Trey Hunner 🐍

#Python & #Django educator & team trainer

I help folks sharpen their Python skills with https://PythonMorsels.com🐍🍪

#pythonoddity

Also: ostrovegan, sentientist, YIMBY, and I think economics is highly underrated. I don't post about any of those topics very often.

he/him

💌 My Weekly Newsletter: https://pym.dev/newsletter
🐍 Python Exercises: https://www.pythonmorsels.com
📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PythonMorsels
🕸 Personal Blog: https://treyhunner.com

Public Key

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NIP-05 Address

treyhunner_at_mastodon.social@momostr.pink

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Publishing to

nostr.wine

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nos.lol

Author Public Key

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Last Notes

2025-09-27 18:37:31 UTC

Parul Gupta comparing #Python packaging to preparing a gift at #PyBeach
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/277/705/976/681/838/original/eaabda947603ea1b.jpg

2024-12-20 02:00:01 UTC

Anyone know whether there's ever been a PEP for storing the end of life date for each Python version within Python?
I'm imagining a sys.supported_until datetime object.
I'd love to ask each of my current Python installations whether they're supported rather than looking that information up in online docs.
#Python

2024-12-19 19:21:01 UTC

I think I just found my least favorite way to accurately check whether a string (value) represents a number in #Python. 😬
value.removeprefix("-").replace(".", "", 1).isnumeric()

2024-12-19 01:16:20 UTC

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thanks Elena!

2024-12-16 22:53:21 UTC

You can think of the tokenize, ast, and dis modules as progressively deeper steps in the process of parsing the code in a Python module.
Read more 👉 https://trey.io/9v8gwb
#Python
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/664/956/876/099/436/original/bc8aad79a5486e68.jpg

2024-12-13 19:04:08 UTC

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I've been thinking about these two problems over the past month and it's inspired a big update this week to the way exercise revisiting works in Python Morsels.
Exercise revisiting has been a Python Morsels feature for a few years, but revisiting the same exercise again feels boring and may sound pointless, so this feature has been severely underused.
As of this week, revisiting an exercise is much more highly encouraged, which I'm hoping will improve learning retention. Time will tell! 🤞

2024-12-13 19:04:07 UTC

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2️⃣ On not enough focus on repetition...
So we learn by information retrieval (quizzing, elaborating, doing), but we don't just need to retrieve once.
We learn through "repeated" information retrieval attempts. Learning doesn't typically stick unless we retrieve information repeatedly, spaced out over many days.
Repetition can feel VERY boring. You tried the thing. Maybe you even succeeded at the thing. Now you had to do the same thing again a week later? What?!

2024-12-13 19:04:06 UTC

Learning a new skill? I bet you're making 2 big mistakes.
1. You're focusing too much on consuming information
2. You're not focusing enough on repetition
I notice new Python learners falling into this trap. It's a big problem with the resources we use to learn and the way we talk about and use those resources.
🧵
#learning #teaching #Python

2024-12-10 03:09:00 UTC

Have you used "raise ... from None" in #Python?
If so, what was your use case for "from None"?
What was the original exception that you were suppressing from the traceback and do you feel that suppression was helpful for users of your code (or were you just having fun with a new thing you learned)?

2024-12-09 14:45:32 UTC

"But there's an even better way to check whether one string is the substring of another string."
Read more 👉 https://trey.io/5gu5Fs
#python

2024-12-03 07:17:15 UTC

Recursion is most often useful when the problem you're solving involves traversing or constructing a tree-like structure.
Read more 👉 https://trey.io/vIw7Up
#recursion #python

2024-12-02 19:21:00 UTC

Last day to get Python Jumpstart for 50% off. 🐍
There's a 30 day money-back guarantee, no questions asked. 💰
https://pym.dev/courses/jumpstart/overview
#Python #CyberMonday

2024-12-02 01:46:00 UTC

If you're new to #Python and seeking a solid hands-on introduction, keep in mind that tomorrow is the last day to save $100 on Python Jumpstart. ⏰
Money-back guarantee for 30 days, no questions asked. 💌
https://pym.dev/courses/jumpstart/overview

2024-11-30 19:21:01 UTC

Learning Python is like learning the flute. 🪈
You won't get far from just watching videos and reading. 📼
Practice should take up MOST of your learning time. 🧠
That's why my new #Python Jumpstart course is practice-centered. Each day, you'll watch a 4 minute video and then attempt to write Python code. ⌨
It's 2 hours of video, but about 20 hours of carefully crafted bite-sized exercises. 🍪
I just launched this course and it's 50% off, but only through Monday. 💸
https://pym.dev/courses/jumpstart/overview

2024-11-27 05:03:18 UTC

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The number of items to retrieve. 3 in this case.

2024-11-27 02:08:00 UTC

Avoid unnecessary sorting in Python.
❌ Instead of this:
smallest = sorted(items)[0]
✅ Do this:
smallest = min(items)
❌ Instead of this:
smallest = sorted(items)[:3]
✅ Do this:
import heapq
smallest = heapq.nsmallest(3, items)
Why avoid sorting?
1. Performance: min is O(n), nsmallest is O(n log k), sorted is O(n log n)
2. Readability: min & nsmallest note what we really want our code to do
For more on the performance of various operations in #Python, see https://pym.dev/time-complexities/

2024-11-26 16:43:01 UTC

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With Python Jumpstart, there are no 10-20 minute lectures in Jumpstart. Just 4 minutes on a new topic and then 30 minutes trying it yourself. (You'll repeat that process many times 🔁)
My new Python Jumpstart course is 50% off through Monday. 💸
Ready to jumpstart your learning? 🎓
https://pym.dev/courses/jumpstart/overview/

2024-11-26 16:43:00 UTC

Trouble learning Python? 🐍
You need active recall and spaced repetition. 🧠
In other words, attempt to write code yourself to apply each new concept you visit and do this repeatedly over many days.
Most Intro to Python courses consist of a series of lectures. 📺
Good lectures can be a lot of fun, but they do very little to help making learning stick.
That's why my new Python Jumpstart course is 90% exercise-driven.
#Python

2024-11-26 03:09:00 UTC

In Python, instead of this:
BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
I prefer this:
BASE_DIR = pathlib.Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
For more on the magic of Python's pathlib module, check out the article I published last week: https://pym.dev/pathlib-module
#Python #pathlib

2024-11-25 19:12:42 UTC

Folks have been asking me for YEARS whether I have a self-paced Intro to Python course.
I'm finally launching one! It's called Python Jumpstart. 🎉
For this first launch week, it's 50% off.
Jumpstart your Python journey.
https://pym.dev/courses/jumpstart/overview/
#Python

2024-11-22 08:26:41 UTC

There's only ever one None value in memory within each Python process.
Read more 👉 https://trey.io/8slkex
#Python

2024-11-21 19:21:00 UTC

For the past 7 years, I've posted a summary of #Python-related Black Friday & Cyber Monday sales.
I'm posting extra early this year. I'll be updating as more sales are announced over the next week. Let me know if you hear of any I should add!
https://treyhunner.com/2024/11/python-black-friday-and-cyber-monday-sales-2024/

2024-11-19 16:43:00 UTC

I've been enjoying "uv tool" as a pipx replacement, but I hadn't looked into uvx.
💡 uvx is a way to play with a #Python CLI tool without installing it.
$ uvx --from strptime-cli strptime
$ uvx --from dramatic python -m dramatic
$ uvx names
Or jump into a virtual environment with a package pre-installed:
$ uvx --from requests python -q
>>> import requests

2024-11-18 04:39:17 UTC

PEP idea from April 1 💡
Support for importing EVERYTHING:
from * import *
#Python

2024-11-11 22:32:06 UTC

Question #Python-knowledgeable folks.
I usually use & recommend platform.system() for identifying the current OS that code runs on.
Is that the best approach?
I only ask because platform.system() returns a user-facing name (it's not lowercased) and the docs for sys.platform note the possible names while platform.system()'s docs do not (Emscripten, WASI, and Cygwin are absent and I'm not even sure if those are the correct spellings for those platforms).

2024-09-13 18:40:38 UTC

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The #Python 3.13 features I'm most excited about:
1. The new Python REPL 💖
2. Virtual environments being ignored by git by default! 😮
3. Two big PDB improvements: calling breakpoint() at the end of a code block works properly and Python expressions like help(x) and list(x) work properly! 🎉

2024-09-12 16:52:27 UTC

What are your favorite new Python 3.13 features?
#Python