Have you explored Python’s collections module? Within it, you’ll find a powerful factory function called namedtuple(), which provides multiple enhancements over the standard tuple for writing clearer and cleaner code. This week on the show, Christopher Trudeau is here, bringing another batch of PyCoder’s Weekly articles and projects.

Christopher discusses his Real Python video course about writing more Pythonic code using namedtuple(). With namedtuple(), you can create immutable sequence types that allow you to access their values using descriptive field names and dot notation instead of clunky integer indices.

We also discuss metaprogramming and the unique advantages of Python’s dynamism. Christopher shares potential paths for this type of coding from web applications, testing, and AST techniques.

We share several other articles and projects from the Python community, including a news update, the Arrow revolution happening in pandas 2.0, a new PEP for inlined comprehensions, tips and techniques for modern Flask apps, a Python helper tool for building and running a REPL with custom commands, and a project to turn a pandas DataFrame into a Tableau-style UI.

Course Spotlight: Writing Clean, Pythonic Code With namedtuple

In this video course, you’ll learn what Python’s namedtuple is and how to use it in your code. You’ll also learn about the main differences between named tuples and other data structures, such as dictionaries, data classes, and typed named tuples.

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Are you interested in deploying your Python project everywhere? This week on the show, Russell Keith-Magee, founder and maintainer of the BeeWare project, returns. Russell shares recent updates to Briefcase, a tool that converts a Python application into native installers on macOS, Windows, Linux, and mobile devices.

We cover how Anaconda hired him last year to work full-time on the BeeWare project. He shares how this has helped him focus his efforts and move the project forward.

We also discuss his recent talk at DjangoCon US 2022 on how to turn your website into an app (and why maybe you shouldn’t). Russell details the problems of converting from the Web to a mobile platform. We also contrast WebAssembly System Interface (WASI) with the tools that his team works on.

Course Spotlight: Managing Attributes With Python’s property()

In this video course, you’ll learn how to create managed attributes, also known as properties, using Python’s property() in your custom classes.

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Have you decided how you’re going to deploy your Django project? Should you use a VPS or a PaaS? Christopher Trudeau is back this week, bringing another batch of PyCoder’s Weekly articles and projects. We also have organizers from PyCascades to share details about this year’s hybrid in-person and virtual conference.

Christopher shares an article about selecting an appropriate Django project deployment strategy. The guide compares VPS (virtual private server) and PaaS (platform as a service) systems. He also covers hosting providers for each and highlights potential pitfalls.

We share several other articles and projects from the Python community, including a news update, what’s new in SQLAlchemy 2.0, how to flush the output of the Python print function, the dangers behind image resizing for machine learning, a project that visualizes pathfinding algorithms, and a runtime executor project.

We also have three special guests from PyCascades 2023 to dig into the details of the conference. Conference chair Eliza Sarobhasa is CTO at Women Who Drone and Leadership Fellow (Python Track) & Python Developer Advocate at Women Who Code. Sprints chair Chethana Gopinath is a Software Engineer at realtor.com and a Senior Lead at Women Who Code Python. Speaker Support Chair Jolene Wong is a Senior Software Engineer at Cisco based in Vancouver. We discuss hosting a hybrid conference, participating in open-source sprints, and finding a local Python community.

Course Spotlight: The Python print() Function: Go Beyond the Basics

In this step-by-step course, you’ll learn about the print() function in Python and discover some of its lesser-known features. Avoid common mistakes, take your “hello world” to the next level, and know when to use a better alternative.

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Are you still using loops and lists to process your data in Python? Have you heard of a Python library with optimized data structures and built-in operations that can speed up your data science code? This week on the show, Jodie Burchell, developer advocate for data science at JetBrains, returns to share secrets for harnessing linear algebra and NumPy for your projects.

Jodie details how most people begin their data science journey using loops to iterate over values and apply operations sequentially. We talk about how loops are friendly for beginners, being clear to read and easy to debug, but unfortunately don’t scale well, especially with large amounts of data.

Jodie shares some of the basics of linear algebra and how to organize data into vectors. We talk about how the NumPy library leverages those concepts to improve data processing. We discuss how the library includes operations for vector and matrix addition and subtraction, and why these operations are more efficient than loops. We also cover how NumPy stores arrays in memory and when working with them is faster vs when it’s not.

Course Spotlight: Data Cleaning With pandas and NumPy

In this video course, you’ll learn how to clean up messy data using pandas and NumPy. You’ll become equipped to deal with a range of problems, such as missing values, inconsistent formatting, malformed records, and nonsensical outliers.

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Would you like to practice your Python skills while building a challenging word game? Have you been wanting to learn more about creating command-line interfaces and making them colorful and interactive? This week on the show, Christopher Trudeau is here, bringing another batch of PyCoder’s Weekly articles and projects.

We share a recent Real Python step-by-step project about creating a clone of Wordle. In the project, you’ll practice building a terminal application, validating user input, and refactoring code into functions.

Christopher shares an article that compares two popular testing tools, Nox and Tox. He discusses how each framework approaches test environment configuration and why the author leans toward using Nox’s Python decorator–based format.

We share several other articles and projects from the Python community, including a news update, a guide to trying out code and ideas quickly with the Python REPL, a PEP about requiring virtual environments by default, a discussion about lessons learned in twenty years as a software engineer, a project for a spreadsheet GUI inside of JupyterLab notebooks, and adding C-style for loops to Python.

Course Spotlight: Getters and Setters in Python

In this video course, you’ll learn what getter and setter methods are, how Python properties are preferred over getters and setters when dealing with attribute access and mutation, and when to use getter and setter methods instead of properties in Python.

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Can you describe your business processes with flowcharts? What if you could define the steps in a standard notation and implement the workflows in pure Python? This week on the show, Dan Funk from Sartography is here to discuss SpiffWorkflow.

SpiffWorkflow is a Python tool for translating Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) diagrams into a workflow engine. You can manipulate this visual chain of events to suit your team’s business requirements. Individual events in the workflow can contain blocks or scripts of Python code to be executed.

We discuss the concept of low-code software tools. Dan also talks about how SpiffWorkflow aims at getting non-developers within an organization involved in development.

Course Spotlight: Cool New Features in Python 3.11 – Real Python

In this video course, you’ll explore what Python 3.11 brings to the table. You’ll learn how Python 3.11 is the fastest and most user-friendly version of CPython yet, and learn about improvements to the typing system and to the asynchronous features of Python.

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Would you like to quickly add data to a map with Python? Have you wanted to create beautiful interactive maps and export them as a stand-alone static web page? This week on the show, Christopher Trudeau is here, bringing another batch of PyCoder’s Weekly articles and projects.

We share a recent Real Python tutorial about using Python Folium to create geospatial data visualizations. Folium harnesses the power of the JavaScript library Leaflet. The project shares how to combine this graphical power with Python’s data-wrangling strength.

Christopher shares a recent Python Enhancement Proposal (PEP) about the Global Interpreter Lock (GIL) in CPython. The PEP proposes a change to the build process that implements a flag for optionally building a GIL-less interpreter.

We share several other articles and projects from the Python community, including a news update, a YAML document from hell, a set of logging practices to follow, a discussion about the discourse surrounding the recent Python packaging user survey, a modern Python UI library based on Tkinter, and a lightweight tool kit for bounding boxes.

Course Spotlight: Everyday Project Packaging With pyproject.toml

In this Code Conversation video course, you’ll learn how to package your everyday projects with pyproject.toml. Playing on the same team as the import system means you can call your project from anywhere, ensure consistent imports, and have one file that’ll work for many build systems.

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Have you worked on a project that needed an orchestration tool? How do you define the workflow of an entire data pipeline or a messaging system with Python? This week on the show, Calvin Hendryx-Parker is back to talk about using Apache Airflow and orchestrating Python projects.

Calvin is the co-founder and CTO of Six Feet Up and a Python Web Conference co-organizer. He’s recently been working on a massive project that requires thousands of jobs involving transferring and transforming data. Through his research into orchestration systems, he found Apache Airflow.

Airflow is an open-source tool to define, schedule, and monitor workflows. The platform is pure Python and integrates with a wide variety of services. We discuss how workflows are defined by creating directed acyclic graphs (DAG).

Calvin talks about how a recent project outgrew the system and how his team built a clever solution using Python. We also discuss the upcoming Python Web Conference and what virtual attendees can expect.

Course Spotlight: Python Basics: Object-Oriented Programming

In this video course, you’ll get to know OOP, or object-oriented programming. You’ll learn how to create a class, use classes to create new objects, and instantiate classes with attributes.

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Have you used the Python Read-Eval-Print Loop (REPL) to explore the language and learn about how it operates? Would it help if it provided syntax highlighting, definitions, and code completion and behaved more like an IDE? This week on the show, Christopher Trudeau is here, bringing another batch of PyCoder’s Weekly articles and projects.

We discuss the drop-in REPL replacement bpython. bpython enhances the interactivity of a Python REPL session. It’s also a powerful teaching tool for instructors and students to experiment with and explore Python code.

Christopher shares a recent Python Enhancement Proposal (PEP) about formalizing the grammar for f-strings. The PEP describes a reduction in the underlying parser code complexity and provides for future features like comments in multiline f-strings.

We share several other articles and projects from the Python community, including a news roundup, a collection of surveys to classify Python virtual environment workflows, a course about context managers and Python’s with statement, a discussion about microfeatures that we would like to see adopted in Python, a Python terminal music player, and an infinite array powered by AI.

Course Spotlight: Context Managers and Python’s with Statement

In this video course, you’ll learn what the Python with statement is and how to use it with existing context managers. You’ll also learn how to create your own context managers.

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How can you get more performance from your existing data science infrastructure? What if a DataFrame library could take advantage of your machine’s available cores and provide built-in methods for handling larger-than-RAM datasets? This week on the show, Liam Brannigan is here to discuss Polars.

Liam is an experienced data scientist working in finance, technology, and environmental analysis. He’s recently started contributing to the documentation for Polars and developing a training course for the library.

We talk about the library’s overall speed and lack of additional dependencies. Liam explains the advantages of lazy vs eager mode and which to choose when performing data exploration or attempting to load a dataset larger than your RAM.

We also discuss potential barriers to switching to Polars from a pandas workflow. Across our conversation, we explore several other libraries and technologies, including Apache Arrow, DuckDB, query optimization, and the “rustification” of Python tools.

Course Spotlight: Graph Your Data With Python and ggplot

In this course, you’ll learn how to use ggplot in Python to build data visualizations with plotnine. You’ll discover what a grammar of graphics is and how it can help you create plots in a very concise and consistent way.

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