#19: Automate the Boring Stuff with Python

When you use a SQL database like Postgres, you have to understand the subtleties of isolation levels from "read committed" to "serializable." And distributed databases like MongoDB offer a range of consistency levels, from "eventually consistent" to "linearizable" and many options in between. Plus, it's easy enough to confuse "isolation" with "consistency!" We have A. Jesse Jiryu Davis from MongoDB back on the podcast to break it all down for us.

26 Jun 202356min

Here's the situation. You have a Python app that is locked or even has completely crashed and all you're left with is a core dump on the server. Now what? It's time for PyStack! You can capture a view of your app as if you've set a breakpoint and even view the callstack and locals across language calls (for example from Python to C++ and back). We have the maintainers, Pablo Galindo Salgado and Matt Wozniski, here to dive into PyStack. You'll definitely want to have this tool in your toolbox.

14 Jun 20231h 12min

Think about the different APIs and databases your application works with. Every one of them requires either an API key or a database connection string that itself contains a password. How do you let your application access this sensitive information without storing it in source code or putting in other compromising locations? We have Glyph Lefkowitz on the show to share his security fable as well as just good advice for keeping secrets out of Python code.

2 Jun 20231h 7min

Large language models and chat-based AIs are kind of mind blowing at the moment. Many of us are playing with them for working on code or just as a fun alternative to search. But others of us are building applications with AI at the core. And when doing that, the slightly unpredictable nature and probabilistic nature of LLMs make writing and testing Python code very tricky. Enter promptimize from Maxime Beauchemin and Preset. It's a framework for non- deterministic testing of LLMs inside our applications. Let's dive inside the AIs with Max.

30 Mai 20231h 13min

If you're looking for fun data sets for learning, for teaching, maybe a conference talk, or even if you're just really into them, sports offers up a continuous stream of rich data that many people can relate to. Yet, accessing that data can be tricky. Sometimes it's locked away in obscure file formats. Other times, the data exists but without a clear API to access it. On this episode, we talk about PySport - something of an awesome list of a wide range of libraries (mostly but not all Python) for accessing a wide variety of sports data from the NFL, NBA, F1, and more. We have Koen Vossen, maintainer of PySport to talk through some of the more popular projects.

22 Mai 202357min

The release of Pydantic 2.0, its partial rewrite in Rust, and its refactoring into Pydantic core and top-level Pydantic in Python is big news. In fact, the alpha of Pydantic 2 was just released. Of course, these changes will have potentially wide ranging (and positive!) effects on libraries that are built upon Pydantic such as FastAPI, Beanie, and others. That's why this chance I had to catch up with Samuel Colvin from Pydantic and Sebastián Ramírez from FastAPI together, live from PyCon 2023. It's a super fun and wide ranging interview I'm sure you'll enjoy. Plus, there is a bit of an easter egg in the middle.

15 Mai 202350min

At PyCon 2023, there was a section of the expo floor dedicated to new Python- based companies called Startup Row. I wanted to bring their stories and the experience of talking with these new startups to you. So in this episode, we'll talk with founders from these companies for 5 to 10 minutes each.

7 Mai 202352min

Did you make this year's PyCon event in the US? There was a lot of excitement this time around in Salt Lake City. In this episode I'll bring you a bunch of experiences we had this year. It starts where frequent guest Jay Miller turns the tables and interviews me at the Microsoft booth on the expo hall floor in front of a live audience. Then you'll hear from Mario Munoz, Nick Muoh, Chris Williams, Ray McLendon, and Sean Tibor about their time at the conference.

26 Apr 202347min