Stop using Python 2.6 please Python 2.6 has been around for over 7 years, first released in 2008 and last released in 2013 (as shown by the nice image provided by Fluent Python on Twitter and used
Why Python 3 exists This month I held a Q&A at PuPPy (the Puget Sound Python users group) that eventually led to me explaining why Python 3 came into existence and the whole string/bytes
If I were designing Python's import from scratch Talk to any developer that inherits some large, old code base that has developed semantics as time has gone on and they will always have something they wished they could change about the
Comparing Twitter & Google+ engagement I was employed at Google when Google+ launched. Like many Googlers, I tried it out, loved the sharing model, and stuck with the platform. People always joked that Google+ was made up of
How I stay happy making open source software Over the past month I have become aware of multiple people either stepping away from open source or trying to figure out how not to burn out from it [1, 2, 3,4]
Why I bought a Google OnHub router When the Google OnHub router was announced, I was excited. Not just because the client software was developed at Google Waterloo where I used to work, but because the router represents Google continuing
Try to not use the Python C API directly If there is one persnickety thing people ask of python-dev it is for the GIL to go away. People view it as this great bugaboo of performance that hinders CPython in a world
Trying out Jupyter Notebooks I happen to be on the team at Microsoft which recently launched an in-preview Jupyter Notebook service in Azure ML Studio. Before this I had heard of Jupyter Notebooks (nee IPython Notebooks) but
Python 3 support on PyPI At (and since) PyCon 2015, there has been interest in trying to get quantified numbers in relation to Python 3 adoption (see PyPI download numbers and uptake in the astronomy community). One number
Looking at Python 3 usage in the astronomy community Thomas Robitaille ran a survey on Python usage in the astronomy community and wrote up a great blog post on the results (a big thanks from me to Thomas for taking the time
Porting to Python 3 is like "eating your vegetables" While at PyCon this year, someone pointed out that the hope/goal/expectation when Python 3 was released was to have over 50% of new projects using Python 3 within five years, and
Going all-in on the mobile web In this world of Android vs. iOS -- with a smattering of Windows Mobile and Blackberry -- I find native apps somewhat annoying. In the beginning, iOS was actually not going have any
Alternative voting systems for Canada With 2015 bringing a federal election where current polling suggests that either the Liberals or Conservatives could have a minority government based on how people vote, I'm rather interested in how election systems
Why WhatsApp made its web app use your phone as a server Ever since WhatsApp announced their web app, I have seen various people complain about having to keep your phone on to send messages. But in all of these posts people seem to be
How to get your parents off of Skype using WebRTC My mother-in-law has a cousin she likes to talk to. Because I like to simplify my tech support requirements by standardizing my entire family on a single platform when possible, all of my
Commentary on getting your code to run on Python 2/3 Today I committed a heavily updated version of the Python 2/3 porting HOWTO. Basically the doc has shifted from suggesting you use 2to3 for gaining Python 3 compatibility for your Python 2
The long-term view of Python 2.7 When Python 2.7.9rc1 was released, I shared the news through the +Python Google+ account. Comments on the post ranged from "thanks for keeping Python 2.7 alive!" to "
The game mechanics of Destiny My good friend Paul is about to start playing Destiny with me on the ps4, so I figured I should explain to him the game mechanics upfront so he can make wise decisions
What I would buy my family for Xmas My take on Xmas is to not buy gifts for anyone. More often than not people get you something that you didn't really want, or if they did you then have to guess
Setting up a Raspberry Pi for XBMC and automatic torrenting by RSS feed There is a single show that my wife and I watch which we torrent. I had been downloading the torrent manually and then using Videostream to cast to my TV. But having to
Comprehending the different levels of the cloud When explaining the cloud to my relatives, I typically explain it as "people running computers on your behalf that you can reach over the internet". That's enough to get the point
Bringing someone into the modern age of technology A relative just visited whose current technology consists of a Windows computer and a flip-phone. It was one of those situations where someone was coming to me as a blank slate for a
Telephony in the modern age [edited on 2014-11-07 to mention cordless phones that work with mobile phones] Making voice calls using the telephone network is now antiquated. There are practically no good financial reasons to have a landline
Trying out the fish shell I'm one of those programmers that does not hold great nostalgia for old programs. I'm always willing to toss aside some part of my software toolkit if something better comes along. This basically
How to argue for Python's use Recently I wrote a blog post about how I don't worry about Python losing users. Within minutes I had people asking about Python's usage, which the post was not about and is a
