Python News: Django 2.1, WebAssembly, and Productivity

Python Bytes Episode 91 Summary

The Joy of Python

This episode explores the Zen of Python and various playful or useful features, such as import antigravity, tuple unpacking for swapping variables, and the power of enumerate with custom starting indices. The hosts emphasize the welcoming, non-serious nature of the community while noting how these elements help newcomers learn.

Major Software Updates

• Django 2.1 Released: Following the end of support for legacy Python versions, Django 2.1 introduces significant improvements. Highlights include model-view permissions, enhanced ORM customization, and improved caching mechanisms using LRU policies.
• Tooling News: Harry Percival's pytest-icdiff is highlighted as a great new plugin that provides improved color-coded diffs for failing equality assertions in your test suite.

Innovative Projects and Concepts

• 100 Days of Code: The hosts spotlight a creative student, Annalena Popkus, who is documenting her coding journey through a Harry Potter-themed project, effectively utilizing Data Classes and comprehensive blog posts to master new concepts.
• Encrypting Python Bytecode: A new project demonstrates how to execute encrypted Python files (PYCE) with no performance penalty by overriding the import system, providing a layer of protection for proprietary code.
• WebAssembly and Python: Inspired by the .NET project Blazor, the hosts discuss the future of running CPython in the browser via WebAssembly. Referencing a keynote by Dan Callahan, the discussion imagines a future where Python takes on the role of client-side frameworks.

"The Python community doesn't take itself too awfully seriously. It's all serious work and we do a lot of important things, but it's a good fun thing to have there."