real-world projects
MP 130: How do you make a reasonably secure access code for an electronic door lock? We recently moved into a new house, and one of the first tasks after moving in is to change the locks. Rather than just rekey the existing locks, we decided to install electronic locks.
reflections
MP 129: Highlights from 2024, and what's to come in 2025. I've been writing Mostly Python for two full years now. I started it in order to write more regularly about Python, and about a wide range of topics from the perspective of a Python user
real-world projects
MP 128: Sometimes a try-except block isn't the best approach for handling missing attributes. In Python it's often reasonable to try doing something, and then respond appropriately if that action doesn't work. This is the "ask for forgiveness rather than asking for
Git
MP 127: How do you make sure you've cleaned up all your diagnostic code? I've been doing a bunch of refactoring work on a moderately sized project recently. I'm always looking for ways to work more efficiently, and use tools like Git better. It&
GitHub
MP 126: How do you make a GitHub task list for reviewing all functions in a file? I've been steadily working on bringing django-simple-deploy to a 1.0 release, and this has involved a lot of refactoring. At some stages of development, I want to do
reflections
MP 125: I would argue it was discovered, and that's a helpful distinction. There's no doubt that regardless of anyone's opinion about whether AI is useful or not, it's disrupting many industries, and will continue to do so. The distinction between invention
Selenium
MP 124: It should be simple to do, right? We're in the process of buying a house at the moment, and we want to keep a copy of the pictures on Zillow that show how the house is currently set up. Lots of people want to do this,
real-world projects
MP 123: Modeling mortgage loans, to help make clearer financial decisions. We're in the process of buying a house, and whenever we go through this process I spend a lot of time looking at all the different options about taking out such a significant loan. I always do
reflections
MP 122: And why I like them so much. Something people new to Python don't always understand well is the role of "third party" packages in the ecosystem. People learn the basics of Python, and then they want to do something that requires functionality that'
reflections
MP 121: It always has been, and it sure is now. I was going to write about how much I like third-party ecosystems such as PyPI this week, and what you should know about them. But writing generically about software development at this moment feels like burying my head
real-world projects
MP 120: I rarely play the lottery, but when I do I like to model it afterwards. I've written recently about surviving a pretty serious medical event and then making it through a hurricane with some life interruptions, but no significant harm. When I was in the hospital,
Django
MP 119: How do you keep learning about Django? Note: This is the 20th (and final) post in a series about building a full Django project, starting with a single file. This series is free to everyone, as soon as each post comes out. This was a much longer series
Django
MP 118: Deploying a simple Django project. Note: This is the 19th post in a series about building a full Django project, starting with a single file. This series is free to everyone, as soon as each post comes out. In the last post, we did some final reorganization of
django-simple-deploy
MP 117: How often do you write a new, moderately complex library from scratch? Note: Our power was just restored yesterday afternoon, so we ended up going 12 days without power or running water. Internet service is still a week or two away. I've been able to get
reflections
MP 116: ...and into the fire, as the saying goes. Note: I think this post was published yesterday, but not sent as an email to anyone. If you received this twice as an email, I apologize. Mostly Python just passed 5,000 subscribers, which required an update to my Ghost
reflections
MP 115: A surprise trip to the ICU instead of a planned trip to DjangoCon. Content notice: Discussion of a serious medical event; the discussion is not overly graphic. This week has gone a lot different than planned. I was supposed to be at DjangoCon this week, but instead I