present).

>>> import abc
>>> class Duck(metaclass=abc.ABCMeta):
...   @abc.abstractmethod
...   def quack(self):
...     pass
...
>>> class C(Duck):
...   def quack(self):
...     print('quack')
...
>>> c = C()
>>> isinstance(c, Duck)
True
>>> class D(Duck):
...   pass
...
>>> d = D()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: Can't instantiate abstract class D with abstract methods quack

itertools

itertools module has a lot of functions to work with iterators and generators.

For example:

>>> import itertools
>>> counter = itertools.count(0, 0.2)
>>> i = 0
>>> while i < 0.6:
...   i += next(counter)
...   print(i)
...
0
0.2
0.6000000000000001

Thirdparty

ujson

More efficient json alternative.

Vocabulary

Callables

There are 7 flavors of callbale objects in Python:

Use callable() function to check if object is callable.

Container sequence vs flat sequence

Are represent different memory models of the sequence types.

Container squence means some objects contain references to other objects.
Container sequences can be nested because they may contain objects of any type, including their own type.

Flat sequence is a sequence type that physically stores the values of its items, and not references to other objects. str, bytes, bytearray, memoryview and array.array are flat sequences.

Deep and shallow copies

Deep copy is a copy of an object in which all the objects that are attributes of the object are themselves also copied.

>>> class C(object):
...   def __init__(self, a):
...     self.a = a
...
>>> c = C(a={'x': 1})
>>> id(c.a)
4333741320
>>> id(c)
4334968616
>>> import copy
>>> c1 = copy.copy(c)
>>> c2 = copy.deepcopy(c)
>>> id(c1)
4334968784
>>> id(c2)
4335046952
>>> id(c1.a)
4333741320
>>> id(c2.a)
4335027272

id(c1.a) == id(c.a) but id(c2.a) != id(c.a).

Descriptor

Descriptor is a class implementing one or more of the __get__, __set__ or __delete__ special methods and one of its instances is used as class attribute of another class, the managed class. Descriptors manage the access and deletion of a managed attributes in the managed class, often storing data in the managed instances.

Duck typing

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck.

Dunder-method

Methods like __eq__, __getitem__.
Also known as special or magic methods.

Magic

"Magic method" term was adopted from Ruby. Actually, these methods are opposite to magic, their behavior quite straightforward.

Functional language

Python is, by design, not a functional language - whatever that means. Python just borrows a few good ideas from functional languages.

Fluent Python by Luciano Ramalho

Future

Also known as promise.

An object which represents the result of a function call which is asynchronous.

GIL

GIL or Global Interpreter Lock is a mutex that prevents multiple native threads from executing Python bytecodes at once.

Jython and IronPython have no GIL. PyPy and CPython have a GIL.

GIL disadvantage: prevents multithreaded CPython programs from taking full advantage of multiprocessor systems in certain situations. There is no good enough GILless CPython implementation yet.

How to workaround this issue: use multiprocessing module.

There is a great talk by David Beazley on PyCon 2015 that shows how Python concurrency works on an example.

Concurrency: one of the most difficult topics in computer science (usually best avoided).

David Beazley

Hashable

An object is hashable if it has a hash value which never changes during its lifetime (it needs a __hash__() method), and can be compared to other objects (it needs an __eq__() method). Hashable objects which compare equal must have the same hash value.

Python Glossary

User-defined types are hashable by default because their hash value is their id() and they all compare not equal.

>>> a = [1, 2]
>>> hash(a)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: unhashable type: 'list'
>>> a = (1, 2)
>>> hash(a)
3713081631934410656

Hooks vs primitive operations

A hook is a method that can be defined in an abstract class and can be overridden in concrete classes. The difference between primitive operations and hooks is that hooks can be overridden by a derived class but is not obligated to do so, while a primitive operation must be implemented or NotImplementedError will be raised.

Immutable

We can't modify it.

Immutable types in Python are: tuple.

>>> a = (1, 2, 3)
>>> a[0] = 5
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: 'tuple' object does not support item assignment
>>> b = [1, 2, 3]
>>> b[0] = 5
>>> b
[5, 2, 3]

Infix operators

Creates new object and don't touch their operands.

Lazy vs eager

An iterable object that builds all its items at once. In Python, a list comprehension is eager and generator comprehension is lazy.

Metaprogramming

Metaprogramming - when program modifies its code while running.

Class metaprogramming is the art of creating or customizing classes at runtime.

Means that we manage object creation, for example: create a class using type() or overriding __new__() method to return alternative object instance instead of creating new.

A useful example - register class on class initialization:

class Registry(object):

    _items = {}

    @classmethod
    def register(cls, item):
        if item.__name__ not in cls._items:
            cls._items[item.__name__] = item

    @classmethod
    def get(cls, name):
        return cls._items.get(name)

    @classmethod
    def list(cls):
      return cls._items.values()


class ClassMeta(type):

    def __init__(cls, name, bases, attrs):
        super(ClassMeta, cls).__init__(name, bases, attrs)
        Registry.register(item=cls)


class Class1(object, metaclass=ClassMeta):

  pass


class Class2(object, metaclass=ClassMeta):

  pass


if __name__ == '__main__':
  print(Registry.list())
  # python3.5 meta_example.py
  # dict_values([<class '__main__.Class1'>, <class '__main__.Class2'>])

Fluent Python by Luciano Ramalho
Python 3 Standard Library by Example by Doug Hellmann

Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0