Learning To Program By Building Tiny Python Projects

Summary One of the best methods for learning programming is to just build a project and see how things work first-hand. With that in mind, Ken Youens-Clark wrote a whole book of Tiny Python Projects that you can use to get started on your journey. In this episode he shares his inspiration for the book, his thoughts on the benefits of teaching testing principles and the use of linting and formatting tools, as well as the benefits of trying variations on a working program to see how it behaves. This was a great conversation about useful strategies for supporting new programmers in their efforts to learn a valuable skill. Announcements Hello and welcome to Podcast.__init__, the podcast about Python and the people who make it great. When you’re ready to launch your next app or want to try a project you hear about on the show, you’ll need somewhere to deploy it, so take a look at our friends over at Linode. With the launch of their managed Kubernetes platform it’s easy to get started with the next generation of deployment and scaling, powered by the battle tested Linode platform, including simple pricing, node balancers, 40Gbit networking, dedicated CPU and GPU instances, and worldwide data centers. Go to pythonpodcast.com/linode and get a $60 credit to try out a Kubernetes cluster of your own. And don’t forget to thank them for their continued support of this show! This portion of Python Podcast is brought to you by Datadog. Do you have an app in production that is slower than you like? Is its performance all over the place (sometimes fast, sometimes slow)? Do you know why? With Datadog, you will. You can troubleshoot your app’s performance with Datadog’s end-to-end tracing and in one click correlate those Python traces with related logs and metrics. Use their detailed flame graphs to identify bottlenecks and latency in that app of yours. Start tracking the performance of your apps with a free trial at datadog.com/pythonpodcast. If you sign up for a trial and install the agent, Datadog will send you a free t-shirt. You listen to this show to learn and stay up to date with the ways that Python is being used, including the latest in machine learning and data analysis. For more opportunities to stay up to date, gain new skills, and learn from your peers there are a growing number of virtual events that you can attend from the comfort and safety of your home. Go to pythonpodcast.com/conferences to check out the upcoming events being offered by our partners and get registered today! Your host as usual is Tobias Macey and today I’m interviewing Ken Youens-Clark about his book Tiny Python Projects Interview Introductions How did you get introduced to Python? What is your goal with your book of Tiny Python Projects? What motivated you to start writing it? Who is the target audience that you wrote the book for? One of the notable aspects of the book is the fact that you introduce linting and testing in the first chapter. Why is that a useful subject for the first steps of someone getting started in Python? What are some of the problems that users experience if they are introduced to these tools after they have already established a set of habits? How did you approach the structure of the book to be approachable by newcomers to Python? What was your process for deciding on the scope of the information to include in the book? What are some of the challenges that you faced in identifying self-contained projects that could fit into a single chapter? As a book that is intended to serve as a learning resource, what was your process for soliciting feedback to determine if your tone and structure is effective in teaching the reader? What elements of the Python language and ecosystem did you consciously leave out to avoid overwhelming the readers? What are some of the most interesting, unexpected, or challenging lessons that you learned while working on the book? What are your thoughts on useful resources and next steps for readers who are interested in progressing in their use of Python? Keep In Touch kyclark on GitHub Website @kycl4rk on Twitter Picks Tobias Marvel Cinematic Universe Ken Parks & Recreation TV Show Closing Announcements Thank you for listening! Don’t forget to check out our other show, the Data Engineering Podcast for the latest on modern data management. Visit the site to subscribe to the show, sign up for the mailing list, and read the show notes. If you’ve learned something or tried out a project from the show then tell us about it! Email hosts@podcastinit.com) with your story. To help other people find the show please leave a review on iTunes and tell your friends and co-workers Join the community in the new Zulip chat workspace at pythonpodcast.com/chat Links Tiny Python Projects University of Arizona BioInformatics Perl BioPython Podcast Episode Seq Podcast Episode Pytest Podcast Episode Windows Subsystem for Linux Pylint Podcast Episode YAPF Black Python Formatter Mad Libs Boolean Algebra Object Oriented Programming Delphi OmniGraffle Kent Beck Test Driven Development Clojure Regular Expression The intro and outro music is from Requiem for a Fish The Freak Fandango Orchestra / CC BY-SA