_Fluent Python_ book club

Data Management
#1

Mondays noon PST starting Monday Dec 7th. Go here: https://www.eventolist.com/e/C7J6AL0K6L40X33LASUE and click on “Download All” to add the schedule to your calendar (*.ics) - BlueJeans URL location is on the event.

So

  1. I am tired of vomiting at my own Python code
  2. I keep getting hit on the head with Fluent Python and it’s a bit heavy

I’m thinking I could maybe solve both problems if I actually read the book. And like everything else, I think pain should scale!

Is anyone interested in working through this with me book-club style? Bonus if you are a python3ista and can answer all my newb questions. Fluent Python is not a beginner’s book, it is focused on cultivating a pythonic style and largely assumes Python 3.

The kind of thing I am thinking of (open to suggestions)

  • One chapter a week (there’s 20+ of them so this is a commitment)
  • Telecon one lunchtime per week (12-1 PST, day TBD)
  • Rotating discussion leader that summarises chapter for 10-15 minutes
  • People bring out their questions, discuss example code etc. for another 30 min.

Add your name to the list below (use the green wiki edit button at the top of the post) if you think you might be interested. If there’s enough non-Tucson interest I’ll set up a doodle point to pick the day.

To anticipate “why aren’t you posting this in the open area” questions: In the unlikely event that there’s overwhelming interest, I’d like to get this organised by having a lead at each DM physical site and they can decide whether to open up to non-DM locals depending what size of group or cultural mix they feel would be effective.

BTW the book is available in dead tree and e-book from the usual purveyors.

Participants

(site leaders in bold - contact your site leader for logistic details)

  • frossie (Tucson meets in room M-6)
  • jsick
  • timj
  • jmatt
  • dnidever
  • KSK (UW)
  • ctslater
  • reiss
  • rowen
  • isullivan
  • jdswinbank (Princeton)
  • jbosch
  • laurenam
  • nlust
  • pmelchior
  • rearmstr
  • hsinfang (Illinois)
  • npease (SLAC)
  • gpdf (IPAC)
  • vish
  • mgckind (NCSA)
  • merlin
  • mwv

Add your name by editing this wiki post!

8 Likes
#2

I’m in. I think @ctslater @reiss @rowen and @isullivan will likely be in too. I haven’t talked to @parejkoj or @yusra but I suspect they’d be interested too.

By the way, I couldn’t get your link to work, so here is a working link.

#3

Apparently “posts must be at least 20 characters”, so I can’t just say “me too”. But: me too!

#4

Discourse really doesn’t want me too posts. It will try to tell you that you are supposed to use the like button instead :smile:

#5

Isn’t your link the same as @frossie’s link? Both work for me.

#6

I fixed Frossie’s. (And I understand the point, but I’m not sure that a “like” would unambiguously register as a “potentially interested” rather than just a “good idea” or a “yes, other people should do this” or a “ooh, shiny buttons to click”!).

1 Like
#7

So I can’t figure out how I could tell who somebody “Liked” a post. If I could, I would have said "like if you’re interested " but I need to know who to figure out what sites were involved.

@jsick what am I missing?

#8

So if you look at a post’s footer is might say “1 Like :heart:️”. If you click on the text part (not the heart part) of that, it’ll expand to a list of people who liked it.

If this is something you can only get with admin superpower, then I totally apologize!

Yeah, I get this point. So I’ll make @frossie’s original post a wiki so we can all add our name to the list. :sunglasses:

#9

Okay since @KSK and @jdswinbank are both interested, can I ask you guys to identify any known standing clashes with the 12-1pm PST lunchtime slots so that we can exclude them from considaration? I would tend to favour Monday myself (because I would be reading over the weekend and so it would be fresh in my mind) but I don’t have any blocks except Friday (where the infrastructure meeting risks running over).

#10

I see my problem.

Pasted image719×126 8.09 KB

The ‘3 Likes’ does expand to show who liked. The ‘4 likes’ (why is the number different?) does not, and that is what I was trying to click on. No heart either way :slight_smile: but maybe I changed a setting for that (I’m terrible at parsing icons so I set UIs to text labels whenever possible)

#11

@frossie thanks for being a unit test :slight_smile:

#12

When I talked to @jmatt today I think I mixed up Effective Python and Fluent Python.

Effective Python was written by the Googler and is super short and super sweet. I think everyone should read it along the road to Python zen. However, it does assume experience with Python; the book is there to fix your bad habits.

I agree that Fluent Python is better suited to the book club.

#13

(Assuming I’m getting my timezone conversion right,) Monday or Tuesday would be my top pick. We’ve tentatively scheduled some Science Pipelines planning meetings for Wednesdays & Fridays at this time (not every week, but would be an occasional clash) and a DRP standup for Thursdays.

#14

Though I clearly do not need to improve my programming abilities since I’m already perfect, I’ll join in because why not. @jsick: sounds like you’re definitely recommending Effective Python for those with more background?

#15

That’s because it’s your own posting. You can’t like yourself :smile_cat:

#16

The two books are different animals. Effective Python is good but it’s short and to the point. Fluent Python is a whole level above Effective Python in terms of breadth and depth. It also is not trying to teach you python. Both books are teaching you to think in a pythonic way and to use the language features.

#17

But I have been assured we live in a narcissistic age!!

#18

Could I have fixed Frossie’s link? I couldn’t figure out how.

#19

I can edit any(?) post by clicking on the pencil icon underneath them (see screenshot). I assume that’s because I have special T/CAM powers, so you probably can too but others can’t.

#20

Interesting. I can only edit my own posts. @jsick must have given you super powers.