Python: Beginner to Expert
John Lockwood 
Python lists are one of its most flexible and widely used data types. This article is a beginner’s guide to Python lists, but like everything in programming, remembering what you learned requires sufficient early practice. With this in mind, in addition to the lesson, we also feature several exercises at the end that you can … Read more
One of the features I love most about working in Jupyter Lab and Jupyter Notebooks is that it supports visual, interactive experiments with code and documenting what you’re doing in Markdown. (If you need a more general primer on using Jupyter, check out Jupyter Notebook: A Complete Introduction). With tools like Binder or CoCalc, it’s … Read more
Have you learned some NumPy, but now your learning has stalled because you don’t have any practice questions or exercises to review what you’ve learned? This practice set of forty-five NumPy examples features NumPy questions in varying degrees of difficulty. Some are very common examples of NumPy arrays, others get into some more advanced features. … Read more
One of those questions that every Python developer wonders about at some point are those weird extra directories and files they’ll see crop up from time to time. Setting aside __init__.py for a moment, sometimes you’ll see directories you didn’t create: __pycache__, filled with files with a .pyc extension that have the same root filename … Read more
For this week’s How to Practice Python series, I wanted to go over the basics for practicing Python Pandas and other tools in the Python data science stack. This is for those who are new to Python data science and also as a refresher for me, since I’ve been doing more Python for cloud and … Read more
When I first took a look at Julia, I was wondering if it would be easy to learn and use it, coming from a background as a Python developer. I thought features like LISP-style macros might make it a difficult transition. It turns out it was easier than expected. Julia has many features that are … Read more
Today I spent some time taking a look at PyPy. I had expected it to be much faster than the “standard” version of Python, also known as CPython. However, I also wanted to account for speed differences when it comes to NumPy, a commonly used Python library written in C. PyPy is faster than CPython … Read more
The best Python practice projects depend on your interests and career choice, your goals for practice, and your skill level. But since we all can use some help brainstorming ideas and resources, this series of articles on Python Practice Projects can help you get started on the next big thing. Introduction: Why Is This a … Read more
When newcomers think of arrays, they may have an idea that this is implemented in Python as the built-in list type. However, as in other languages, Python lists and arrays are actually quite different. Even experienced Python developers often reach for the list type first when they need a sequence type, and for most cases, … Read more
Installing Pip and Conda on the same machine is easy to do with pyenv. Maybe you work on testing a product for different environments, or maybe you just want to try out the two packaging tools to see which one you like best. Either way, pyenv lets you install and manage both with no conflicts. … Read more
