September 2017 Summaries

Brian Okken's new book on pytest is a concise and insightful resource designed to enhance the productivity of Python developers by offering an in-depth exploration of the pytest framework's powerful features, such as fixtures, a robust plugin system, and extensive configuration options. The book is structured to be read in two evenings, with the initial chapters focusing on basic test writing and later chapters delving into more advanced topics, including integration with tools like Jenkins and coverage. It distinguishes itself from the official pytest documentation by providing a more didactic approach through practical examples using a simple CRUD/DB application, making it suitable for readers of all experience levels. The book highlights the advantages of pytest over the built-in unittest framework, emphasizing its less verbose syntax, rich CLI interface, and efficient test setup through fixtures. Although it does not cover Test-Driven Development (TDD), the book provides valuable practical tips and promotes a strong understanding of pytest's capabilities, making it a recommended read for developers interested in mastering software testing with Python.

Python enthusiasts are invited to participate in a new challenge that encourages them to create a Twilio app by automating or enhancing a mundane task using Python, Flask, and Twilio's APIs. Participants are encouraged to sign up for a Twilio account, explore the API documentation, and read a guest post on Twilio's blog for inspiration, particularly the "Wedding at Scale" mention. Completed projects can be submitted to the PyBites Community branch of their Challenges repository for credit, with the potential of being featured on Twilio's blog through the Twilio Voices project. The challenge aims to foster learning and community engagement in Python programming, with PyBites offering support and feedback through various communication channels.

A collection of tweets from various users highlights a range of Python-related topics and resources, including tutorials, projects, and events. Notably, Twilio celebrates the launch of an article about using Python, Flask, and Twilio to create a birthday reminder application, while PyCon Spain provides live streaming for its attendees. KDnuggets shares essential cheat sheets for data science, machine learning, and deep learning, and Guido van Rossum announces a new list of Python security updates. Additional tweets feature a tutorial on writing a spell-checking algorithm, a pre-configured deep learning Amazon AWS AMI, tips for Python logging, and a philosophical take on algorithm efficiency. These tweets collectively spotlight the dynamic and supportive nature of the Python community, offering resources, insights, and updates for enthusiasts and professionals alike.

The text is a collection of tweets from various sources related to Python programming, sharing news, tools, and tips. It includes announcements such as the release of Sublime Text 3.0, the availability of a free book on functional programming in Python, and milestones like Python's master branch reaching 100,000 commits. The tweets also highlight resources for learning Python through solving problems, using machine learning with TensorBoard's new API, web scraping for data retrieval, and applying data science to solve specific problems like the Chinese Postman Problem with NetworkX. Additionally, there are mentions of Python tips, such as understanding equality vs. identity, and visualizing reading lists with Python.

The text presents a comprehensive guide to learning Python, emphasizing practical, hands-on approaches over theoretical study. It suggests starting with a personal project to solve a real-world problem as a way to stay motivated and engaged, echoing the advice of Jake VanderPlas. Key resources include "Automate the Boring Stuff" by Al Sweigart for beginners, while more advanced learners are encouraged to explore "Fluent Python" and "Head First Python." The 100 Days of Code challenge is highlighted as a method for sustained coding practice, alongside exploring open-source projects on platforms like PyPI and GitHub for inspiration and learning. The text also advocates for learning web frameworks like Flask, actively sharing knowledge through blogging and GitHub, and engaging in code challenges to broaden one's skill set. The authors share personal experiences with PyBites, a community platform they created, which has been pivotal in their Python journeys by fostering a collaborative learning environment. They stress the importance of continuous practice, community involvement, and exposure to professional development environments for growth, advocating for a mindset of perpetual learning and sharing in the Python community.

Discovering the joy of automation through coding, Bob shares his experience of using Python's openpyxl module to replicate an Excel VBA macro, revealing the benefits of Python's portability and efficiency over traditional macro solutions. Despite initial challenges with xlrd due to file format compatibility, Bob successfully hacked an Excel game by leveraging openpyxl to query, update, and save workbooks without relying on macros. He highlights the power of Unix shell scripting for quick tasks and underscores the utility of regular expressions in extracting data from spreadsheets. Through this exercise, Bob emphasizes the learning potential in seemingly trivial coding projects and invites others, especially those in finance, to explore automation possibilities with Excel and openpyxl, encouraging collaboration on new ideas for enhancing workflows with Python.

AWS Lambda is an on-demand compute service by Amazon Web Services that enables users to run code in response to events or HTTP requests without the need to manage servers, offering scalability and a pay-per-use model. Supported languages include JavaScript (Node.js), Python, Java, and C#. This week's Python coding challenge, presented by Michael Herman from Real Python, involves creating an AWS Lambda function triggered by an event to perform an action, such as processing an image added to S3 or responding to an HTTP request via API Gateway. Participants are encouraged to learn new skills, have fun, and contribute their solutions to the community by submitting a Pull Request to the challenges repository, with outstanding contributions featured in the weekly challenge review.

The article reviews a code challenge focused on improving Python code using BetterCodeHub (BCH), highlighting contributions from participants hobojoe1848 and bbelderbos. Hobojoe1848 improved his Generic Emailer Script by refactoring it to pass BCH’s “Write Short Units of Code” test, raising his score from 7 to 8. Meanwhile, bbelderbos received a score of 9 for his Django REST Framework project, which he further improved to a perfect 10 by ignoring the settings file and adding tests. He also enhanced Julian's timezone-list project from an 8 to a 10 by modularizing the code and adding unit tests. The challenge demonstrated the effectiveness of BCH in encouraging code quality through thoughtful refactoring and testing, with participants expressing appreciation for the tool's design and the GitHub workflow utilized during the challenge. The organizers invite more participants to submit their work for ongoing inclusion and announce the continuation of the challenges, encouraging engagement with the Python coding community.

The text is a compilation of tweets from various tech and data science influencers, sharing resources and insights related to Python, data science, machine learning, and software development. Highlights include blog posts on Python's growth, machine learning fundamentals, and a guide to using Git efficiently. Other tweets promote learning resources such as a data analysis playlist using Jupyter, a beginner's guide to Python and Django, and a screencast on Pipenv. The tweets also mention tools like Pandas Profiling and a Pinterest clone for Django practice, emphasizing the importance of continuous learning and skill enhancement in the tech community.

Last week's code challenge focused on building a simple API using Django REST Framework, and submissions were merged into the Community branch under Challenge 34. One notable submission by bbelderbos created an API for adding coding tips, inspired by @python_tip and following a tutorial from the Django REST Framework. The challenge remains open-ended, allowing for additional submissions to be included over time as participants contribute their work. The article encourages continued participation and hints at upcoming challenges, inviting the community to keep engaging with Python coding activities.

An automated emailer script using Python MIME submodules was designed to send notifications while keeping recipient email addresses anonymous, but initially faced issues with the BCC functionality, as the addresses in the BCC field were still visible to recipients. The author initially set the "To" address to the sender's address and listed other recipients in the "Bcc" field, but this approach failed as the email headers still displayed the BCC addresses. Through further research, the solution involved omitting recipient addresses from the MIME header information and instead including them in the sendmail() function, ensuring that the addresses remain hidden from the recipients. This workaround effectively conceals recipient addresses, aligning with the intended functionality of anonymity.

The PyBites community has launched a Python programming challenge sponsored by SIG, encouraging participants to refactor projects using a template called SpringCleaning. The challenge requires contributors to enhance their Python projects by addressing issues identified by Better Code Hub, a tool that analyzes code quality. Participants must enable issues in their GitHub repositories, create issues labeled as PyBitesChallenge35, and refactor the code accordingly. The first 25 contributors to have a Pull Request accepted will receive a free month of Better Code Hub PRO, while the first 10 to have two Pull Requests accepted will receive a hard copy of "Building Maintainable Software" by O’Reilly. Maintainers benefit from improved code quality and new contributors, while the initiative aims to foster community learning and collaboration in Python programming.

The text is a collection of tweets from various users and organizations related to the Python programming community, featuring a range of topics and resources. It highlights tutorials and tools such as Celery and RabbitMQ for task management, Django and REST framework for API building, and the upcoming official recommendation of Pipenv as a Python packaging tool. Additionally, it mentions Docker's voting app, PyFiddle IDE, and educational content on migrating Python 2 to Python 3. The tweets also discuss concurrency in Python, EuroSciPy videos, and efforts to introduce coding to first graders to break down tech accessibility barriers. Other notable mentions include wtfPython for tricky examples and a humorous take on learning through curiosity, failure, and community support.