When you start a bigger software project it’s very beneficial (and necessary) to make a mind map first! It helps planning, organizing, and executing the project. Here are 6 advantages of mind mapping: Here is an example of one we did for our coding platform: CodeChalleng.es: Mind mapping your idea helps foster a well-structured, organized,… Continue reading The power of mind mapping: why to start your project with one and how
Articles on Concepts
Feel Comfortable with Git?
By Jeffrey Haemer on 27 February 2023
Folks come to me to ask for help with Git. Sometimes they can’t guess what git subcommand they need. (Git 2.37 has 169.) Sometimes they know what subcommand they want, but don’t know what flags to use. (git log now has 149 flags and options.) Sometimes they issued a command, and Git didn’t do what… Continue reading Feel Comfortable with Git?
Reflections on the Zen of Python
By Bob Belderbos on 21 December 2022
An initial version of this article appeared as a Pybites email first. If you like it join our friends list to get our valuable Python, developer and mindset content first … How following the Zen of Python will make your code better, a lot better. This epic set of axioms (triggered by typing import this in the… Continue reading Reflections on the Zen of Python
A Case Study in Refactoring Python: Clean Code Is Often Faster
By Russell Helmstedter on 20 July 2022
I have learned a lot over the past 2.5 years of my Python journey. What started out as a hobby during COVID-19 lock downs in 2020, has now become a major component of my professional workload. This article is designed to highlight the importance of the iterative process: write some code -> learn new stuff… Continue reading A Case Study in Refactoring Python: Clean Code Is Often Faster
Case study: How to parse nested JSON
By Michael Aydinbas on 3 June 2022
I was asked to help parse a JSON file that is delivered by the iTunes Store Customer Reviews API JSON endpoint. It is not so important how this API works or if there are better APIs for this. Instead, let’s assume that we found our favorite API to work with and that our request makes… Continue reading Case study: How to parse nested JSON
Code Better with Type Hints – Part 3
By Michael Aydinbas on 8 April 2022
This is the third part of a series of articles dealing with the type annotation system in Python, type hints for short. The second part discussed a set of beginner examples and highlighted the benefits of using type hints. This article series is aimed at newcomers to type hints and wants to help you get… Continue reading Code Better with Type Hints – Part 3
Code Better with Type Hints – Part 2
By Michael Aydinbas on 27 August 2021
This is the second part of a series of articles dealing with the type annotation system in Python, type hints for short. The first part gave an introduction to type hints. This article is aimed at newcomers to type hints and wants to help you get started. In this second part, I will go over… Continue reading Code Better with Type Hints – Part 2
Code Better with Type Hints – Part 1
By Michael Aydinbas on 12 August 2021
This is the first part of a series of articles dealing with the type annotation system in Python, type hints for short. With this opinionated article, I advocate the use of type hints. I want to explain why you should care and why your code will be better, more bug-free, more accessible, and easier to… Continue reading Code Better with Type Hints – Part 1
5 Helpful Python Decorator Use Cases
By Bob Belderbos on 3 August 2021
Some time ago I asked on Twitter: I was curious what you use #Python decorators for? And I got quite an amazing / insightful response: The obvious next step for me was to look at some examples / use cases. So below are 5 useful applications of decorators. Study them, then apply similar things to… Continue reading 5 Helpful Python Decorator Use Cases
Naughts and Crosses Gets a Little Help
By Geoff Riley on 12 March 2021
Naughts and Crosses (Tic-Tac-Toe to some audiences) is a popular skill game often played by children. It can also be usefully employed to distract dial up computers, at NORAD for example, rather than allowing the ‘playing’ of Global Thermonuclear War. Would you like to play a game?