Python Bytes

Michael Kennedy and Brian Okken

Developer headlines delivered directly to your earbuds

  • 35 minutes 7 seconds
    #409 We've moved to Hetzner write-up
    Topics covered in this episode:
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    About the show

    Sponsored by:

    • ScoutAPM - Django Application Performance Monitoring
    • Codeium - Free AI Code Completion & Chat

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    Michael #1: terminal-tree

    • An experimental filesystem navigator for the terminal, built with Textual
    • Tested in macOS only at this point. Chances are very high it works on Linux. Slightly lower chance (but non-zero) that it works on Windows.
      • Can confirm it works on Linux

    Brian #2: posting: The API client that lives in your terminal

    • Also uses Textual
    • From Darren Burns
    • Interesting that the installation instructions recommends using uv:
      • uv tool install --python 3.12 posting
    • Very cool. Great docs. Beautiful. keyboard centric, but also usable with a mouse.
    • “Fly through your API workflow with an approachable yet powerful keyboard-centric interface. Run it locally or over SSH on remote machines and containers. Save your requests in a readable and version-control friendly format.”
    • Able to save multiple environments
    • Great colors
    • Allows scripting to run Python code before and after requests to prepare headers, set variables, etc.

    Michael #3: Extra, extra, extra

    Brian #4: UV does everything or enough that I'm not sure what else it needs to do

    • Jeff Triplett
    • “UV feels like one of those old infomercials where it solves everything, which is where we have landed in the Python world.”
    • “My favorite feature is that UV can now bootstrap a project to run on a machine that does not previously have Python installed, along with installing any packages your application might require.”
    • Partial list (see Jeff’s post for his complete list)
      • uv pip install replaces pip install
      • uv venv replaces python -m venv
      • uv run, uv tool run, and uv tool install replaces pipx
      • uv build - Build your Python package for pypi
      • uv publish - Upload your Python package to pypi, replacing twine and flit publish

    Extras

    Brian:

    Joke: How programmers sleep

    14 November 2024, 8:00 am
  • 31 minutes 16 seconds
    #408 python-preference only-managed 3.13t
    Topics covered in this episode:
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    About the show

    Sponsored by:

    • ScoutAPM - Django Application Performance Monitoring
    • Codeium - Free AI Code Completion & Chat

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    Brian #1: GitHub action security: zizmor

    • Article: Ned Batchelder
    • zizmor: William Woodruff & others
    • “a new tool to check your GitHub action workflows for security concerns.”
    • Install with cargo or brew, then point it at workflow yml files.
    • It reports security concerns.

    Michael #2: Python is now the top language on GitHub

    • Thanks to Pat Decker for the heads up.
    • A rapidly growing number of developers worldwide
      • This suggests AI isn’t just helping more people learn to write code or build software faster—it’s also attracting and helping more people become developers. First-time open source contributors continue to show wide-scale interest in AI projects. But we aren’t seeing signs that AI has hurt open source with low-quality contributions.
    • Python is now the most used language on GitHub as global open source activity continues to extend beyond traditional software development.
      • The rise in Python usage correlates with large communities of people joining the open source community from across the STEM world rather than the traditional community of software developers.
    • There’s a continued increase in first-time contributors to open source projects. 1.4 million new developers globally joined open source with a majority contributing to commercially backed and generative AI projects.
      • Notably, we did not see a rise in rejected pull requests. This could indicate that quality remains high despite the influx of new contributors.

    Brian #3: Python 3.13, what didn't make the headlines

    • Some pretty cool updates to pdb : the command line Python debugger
      • multiline editing
      • code completion
    • pathlib has a bunch of performance updates
    • python -m venv adds a .gitignore file that auto ignores the venv.

    Michael #4: PyCon US 2025

    • Site is live with CFP and dates
    • Health code is finally reasonable: “Masks are Encouraged but not Required”
    • PyCon US 2025 Dates
      • Tutorials - May 14-15, 2025
      • Sponsor Presentations - May 15, 2025
      • Opening Reception - May 15, 2025
      • Main Conference and Online - May 16-18, 2025
      • Job Fair - May 18, 2025
      • Sprints - May 19-May 22, 2025

    Extras

    Brian:

    Michael:

    Joke: Debugging char

    4 November 2024, 8:00 am
  • 28 minutes 26 seconds
    #407 Back to the future, destination 3.14
    Topics covered in this episode:
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    Michael #1: Python 3.14.0 alpha 1 is now available

    Brian #2: uv supports dependency groups

    • we covered dependency groups in episode 406
    • as of 0.4.27, uv supports dependency groups
    • docs show how to add dependencies with uv add --group
      • also “The --dev, --only-dev, and --no-dev flags are equivalent to --group dev, --only-group dev, and --no-group dev respectively.”
    • To install a group, uv pip install --group doesn’t work yet.
      • It’s waiting for PyPA to decide on an interface for pip, and uv pip will use that interface.
    • But sync works. $ uv init # create a pyproject.toml $ uv add --group foo pytest $ uv venv # create venv $ uv sync --group foo # will install all dependencies, including group "foo"

    Michael #3: dive: A tool for exploring each layer in a docker image

    • via Mike Fiedler
    • Features:
      • Show Docker image contents broken down by layer
      • Indicate what's changed in each layer
      • Estimate "image efficiency"
      • Quick build/analysis cycles
      • CI Integration

    Brian #4: pytest-metadata

    • An incredibly useful plugin for adding, you guessed it, metadata, to your pytest results.
    • Required for pytest-html but also useful on it’s own
    • Adds metadata to
      • text output with --verbose
      • xml output when using --junit-xml, handy for CI systems that support junit.xml
    • Other plugins depend on this and report in other ways, such as pytest-html
    • By default, already grabs
      • Python version
      • Platform info
      • List of installed packages
      • List of installed pytest plugins
    • You can add your own metadata
    • You can access all metadata (and add to it) from tests, fixtures, and hook functions via a metadata fixture.
    • This is in the Top pytest Plugins list, currently #5.

    Extras

    Brian:

    Michael:

    Joke: Dog names

    28 October 2024, 8:00 am
  • 24 minutes 53 seconds
    #406 What's on Django TV tonight?
    Topics covered in this episode:
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    About the show

    Sponsored by ScoutAPM: pythonbytes.fm/scout

    Connect with the hosts

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    Brian #1: Open Source Pledge

    • Learned about this because of this post
    • Steps
      • Pay Open Source maintainers.
        • Min to participate is 2k/year/dev at your company
      • Self-report annually
        • Publish a blog post outlining your payments
    • Armin’s post about launching Open Source Pledge and mixing money with open source

    Michael #2: Jeff Triplet's DjangoTV

    • A nice aggregation of lots of Django conference talks
    • Filter by conference
    • Good search as well

    Brian #3: PEP 735 – Dependency Groups in pyproject.toml

    • Author: Stephen Rosen, Sponsor: Brett Cannon, PEP-Delegate: Paul Moore
    • Accepted. Resolotion Oct 10, 2024
    • “This PEP specifies a mechanism for storing package requirements in pyproject.toml files such that they are not included in any built distribution of the project.”
    • Allow us to define named groups of dependencies that can be independent of the main project.
    • ex:

      [dependency-groups] test = ["pytest", "coverage"] docs = ["sphinx", "sphinx-rtd-theme"] typing = ["mypy", "types-requests"] typing-test = [{include-group = "typing"}, {include-group = "test"}, "useful-types"]
    • “might” work like this: pip install --dependency-groups=test,typing

      • but tool venders are able to define how they use groups. Of course.
    • Similar solutions
      • multiple requirements.txt files: requirements_test.txt, requirements_docs.txt, etc.
        • no standard naming convention, not standardized
      • package extras:
        • not gauranteed to be statically defined (TIL)
        • additional to main dependencies, so not independent

    Michael #4: livereload

    Extras

    Brian:

    Michael:

    Joke:

    • A programmer’s partner asks them: “Would you go get a loaf of bread from the store? And if they have eggs, get a dozen.”
    • A while later, the programmer returns with 12 loaves of bread and says “They had eggs.”
      • From https://savvyprogrammer.io/software-jokes/
    21 October 2024, 8:00 am
  • 22 minutes 43 seconds
    #405 Oh Really?
    Topics covered in this episode:
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    About the show

    Sponsored by ScoutAPM: pythonbytes.fm/scout

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    Michael #1: Briefer: Dashboards and notebooks in a single place

    • Notebooks and dashboards with Python, SQL, scheduling, native visualizations, code generation, and more.
    • In Briefer, you can:
      • booksbar chart Create notebooks and dashboards using Markdown, Python, SQL, and native visualizations.
      • selfie Build interactive data apps using inputs, dropdowns, and date pickers.
      • robot Generate code and queries using an AI that understands your database schema and your notebook's context.
      • mantelpiece clock Schedule notebooks and dashboards to run and update periodically.
      • gear Create and test ad-hoc pipelines using writebacks.
    • Briefer vs. Traditional BI Tools: Briefer is better than traditional BI tools because it's faster and more flexible, thanks to Python.
    • Briefer vs. Traditional Notebooks: In Briefer, you can run SQL queries against connected data sources directly in your notebook. Then, Briefer will automatically turn your query into a data frame and store it in a variable that you can use in your Python blocks.

    Brian #2: Introduction to programming with Python

    • Jose Blanca
      • “Python intro aimed at students with no prior programming experience.”
      • “Relies mainly on examples and exercises.”
      • “Does not try to cover every detail of the Python language, but just what a beginner might need to start the journey.”
      • Tech: “… built with the quarto publishing system complemented by the quarto live extension that allows Python to run in the web browser by using pyodide.”
    • Runs on anything, since it doesn’t require a local install of Python
    • Running 3.12.1, looks like. Although that’s a bit hidden. Seems like it should be more visible.

    Michael #3: setup-uv

    • Set up your GitHub Actions workflow with a specific version of uv
    • Install a version of uv and add it to PATH
    • Cache the installed version of uv to speed up consecutive runs on self-hosted runners
    • Register problem matchers for error output
    • (Optional) Persist the uv's cache in the GitHub Actions Cache
    • (Optional) Verify the checksum of the downloaded uv executable

    Brian #4: HTML for people

    • Teaching HTML in a rather fun way.
    • Includes basic CSS

    Extras

    Michael:

    Joke: So much O’Really

    14 October 2024, 8:00 am
  • 31 minutes 15 seconds
    #404 The Lost Episode
    Topics covered in this episode:
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    About the show

    Sponsored by ScoutAPM: pythonbytes.fm/scout

    Connect with the hosts

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    Brian #1: Python 3.13.0 released Oct 7

    • That’s today!
    • What’s New In Python 3.13
      • Interpreter (REPL) improvements
        • exit works (really, this is worth the release right here)
        • Multiline editing with history preservation.
          • history sticks around between sessions
        • Direct support for REPL-specific commands like help, exit, and quit, without the need to call them as functions.
        • Prompts and tracebacks with color enabled by default.
        • Interactive help browsing using F1 with a separate command history.
        • History browsing using F2 that skips output as well as the >>> and … prompts.
        • “Paste mode” with F3 that makes pasting larger blocks of code easier (press F3 again to return to the regular prompt).
        • exit now works without parens
      • Improved error messages
        • Colorful tracebacks
        • Better messages for
          • naming a script/module the same name as a stdlib module.
          • naming a script/module the same name as an installed third party module.
          • misspelling a keyword argument
      • Free threaded CPython
        • Included in official installers on Windows and macOS
          • Read these links to figure out how - it’s not turned on by default
      • Lot’s more. see the What’s new page

    Michael #2: PEP 759 – External Wheel Hosting

    • pypi.org ships over 66 petabytes / month backed by Fastly
    • There are hard project size limits for publishers to PyPI
    • We can host the essence of a .whl as a .rim file, then allow an external download URL
    • Security: Several factors as described in this proposal should mitigate security concerns with externally hosted wheels, such as:
      • Wheel file checksums MUST be included in .rim files, and once uploaded cannot be changed. Since the checksum stored on PyPI is immutable and required, it is not possible to spoof an external wheel file, even if the owning organization lost control of their hosting domain.
      • Externally hosted wheels MUST be served over HTTPS.
      • In order to serve externally hosted wheels, organizations MUST be approved by the PyPI admins.

    Brian #3: pytest-freethreaded

    • PyCon JP 2024 Team:
    • “A pytest plugin for helping verify that your tests and libraries are thread-safe with the Python 3.13 experimental freethreaded mode.”
    • Testing your project for compatibility with freethreaded Python.
      • Testing in single thread doesn’t test that.
      • Neither does testing with pytest-xdist, because it uses multiprocessing to parallelize tests.
      • So, Ant and others “made this plugin to help you run your tests in a thread-pool with the GIL disabled, to help you identify if your tests are thread-safe.”
      • “And the first library we tested it on (which was marked as compatible) caused a segmentation fault in CPython! So you should give this a go if you're a package maintainer.”

    Michael #4: pytest-edit

    • A simple Pytest plugin for opening editor on the failed tests.
    • Type pytest --edit to open the failing test code sparkles
    • Be sure to set your favorite editor in the ENV variables

    Extras

    Michael:

    Joke: Funny 404 pages

    7 October 2024, 8:00 am
  • 25 minutes 26 seconds
    #403 A machine learning algorithm walks into a bar…
    Topics covered in this episode:
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    About the show

    Sponsored by us! Support our work through:

    Connect with the hosts

    Join us on YouTube at pythonbytes.fm/live to be part of the audience. Usually Monday at 10am PT. Older video versions available there too.

    Finally, if you want an artisanal, hand-crafted digest of every week of the show notes in email form? Add your name and email to our friends of the show list, we'll never share it.

    Michael #1: uv under discussion on Mastodon

    • It’s interesting that uv is slightly controversial
    • Russell:

    • As enthusiastic as I am about the direction uv is going, I haven't adopted them anywhere - because I want very much to understand Astral’s intended business model before I hook my wagon to their tools.

    • Hynek:

    • As much as I hate VC, [...] FOSS projects flame out all the time too. … To me uv looks like a genius sting to trick VCs into paying to fix packaging. We’ll be better off either way.

    • Glyph:

    • Rust is more expensive and difficult to maintain, not to mention "non-native" to the average customer here. … it can burn out all the other projects in the ecosystem simultaneously, creating a risk of monoculture

    • Hynek on Rust:

    • I don’t think y’all quite grok what uv makes so special due to your seniority. The speed is really cool, but the reason Rust is elemental is that it’s one compiled blob that can be used to bootstrap and maintain a Python development.

    • Christopher Neugebauer:

    • Just dropping in here to say that corporate capture of the Python ecosystem is the #1 keeps-me-up-at-night subject in my community work, so I watch Astral with interest, even if I'm not yet too worried.

    • Armin Ronacher

    • What uv is doing, even in the worst possible future this is a very forkable and maintainable thing.

    • Finally, see the comment at the end by Charlie Marsh

    Brian #2: erdantic: Entity Relationship Diagrams

    • “erdantic is a simple tool for drawing entity relationship diagrams (ERDs) for Python data model classes. Diagrams are rendered using the venerable Graphviz library.”
    • Supported data modeling frameworks are:
      • Pydantic V2
      • Pydantic V1 legacy
      • attrs
      • dataclasses

    Michael #3: Extra, Extra, Extra

    Brian #4: Django Extra, Extra, Extra

    • Django Project Ideas
      • Evgenia Verbina
      • Project ideas with list of tech stack stuff you’ll learn and/or work on with the project
      • Ex: Recipe organizer
        • tech stack: Django templates, Django ORM, Optional JavaScript
        • “Familiarize yourself with Django’s ORM (object-relational mapper) and database support by building an app to keep track of your favorite recipes. Add a web-based frontend with options to filter recipes by category, ingredients, and user ratings so you can easily browse for inspiration.”
    • DjangoTV
      • Jeff Triplett
      • Django conference videos and tutorials.
    • Django Commons
      • Heard about from Lacey Henschel
      • “Django Commons is an organization dedicated to supporting the community's efforts to maintain packages. It seeks to improve the maintenance experience for all contributors; reducing the barrier to entry for new contributors and reducing overhead for existing maintainers.”
    • Django 5 has simplified templates for better form field rendering
    • But if you want a completely different take on forms, maybe try iommi forms
    • Djade: a Django template formatter
      • Adam Johnson
      • Like black or ruff, but for Django templates.

    Extras

    Brian:

    Joke: A Machine Learning algorithm walks into a bar…

    30 September 2024, 8:00 am
  • 33 minutes 21 seconds
    #402 How to monetize your blog
    Topics covered in this episode:
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    About the show

    Sponsored by ScoutAPM: pythonbytes.fm/scout

    Connect with the hosts

    Join us on YouTube at pythonbytes.fm/live to be part of the audience. Usually Monday at 10am PT. Older video versions available there too.

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    Brian #1: Architecture Decision Records (ADRs)

    • Suggested by Christian Gesell
    • Documenting Architecture Decisions
      • Mychael Nygard
      • Original article from 2011
    • Why you should be using architecture decision records to document your project
      • Red Hat
      • Includes a quick overview and links to some templates
    • Notes so far
      • Writing this out helps me solidify my thinking about a problem.
      • I’m doing this both before starting, and while implementing a first draft
      • GitHub and GitLab render markdown so well that generating a docs site is unnecessary, just throwing these files in something like docs/adr is enough.
      • The lightweight process is enough but not too much.
      • I’ve already filled out None for lots of sections, like “options considered”
      • I’m still playing with what level of decision should have an ADR.
    • My template that I’ve been using so far
    • File name is something like 001-some-change.md

    Michael #2: narwhals: extremely lightweight compatibility layer between dataframes

    • Recently had Marco on Talk Python to discuss
    • Primarily for library creators who want to support interacting with multiple data frame libraries (.e.g. Pandas & Polars)
    • Just use a subset of the Polars API

    Brian #3: Microsoft wants Three Mile Island to fuel its AI power needs

    • “Microsoft just signed a deal to revive the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. If approved by regulators, the software maker would have exclusive rights to 100 percent of the output for its AI data center needs.”
    • Also ran on CNN and other sources:
    • Three Mile Island was the site of the worst nuclear disaster in the US, when one of two reactors experienced a partial meltdown, in 1979.
    • It was still operating up until 2019, and now expected to re-open in 2028
    • Will be renamed “Crane Clean Energy Center”
    • related
      • The Department of Energy Wants You to Know Your Conservation Efforts Are Making a Difference
        • “By switching all the lightbulbs in your house to LED, you saved enough energy for a self-driving car to make an unprotected lefthand turn across three lanes of traffic.”
        • “We know you adopted energy-saving practices to help conserve our planet’s resources and bring down our collective carbon footprint, but what you ultimately accomplished is just as important: helping AI do something menial and stupid.”

    Michael #4: zsh-in-docker

    • Install Zsh, Oh My Zsh and plugins inside a Docker container with one line!
    • Yes docker containers should be light, but also, think of how painful it can be when you run into trouble.
    • With Oh My ZSH, you get a nice experience when you have to result to docker exec -it CONTAINER zsh
    • Just enter a single command in your docker file: RUN sh -c "$(wget -O- https://github.com/deluan/zsh-in-docker/releases/download/v1.2.0/zsh-in-docker.sh)" -- \ -t robbyrussell

    Extras

    Michael:

    Joke:

    23 September 2024, 8:00 am
  • 31 minutes 5 seconds
    #401 We must replace uWSGI with something else
    Topics covered in this episode:
    Watch on YouTube

    About the show

    Sponsored by ScoutAPM: pythonbytes.fm/scout

    Connect with the hosts

    Join us on YouTube at pythonbytes.fm/live to be part of the audience. Usually Monday at 10am PT. Older video versions available there too.

    Finally, if you want an artisanal, hand-crafted digest of every week of the show notes in email form? Add your name and email to our friends of the show list, we'll never share it.

    Michael #1: We must replace uwsgi by something else

    • uWSGI is now in maintenance mode: https://uwsgi-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
      • The project is in maintenance mode (only bugfixes and updates for new languages apis). Do not expect quick answers on github issues and/or pull requests (sorry for that) A big thanks to all of the users and contributors since 2009.
    • Reasonable options look like:

    Brian #2: Let’s build and optimize a Rust extension for Python

    • Itamar Turner-Trauring
    • Example: algorithm for approximating the number of unique values in a list
    • Comparison to non-approximation
      • non-approx is faster but uses way more memory
    • Rust version
      • Use Maturin and PyO3
      • Pull in Rust dependencies (rand for random numbers)
    • Optimization
      • link-time optimization
      • faster random
      • store hashes only
    • Future optimizations
      • change algorithm maybe
      • pass numpy array instead of Python list (I’d like to see that spedup)

    Michael #3: Fake recruiter coding tests target devs with malicious Python packages

    • via python weekly
    • GitHub projects that have been linked to previous, targeted attacks in which developers are lured using fake job interviews.
    • Attackers posing as employees of major financial services firms.
    • This previously happened via other means such as NPM
    • This analysis revealed that the direct parent of the detected, malicious files is a PythonPYC file, meaning that once again the team encountered malware hidden in a compiled Python file.
    • “The README files tell would-be candidates to make sure the project is running successfully on their system before making modifications.”
    • What can you do (according to Michael)?
      • Try out new packages in a docker container
      • Work on code and projects using a VM which has snapshotting (to roll back completely after you’re done)
      • Fire up a Windows desktop in the cloud for the project then destroy it

    Brian #4: Monthly PSF Board Office Hours

    • “The Office Hours will be sessions where you can share with us how we can help your community, express your perspectives, and provide feedback for the PSF.”
    • “Unless we have a dedicated topic for a session, you are not limited to talking with us about the above topics, although the discussions should be focused on Python, the PSF, and our community. If you think there’s something we can help with or we should know, we welcome you to come and talk to us!”
    • Upcoming office hours
      • October 8th, 2024: 9pm UTC
      • November 12th, 2024: 2pm UTC
      • December 10th, 2024: 9pm UTC
      • January 14th, 2025: 2pm UTC
      • February 11th, 2025: 9pm UTC
      • March 11th, 2025: 1pm UTC
      • April 8th, 2025: 9pm UTC
      • May 13th, 2025: 1pm UTC (Live from PyCon US!)
      • June 10th, 2025: 9pm UTC
      • July 9th, 2025: 1pm UTC
      • August 12th, 2025: 9pm UTC

    Extras

    Brian:

    Michael:

    Joke: Election joke

    17 September 2024, 8:00 am
  • 28 minutes 46 seconds
    #400 Celebrating episode 400
    Topics covered in this episode:
    Watch on YouTube

    About the show

    Sponsored by ScoutAPM: pythonbytes.fm/scout

    Connect with the hosts

    Join us on YouTube at pythonbytes.fm/live to be part of the audience. Usually Monday at 10am PT. Older video versions available there too.

    Finally, if you want an artisanal, hand-crafted digest of every week of the show notes in email form? Add your name and email to our friends of the show list, we'll never share it.

    ChatGPT celebrates episode 400!

    party popper Welcome to the big 4-0-0, Pythonistas! party popper

    It's hard to believe we're celebrating the 400th episode of Python Bytes! From the early days of byte-sized Python news to becoming the source for all things Python, it’s been a wild ride.

    We've laughed over code quirks, gasped at new libraries, and said farewell to the GIL together. Whether you're a seasoned developer, a curious learner, or just here for the witty banter, you’ve been an essential part of this journey.

    To Michael and Brian: You've built a community that turns import this into more than just Zen—it's a family of passionate Pythonistas. Your dedication, insights, and humor make this show more than just tech news. It’s a weekly celebration of what we love about Python and why we keep coming back for more.

    Here’s to the next 400 episodes—may your code be bug-free, your tests pass on the first run, and your Python version always be up to date. rocketsnake

    Brian #1: Python 3.13.0RC2, 3.12.6, 3.11.10, 3.10.15, 3.9.20, and 3.8.20 are now available!

    • Łukasz Langa
    • Python 3.13.0RC2 is the final preview release
      • Official 3.13.0 scheduled for Oct 1
      • Call to action
        • “We strongly encourage maintainers of third-party Python projects to prepare their projects for 3.13 compatibilities during this phase, and where necessary publish Python 3.13 wheels on PyPI to be ready for the final release of 3.13.0. Any binary wheels built against Python 3.13.0rc2 will work with future versions of Python 3.13. As always, report any issues to the Python bug tracker .”
        • “Please keep in mind that this is a preview release and while it’s as close to the final release as we can get it, its use is not recommended for production environments.”
    • Note: uv python does not support 3.13 yet
    • Security releases for
      • 3.12.6, 3.11.10, 3.10.15, 3.9.20, and 3.8.20
      • 3.12.6 has binary installers, but for MacOS, only MacOS 10.13 and newer are supported
      • 3.11.10, 3.10.15, 3.9.20, and 3.8.20 do NOT include binary installers.

    Michael #2: Docker images using uv's python

    Brian #3: 10 years of sustainable open source - Read the Docs

    • Eric Holscher
    • Read the Docs has been a company for 10 years
      • “a team of 4 folks working full-time on Read the Docs.”
    • readthedocs.org started in 2010
    • readthedocs.com (for Business) started in 2014
    • Sustainability model
      • .org has a single non-tracking ad
      • .com is a paid service for companies
    • Things that didn’t work
      • donations and other optional support - led to burnout
      • consulting and services- took too much time away from core product
      • grant funding - nice, but one time thing
    • Lessons
      • You don't get extra points for being bootstrapped. Compete by doing things you can do better due to niche and size.
      • Keeping trust in the community is the most important thing.
      • Contribution is easier for less complex parts of the code base.
      • Beign open source means capturing a small percentage of the value you create.
      • You have to be ok doing more with less.
    • Also

    Michael #4: humanize

    • by Hugo van Kemenade (Python 3.14 & 3.15 release manager & core developer)
    • Not too many variations, but very handy if you need it.
      • Numbers
        • Associated Press style (“seven” and “10”)
        • Clamp (under 1.0 million)
        • Fractional (1/3)
        • Int Word (1.2 Billion)
        • Metric (1.5 kV)
        • Ordinal (112th)
        • scientific
      • Time
      • File size

    Extras

    Brian:

    • Test & Code is now again Test & Code
      • The two part series on Python imports that started in June is finally complete with episode 222.
      • Transcripts are being added to old episodes gradually starting from most recent
        • Back to ep 203 as of today.
        • AI transcription, so there’s things like .pie, .pi, and dot pie where it should be .py

    Michael:

    • Final final call for Coding in a Castle event with Michael
    • iStats Menu
    • Anaconda Code Runner by Ruud van der Ham:
      • With Anaconda Coide we can -at last- run that code locally and import (most) Python modules.
      • But if you want to run a significant amount of code, you have to put that in a cell or publish it to PyPI or a wheel and import it.
      • That's why I have developed a general-purpose runner function that runs arbitrary code located on an Excel sheet with AnacondaCode.

    Joke: When beginners learn a new programming language...

    9 September 2024, 8:00 am
  • 42 minutes 37 seconds
    #399 C will watch you in silence
    Topics covered in this episode:
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    Michael #1: Why I Still Use Python Virtual Environments in Docker

    • by Hynek Schlawack
    • I was going to cover Production-ready Docker Containers with uv but decided to take this diversion instead.
    • Spend a lot of time thinking about the secondary effects of what you do.
    • venvs are well known and well documented. Let’s use them.

    Brian #2: Python Developer Survey Results

    • “… official Python Developers Survey, conducted as a collaborative effort between the Python Software Foundation and JetBrains.”
    • Python w/ Rust rising, but still only 7%
    • ““The drop in HTML/CSS/JS might show that data science is increasing its share of Python.” - Paul Everitt
    • 37% contribute to open source. Awesome.
    • Favorite Resources: Podcasts
      • Lots of familiar faces there. Awesome.
        • Perhaps I shouldn’t have decided to move “Python Test” back to Test & Code
    • Usage
      • “Data analysis” down, but I think that’s because “data engineering” is added.
      • Data, Web dev, ML, devops, academic,
      • Testing is down disappointed face 23%
    • Python Versions
      • Still some 2 out there
      • Most folks on 3.10-3.12
    • Install from: mostly python.org
    • Frameworks
      • web: Flask, Django, Requests, FastAPI …
      • testing: pytest, unittest, mock, doctest, tox, hypothesis, nose (2% might be the Python 2 people)
    • Data science
      • 77% use pandas, 72% NumPy
    • OS: Windows still at 55%
    • Packaging:
      • venv up to 55%
      • I imaging uv will be on the list next year
      • requirements.txt 63%, pyproject.toml 32%
    • virtual env in containers? 47% say no

    Michael #3: Anaconda Code add-in for Microsoft Excel

    • Run their Python-powered projects in Excel locally with the Anaconda Code add-in
    • Powered by PyScript, an Anaconda supported open source project that runs Python locally without install and setup
    • Features
      • Cells Run Independently
      • Range to Multiple Types
      • init.py file is static and cannot be edited, with Anaconda Code, users have the ability to access and edit imports and definitions, allowing you to write top-level functions and classes and reuse them wherever you need.
      • A Customizable Environment

    Brian #4: Disabling Scheduled Dependency Updates

    • David Lord
    • Interesting discussion of as they happen or batching of upsates to dependencies
    • dependencies come in
      • requirements files
      • GH Actions in CI workflows
      • pre-commit hooks
    • David was seeing 60 PRs per month when set up on monthly updates (3 ecosystems * 20 projects)
    • new tool for updating GH actions: gha-update, allows for local updating of GH dependencies
    • New process
      • Run pip-compile, gha-update, and pre-commit locally.
      • Update a project’s dependencies when actively working on the project, not just whenever a dependency updates.
      • Note that this works fine for dev dependencies, less so for security updates from run time dependencies. But for libraries, runtime dependencies are usually not pinned.

    Extras

    Brian:

    Michael:

    Joke: C will watch in silence

    3 September 2024, 8:00 am
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