This book has five parts, as follows:

Part I, Getting Started with Python

Chapter 1 covers the general characteristics of the Python language and its implementations, and discusses where to get help and information.
Chapter 2 explains how to obtain and install Python.
Chapter 3 covers the Python interpreter program, its command-line options, and its use for running Python programs and in interactive sessions. The chapter also mentions text editors that are particularly suitable for editing Python programs, and examines some full-fledged integrated development environments, including IDLE, which comes free with standard Python.

Part II, Core Python Language and Built-ins

Chapter 4 covers Python syntax, built-in data types, expressions, statements, and how to write and call functions.
Chapter 5 explains object-oriented programming in Python.
Chapter 6 covers how to deal with errors and abnormal conditions in Python programs.
Chapter 7 covers the ways in which Python lets you group code into modules and packages, and how to define and import modules.
Chapter 8 is a reference to built-in data types and functions, and some of the most fundamental modules in the standard Python library.
Chapter 9 covers Python's powerful string-processing facilities, including regular expressions.

Part III, Python Library and Extension Modules

Chapter 10 explains how to deal with files and text processing using built-in Python file objects, modules from Python's standard library, and platform-specific extensions for rich text I/O.
Chapter 11 introduces Python's serialization and persistence mechanisms, as well as Python's interfaces to DBM databases and relational (SQL-based) databases.
Chapter 12 covers how to deal with times and dates in Python, using the standard library and popular extensions.
Chapter 13 explains how to achieve advanced execution control in Python, including execution of dynamically generated code, restricted execution environments, and control of garbage collection.
Chapter 14 covers Python's functionality for concurrent execution, both via multiple threads running within one process and via multiple processes running on a single machine.
Chapter 15 shows Python's features for numeric computations, both in standard library modules and in the popular extension package called Numeric.
Chapter 16 explains how to develop graphical user interfaces in Python with the Tkinter package included with the standard Python distribution, and mentions other alternative Python GUI frameworks.
Chapter 17 deals with Python tools and approaches that help ensure your programs do what they're meant to do, find and correct errors in your programs, and check and enhance performance.

Part IV, Network and Web Programming

Chapter 18 covers many modules in Python's standard library that help you write network client programs.
Chapter 19 explains Python's interfaces to low-level network mechanisms (sockets), standard Python library modules that help you write network server programs, and asynchronous (event-driven) network programming with standard modules and popular extensions.
Chapter 20 covers the basics of CGI programming and how to perform CGI programming in Python with standard Python library modules. The chapter also mentions alternatives to CGI programming for server-side web programming through Python extensions.
Chapter 21 shows how to process email and other network-structured and encoded documents in Python.
Chapter 22 covers Python library modules that let you process and generate HTML documents.
Chapter 23 covers Python library modules and popular extensions that let you process, modify, and generate XML documents.

Part V, Extending and Embedding

Chapter 24 shows how to code Python extension modules using C and other classic compiled languages, and how to embed Python in applications coded in such languages.
Chapter 25 shows how to use Java classes from the Jython implementation of Python, and how to embed Jython in applications coded in Java.
Chapter 26 covers the tools that let you package Python extensions, modules, and applications for distribution.