Python in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Chapter 19. Client-Side Network Protocol Modules

Python’s standard library supplies several modules to simplify the use of Internet protocols, particularly on the client side (or for some simple servers). These days, the Python Package Index (PyPI) offers many more such packages. These third-party packages support a wider array of protocols, and several offer better APIs than the standard library’s equivalents. When you need to use a protocol that’s missing from the standard library, or covered by the standard library in a way you think is not satisfactory, be sure to search PyPI—you’re likely to find better solutions there.

In this chapter, we cover some standard library packages that may prove satisfactory for some uses of network protocols, especially simple ones: when you can code without requiring third-party packages, your application or library is easier to install on other machines. We also mention a few third-party packages covering important network protocols not included in the standard library. This chapter does not cover third-party packages using an asynchronous programming approach: for that kind of package, see “The asyncio Module (v3 Only)”.

For the specific, very frequent use case of HTTP¹ clients and other network resources (such as anonymous FTP sites) best accessed via URLs,² the standard library offers only complex, incompatible (between v2 and v3) support. For that case, therefore, we have chosen to cover and recommend the splendid third-party package