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Guido van Rossumecde7811995-03-28 13:35:14 +00001\chapter{Optional Operating System Services}
Fred Drakeaf0bfbe1998-02-18 15:39:15 +00002\label{someos}
Guido van Rossumecde7811995-03-28 13:35:14 +00003
4The modules described in this chapter provide interfaces to operating
5system features that are available on selected operating systems only.
Fred Drakeaf0bfbe1998-02-18 15:39:15 +00006The interfaces are generally modelled after the \UNIX{} or \C{}
Guido van Rossumecde7811995-03-28 13:35:14 +00007interfaces but they are available on some other systems as well
8(e.g. Windows or NT). Here's an overview:
9
10\begin{description}
11
12\item[signal]
13--- Set handlers for asynchronous events.
14
15\item[socket]
16--- Low-level networking interface.
17
18\item[select]
19--- Wait for I/O completion on multiple streams.
20
21\item[thread]
22--- Create multiple threads of control within one namespace.
23
Guido van Rossumd623d20e7d61998-07-20 17:34:50 +000024\item[threading]
25--- Higher level threading interface; use in preference of module
26\module{thread}.
27
Guido van Rossum34720261997-11-20 21:00:03 +000028\item[Queue]
29--- A stynchronized queue class.
30
Guido van Rossum571391b1997-04-03 22:41:49 +000031\item[anydbm]
32--- Generic interface to DBM-style database modules.
Guido van Rossumdfb41201997-04-30 19:40:10 +000033
Guido van Rossum34720261997-11-20 21:00:03 +000034\item[whichdb]
Guido van Rossum571391b1997-04-03 22:41:49 +000035--- Guess which DBM-style module created a given database.
36
Guido van Rossumdfb41201997-04-30 19:40:10 +000037\item[zlib]
38\item[gzip]
39--- Compression and decompression compatible with the
Fred Drakeaf0bfbe1998-02-18 15:39:15 +000040\program{gzip} program (\module{zlib} is the low-level interface,
41\module{gzip} the high-level one).
Guido van Rossumdfb41201997-04-30 19:40:10 +000042
Guido van Rossumecde7811995-03-28 13:35:14 +000043\end{description}