Nostr notes by Trey Hunner 🐍

Parul Gupta comparing #Python packaging to preparing a gift at ...

2025-09-27T18:37:31Z

Parul Gupta comparing #Python packaging to preparing a gift at #PyBeach

Anyone know whether there's ever been a PEP for storing the ...

2024-12-20T02:00:01Z

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

I think I just found my least favorite way to accurately check ...

2024-12-19T19:21:01Z

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()

thanks Elena!

2024-12-19T01:16:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…3xxl
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thanks Elena!

You can think of the tokenize, ast, and dis modules as ...

2024-12-16T22:53:21Z

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

I've been thinking about these two problems over the past ...

2024-12-13T19:04:08Z

In reply to nevent1q…9q9l
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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! 🤞

2️⃣ On not enough focus on repetition... So we learn by ...

2024-12-13T19:04:07Z

In reply to nevent1q…qv9v
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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?!

Learning a new skill? I bet you're making 2 big mistakes. 1. ...

2024-12-13T19:04:06Z

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

Have you used "raise ... from None" in #Python? If so, ...

2024-12-10T03:09:00Z

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)?

"But there's an even better way to check whether one ...

2024-12-09T14:45:32Z

"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

Recursion is most often useful when the problem you're ...

2024-12-03T07:17:15Z

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

Last day to get Python Jumpstart for 50% off. 🐍 There's a ...

2024-12-02T19:21:00Z

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

If you're new to #Python and seeking a solid hands-on ...

2024-12-02T01:46:00Z

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

Learning Python is like learning the flute. 🪈 You won't ...

2024-11-30T19:21:01Z

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

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

2024-11-27T05:03:18Z

In reply to nevent1q…jym8
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The number of items to retrieve. 3 in this case.

Avoid unnecessary sorting in Python. ❌ Instead of this: ...

2024-11-27T02:08:00Z

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/

With Python Jumpstart, there are no 10-20 minute lectures in ...

2024-11-26T16:43:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…6nz2
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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/

Trouble learning Python? 🐍 You need active recall and spaced ...

2024-11-26T16:43:00Z

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

In Python, instead of this: BASE_DIR = ...

2024-11-26T03:09:00Z

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

Folks have been asking me for YEARS whether I have a self-paced ...

2024-11-25T19:12:42Z

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

There's only ever one None value in memory within each Python ...

2024-11-22T08:26:41Z

There's only ever one None value in memory within each Python process.

Read more 👉 https://trey.io/8slkex

#Python

For the past 7 years, I've posted a summary of ...

2024-11-21T19:21:00Z

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/

I've been enjoying "uv tool" as a pipx replacement, ...

2024-11-19T16:43:00Z

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

PEP idea from April 1 💡 Support for importing EVERYTHING: from ...

2024-11-18T04:39:17Z

PEP idea from April 1 💡

Support for importing EVERYTHING:

from * import *

#Python

Question #Python-knowledgeable folks. I usually use & ...

2024-11-11T22:32:06Z

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).

The #Python 3.13 features I'm most excited about: 1. The new ...

2024-09-13T18:40:38Z

In reply to nevent1q…km6w
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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! 🎉

What are your favorite new Python 3.13 features? #Python

2024-09-12T16:52:27Z

What are your favorite new Python 3.13 features?

#Python