Cython allows you to write compiled extensions for Python, by translating Python-y code to C or C++. Often you’ll use it to speed up your software, and it’s especially useful for implementing small data science or scientific computing algorithms. But what happens when Cython is too slow? Often there’s still speed improvements you can do. In a previous article we focused on examples of optimizing your code to take advantage of things like instruction-level parallelism. In this article, we’ll focus […]

Python 3.12 is out now–but should you switch to it immediately? And if you shouldn’t upgrade just yet, when should you? Immediately after the release, you may not want to upgrade just yet. But from December 2023 and onwards, upgrading is definitely worth trying. To understand why, we need to consider Python packaging, the software development process, and take a look at the history of past releases. The problems with a new major Python release As with many open source […]

Python f-strings provide a quick way to interpolate and format strings. They’re readable, concise, and less prone to error than traditional string interpolation and formatting tools, such as the .format() method and the modulo operator (%). An f-string is also a bit faster than those tools! By the end of this tutorial, you’ll know why f-strings are such a powerful tool that you should learn and master as a Python developer. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to: Interpolate values, […]

There are plenty of blogging platforms out there that you can use out of the box. However, building your own blog from scratch with Django is a great way to keep control over your content. Even if you’re just getting started with Django, its user-friendly features will allow you to focus on designing and posting your content. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to: Set up a new Django project Create and edit blog posts Display posts to the user […]

Sorting strings in Python is something that you can almost take for granted if you do it all the time. Yet, it can become surprisingly tricky considering all the edge cases lurking in the vast Unicode standard. Understanding Unicode isn’t an easy feat, so prepare yourself for a whirlwind tour of surprising edge cases and effective ways of dealing with them. Note: In this tutorial, you’ll often use the term Unicode string to mean any string with non-Latin letters and […]

As the leaves turned yellow and fall set in, the Python community prepared for the release of Python 3.12 in early October. This new version of the most popular programming language brings several exciting new features, including better error messages and improvements to static typing. It also lays the groundwork for enhanced parallelism. Microsoft Excel is about to become a friendlier space for Pythonistas with the integration of the Python Editor, opening up new possibilities for those bridging the gap […]

In Python, a tuple is a built-in data type that allows you to create immutable sequences of values. The values or items in a tuple can be of any type. This makes tuples pretty useful in those situations where you need to store heterogeneous data, like that in a database record, for example. Through this tutorial, you’ll dive deep into Python tuples and get a solid understanding of their key features and use cases. This knowledge will allow you to […]