Python Monthly 💻🐍

20th issue! If you missed the previous ones, you can read all the previous issues of my monthly Python newsletter here.

If it’s your first time here… (otherwise, skip this part)

Being a Python developer is a fantastic career option. Python is now the most popular language with lots of growing job demand (especially in the fields of Web, Data Science and Machine Learning). You have many job opportunities, you can work around the world, and you get to solve hard problems.

One thing that is hard, however, is staying up to date with the constantly evolving ecosystem. You want to be a top-performing python developer, coder, programmer, software developer, but you don’t have time to select from hundreds of articles, videos and podcasts each day.

This is the best Python newsletter for you if you want to keep up to date with the industry and keep your skills sharp, without wasting your valuable time.

I curate and share the most important articles, news, resources, podcasts and videos of the month.

Think Tim Ferriss and the Pareto Principle (80/20 rule) meeting the Python world. What’s the 20% that will get you 80% of the results?

Let's dive in. Here's what you missed in July 2021 as a Python Developer…

Python 3.11 is Coming 🥇🥇

Check out all of the new features added to 3.11 version of Python! It's still in draft mode but it should give you a nice sneak peak.

Functools in Python 🛠

Functools?! More like Funtools!...am I right?

Good start to the newsletter. I think we are on the right track. What was I saying? Oh... Python standard library includes many great modules that can help you make your code cleaner and simpler and functools is definitely one of them.

This module offers many useful higher order functions that act on or return other functions, which we can leverage to implement function caching, overloading, creating decorators and in general to make our code a bit more functional. Take a tour of it and see all the things it has to offer.

State Of Development 🧘‍♂️

These surveys are always fun to keep an eye on evolving trends in the industry. This report presents the combined results of the fifth annual Developer Ecosystem Survey conducted by JetBrains. 31,743 developers from 183 countries responded with data points.

What I found interesting:

• Python is more popular than Java in terms of overall usage, while Java is more popular than Python as a main language.
• The top-5 languages developers are planning to adopt or migrate to are Go, Kotlin, TypeScript, Python, and Rust.

Python Web Conf 🎤

Python Web Conf 2021 just happened, and the organizers were nice enough to make all of the talks available. Love the web and python? Then you will love these talks: check them out here.

Weekend Project Idea 🎏

I know we already did this last month, but this is once again a massive list of 70+ possible Python projects including tutorials and step-by-step code. Pick one of these this weekend, and add it to your Github/portfolio!

Python Best Practices 🏵

Who doesn't love an easy to read list of all the best practices you should incorporate when starting a new python project? This is probably the best article I have read on this topic, and should cover the majority of important topics for you.

Typeclasses in Python 🎲

There is a new concept for Python developers: typeclasses. It is a concept behind the new dry-python library called classes. Super interesting read for those that like getting into the weeds.

import in Python 🚛

Do you know how import in Python works? Do you REALLY know how it works? I bet you that you will learn a thing or two in this article.

Python Packaging in 2021 📦

If you want to build your own python package to distribute to other python developers around the world, this is the "current" recommended way to do it.

Subclassing in Python 🧱

The conflict between subclassing and composition is as old as object-oriented programming. The latest crop of languages like Go or Rust prove that you don’t need subclassing to successfully write code. However, subsclassing in python is still useful. Learn what subclassing means and when to use it here.

Python’s Operator Module 🥷🏼

Make your code faster, concise, more readable and more functional with help of Python’s little known operator module. Check it out here.

News Around the World 🗺

• U.S. companies have been hit by another round of cyber attacks. If you are interested in why this is becoming more and more common in our world, listen to this amazing podcast episode: The Lazarus Heist

• The latest on the "facial recognition is creeping me out": Tencent now has this

• NSO Group which is pretty controversial for creating the Pegasus spyware to spy on citizens just got hacked.

Big Tech News 🏢

• Facebook is going to pay creators $1 billion to try and compete with lowering of market share to TikTok, Youtube, Snap, etc... By the way, did you know Facebook uses MySQL for their massive data storage? Learn how they are migrating to MySQL 8.0

• Microsoft's Windows 11 is a big deal. But did you know you need something called a TPMS to be able to use Windows 11? Lear what that is here... it's super interesting.

• Not much big tech news this month other than that billionaires are going to space wearing cowboy hats now.

Completely useless to your career but still great 🙃

• Understand Python swapping: why is a, b = b, a not always equivalent to b, a = a, b? Find out here.

• Why was ! chosen for negation? Learn why here.

Best Resource of the Month 🥽

How do you work hard? What is working hard?

Working hard is not just a dial you turn up to 11. It's a complicated, dynamic system that has to be tuned just right at each point. You have to understand the shape of real work, see clearly what kind you're best suited for, aim as close to the true core of it as you can, accurately judge at each moment both what you're capable of and how you're doing, and put in as many hours each day as you can without harming the quality of the result. This network is too complicated to trick. But if you're consistently honest and clear-sighted, it will automatically assume an optimal shape, and you'll be productive in a way few people are.

In other words, you need to work efficiently. Once you read the post above, read this.

The secret of the world is that it is a very malleable place, we must be sure that people learn this, and never forget the order: Learning is naturally the consequence of doing.

Trick of the Month 🎩

• Learn SQL quick with this interactive tutorial

• Cool new VS Code theme: Serendipity

See you next month everyone!

By the way, I teach people how to code and get hired in the most efficient way possible as the Lead Instructor of Zero To Mastery Academy. You can see a few of my courses below or see all ZTM courses here.