We've probably all seen it, and probably all done it: throwing asterisks at new learners: https://nedbatchelder.com/blog/202609/expert_asterisks
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Ned Batchelder
@nedbat@hachyderm.io
mastodon 4.7.3Python, software, coverage.py, typography, juggling, Boston, autism (dad). Laughing at the world doesn't mean I don't take it seriously. He/him.
4074 Followers
161 Following
50 Posts
Joined November 16, 2022
In the #Python Discord, someone was trying to understand how Python code is executed without ever being turned into native CPU instructions. So I wrote a full implementation of a tiny programming language: compiled to bytecodes that get interpreted. 300 lines of Python.
https://nedbatchelder.com/blog/202608/micro_language_implementation_calcium
My lightning talk from #PyConUs 2026: Silence is Golden (or, Pac-Man Time-Space duality)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA3O7UxuZO4&t=872s
(It's only 3m20s long)
Simple #Python advice: "I only need one" isn't a reason to avoid a class. "I'll only call it once" isn't a reason to avoid a function.
Virtual environments in #python should have been called project environments.
Today might be a day to trot out a paraphrase of Charles Schultz:
I love community, it's people I can't stand.
A toy BASIC interpreter, written in #python:
https://nedbatchelder.com/blog/202607/acidica
Why would someone bother to clone coverage․py just to remove the message about Ukraine? Is this repo being published or used anywhere?
https://github.com/Medved2k/coveragepy_no_slogan
4 commits ahead (https://github.com/coveragepy/coveragepy/compare/main...Medved2k:coveragepy_no_slogan:main), 141 commits behind.
More amazingness: this font renders bracketed text as working QR codes: https://qr.jim.sh/
A great thing about Special Olympics: they have a word for my son and others with disabilities like him: "Athlete".
Something I've never seen before: an fi ligature hyphenated into an oddly wide f and a dotless i:
#typography (This is in Firefox using CSS hyphenation settings.)
Because someone in the #Python Discord was asking about structuring tests alongside their project code, I added a bit of test structure to my pkgsample explainer: https://github.com/nedbat/pkgsample
My main use of LinkedIn is the games. https://www.linkedin.com/games (You can play them without seeing the rest of LinkedIn!)
But I don't understand the stats at the end of Pinpoint. What does this mean?
Python packages should explicitly declare their version support with PyPI classifiers. https://pyreadiness.org/3.13/ lists 90 packages that don't declare support for 3.13, when many of those packages do support it.
It's not hard to do, and it helps people understand what they can count on.
Some people have a hard time focusing on the technical content of a project: https://github.com/coveragepy/coveragepy/issues/2169:
"Remove politically related text from README.md to improve enterprise adoption"
"The background radiation of the internet"
https://arman-bd.hashnode.dev/i-left-port-22-open-on-the-internet-for-54-days-here-s-who-showed-up
This probably explains why @codecov cancelled their (tiny) GitHub sponsorship of coverage․py today...
Replying to
@glyph@mastodon.social I understand the anti-AI mindset. I think it would be a more convincing argument if you identify actual problems in the product resulting from AI use. Calling Python poisoned slop because contributors have been using AI isn't going to change anyone's mind pro or con about AI. Finding problems might sway pro-AI users.
To prompt LLMs successfully it seems you need redundant details, escalating emphasis and other forms of repetition. This goes against the well-know DRY principle (Don't Repeat Yourself).
So instead remember CLAMMY: Claude Loses All Memory Mid-Yap.
Who is bringing juggling props to #PyCon? (Other than me)
It is very impressive to see how forms can be drastically altered to fit a (very extreme) design aesthetic, and still be legible to readers of the language.
Judging from questions by new learners, a big thing they need to learn is the real world is not like school: https://nedbatchelder.com/blog/202604/school_is_artificial
So many of these reasons are why I keep a website. (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 12, 14, 15, 16, 25, 27, 28, 29, etc)
https://bellkiosk.website/blog/reasons-to-website.html
Serious risk: I will talk about #Boston history well above most peoples' tolerance.
https://nedbatchelder.com/blog/202606/franklins_parents_grave
Replying to
@codinghorror@infosec.exchange I agree with your concerns about Anthropic, but I'm not sure why you single them out:
https://www.reddit.com/r/agi/comments/1cqsu4j/the_cult_vibe_of_sam_altman_explained_by_sam/
Sam Altman shared this quote:
"successful people create companies. more successful people create countries. the most successful people create religions."
When thinking about #Python lists vs tuples: lists can be varying lengths and the elements will be treated the same. Tuples are namedtuples without the names.
https://nedbatchelder.com/blog/201608/lists_vs_tuples
Today's (well, all week's) UI frustration: why doesn't What's App stay scrolled to the bottom of a chat? And focus the input box! What else would I want to do 99% of the time!?
Replying to
@freakboy3742@cloudisland.nz ugh, so much this. Every new tool for making slides tries for "pretty" slides which often have too-small text in a too-empty field.
Replying to
@robinhouston@mathstodon.xyz @henryseg@mathstodon.xyz Even less obvious: a dodecahedron and icosahedron both have 30 edges. Duality has consequences!
Replying to
@tael@yiff.life That seems likely. Some people/companies/countries are quite fragile. Poor snowflakes.
Replying to
@kaleissin@wandering.shop Two people have asked this, I'm not sure if it's a serious question. It's about the Ukraine banner.
Replying to
@MissConstrue@mefi.social @mttaggart@infosec.exchange I never said it was conscious. I said it is good at language-based tasks.
Replying to
@MissConstrue@mefi.social @mttaggart@infosec.exchange I think it's hard to interact with an LLM and honestly say that it's not good at language. Don't let your understanding of the mechanism pre-dispose you to what it is good at. The whole point of the linked article is that it is good enough at language to fall prey to the same social engineering attacks as people.
Replying to
@letterror@typo.social @drawBot@typo.social yes, and the style of programming languages at the time was also similar.
Replying to
@letterror@typo.social @drawBot@typo.social Looking through it again, I don't see it specifically, but it definitely had the same feeling.
Replying to
@letterror@typo.social @drawBot@typo.social I remember seeing output from Artspeak in https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Art-Jasia-Reichardt/dp/0289795508 I was endlessly fascinated by that book!
Replying to
@stilgherrian I heard Bryan Cranston quote Stanislavski: "Love art in yourself, not yourself in art." No one calling themselves a thought leader understands this quote.
Replying to
@mttaggart@infosec.exchange Basically, LLMs are good enough at language that social engineering works against them.
Replying to
@pfmoore@mastodon.social tell me more, and why those things are better described by "virtual" than they are by "project".