What's New in the 3rd Edition of "Automate the Boring Stuff with Python"
Thu 09 November 2023 Al Sweigart
Here are all the new additions and updates in the third edition.
Using ChatGPT-4 to Review My Recursion Programming Book
Thu 15 June 2023 Al Sweigart
My 2022 book, The Recursive Book of Recursion (read online for free, buy direct from the publisher) covers recursive algorithms, a notoriously tricky subject for programmers and computer science students. I feel like I did a good job writing it (and my editors at No Starch Press did an incredible job editing it), but I wondered how well Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT could understand it. I ran the entire book through to see what mistakes or changes ChatGPT would make. The results were disappointing in some places but pleasantly surprising in others, so I wrote this blog post about the role AI could play in editing technical books.
Book Review: Python Distilled
Tue 28 March 2023 Al Sweigart
5 stars. Python Distilled has a perfectly suited title: This book is for experienced programmers who want to learn Python and need the Python programming language's core syntax, standard library, and Pythonic idioms. However, if you're a developer who wants to add Python to your toolbox, I recommend Python Distilled as one of the first books you should read.
Book Review: Python in a Nutshell
Tue 28 March 2023 Al Sweigart
5 stars. Python in a Nutshell is an excellent book for professional developers who have some experience with Python but want to take the leap to being a senior Python developer, Python in a Nutshell is required reading.
How to Install Pygame on Windows, macOS, and Linux
Fri 27 January 2023 Al Sweigart
Installing Pygame on your computer is fairly straightforward, but there are a few potential bumps to be aware of.
How to Run Pip From The Python Interactive Shell with pipfromrepl
Sun 20 November 2022 Al Sweigart
If you are an instructor leading a Python programming workshop, getting third-party PyPI packages installed on students' machines with pip has several hurdles: navigating the command-line, operating system differences, distinguishing between pip and pip3, dealing with multiple versions of Python, misconfigured PATH environment variables, and virtual environments are all possible pitfalls.
You can avoid all of this and save time by using pipfromrepl, which allows you to install PyPI packages from the interactive shell. These same steps work no matter what the computer's Python setup is.
Python Linter Comparison 2022: Pylint vs Pyflakes vs Flake8 vs autopep8 vs Bandit vs Prospector vs Pylama vs Pyroma vs Black vs Mypy vs Radon vs mccabe
Sat 19 November 2022 Al Sweigart
As you can tell from the lengthy title, there are many linting tools for Python. Some of them have near-identical names as each other. In November 2022, I upgraded my text editor to Sublime Text 4 and then took the opportunity to spend a few hours reviewing all of the Python linters I could find. After personally reviewing all of them, I've selected the following as must-haves: Pyflakes, Mypy, and Black. If you'd like additional tools, I also liked: Radon, Pyroma, and docformatter. I'm using Python 3.12.0. I don't care for my linter to point out when I stray from the certain dictates in the PEP 8 document, and my linter choices reflect that. You might have different needs and values than I, so in this blog post I give my reasoning and views for each linter.
I Want To Help Everyone And I Will Fail
Tue 15 November 2022 Al Sweigart
I like to program computers. An army of a million file clerks wouldn't be as productive as my laptop running the right code. And my house only has one bathroom so the line would be quite long too...
Installing Brython to Get Python in Your Browser
Mon 31 October 2022 Al Sweigart
JavaScript is not the only programming language you can run in the browser. Brython is a Python interpreter implemented in JavaScript so you can run Python code in your browser. This lets you have a Python interactive shell without having to install Python. You can also write Python code to interact with the DOM and create browser apps just like you could with JavaScript. The primary downside is that a browser must download about 6 megabytes of JavaScript files before it can run, which can be a significant delay. This blog post guides you through setting up Brython.
17 Online Python IDEs and Interactive Shells/REPLs
Sun 30 October 2022 Al Sweigart
Installing Python is easy, but maybe you're on a smartphone/tablet, are on a library computer that doesn't let you install software, or can't install Python for some other reason. This article has a list of 10 free Python interpreters and interactive shells (also called REPLs) that you can access from a web browser.
How Computers Store Data with Binary Numbers
Sat 29 October 2022 Al Sweigart
Programming and hacking in movies often involves streams of ones and zeros flowing across the screen. This looks mysterious and impressive, but what do these ones and zeros actually mean? You're probably aware that binary numbers (numbers written using only the two digits, zero and one) have something to do with computers but don't know why.
Is Python Compiled or Interpreted?
Mon 10 October 2022 Al Sweigart
The short answer is: Python is interpreted. But it can also be considered compiled, both compiled and interpreted, and neither compiled nor interpreted. Read on to untangle these definitions.
How to Run Pip From The Python Interactive Shell
Thu 25 August 2022 Al Sweigart
Installing Python modules with the pip tool is surprisingly hard to describe to beginners learning to code. There are several potential issues: multiple Python installations, virtual environments, PATH environment variable settings. You have to introduce command-line terminals and file system navigation, and the differences between Windows and Mac/Linux. However, there is a line of code you can run from the interactive shell to handle all this for you.
Introducing Humre: Human-Readable Regular Expressions
Tue 23 August 2022 Al Sweigart
Regular expressions (aka regexes) are a mini-language to specify a pattern of text to look for. However, regex syntax is composed of various punctuation marks that can be hard to remember. Humre is a Python module that gives a more human-readable syntax that works better with code editing tools. You can install Humre just like any other Python module with pip install humre and the full documentation is available in the git repo's README file.
Which Al Sweigart Python Books Should I Start Reading?
Mon 22 August 2022 Al Sweigart
I've been writing programming books for beginners since 2009. All of them are free to read online at InventWithPython.com Many people email me asking which of my books they should read, so I wrote this guide to help beginners get started with my free learning materials.
New Book: The Recursive Book of Recursion by Al Sweigart
Tue 09 August 2022 Al Sweigart
My new programming book, the Recursive Book of Recursion, is released in August 2022. The book covers several classic recursive algorithms and breaks down recursion's fearsome reputation as a programming technique. The book has the code for its numerous programs in both Python and JavaScript. When you buy it direct from the publisher, No Starch Press, you'll receive a DRM-free ebook copy with your print book order.
How Many Recursive Cases and Base Cases Does a Recursive Function Need?
Sun 20 March 2022 Al Sweigart
Let's look at a simple example of a recursive function to see what it needs at minimum.
Bootstrap 5 Boilerplate Code for New Web Pages
Fri 11 March 2022 Al Sweigart
Here's the boilerplate that you can copy and paste when creating a new web page with Bootstrap 5.
Make Fractals in Python Turtle with the FractalArtMaker Module
Wed 09 March 2022 Al Sweigart
FractalArtMaker is a module for creating fractal art in Python's turtle module. You can install the module by running pip3 install FractalArtMaker
How to Use Python 3.11's New TOML Parser, tomllib
Wed 23 February 2022 Al Sweigart
Python 3.11 will include a TOML parsing module called tomllib. Let's learn what TOML files are (they're similar to JSON), how they're useful for configuration files, and how you can write Python code to read them.