#456 You're so wrong

13 snips

Nov 3, 2025

The PSF's dramatic withdrawal of a $1.5 million grant proposal due to anti-DEI conditions makes waves in the community. Discover PyBintic, a binary serializer that dramatically cuts cache size for Pydantic models. T-strings are introduced as a new string formatting tool that offers exciting possibilities for library authors. The cronboard tool simplifies viewing cron jobs via terminal. Plus, a lighthearted discussion on AI versus human feedback leaves listeners chuckling.

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INSIGHT

PSF Rejects Conditional $1.5M Grant

The PSF withdrew a $1.5M NSF proposal because grant terms would force them to disavow DEI, risking clawbacks.
That condition conflicted with the PSF mission to support a diverse, international Python community.

INSIGHT

Binary Serialization For Pydantic Models

PyBintic (binary Pydantic) serializes Pydantic models into compact binary formats for caches like Redis or Valky.
It can be multiple times smaller than JSON and even smaller than protobuf for caching scenarios.

ADVICE

Prefer Binary For Cache Efficiency

Use compact binary serialization for high‑load caches where memory is the primary cost constraint.
Reserve human-readable formats like JSON for APIs and debugging, not dense caches.

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Topics covered in this episode:

The PSF has withdrawn a $1.5 million proposal to US government grant program
A Binary Serializer for Pydantic Models
T-strings: Python's Fifth String Formatting Technique?
Cronboard
Extras
Joke

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Brian #1: The PSF has withdrawn a $1.5 million proposal to US government grant program

Related post from Simon Willison
ARS Technica: Python plan to boost software security foiled by Trump admin’s anti-DEI rules
The Register: Python Foundation goes ride or DEI, rejects government grant with strings attached
In Jan 2025, the PSF submitted a proposal for a US NSF grant under the Safety, Security, and Privacy of Open Source Ecosystems program. After months of work by the PSF, the proposal was recommended for funding.
If the PSF accepted it, however, they would need to agree to the some terms and conditions, including, affirming that the PSF doesn't support diversity. The restriction wouldn't just be around the security work, but around all activity of the PSF as a whole. And further, that any deemed violation would give the NSF the right to ask for the money back.
That just won't work, as the PSF would have already spent the money.
The PSF mission statement includes "The mission of the Python Software Foundation is to promote, protect, and advance the Python programming language, and to support and facilitate the growth of a diverse and international community of Python programmers." The money would have obviously been very valuable, but the restrictions are just too unacceptable.
The PSF withdrew the proposal. This couldn't have been an easy decision, that was a lot of money, but I think the PSF did the right thing.

Michael #2: A Binary Serializer for Pydantic Models

7× Smaller Than JSON
A compact binary serializer for Pydantic models that dramatically reduces RAM usage compared to JSON.
The library is designed for high-load systems (e.g., Redis caching), where millions of models are stored in memory and every byte matters.
It serializes Pydantic models into a minimal binary format and deserializes them back with zero extra metadata overhead.
Target Audience: This project is intended for developers working with:
- high-load APIs
- in-memory caches (Redis, Memcached)
- message queues
- cost-sensitive environments where object size matters

Brian #3: T-strings: Python's Fifth String Formatting Technique?

Trey Hunner
Python 3.14 has t-strings. How do they fit in with the rest of the string story?
History
- percent-style (%) strings - been around for a very long time
- string.Template - and t.substitute() - from Python 2.4, but I don’t think I’ve ever used them
- bracket variables and .format() - Since Python 2.6
- f-strings - Python 3.6 - Now I feel old. These still seem new to me
- t-strings - Python 3.14, but a totally different beast. These don’t return strings.
Trey then covers a problem with f-strings in that the substitution happens at definition time.
t-strings have substitution happen later. this is essentially “lazy string interpolation”
This still takes a bit to get your head around, but I appreciate Trey taking a whack at the explanation.

Michael #4: Cronboard

Cronboard is a terminal application that allows you to manage and schedule cronjobs on local and remote servers.
With Cronboard, you can easily add, edit, and delete cronjobs, as well as view their status.
✨ Features
- ✔️ Check cron jobs
- ✔️ Create cron jobs with validation and human-readable feedback
- ✔️ Pause and resume cron jobs
- ✔️ Edit existing cron jobs
- ✔️ Delete cron jobs
- ✔️ View formatted last and next run times
- ✔️ Accepts special expressions like @daily, @yearly, @monthly, etc.
- ✔️ Connect to servers using SSH, using password or SSH keys
- ✔️ Choose another user to manage cron jobs if you have the permissions to do so (sudo)

Extras

Brian:

PEP 810: Explicit lazy imports, has been unanimously accepted by steering council
Lean TDD book will be written in the open. TOC, some details, and a 10 page introduction are now available. Hoping for the first pass to be complete by the end of the year.
- I’d love feedback to help make it a great book, and keep it small-ish, on a very limited budget.

Joke: You are so wrong!