Want a good reason for the smashing success of the Python programming language? Look no further than the massive collection of libraries available for Python, both native and third-party libraries. With so many Python libraries out there, though, it’s no surprise that some don’t get all the attention they deserve. Plus, programmers who work exclusively in one domain don’t always know about the goodies available to them for other kinds of work.
Here are 20 Python libraries you may have overlooked but are definitely worth your attention. These gems run the gamut of usefulness, simplifying everything from file system access, database programming, and working with cloud services to building lightweight web apps, creating GUIs, and working with images, ebooks, and Word files—and much more besides. Some are well-known, others lesser-known, but all of these Python libraries deserve a place in your toolbox.
Apache Libcloud
What Libcloud does: Access multiple cloud providers through a single, consistent, unified API.
Why use Libcloud: If the above description of Apache Libcloud doesn’t make you clap your hands for joy, then you haven’t tried working with multiple clouds. Cloud providers all love to do things their way, making a unified mechanism for dealing with dozens of providers a huge timesaver and headache-soother. APIs are available for compute, storage, load balancing, and DNS, with support for Python 2.x and Python 3.x as well as PyPy, the performance-boosting JIT compiler for Python.
