A pragmatic description of a language (like Python) from axiomatic -- or really axiom-like -- foundations is exasperatingly hard. I don't think I have any answers, but I sure do have a lot of challenges. I think there's a path that involves a lot of "don't look down -- just edge along the …

When I started in this business I was given a flowcharting template.

See https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object-groups/flowcharting-templates. I'm pretty sure I had one of these: https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_690078.

Since then, things have changed a little.

I fondly recall using the Rational Rose …

See https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/find-the-smallest-positive-number-missing-from-an-unsorted-array/ This seems to be a popular coding interview problem.

The Python code shown on the site seems almost maliciously misleading.

The full problem is this:

You are given an unsorted array with both positive and negative elements. You have to find the smallest positive …

Working on a new book. Fun stuff. It's going to cover Python 3.9.

I'm adding the type hints material. And that means PEP 585. Which means type hints for generics can use the generic types. We can use list[int] instead of List[int] and avoid from typing import …

Yes, that's what the email said.

I was -- well -- shocked. Too shocked to be polite. Content Warning: much snark follows.

This is glorious.

There was this sort of awkward shoving match between typing and collections.abc. Both had generic type definitions and it was -- often -- unclear how to use them.

See PEP 585. Now they are all unified into a much happier family.

And. We wind up writing things like …

Working on revisions to a book. Fun stuff. See https://www.packtpub.com/product/python-3-object-oriented-programming/9781849511261 I may have the privilege of working with Dusty.

I've been using mypy for all my 2nd edition changes, but not in --strict mode.

I've decided to ramp things up, and switch to strict …

I am not patient. I have been dismissed as one who does not suffer fools gladly.

This is a bad attitude, and I absolutely suffer from it. No denials here. I'm aware it limits my ability to help the deeply confused.

My personal failing is not being patient enough to …

"... [I] am thinking of building an in house conda forge, or buying a solution, or paying someone to set something up."

The build v. Buy decision. This is always hard. Really hard.

We used to ask "What's your business? Is it building software or making widgets?"

And (for some) the …

See {filename}/blog/2014/03/2014_03_20-shiny_new_macbook_pro.rst

At the time (2014), the 8Gb machine was way more than adequate for all my needs as a writer.

Enter bloat.

Mac OS Catalina has essentially filled this machine to the breaking point. Six short years is the lifespan. Things (generally) work, but …