Boa Constructor

A snake monster is putting the SQUEEZE on the Super Secret Monster Patrol! Pick a book. Grow a Reader! This series is part of Scholastic's early chapter book line, Branches, aimed at newly independent readers. With easy-to-read text, high-interest content, fast-paced plots, and illustrations on every page, these books will boost reading confidence and stamina. Branches books help readers grow! In this second book of the series, construction equipment and machine parts are going missing all over Stermont! Then an entire playground disappears! Could a monster be to blame? The Super Secret Monster Patrol will need to stop this crafty monster FAST -- before the whole town falls apart!

New Strategies for the Reading/Writing Classroom Easy strategies and activities that dramatically improve the reading-writing skills of the author's mixed-ability students. Includes a rational, real-life models, and more.

The defacto standard - a must-have for all LISP programmers. In this greatly expanded edition of the defacto standard, you'll learn about the nearly 200 changes already made since original publication - and find out about gray areas likely to be revised later. Written by the Vice- Chairman of X3J13 (the ANSI committee responsible for the standardization of Common Lisp) and co-developer of the language itself, the new edition contains the entire text of the first edition plus six completely new chapters. They cover: - CLOS, the Common Lisp Object System, with new features to support function overloading and object-oriented programming, plus complete technical specifications * Loops, a powerful control structure for multiple variables * Conditions, a generalization of the error signaling mechanism * Series and generators * Plus other subjects not part of the ANSI standards but of interest to professional programmers. Throughout, you'll find fresh examples, additional clarifications, warnings, and tips - all presented with the author's customary vigor and wit.

This book offers Python programmers one place to look when they needhelp remembering or deciphering the syntax of this open source languageand its many powerful but scantily documented modules. Thiscomprehensive reference guide makes it easy to look up the mostfrequently needed information--not just about the Python languageitself, but also the most frequently used parts of the standard libraryand the most important third-party extensions. Ask any Python aficionado and you'll hear that Python programmers haveit all: an elegant object-oriented language with readable andmaintainable syntax, that allows for easy integration with componentsin C, C++, Java, or C#, and an enormous collection of precoded standardlibrary and third-party extension modules. Moreover, Python is easy tolearn, yet powerful enough to take on the most ambitious programmingchallenges. But what Python programmers used to lack is a concise andclear reference resource, with the appropriate measure of guidance inhow best to use Python's great power. Python in aNutshell fills this need. Python in a Nutshell, Second Edition covers morethan the language itself; it also deals with the mostfrequently used parts of the standard library, and the most popular andimportant third party extensions. Revised and expanded forPython 2.5, this book now contains the gory details of Python's newsubprocess module and breaking news about Microsoft's newIronPython project. Our "Nutshell" format fits Python perfectly bypresenting the highlights of the most important modules and functionsin its standard library, which cover over 90% of your practicalprogramming needs. This book includes: A fast-paced tutorial on the syntax of the Python language An explanation of object-oriented programming in Python Coverage of iterators, generators, exceptions, modules,packages, strings, and regular expressions A quick reference for Python's built-in types and functionsand key modules Reference material on important third-party extensions,such as Numeric and Tkinter Information about extending and embedding Python Python in a Nutshell provides a solid,no-nonsense quick reference to information that programmers rely on themost. This book will immediately earn its place in any Pythonprogrammer's library. Praise for the First Edition: "In a nutshell, Python in a Nutshell serves oneprimary goal: to act as an immediately accessible goal for the Pythonlanguage. True, you can get most of the same core information that ispresented within the covers of this volume online, but this willinvariably be broken into multiple files, and in all likelihood lackingthe examples or the exact syntax description necessary to trulyunderstand a command." --Richard Cobbett, Linux Format "O'Reilly has several good books, of which Python in aNutshell by Alex Martelli is probably the best for giving yousome idea of what Python is about and how to do useful things with it." --Jerry Pournelle, Byte Magazine

Learn how to develop your own applications to monitor or control instrumentation hardware. Whether you need to acquire data from a device or automate its functions, this practical book shows you how to use Python's rapid development capabilities to build interfaces that include everything from software to wiring. You get step-by-step instructions, clear examples, and hands-on tips for interfacing a PC to a variety of devices. Use the book's hardware survey to identify the interface type for your particular device, and then follow detailed examples to develop an interface with Python and C. Organized by interface type, data processing activities, and user interface implementations, this book is for anyone who works with instrumentation, robotics, data acquisition, or process control. Understand how to define the scope of an application and determine the algorithms necessary, and why it's important Learn how to use industry-standard interfaces such as RS-232, RS-485, and GPIB Create low-level extension modules in C to interface Python with a variety of hardware and test instruments Explore the console, curses, TkInter, and wxPython for graphical and text-based user interfaces Use open source software tools and libraries to reduce costs and avoid implementing functionality from scratch