Python Monthly Newsletter 💻🐍

26th 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 January 2022 as a Python Developer…

Build A Python Linter ⚙️

This is a really cool project and guide for you to follow. Learn Python ASTs, by building your own linter Abstract Syntax Trees (ASTs for short) are a programmatic way to understand the structure of your source code. With an AST, it gives you a lot of power... find out more.

My Top 10 Articles from 2021 👑

For you regular readers of this newsletter (and our my friends as well!), here are my top 10 articles from 2021.

Django Developer Survey 💫

JetBrains is out with the recap of 2021 and the survey results from 7,000+ Django developers. Here are all the tools, trends, and recommendations if you are starting out on a Django project in 2022.

Python Wins 2021 TIOBE 🏵

Python is "Language of the Year for 2021" according to TIOBE. What does that mean? Apparently not much and it's a bit of a meaningless metric. Why? Here is why. Either way, Python is one of the top languages going into 2022 so nothing to worry about.

Weekend Project Idea 🎏

Can you solve the daily Wordle challenge with Python? First learn about the game here, and once done, head on over to this article and code solution but not before attempting to solve it with Python yourself!

Here is another Python solution and explanation (it was a bit of a trend this past month to solve Wordle challenges).

Question of the Month 🔮

In this case I want to go through a list processing two elements at a time, where those elements are step places away. This is my initial approach, but I would be happy to learn a couple alternatives, and their advantages.

v = [0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
step = 3
for x, y in zip( v[:-step], v[step:] ) :
  print("x={}, y={}".format(x, y))

How can you improve this? Here is the answer.

Communism in Python 🏭

A man once said to "abolish the classes", or something like that. Unfortunately, it is impossible to abolish class in python without breaking the language, so we do the next best thing: we consider that all classes are born equal.

Use this module to unite all classes and initiate the global communist revolution: What the heck are you talking about Andrei?!

Python Bytecode Explained 🍇

Python is an interpreted language. When a program is run, the python interpreter is first parsing your code and checking for any syntax errors, then it is translating the source code into a series of bytecode instructions. These bytecode instructions are then run by the python interpreter.

This guide will teach you all about these bytecode instructions.

Must Have Formatter 🏗

A cool new Python Formatter library to make sure that all the code that your team produces has a standard look and feel, Black. Must use on your next project.

_ vs __ ⚓️

"I'm currently learning OOP and came across these "" and "__" . These are parts of Python encapsulation. I can understand that by creating a variable with "" makes that variable private and "__" makes the variable protected.

However, my problem is people can still access and modify the private variable anytime outside the class and also you can access protected variables via "name mangling". So then what is the purpose of making a variable private and protected?

Also, is there any way we can make a variable or method really private or protected? And lastly, when should I use private and when should I use protected variable or methods?"

These are great questions. And this is a great reddit thread discussing them.

Something You Already Know 😉

How often do people actually copy and paste from Stack Overflow? Now we know. Spoiler: all the time.

News Around the World 🗺

• NASA’s Webb Telescope Reaches Major Milestone as Mirror Unfolds. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope successfully completed the final stage of all major spacecraft deployments to prepare for science operations (Taking pictures). This is pretty amazing news and we will have many years of incredible images of space to come.

• Over 90 WordPress themes, plugins backdoored in supply chain attack.

• First pig to human heart transplant seems to have worked. Crazy impressive.

Big Tech News 🏢

• Lying is never a good idea. Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes found guilty this month.

• Equifax is selling your salary data. The ultimate grifter company.

• IBM Watson is being sold off since it wasn't as impressive as all the marketing made it out to be.

• Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard to bring the joy and community of gaming to everyone, across every device. Translation: Microsoft spent a ton of money buying this gaming company to dominate the space.

Completely useless to your career but still great 🙃

• Make real life rupees: Real-life Rupees: How to Grow Green Potassium Ferrioxalate Crystals From Iron Rust

• Click to drop a raindrop anywhere in the world and watch where it ends up

• I don't know why, but these pictures put a smile on my face.

• Have fun wasting your time with this game.

Best Resource of the Month 🥽

What are the biggest tech questions of 2022? There are a lot of tech unknowns for the year 2022. A serious once in a generation advance of human civilization or a lot of hype?

Here is an excellent article outlining some of the biggest questions in the tech space that will hopefully be answered in 2022. Some of them could turn into a trillion dollar market, others will end up on the pile of junk that everyone forgets about in 2 years.

What do you think?

Trick of the Month 🎩

• Are you on Windows? Burn your apps in style....

• Are you on Mac? Here is a new Mac only code editor: Nova

• Add animations to your website the easy way.

• Make command line glamorous again!

See you next month everyone... also share this with your friends pretty please!

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 couple of my courses below or see all ZTM courses here.