Frequent Python questions

Created 31 March 2018, last updated 29 May 2024

I like helping people understand things, especially Python. I’ve written a number of pieces over the years motivated by seeing common questions. There’s no overall plan or structure to them, but at least I’ve collected them here for easier browsing:

• One way to fix Python circular imports (blog post)
• Does Python have pointers? (blog post)
• One way to package Python code right now (blog post)
• Real-world match/case (blog post)
• Say it again: values not expressions (blog post)
• Singleton is a bad idea (blog post)
• Why your mock still doesn’t work (blog post)
• Pickle’s nine flaws (blog post)
• sys.getsizeof is not what you want (blog post)
• Why your mock doesn’t work (blog post)
• Big-O: How Code Slows as Data Grows (PyCon talk)
• Is Python interpreted or compiled? Yes. (blog post)
• Shell = Maybe (article)
• Python Names and Values (PyCon talk)
• Lists vs. Tuples (blog post)
• For/else (blog post)
• The structure of .pyc files (blog post)
• Getting Started Testing (PyCon talk)
• Loop Like A Native (PyCon talk)
• Pragmatic Unicode (PyCon talk)