Chapter 1. Now For Something Completely Different

This book presents Python as a necessary tool to optimize digital forensic analysis—it is written from an examiner's perspective. In the first two chapters, we will introduce the basics of Python in preparation for the remainder of the book where we will develop scripts to accomplish forensic tasks. While focusing on the use of the language as a tool, we will also explore the advantages of Python and how it allows many individuals in the field to create solutions for a number of complex forensic challenges. Similar to Monty Python, Python's namesake, the next 12 chapters aim to present "something completely different".

In this fast-paced field, a scripting language provides flexible problem solving in an automated fashion, thus giving the examiner additional time to investigate other artifacts that may not have been analyzed as thoroughly due to time constraints. Python may not always be the correct tool to complete the task at hand, but it is certainly a resource to develop rapid and accurate solutions. This chapter outlines the basics of Python from "Hello World" to fundamental scripting operations.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics: