Episode 113 - Full Stack Web Apps Using Only Python with Meredydd Luff

In this episode, we’re excited to have Meredydd Luff, the founder of Anvil. Anvil is a powerful tool that allows you to build full stack web apps with just Python. Without the need to be fluent in Javascript or other languages, Anvil is easy enough for beginners, but robust enough for professional work. We talk to Meredydd about Anvil and its features, as well as delve into the importance of making programming more accessible to more people.

This episode touches on the following key topics and ideas:

00:00:17 Jason introduces Meredydd and Anvil 
00:01:06 What is Anvil?
00:09:27 Web hydration
00:11:00 Jupyter Notebook
00:12:49 The Uplink
00:14:02 GraphQL
00:23:06 How Anvil works
00:24:19 Skulpt
00:28:09 Brython
00:29:04 Pyodide
00:32:46 Javascript daisy chaining
00:37:11 GRPC and protocol buffers 
00:39:03 “Anvil is an abstraction.”
00:40:09 Escape hatches
00:43:10 Anvil and Webpack
00:44:35 “Learn Python and build a website.”
00:45:02 Accessibility
00:47:16 Meredydd’s personal background, and Anvil’s beginnings
00:52:56 Putting your work out there
00:56:01 Logging and capturing what people want
01:01:06 Ad: ConfigCat
01:03:04 Anvil’s parent company, The Tuesday Project Ltd. 
01:05:22 Meredydd’s take on venture capitalism on developer tools
01:08:42 Working in Anvil
01:17:02 Contact details for Meredydd and Anvil

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Tools
Anvil https://anvil.works/
Python https://www.python.org/
Jupyter Notebook https://jupyter.org/
GraphQL https://graphql.org/
Skulpt https://skulpt.org/
Brython https://brython.info/
Transcrypt https://www.transcrypt.org/
Pyodide https://pyodide.org/en/stable/

Videos
Meredydd’s Lightning Talk in PyCon 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHUw3N15v38
Turning a Jupyter Notebook into a Web App with Anvil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh0B4HjQxOU

Podcast
Stories from the Workshop, Anvil’s podcast https://anvil.works/podcast

Catch Meredydd on Twitter @meredydd

Anvil’s features are offered completely free for teachers and educators. Send Meredydd an inquiry through email at education@anvil.works.

Get ConfigCat: https://configcat.com/
Get Audible: http://www.audibletrial.com/programmingthrowdown

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