Python Monthly Newsletter 💻🐍

24th 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 November 2021 as a Python Developer…

So I Broke My Computer 🏚

This newsletter is one week behind the regular release schedule for you... don't be mad at me though... my laptop decided to stop turning on last week. I also happened to be in a very remote location on a little vacation. Long story short, I had to order a new laptop, re-install and set up everything, and I'm finally back in the country to bring you this newsletter. Let me know if anybody wants a really expensive 1.5 year old Mac Book Pro which is now an excellent paperweight or frisbee.

Is Python Improving? ⚙️

According to this user, it is improving quite a lot: Python 3.10 is ~10% faster than Python 3.9 Python 3.11 (alpha!) is then ~15% faster than Python 3.10.

See the breakdown here.

Are You A Junior Python Programmer? 🚫

A great discussion around tell signs of a junior or inexperienced Python developer. Learn from this discussion so you don't make the same mistakes: Really enjoyed this one.

Weekend Project Idea 🎏

Ok, this is a bit of a joke because there is no way you have all the time in the world to do what this person did. However, this should inspire you to build something amazing this weekend with Python.

VSCode vs Fleet ☠️

Watch out VS Code... JetBrains just came out with Fleet. A new code editor... see if you can get early access to try it out. This could be a game changer and might one day make me decide to finally switch from my beloved Sublime Text.

Question of the Month 🔮

Does NumPy array really take less memory than python list? Check out the answer here.

Python Lists 📑

This post is largely about the arrays — the #1 data structure in the world. If you are not a data structure guru yet, you will better understand Python lists, their advantages and limitations. If you already know everything — there is no harm in refreshing the key points.

Should You Use Python? 🕵🏻‍♂️

Have you ever been told that Python couldn't be used for a project because it wouldn't be fast enough? We all have. But aren't big banks, YouTube, Instagram, and plenty of other places that are performance-sensitive still managing to select Python and be happy? So what's the truth?

Bad PyPI 🚦

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered as many as 11 malicious Python packages that have been cumulatively downloaded more than 41,000 times from the Python Package Index (PyPI) repository, and could be exploited to steal Discord access tokens, passwords, and even stage dependency confusion attacks. Read the full story here.

Want To Be An Executive? 🧑‍💼

The Python Software Foundation is searching for its next Executive Director. Anybody can apply. "We’re looking for a leader who aligns with the PSF’s mission and is able to lead an established, successful and growing organization into its next stage.". Good luck!

Parallel Computing in Python 🚀

Did you know you can use Dask to do parallel computing in Python? Here is an excellent discussion around the topic on why it's a good AND bad thing.

News Around the World 🗺

• Portugal bans bosses texting staff after-hours.

Big Tech News 🏢

• Microsoft is bringing two strong forces together. At its Ignite conference, Microsoft announced an update to Excel that brings a new JavaScript API to the spreadsheet app. With this new API, developers will be able to create custom data types and functions based on them.

• Youtube is removing the Dislike button so that we can be less angry online. Thoughts?

• Jack has left twitter to work full time on his other company: Square, which is now renamed to Block.

• UK and the US were on a hot streak:

• They paused the Nvidia/ARM takeover, and this week the US FTC says it will sue to stop the deal.
• They ordered FB to sell Giphy. Facebook announced its $315m acquisition of Giphy in May 2020; the UK CMA proposed this summer that Facebook be obliged to sell it, and this week that decision was confirmed.

Completely useless to your career but still great 🙃

• How to grow cool crystals at home.

• This person had way too much time on his/her hands.

Best Resource of the Month 🥽

Banking and Python. What do the two have in common? Apparently a lot. This article made the rounds last month talking about the impact of Python on the banking industry. It's the secret world of Bank Python.

Trick of the Month 🎩

• Make your README profile look cool with some custom components

• Super cool git tool to do cool git things.

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.