PyCon US 2013 is coming up in March. It is in beautiful Santa Clara, right outside of Palo Alto / San Francisco. The main conference is sold out, but there are still a few spots open for the tutorial sessions. (Here’s a secret: the tutorials are where I’ve always learned the most at PyCon.) Most … Continue reading Solidify your Python web skills in two days at PyCon US 2013
Wanna build a web app fast? Know a little bit about programming but want to build a modern web app using well-supported, well-documented, and universally accessible languages? You’ll love these Python, HTML/CSS, and JavaScript resources. I’ve been sharing these documents with friends who ask me, “I want to start programming and build a web app, … Continue reading Build a web app fast: Python, HTML & JavaScript resources
It’s hard to find me gushing more unapologetically than when I talk about the virtues of my favorite programming language, Python. Indeed, my life for the last 3 years has been dominated by the language. In many ways, pursuing a startup and enduring the associated financial hardship was partially because I had become frustrated with … Continue reading import this: learning the Zen of Python with code and slides
I’ve been quite busy with work lately, so haven’t had time to send a few posts toward my blog. However, I have been working on some spare time and work-related projects that I’d love to share with everyone here. Among them: Lifehacking through standing desks. I have created a standing desk setup for my home … Continue reading Upcoming: standing desk setup, Python training, Groovy/JavaScript articles
Python Training Course public materials. Here is how you use the web-based presentation: C key opens up a bottom-right hand “control panel”, where you can skip ahead a slide or back, and use the pull-down to jump ahead multiple slides quickly. When in the control panel, the O button will switch to Outline/Handout mode, where … Continue reading Python Training
I was a bona fide Java programmer for 5 years before I started working on Aleph Point and Parse.ly. I truly believe that Python and JavaScript are fundamentally better languages than Java for a variety of reasons born out of experience with each of them. (Note: Before this gets marked as flamebait, please notice that … Continue reading Groovy, the Python of Java
Pythonic isn’t just idiomatic Python — it’s tasteful Python. It’s less an objective property of code, more a compliment bestowed onto especially nice Python code. The reason Pythonistas have their own word for this is because Python is a language that encourages good taste; Python programmers with poor taste tend to write un-Pythonic code. This … Continue reading Pythonic means idiomatic and tasteful
PIDA 0.2.2 was released recently. This is truly a novel development in the Python/OSS world. What PIDA provides is a nice plugin system and the “makings” of an IDE. So, in a nice IDE you have a class browser, an integrated debugger, a profiler, maybe even a RAD-like GUI builder, an interpreter console, etc. The … Continue reading PIDA: Python Integrated Development Application
When I turned 27, I wrote the following in my birthday post: I don’t need stuff. I just need time. Of course, that’s the bittersweet part of one’s birthday. That even as you come to realize the importance of time, the day acts as a reminder of how our time on this earth is limited. … Continue reading Turning n/2 + 1
In 2009, I quit my first programming job after college to work on a startup. That startup eventually became Parse.ly. I’ve written about Parse.ly’s startup beginnings and evolution elsewhere on this blog, including: “The Startup Diet” “What One Does” “Startups: Not for the faint of heart” “Why Startups Die” “Shipping the Second System” It is … Continue reading Parse.ly, Automattic: the long view