#218: Keyboards for developers, Python, and some history

Sponsored by Datadog: pythonbytes.fm/datadog

Special guest: Jeremy Tanner

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Brian #1: Constant Folding in Python

• Arpit Bhayani
• Constant Folding is when a language replaces constant expressions at compile time rather than computing them at runtime.
• CPython does this while creating the bytecode.
• We can use dis to see it in action

      >>> import dis
      >>> dis.dis("day_sec = 24 * 60 * 60")
        1           0 LOAD_CONST               0 (86400)
                    2 STORE_NAME               0 (day_sec)
                    4 LOAD_CONST               1 (None)
                    6 RETURN_VALUE
  

• Python tries to fold lots of constants, but not all.
• Seems to be based on size

      >>> x = 2 ** 64 # folded
      >>> x = 4 ** 64 # not folded
      >>> a = "-" * 4096 # folded
      >>> a = "-" * 4097 # not folded
  

• Discussion continues with a discussion of how CPython folding is implemented recursively and elegantly.
• Key takeaway for me:
  • Remember to not try to pre-compute constants while coding.
  • Make them easy to read and Python will handle the optimization for you.

Michael #2: Update All Packages With pip-review

• via PyCoders
• Updating Python packages can be a hassle.
• There are many of them - it's hard to keep track of all the newest versions
• When you decide what to update, you still have to update each of them manually.
• Originally a part of the pip-tools package, it now lives on as a standalone convenience wrapper around pip.
• Usage

      (venv) $ pip install pip-review
  
      (venv)$ pip-review
      scikit-learn==0.23.2 is available (you have 0.23.1)
      scipy==1.5.4 is available (you have 1.4.1)
      seaborn==0.11.0 is available (you have 0.10.1)
      ...
  

• Once you've identified if you'd like to update your packages, you can update them all, automatically, using pip-review --auto
  • Limit with constraints.txt file
• Can do it interactively via pip-review --interactive

Jeremy #3: Quantum Mechanical Keyboard Firmware

• How does the Python get into your computer? Much of it, through the keyboard
• Why mechanical keyboards?
  • Ergonomics
  • Where is QWERTY from?
  • And when?
  • Keymaps
  • and because it’s essentially an escape room built of hardware and open source software and dodgy international transactions
• I’ve fallen further down the mechanical keyboard rabbit hole
  • RGBKB Sol
  • Keyboardio Atreus
• Keyboard firmware is mostly written in c
  • https://github.com/qmk
• But there are Python portions
  • https://github.com/qmk/qmk_cli
  • Compiler helper
  • API
  • Reporting
• So the CLI is Python, where else is Python?
  • When looking to improve your keymap, key logging w/ Python to process logs for heatmaps
    • https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/issues/714
    • https://github.com/algernon/ergodox-layout/blob/master/tools/log-to-heatmap.py

Brian #4: Reinventing the Python Logo

• Carlo Occhiena interview with Jessica Williamson
• Some cool logo history

• Early logo

• Current, from 2006, designed by Tim Parklin

• “The logo is actually based on mayan representations of snakes which very often represent only the head and perhaps a short length of tail. The structure of the snake representations the natural coiling/nesting of a snake as seen side on.” - Tim Parklin

• Jessica Williamson proposed a new one in 2020:

• Then there’s the rest of the article talking about the design process, etc.

• But….. just wanted to throw this out there. I’m happy with the 2006 version. - Brian
• MK: Have you ever seen the logos on the app stores?

Michael #5: Private PyPI with Serverless Computing

• Project: aws-lambda-pypi
• Brings together a few pieces so you can easily run a small PyPICloud instance as an AWS Lambda function with the help of Terraform.
• PyPICloud lets you publish Python packages privately.
• AWS Lambda lets you run a small service for free.
• Terraform ensures the service is deployed and maintained correctly.
• Security: This project takes the following security precautions.
• The session keys are auto-generated and stored in a secret.
• The server configuration file, which contains the session keys, is generated on the fly to minimize the possibility of exposure.
• The lambda function runs with a role limited to accessing only what it needs.
• PyPICloud is configured to display no packages to unauthenticated users.

Jeremy #6: Beyond the Basic Stuff w/Python

• Al Sweigart
• Want to become less feral?

Extras:

Jeremy:

• Twttier Haiku bot: @hitch_haiku

Michael:

• Django 3.2 alpha 1 released
• mypy 0.800 with Python 3.9 Support
• pip 21.0 out and it drops Python 2
• Elastic changes open-source license to monetize cloud-service use

Brian:

• We talked about pip-chill in episode 208
  • pip-chill now has a --no-chill option to not list itself. Nice.
• I was just on https://www.twitch.tv/microsoftdeveloper, short, but fun

Joke

• via Wolf

• by Kat Maddox

• developer: so i have good news and bad news

• manager: what's the good news?
• developer: i've discovered that the "5 second rule" only applies to food
• manager: and the bad news?
• developer: i dropped our tables