Professional IronPython

TABlE A-1: 
Missing CPython Libraries
lIBrAry NAmE 
PurPoSE
ast.py 
This module provides Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) support in CPython. The purpose 
of this library is to parse the current grammar for each Python version since the 
grammar can change with each new version. You can read more about this module 
at 
http://docs.python.org/library/ast.html
.
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APPENDIX A
IronPython DIfferences wIth cPython
lIBrAry NAmE 
PurPoSE
cProfile.py 
Python provides a number of profilers that developers can use to determine 
the runtime performance of their application. The standard recommends using the 
cProfile
profiler because it has low overhead and is suitable for long running 
programs. You can find out more about the Python profilers at 
http://docs
.python.org/library/profile.html
.
csv.py 
One of the most common methods for storing database and spreadsheet informa-
tion in text format is Comma Separated Value (CSV). This module provides Python 
support for CSV files. Because there’s no CSV standard, this module provides gen-
eralized CSV support that will work on a range of file formats. You can read more 
about this module at 
http://docs.python.org/library/csv.html
.
dbhash.py 
Originally, this module provided access to the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) 
database library for Database Management (DBM)-style databases. In order to use 
this module, the application must have access to the 
bsddb
module. This module 
has been deprecated and will probably be removed in Python 3.0. You can read 
more about this module at 
http://docs.python.org/library/dbhash.html
.
gzip.py 
This module provides support for GNU ZIP (
.gzip
) files, a kind of compression 
commonly found on Linux systems, but not found very often on Windows machines 
(although you might see it when downloading open source files). In order to use 
this module, the application must have access to the 
zlib
module. It’s also pos-
sible to use the 
bz2
, 
zipfile
, and 
tarfile
modules to compress and decom-
press files. You can read more about this module at 
http://docs.python.org/
library/gzip.html
.
pty.py 
You can use the Pseudo-Terminal (PTY) utilities to start another process, and then 
read and write from its controlling terminal. This module currently works reliably 
only on Linux systems, even if you use a CPython implementation on Windows, so 
it isn’t surprising that IronPython doesn’t implement this module yet. You can read 
more about this module at 
http://docs.python.org/library/pty.html
.
sre.py 
The Support for Regular Expressions (SRE) module provides support for Regular 
Expressions under Python. The level of support is similar to that found in the Practical 
Extraction and Report Language (PERL). You can read more about this module at 
http://docs.python.org/library/re.html
and 
http://pydoc.org/2.3.3/
sre.html
.
ssl.py 
Web applications of all types require security, especially with the rampant abuses 
on the Internet today. The Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) module provides support for 
SSL security within your Web (and other network) applications. In order to use this 
module, you must have OpenSSL (
http://www.openssl.org/
) installed on your 
machine because the module makes low-level calls to this software. You can find 
out more about this module at 
http://docs.python.org/library/ssl.html
.