Python: 50 modules for all needs

Posted by jbj on Jun 11, 2008 in Web development, featured • 32 comments

One thing I really love with the Python programming language is its incredible extensibility. Here’s a list of 50 awesome modules for Python, covering almost all needs: Databases, GUIs, Images, Sound, OS interaction, Web, and more.

Graphical interface	wxPython	http://wxpython.org
Graphical interface	pyGtk	http://www.pygtk.org
Graphical interface	pyQT	http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk/pyqt/
Graphical interface	Pmw	http://pmw.sourceforge.net/
Graphical interface	Tkinter 3000	http://effbot.org/zone/wck.htm
Graphical interface	Tix	http://tix.sourceforge.net/

Database	MySQLdb	http://sourceforge.net/projects/mysql-python
Database	PyGreSQL	http://www.pygresql.org/
Database	Gadfly	http://gadfly.sourceforge.net/
Database	SQLAlchemy	http://www.sqlalchemy.org/
Database	psycopg	http://www.initd.org/pub/software/psycopg/
Database	kinterbasdb	http://kinterbasdb.sourceforge.net/
Database	cx_Oracle	http://www.cxtools.net/default.aspx?nav=downloads
Database	pySQLite	http://initd.org/tracker/pysqlite

MSN Messenger	msnlib	http://auriga.wearlab.de/~alb/msnlib/
MSN Messenger	pymsn	http://telepathy.freedesktop.org/wiki/Pymsn
MSN Messenger	msnp	http://msnp.sourceforge.net/
Network	Twisted	http://twistedmatrix.com/
Images	PIL	http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil/
Images	gdmodule	http://newcenturycomputers.net/projects/gdmodule.html
Images	VideoCapture	http://videocapture.sourceforge.net/

Sciences and Maths	scipy	http://www.scipy.org/
Sciences and Maths	NumPy	http://numpy.scipy.org//
Sciences and Maths	numarray	http://www.stsci.edu/resources/software_hardware/numarray
Sciences and Maths	matplotlib	http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/

Games	Pygame	http://www.pygame.org/news.html
Games	Pyglet	http://www.pyglet.org/
Games	PySoy	http://www.pysoy.org/
Games	pyOpenGL	http://pyopengl.sourceforge.net/

Jabber	jabberpy	http://jabberpy.sourceforge.net/

Web	scrape	http://zesty.ca/python/scrape.html
Web	Beautiful Soup	http://crummy.com/software/BeautifulSoup
Web	pythonweb	http://www.pythonweb.org/
Web	mechanize	http://wwwsearch.sourceforge.net/mechanize/

Localisation	geoname.py	http://www.zindep.com/blog-zindep/Geoname-python/

Serial port	pySerial	http://pyserial.sourceforge.net/
Serial port	USPP	http://ibarona.googlepages.com/uspp

Parallel Port	pyParallel	http://pyserial.sourceforge.net/pyparallel.html

USB Port	pyUSB	http://bleyer.org/pyusb/

Windows	ctypes	http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/ctypes/
Windows	pywin32	http://sourceforge.net/projects/pywin32/
Windows	pywinauto	http://www.openqa.org/pywinauto/
Windows	pyrtf	http://pyrtf.sourceforge.net/
Windows	wmi	http://timgolden.me.uk/python/wmi.html

PDA/GSM/Mobiles	pymo	http://www.awaretek.com/pymo.html
PDA/GSM/Mobiles	pyS60	http://sourceforge.net/projects/pys60

Sound	pySoundic	http://pysonic.sourceforge.net/
Sound	pyMedia	http://pymedia.org/
Sound	FMOD	http://www.fmod.org/
Sound	pyMIDI	http://www.cs.unc.edu/Research/assist/developer.shtml

GMail	libgmail	http://libgmail.sourceforge.net/
Google	pyGoogle	http://pygoogle.sourceforge.net/
Expect	pyExpect	http://pexpect.sourceforge.net/
WordNet	pyWordNet	http://osteele.com/projects/pywordnet/
Command line	cmd	http://blog.doughellmann.com/2008/05/pymotw-cmd.html
Compiler backend	llvm-py	http://mdevan.nfshost.com/llvm-py/
3D	VPython	http://vpython.org

Any other modules we should include in the list? Leave us a comment!
Into Python? Be sure to check out this article!

32 reactions

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1 - subeen on Jun 15, 2008, 7:21 pm:

Thanks for the list. It’s an useful one.
2 - Federico on Jun 16, 2008, 10:33 am:

Cool thanks!
3 - André Roberge on Jun 16, 2008, 12:40 pm:

A great game module is pyglet (http://www.pyglet.org).

Instead of Soya (which gives a 404), you should probably list PySoy (http://www.pysoy.org/).
4 - jbj on Jun 16, 2008, 12:46 pm:

@André: Thanks for your contribution! Both modules has been added to the list
5 - anom on Jun 16, 2008, 1:41 pm:

Good list.
sqlalchemy is pretty good.
http://www.sqlalchemy.org/
6 - jbj on Jun 16, 2008, 1:55 pm:

Added! Thanks for contributing!
7 - JW on Jun 16, 2008, 2:47 pm:

Missing a compiler backend

http://mdevan.nfshost.com/llvm-py/
8 - Ernesto Sanchez on Jun 16, 2008, 3:37 pm:

Awesome list. Thanks for sharing!
9 - Allen Short on Jun 16, 2008, 4:05 pm:

Also, for network applications, there’s Twisted. http://twistedmatrix.com/
10 - jbj on Jun 16, 2008, 4:23 pm:

@JW & Allen Short: Both added
11 - jinzo on Jun 16, 2008, 5:25 pm:

Looks like you missed pymsn for MSN stuff, looks like it supports newer MSN protocols
12 - web design company on Jun 16, 2008, 5:25 pm:

How can it not have [BeautifulSoup](http://crummy.com/software/BeautifulSoup) on it?
13 - Luke Maurits on Jun 16, 2008, 5:38 pm:

Vpython (http://vpython.org/) has a very nice “visual” module for simple 3D programming in Python.
14 - jbj on Jun 16, 2008, 6:19 pm:

Post updated with the three last contributions. Thanks!
15 - Greg on Jun 16, 2008, 8:04 pm:

Jeepers, haven’t you pythonistas gotten round to doing something like CPAN? Doesn’t all this grubbing for one module here, another module there hearken back to, I dunno, the days of FORTRAN?
16 - Jasper on Jun 16, 2008, 8:42 pm:

Oooh, useful. Thanks!
17 - projecktzero on Jun 16, 2008, 9:25 pm:

“Jeepers, haven’t you pythonistas gotten round to doing something like CPAN? Doesn’t all this grubbing for one module here, another module there hearken back to, I dunno, the days of FORTRAN?”

I haven’t checked, but I suspect that the vast majority of these modules are on.
http://pypi.python.org/pypi
18 - unlimitedzoom on Jun 16, 2008, 10:13 pm:

Djnago? Django!
19 - alon on Jun 17, 2008, 12:36 am:

construct - parser/generator for protocols, declarative style. Used it for a number of protocols, much more fun then writing parsers by hand: http://construct.wikispaces.com/
also ipython - not technically a library, but can be used as one (embed a shell in an app for debugging purposes).
20 - visit now on Jun 18, 2008, 5:15 am:

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