Python Bytes 69

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Brian #1: pynb: Jupyter Notebooks as plain Python code with embedded Markdown text


pynb lets you manage Jupyter notebooks as plain Python code with embedded Markdown text, enabling:

Python development environment: Use your preferred IDE/editor, ensure style compliance, navigate, refactor, and test your notebooks as regular Python code.
Version control: Track changes, review pull requests and merge conflicts as with regular Python code. The cell outputs are stored separately and don't interfere with versioning.
Consistent execution state: Never lose track again of the execution state. Notebooks are always executed from clean iPython kernels and the cell execution is cached.

You also get parameterized notebooks with batch and programmatic execution.


Michael #2: Microsoft’s quantum computing language is now available for macOS


New language Q# (snippet examples)
How do you run a quantum app?
Based on topological qubits and quantum computers
Now out on macOS & Linux
Need to use VS Code (and vs code extension)
Comes with Python interoperability (only other language)
Also in Jupyter
Some real-world examples. See this Wired article.

D-wave
IBM is making quantum computers commercially available. Since 2016, it has offered researchers the chance to run experiments on a five-qubit quantum computer via the cloud and at the end of 2017 started making its 20-qubit system available online too.



Brian #3: pytest talk in Spanish


"pytest: recommendations, basic packages for testing in Python and Django"
By A. Vallbona (@avallbona) From PyConES 2017
with English slides, and video in Spanish.
Some of the topics covered:

pytest-django
model-mommy to easily create fixtures based on django models
pytest-lazy-fixture allows the use the fixtures as parameters to parameterize
pytest-mock, pytest-cov, pytest-flake8
freezegun to helps us to "freeze" time
eradicate to eliminate commented code
pytest-xdist to run tests in parallel



Bonus pytest topic:


pytest.org just added a Reference page, a full reference to pytest’s API.


Michael #4: StackOverflow Developer Survey Results 2018


Sample size: Over 100,000 developers
55% contribute to open source
64% have CS degrees
Experience and Belonging

Connection to other devs (increasing over time)
Competing with peers (decreasing over time)
Not as good as my peers (decreasing over time)

How Much Time Do Developers Spend on a Computer? Most: 9-12 hours
Python beats C# in usage for the first time
Languages:

Most loved: #1 Rust, #2 Kotlin, #3 Python
Most dreaded: VB 6 and CoffeeScript
Most wanted: #1 Python 25%, #JavaScript 19%, #3 Go 16%

Databases:

Loved: PostgreSQL
Dreaded: IBM Db2, Memcached, and Oracle
Most wanted: MongoDB

Editor: VS Code
Dev OSes:

Windows: 49%
macOS: 27%
Linux: 23%



Brian #5: demoshell


@doughellmann
Doug Hellman (@doughellmann) announces demoshell

Inspired by a tweet from @genehack “Hey, speakers, if you're doing live demos in a shell, clear the screen after every command to get the prompt back at the top, so folks in the back can see what you're doing.”

demoshell is a simplified shell for live demonstrations. It always shows the command prompt at the top of the screen and pushes command output down instead of letting it scroll up.
In his words: “I put it up there to start a discussion. I’d be happy if a bunch of people showed up and wanted to take it over and actually turn it into something useful. I invite people to give it a look. And warn them that too much interest is going to be met with commit privileges on the repo. :-)”


Michael #6: Clear statement on Python 2 EOL


Will there be a period where Py2.7 is in security-only status before hitting EOL?
via Nicola Iarocci‏ @nicolaiarocci

Yay, @gvanrossum makes it adamantly clear: “Let's not play games with semantics. The way I see the situation for 2.7 is that EOL is January 1st, 2020, and there will be no updates, not even source-only security