S. Lott

Turning coffee into software since 1978. Author of many books. #Python #programmer. Been writing #software since the days when computers were large, expensive, and rare. I've got a pile of books available from Packt Publishing, and some self-published titles on Google Play. I've got some training courses available at LinkedInLearning. I'm a #technomad -- traveling around the US highways.

#DrStrangelove fan. #Antifa. #TTRPG hacker. #TaxTheRich

Blog: https://slott56.github.io
Steven Fred Lott: https://play.google.com/store/books/author?id=Steven+F.+Lott&hl=en&gl=US
Bio: https://slott56.github.io/pages/slott-biography.html
F.L.Stevens: https://flstevens.itmaybeahack.com

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slott56_at_fosstodon.org@momostr.pink

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relay.momostr.pink

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Published at

2026-08-26T17:29:40Z

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Last Notes

2026-07-11 16:57:05 UTC

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ah. Thanks. Makes it clearer.
Since variables aren’t declared, what scoping hints do you think would fit with the language?

2026-07-11 16:46:57 UTC

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Variables are local to functions. Did you expect them to be local to all indented blocks?

2026-07-09 15:08:27 UTC

#gardening
I think holly trees are insanely hard.
I’m a #chainsaw newbie, and I have trouble making straight cuts and watching out for getting the blade pinched.
But. Holly.
Am I doing something wrong or are they right awful to cut even after they’ve been dead for years?

2026-07-02 21:22:23 UTC

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wish I had a picture of an opossum to match with the hedgehog. They’re in our neighborhood, but not close enough to our house for me to get a picture. They’re very cute and very toothy.

2026-02-28 23:38:57 UTC

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Self-Published FWIW https://www.amazon.com/Unlearning-SQL-hammer-every-problem-ebook/dp/B0DDMFMXNW
Maybe more representative:
https://www.packtpub.com/en-us/product/modern-python-cookbook-9781835460757
I can send freebies if you're actually interesting in trying to read this. (Your bio doesn't shout Pythonista.)

2026-02-28 18:58:31 UTC

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I feel this.
My non-fiction is about technology, so there aren’t even very many people.

2025-05-22 18:06:44 UTC

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https://youtu.be/ydVmzg_SJLw?si=7pTzjwyKl9-DsJDZ
Cory Doctrow

2025-05-17 01:22:54 UTC

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the books differ in many details. The notion of “construct” distinct from robot is touched on in a bit more depth. Not a lot more. The perplexity runs very deep in the book version of the story.

2025-04-25 20:37:54 UTC

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they’re trying to kill the administrative state. We’re just collateral damage.

2025-03-02 18:27:52 UTC

#WordWeavers #western #horror
3/2. Is your MC a picky eater? What are their preferences?
Maybe before they joined the sisterhood they had the luxury of being picky. (Amy, in particular might have been.)
Life in an abbey means eating what you get. Traveling for months to get from Santa Fe to the Valley of Fire means eating what you can find. Accepting help from indigenous folks means eating what they tell you to eat.

2025-01-10 17:35:24 UTC

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why does the courts and congress ignore the 14th amendment section 3 provisions?

2024-12-22 13:28:48 UTC

Saw two cyber*uck rolling dumpsters yesterday. Two. In Punta Gorda, Florida. A town that’s microscopic.
One was outside a restaurant I now know to avoid. If the rich poseurs eat there, I prefer to go elsewhere.

2024-11-29 17:32:22 UTC

#birding
Made a fake throw ”throwing breadcrumbs” gesture at a grackle standing on a sign in the Merritt Island Nat’l Wildlife Refuge.
It flew to the mirror. Stamped back and forth across wipers. Stamped around on the roof for a while.
We put up the windows to make sure it didn’t get into the truck looking for the breadcrumbs.
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/113/567/435/371/542/207/original/efeec59072672633.jpeg

2024-10-29 01:01:22 UTC

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He’s not the target, of course he’s over it.

2024-10-05 11:51:22 UTC

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Be sure to print the repr() of the values at various stages to be sure you know when it’s a Unicode character and when it’s a string of characters that are the Python literal representation of a Unicode character.

2024-10-05 11:50:45 UTC

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csv files with Unicode can be tricky. Sometimes, the csv file encoding is wrong. You can open the file with an explicit encoding like “cp1252” or “utf-8”. Other times, you’ll need to fuss around with str.decode() (or eval()) to get bytes and the bytes.encode() to build the str you want. Or. Worse. You have to process the csv in bytes.