Do you wonder if you’re taking the right approach when shaping data in pandas? Is your Jupyter workflow getting out of hand? This week on the show, Matt Harrison talks about his new book, “Effective Pandas: Patterns for Data Manipulation.”

Matt discusses working as a corporate consultant and migrating Excel users toward Python. We explore several “NumPy-isms” that beginners get stuck on. Matt shares advice about chaining operations in pandas, which some developers find controversial.

Course Spotlight: Sorting Data in Python With Pandas

In this video course, you’ll learn how to sort data in a pandas DataFrame using the pandas sort functions sort_values() and sort_index(). You’ll learn how to sort by one or more columns and by index in ascending or descending order.

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Would you like to build visualizations that allow your audience to play with data? How do you effectively use Python’s assert statement during development? This week on the show, Christopher Trudeau is here, and he’s brought another batch of PyCoder’s Weekly articles and projects.

We talk about an article that shows how to build interactive visualizations with pandas, seaborn, and ipywidgets. These widgets allow you to add sliders, buttons, and dropdown menus to your Jupyter Notebooks.

Christopher shares the Real Python article “Python’s assert: Debug and Test Your Code Like a Pro”. It covers how to use assert statements to document, debug, and test code while in development.

We cover several other articles and projects from the Python community, including a news roundup, code review guidelines for data science teams, a project to manage your to-do lists using Python and Django, a Python 4 dream list, a static site generator based on Django, and a book of practical Python projects.

Course Spotlight: Building a Neural Network & Making Predictions With Python AI

In this step-by-step course, you’ll build a neural network from scratch as an introduction to the world of artificial intelligence (AI) in Python. You’ll learn how to train your neural network and make predictions based on a given dataset.

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There are many ways to get Python installed on your computer. If you were going to start fresh, what tools would you use? What if you need to manage multiple versions of Python and virtual environments? What about all the additional tools that make your coding workflow complete? This week on the show, Calvin Hendryx-Parker is here to talk about bootstrapping your Python environment.

Calvin is the co-founder and CTO of Six Feet Up and a Python Web Conference co-organizer. As a consultant, Calvin has set up countless machines to run Python. He configures environments that can scale from in-office projects to distributed cloud-based applications.

We cover tools for installing Python, managing multiple language versions, and configuring virtual environments. Calvin talks about setting up command-line applications in isolated environments. We also discuss traveling with Python on an iPad.

Course Spotlight: Start Managing Multiple Python Versions With pyenv

In this step-by-step course, you’ll learn how to install multiple Python versions and switch between them, including project-specific virtual environments, with ease with pyenv.

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How do you define Python functions that accept optional arguments or default values? Are you wondering how to go beyond being a beginner with Python? This week on the show, Christopher Trudeau is here, and he’s brought another batch of PyCoder’s Weekly articles and projects.

Christopher shares a Real Python article, “Defining Python Functions With Optional Arguments.” We talk about function flexibility, specifying default values, and using args & kwargs.

We discuss resources for a Python beginner to move beyond the basics and become more competent. Both of us share our experiences moving past these hurdles.

We cover several other articles and projects from the Python community, including a news roundup, ten tools you may have wished you knew when you started working with Python, Python’s zipfile for manipulating your zip files efficiently, how one company optimized Python API server code by 100x, a dependency-free Python library for downloading YouTube videos, and how to use Python on the command line with other shell commands.

Course Spotlight: Defining Python Functions With Optional Arguments

In this video course, you’ll learn about Python optional arguments and how to define functions with default values. You’ll also learn how to create functions that accept any number of arguments using args and kwargs.

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Have you thought about what authentication system you want to use for your Python project? Should you use an existing Python library or a third-party service? This week on the show, Dan Moore is here to talk about authentication systems and OAuth 2.

Dan is the head of developer relations at FusionAuth. He shares advice about setting up an authentication system, setting up device grants, using social login, and addressing privacy issues. Dan also provides multiple resources to learn much more about the topic.

Course Spotlight: Using Google Login With Flask

In this course, you’ll create a Flask application that lets users sign in using their Google login. You’ll learn about OAuth 2 and OpenID Connect and also find out how to implement some code to handle user session management.

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Have you been wanting to explore fractals and complex numbers in Python? Would you like to practice working with APIs in Python through a new project? This week on the show, Christopher Trudeau is here, and he’s taking on the task of curating new issues of PyCoder’s Weekly going forward. He’ll be joining me as a cohost every other week and bringing a fresh batch of PyCoder’s Weekly articles and projects.

We discuss a Real Python article about drawing the Mandelbrot set in Python. The tutorial guides you through creating fractal art using Matplotlib and Pillow. We also share a new step-by-step project building a weather-reporting command-line interface (CLI) app.

We cover several other articles and projects from the Python community, including a news roundup, a better Pygame main loop, ways to work with static and media files in Django, and a library for pleasing console output.

Course Spotlight: Make a 2D Side-Scroller Game With Pygame

In this step-by-step course, you’ll learn how to use Pygame. This library allows you to create games and rich multimedia programs in Python. You’ll learn how to draw items on your screen, implement collision detection, handle user input, and much more!

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How often have you thought about your Developer Experience (DX)? How do you improve your workflow, find documentation, and simplify code formatting? This week on the show, Adam Johnson is here to talk about his new book, “Boost Your Django DX.”

Adam provides advice on improving your developer experience, specifically inside Django and within Python. We discuss tools to simplify code formatting and linting.

Adam shares a couple of his own Django tools designed to simplify development and keep your projects updated. He also covers documentation resources for finding answers quickly.

Course Spotlight: Django View Authorization: Restricting Access

This course covers how to restrict your web pages to users with different roles through Django view authorization. You’ll learn about HttpRequest.user objects, decorators that authenticate views, and ways to notify your users with the Django messages framework.

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Would you like to experiment with analyzing or manipulating audio with Python? This week on the show, we have Braden Riggs from DolbyIO to discuss extracting audio features and Python libraries for reshaping audio. Braden shares techniques from his recent talk at PyData Global, “Unlocking More From Your Audio Data!”

We share several articles, tutorials, and Python libraries to get you started working with audio. We begin with a quick introduction to audio digitization and feature extraction. After discussing modifying audio files, we share tools and techniques for exploring audio analysis through data science.

Braden talks about speech-to-text conversion, sentiment analysis, and Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK). He also shares a valuable collection of audio technology resources for developers.

Course Spotlight: Playing and Recording Sound in Python

In this course, you’ll learn about libraries that can be used for playing and recording sound in Python, such as PyAudio and python-sounddevice. You’ll also see code snippets for playing and recording sound files and arrays, as well as for converting between different sound file formats.

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How can you can speed up Python? Have you thought of using a JIT (Just-In-Time Compiler)? This week on the show, we have Real Python author and previous guest Anthony Shaw to talk about his project Pyjion, a drop-in JIT compiler for CPython 3.10.

Anthony has been working on Pyjion over the past year and recently released version 1.0. He talks about how he took over the project from Brett Cannon and Dino Viehland. He covers the background on compilers and assembly that he needed to take on this project.

We discuss where a tool like this can speed up your Python code, and we consider alternative solutions. We also talk about his desire to make the project as deeply compatible with Python code as possible.

Anthony talks about how his dive into writing the CPython Internals book led him into the project. We talk about what type of developer would benefit from exploring the book.

We also cover his recent Real Python article, titled “Advanced Visual Studio Code for Python Developers.” It’s an excellent resource that VS Code users should bookmark to revisit as they grow with the tool.

Spotlight: CPython Internals Book: Your Guided Tour Through the Python 3 Interpreter

Unlock the inner workings of the Python language, compile the Python interpreter from source code, and participate in the development of CPython.

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Are you looking for a project to practice your Django skills? Designing the fundamental interactions of a social network is an instructive way to explore models and relationships while learning advanced Django skills. This week on the show, we talk with previous guest Martin Breuss about his new four-part series, “Build a Social Network With Django”.

Martin talks about the design process and ways to include user-focused features. He shares a handy CSS library to make your front end look modern with minimal effort.

We digress into a discussion of personal vs professional use of social networks. We also talk about the additional Real Python resources to help you build out the rest of your project.

Course Spotlight: How to Set Up a Django Project

In this course, you’ll learn the necessary steps that you’ll need to take to set up a new Django project. You’ll learn the basic setup for any new Django project, which needs to happen before programming the specific functionality of your project.

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