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#85: Visually debugging your Jupyter notebook

Published Tue, Jul 3, 2018, recorded Wed, Jul 4, 2018

Sponsored by DigitalOcean: pythonbytes.fm/digitalocean

Brian #1: the state of type hints in Python

  • “Therefore, type hints should be used whenever unit test are worth writing.”
  • Type hints, especially for function arguments and return values, help make your code easier to read, and therefore, easier to maintain.
  • This includes refactoring, allowing IDEs to help with code completion, and allow linters to find problems.
  • For CPython
    • No runtime type inference happens.
    • No performance tuning allowed.
    • Of course, third party packages are not forbidden to do so.
  • Non-comment type annotations are available for functions in 3.0+
  • Variable annotations for 3.6+
  • In 3.7, you can postpone evaluation of annotations with: from __future__ import annotations
  • Interface stub files .pyi files, are allowed now, but this is extra work and code to maintain.
    • typeshed has types for standard library plus many popular libraries.
  • How do deal with multiple types, duck typing, and more discussed.
  • A discussion of type generation and checking tools available now, including mypy
  • See also: Stanford Seminar - Optional Static Typing for Python - Talk by Guido van Rossum
    • Interesting discussion that starts with a bit of history of where mypy came from.

Michael #2: Django MongoDB connector

  • Via Robin on Twitter
  • Use MongoDB as the backend for your Django project, without changing the Django ORM.
  • Use Django Admin to access MongoDB
  • Use Django with MongoDB data fields: Use MongoDB embedded documents and embedded arrays in Django Models.
  • Connect 3rd party apps with MongoDB: Apps like Django Rest Framework and Viewflow app that use Django Models integrate easily with MongoDB.
  • Requirements:
    • Python 3.6 or higher.
    • MongoDB 3.4 or higher.
  • Example
    inner_qs = Blog.objects.filter(name__contains='Ch').values('name')
    entries = Entry.objects.filter(blog__name__in=inner_qs)
    

Brian #3*: Python Idioms: Multiline Strings*

  • or “How I use dedent”
  • Example:
    def create_snippet():
        code_snippet = textwrap.dedent("""\
            int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
                return 0;
            }
        """)
        do_something(code_snippet)

Michael #4: Flaskerizer

  • A program that automatically creates Flask apps from Bootstrap templates
  • Bootstrap templates from websites like https://Bootstrapmade.com/ and https://startBootstrap.com are a fast way to get very dynamic website up and running
  • Bootstap templates typically don't work "out of the box" with the python web framework Flask and require some tedious directory building and broken link fixing before being functional with Flask.
  • The Flaskerizer automates the necessary directory building and link creation needed to make Bootstrap templates work "out of the box" with Flask.
  • Queue black turtleneck!

Brian #*5: Learn Python the Methodical Way

  • From the article:
    • Make your way through a tutorial/chapter that teaches you some discrete, four-to-six-step skill.
    • Write down those steps as succinctly and generically as possible.
    • Put the tutorial/chapter and its solutions away.
    • Build your project from scratch, peeking only when you’re stuck.
    • Erase what you built.
    • Do the project again.
    • Drink some water.
    • Erase what you built and do it again.
    • A day or two later, delete your work and do it again – this time without peeking even once.
    • Erase your work and do it again.
  • The notion of treating code like you treat creative writing with rough drafts and sometimes complete do-overs is super liberating.
  • You’ll be surprised how fast you can do something the second time, the third time, the fourth time. And it’s very gratifying.

Michael #6: PixieDebugger

  • The Visual Python Debugger for Jupyter Notebooks You’ve Always Wanted
  • Jupyter already supports pdb for simple debugging, where you can manually and sequentially enter commands to do things like inspect variables, set breakpoints, etc.
  • Check out the video to get a good idea of its usage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-tPeEkVqjk

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