Configuring a Coding Environment on Windows & Using TOML With Python

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Aug 19, 2022

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Christopher Trudeau

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INSIGHT

TOML as Python's New Config Format

TOML is a type-aware configuration language ideal for Python package configuration.
Python 3.11 includes a standard TOML parser, simplifying its use and adoption.

ADVICE

Use pathlib Over os.path

Switch from os.path to pathlib for better, object-oriented file path management.
pathlib improves code readability and handles cross-platform paths effortlessly.

ADVICE

Use secrets for Security

Use the secrets module instead of random or os.urandom for generating cryptographically safe tokens.
Secrets module is best suited for tasks like password creation and secure keys.

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Have you attempted to set up a Python development environment on Windows before? Would it be helpful to have an easy-to-follow guide to get you started? This week on the show, Christopher Trudeau is here, bringing another batch of PyCoder’s Weekly articles and projects.

We talk about a Real Python tutorial that covers configuring a Windows coding environment. The guide contains valuable suggestions, best practices, and powerful coding tools. It also covers how to use a package manager, the new Windows Terminal, PowerShell Core, and a program to manage multiple versions of Python.

Christopher covers another Real Python tutorial about using TOML in Python. TOML is a configuration format for building and distributing your own packages. We discuss how TOML parsing will be added to Python’s standard library in version 3.11.

We cover several other articles and projects from the Python community, on topics including technical writing for developers, a news round-up, a farewell to obsolete Python libraries, uncommon uses of Python in commonly used libraries, a prettier ls, and a project for advanced hot reloading in Python.

Course Spotlight: Python Basics: Finding and Fixing Code Bugs

In this Python Basics video course, you’ll learn how to identify and fix logic errors, or bugs, in your Python code. You’ll use the built-in debugging tools in Python’s Integrated Development and Learning Environment to practice locating and resolving bugs in an example function.

Topics:

00:00:00 – Introduction
00:02:13 – Python 3.10.6 Released
00:02:41 – Python 3.11.0rc1 Released
00:03:13 – Django 4.1 Released
00:04:07 – 10 malicious Python packages exposed in latest repository attack
00:05:12 – Protestware: Why Developers Sabotage Their Own Code
00:06:41 – Python and TOML: New Best Friends
00:16:19 – Say Goodbye to These Obsolete Python Libraries
00:25:51 – Video Course Spotlight
00:27:26 – Uncommon Uses of Python in Commonly Used Libraries
00:37:56 – Your Python Coding Environment on Windows: Setup Guide
00:48:20 – Technical Writing for Developers
00:55:24 – reloadium: Advanced Hot Reloading for Python
00:58:07 – pls: A Prettier ‘ls’
01:00:56 – Thanks and goodbye

News:

Topic Links:

Python and TOML: New Best Friends – TOML is a configuration file format that’s becoming increasingly popular in the Python community. In this tutorial, you’ll learn the syntax of TOML and explore how you can work with TOML files in your own projects.
Say Goodbye to These Obsolete Python Libraries – It’s time to say goodbye to os.path, random, pytz, namedtuple and many more obsolete Python libraries. Start using the latest and greatest ones instead.
Uncommon Uses of Python in Commonly Used Libraries – To learn more about writing maintainable Python, Eugene has been reading code from some of the more popular Python libraries. This blog post talks about some of the coding patterns he has encountered along the way.
Your Python Coding Environment on Windows: Setup Guide – With this opinionated guide to setting up a basic, fully featured, and flexible setup for Python coding and contributing to open-source projects when working from Windows, you’ll go from a fresh install to ready to contribute, and even check out a PowerShell script to automate much of the process.

Discussion:

Technical Writing for Developers – “The way we write about and around code is arguably as important as the code itself.” This article outlines how programming and writing come together to take your developer skills to the next level.

Projects:

Additional Links:

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