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I am trying to create a virus scanner in Python, and I know that signature based detection is possible, but is heuristic based detection possible in Python, ie. run a program in a safe environment, or scan the program's code, or check what the program behaves like, and then decide if the program is a virus or not.
Python is described as a general purpose programming language so yes, this is defiantly possible but not necessarily the best implementation. In programming, just like a trade, you should use the best tools for the job.
It could be recommended prototyping your application with Python and Clamd and then consider moving to another language if you want a closed source solution, which you can sell and protect your intellectual property.
Newb quotes:
Anything written in python is typically quite easy to
reverse-engineer, so it won't do for real protection.
I disagree, in fact a lot but it is up for debate I suppose. I really depends how the developer packages the application.
Yes, it is possible.
...and...
No, it is probably not the easiest, fastest, best performing, or most efficient way to accomplish the task.
Well, sure it's possible. Python is turing-complete, so you can use it to the same ends as you can use other programming languages like C++. And you can certainly do a primitive signature-based or code-inspecting check in Python without great difficulty. So the answer to that question is yes.
Now for the deeper question: are you asking whether Python is a good tool for this job? I don't think so, primarily because Python Code is Hard to Obscure, which means that if you develop an anti-virus in Python, it becomes weak the moment you give it to other people. That's because a virus developer will find it easy to inspect your anti-virus engine, since you will not be able to obscure your python code. That means that they can find vulnerabilities in your virus scanner easily.
Indeed, one of the key components of a good anti-virus is making it as hard to reverse-engineer as possible, so that virus developers won't figure out what the weaknesses of your anti-virus engine are. Anything written in python is typically quite easy to reverse-engineer, so it won't do for real protection.
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Following statement has been taken from Introduction to Computation and Programming Using Python by John Guttag
Python is a general-purpose programming language that can be used effectively
to build almost any kind of program that does not need direct access to the
computer’s hardware. Python is not optimal for programs that have high
reliability constraints (because of its weak static semantic checking) or that are
built and maintained by many people or over a long period of time (again
because of the weak static semantic checking).
The sentence in bold seems very vague , can anyone provide good explanation or example . ?
Python uses dynamic typing. That is, you can only know the type of an object with certainty at runtime.
A consequence of this is that the only way to know a piece of code uses the right data types is to run it. Thus, testing becomes very important. But testing all the code paths in a program can take a long time.
The problem is exacerbated when many people work on a program for a long time since it's hard to get devs to write documentation and to build consistent interfaces, so you end up having a limited number of people who understand what types should be used and everyone spends a lot of time waiting for tests to run.
Still, the author's view is overly pessimistic. Many companies have large Python codebases and are able to do so by having extensive, and expensive, test suites and oncall rapid response teams.
For instance, Facebook has hundreds of millions of lines of code of which 21% are Python (as of 2016). With this level of preexisting investment, in the short term it is much cheaper to develop ways of making Python safer than to migrate code to a new language (like Julia or Rust).
And we can see this in the ecosystem.
Python has been modified to address the typing problem through the introduction of type annotations. While these are not enforced at runtime they provide a fast (realtime) check of type safety that significantly reduces the need to rely on tests and can be used to enforce interfaces using tools like Pyre and mypy. This makes having a large Python codebase of the sort the author discusses much more manageable.
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I am new to programming. I decided to stick with Python after messing around with objective-c.
I'm beginning to get a grasp on most of the basic concepts, but as an artist, I think visually. This said, I would like to attempt to work in reverse. In other words, I'd like to start out with a complete, functional piece of software and look at the code and mess around with it to see what does what. This is kind of a similar approach to CAD modeling, where you can see which features in the model affect it, and how. This may not make sense to those who are not familiar with CAD, but I hope someone out there can relate?
Exploring existing projects is an excellent way to learn programming. Breaking existing code and fixing it is an even better way.
There are many open source projects out there that you might want to explore. Some of them are code libraries, while others are entire applications. As you are new to programming, you may want to consider looking at projects that are not too gigantic as it might be overwhelming.
Additionally, it may be even more helpful for you to dissect a program that you would actually use. I have not used this program, but PythonCAD might interest you:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pythoncad/
This most likely does not fall into the small or simple category of open source projects but it sounds like you may already understand the intended functionality which should be of considerable aid to you in your exploration.
Browse through Google Code for open source Python projects that are of interest to you:
http://code.google.com/query/#q=python
I recommend to take a look at the PyRoom project, a no non-sense text editor for writing without distractions. It's barely 2K lines of code and seems simple to understand. You can access the repository here.
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I am a web developer (PHP/Javascript) and to increase my skill set, I would like to learn a new language. I have a simple test project in mind for this, so I can learn more about (wireless) networks and Linux, something I'm interested in as well.
I have specced out my project like this:
Look at all the open wireless networks in my area, and determine which one is the least busy (i.e. has the least data traffic), then list its ESSID. Do this by putting the wireless interface in monitor mode, and collect statistics about which access point receives/transmits the least TCP packets.
I think this would be a fun, simple way to get the "best" access point to connect to. I'm sure there are better ways to reach that goal, but this would cover all the things I want to learn about.
I am working in Ubuntu, and would like to learn Python or Ruby with this project. I have done a bit of research, and I think I'll need (a wrapper for) libpcap to sample the amount of data. I would also need to address iwconfig to change to the next channel, and look for packets there.
So, my question is: is there an ideal language for this? Is it possible to do this "inside" a language, without having to break out of it to issue a command line command like "iwconfig"? Any advice in general?
My preference is Ruby, and that is because it is my preference. However, there are lots of libraries availble in each language. See:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/56319311/Programming-Wireless-Security-32813
also
Which of these scripting languages is more appropriate for pen-testing?
I don't know much about Ruby, but I'm sure that Python could do what you want. In regards to stepping down into OS/CLI land, I would have a look at the os and subprocess modules. The subprocess module will let you call arbitrary binaries (such as iwconfig) from python and collect their results.
Python is fun to learn. Good luck.
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Want to write a typing test application (GUI, windows). Is simple terms. app shows text, user types text, user gets typing speed result. Example of an online one
Is python an ok language to use with such a project? Note that some people can type upto 200 word/minute . thats a lot of keys per second. Can python keep up? I ask this coz I have heard that python being interpreted in somewhat slower than C++
and I have always wanted to learn (go beyond the getting started tutorial) python, so if performance isn't an issue I would go with python.
If python isn't suitable, kindly suggest some other language. I am kind of ok in php and know a bit of C#. C I am not good at.
Thanks
Allow me to state this rather into the blue: Python is well up to the task of handling 200 words / minute input. Plus it's a nice language for rapid prototyping.
In short, yes, python is an acceptable choice. The application you are creating does not appear to be doing anything incredibly intensive, and even if it was, that doesn't mean python would be a poor choice. It is used in tons of reliable apps with great performance.
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I am learning Python because it appeals to me as a mathematician but also has many useful libraries for scientific computing, image processing, web apps, etc etc.
It is frustrating to me that for certain of my interests (eletronic music or installation art) there are very specific programming languages which seem better suited to these purposes, such as Max/MSP, PureData, and ChucK -- all quite fascinating.
My question is, how should one approach these different languages? Should I simply learn Python and manage the others by using plugins and Python interpreters in them? Are there good tools for integrating the languages, or is the proper way simply to learn all of them?
I would say learn them all. While it's true that many languages can do many things, specialised languages are usually more expressive and easier to use for a particular task. Case-in-point is while most languages allow shell interaction and process control very few are as well suited to the task as bash scripts.
Plugins and libraries can bridge the gap between general and specialised languages but in my experience this is not always without drawbacks - be they speed, stability or complexity. It isn't uncommon to have to compile additional libraries or apply patches or use untrusted and poorly supported modules. It also isn't uncommon that the resulting interface is still harder to use than the original language.
I know about 15 languages well and a few of those very well. I do not use my prefered languages when another is more suitable.
This thread is a little old, but I wanted to point out that the majority of the mature audio development environments e.g. supercollider/max-msp/pure data can be controlled via open sound control. You can google up a better description of OSC, but suffice it to say that it allows you to send control data to synths built in these environments similar to how MIDI works, but way more extensive. This does not solve the problem of actually building synths in python per se but it allows you to "drive" these other environments without having to know the ins and outs of the language.
It's perfectly possible to build good interfaces from Python to such specialized languages: one example in point is RPy, which lets you drive R (for statistics) from Python (for all sort of general-purpose stuff).
Of course, one has to be competent in both languages - and such bridges, unfortunately, will not already exist for every given pair of one general purpose language and one specialized one. "Learning all of them", if you want to use all of them, remains the royal road!
Python would be a great language to learn, since it works well with a lot of other languages. It makes a great general purpose language as well as a "glue" language. Spend time learning the languages you are interested in, and keep Python knowledge around for it's flexibility and power. I don't think I would recommend trying to learn them all unless you really have the time.
You may interested to know that PureData has a python extension.