17 Tuesday Oct 2023
Posted in Python
Python has the useful notion of descriptor objects as well as the built-in property() function to make using them in the most common cases — read-only and calculated instance attributes — quite easy.
In this post I’ll explore Python descriptors with lots of examples demonstrating how to use them. Descriptors are an important aspect in understanding Python and using it effectively.
11 Wednesday Oct 2023
Posted in CS101
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Quite some time ago, I posted about this on my main blog, but it has occurred to me that, firstly, it might be time for an update, and secondly, that a post about why computers use 1s and 0s is better suited here on my programming blog. (Especially as this is the 101st post!)
It turns out there is a very good reason computers use 1s and 0s, and while it is possible to use other numbers, the 1s and 0s are all that is needed.
01 Sunday Oct 2023
Mathematician and educator John Baez has an excellent series of blog posts about music theory. The seventh concerns generating scales by using notes separated by fifths. Shifting the start point generates the seven major scale modes. Shifting the root key generates those seven modes in the twelve keys (a total of 7×12=84 scales).
John asked if any of his readers would be interested in creating that table of all 84 rows. It sounded like — and turned out to be — a fun exercise. This post explores in detail the Python solution I came up with.
10 Sunday Sep 2023
It has been almost a year since my last post here. I haven’t been idle code-wise, but I have been too distracted by Real Life to do any blogging here. My publication rate is way down on my main blog, too.
To get me posting here more, I think I need more of a focus on casually documenting my own little projects rather than Code Wise articles. Those take more work than I seem willing to put in these days. With that in mind, I have some trivial Python fun to share…
13 Thursday Oct 2022
Posted in Python
Python str instances have many useful methods. I use strip, split, startswith, and others, quite a lot, for instance. One method I haven’t had reason to use so far is translate. It takes a dictionary argument and uses it to map the existing string to a new string.
It’s flexible and useful, so it’s worth knowing how to use.
26 Friday Aug 2022
Posted in Fun
Recently I posted an oldie from the last century. Here’s another from the deep time layers of my file system. It’s a poetic parable any programmer can relate to.
Think of it as the programmer’s version of Sisyphus.
23 Thursday Jun 2022
Posted in CS101
There are many general skills a programmer should have to be effective and valuable. Some are very general — for instance, the ability to learn and to think abstractly — but some are more specific — various tools and tricks of skilled programming.
Among those tools are several non-programming languages all programmers should know. Those include HTML, XML, SQL, and an old one whose name doesn’t end with “L” — Regular Expressions (aka REs, aka RegEx or RegExp).
03 Thursday Mar 2022
Posted in Fun
It’s been a while since I posted here, many balls in the fire and irons in the air, so I thought I’d dig into my archives for an oldie, albeit one more of tin than of gold.
This one comes from a 1995 email from a co-worker who was forwarding something cute she’d found in a Delphi Forum.
15 Saturday Jan 2022
Posted in Python
One part of Python I especially appreciate is lambda functions. While I’ve never pursued functional programming, I do like many things about it, particularly the notion of functions as native data objects. Programming with functional objects opens new vistas. Most languages handle it one way or another, but languages make it natural.
Python’s lambda is such a facility, and I use it often. This week I finally got around to writing a lambda function I’ve been meaning to for a long time, and it’s my new favorite. I thought I’d share it along with some of my other “one-liners”…
10 Monday Jan 2022
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In job interviews they sometimes ask about a time you failed. It’s meant as a probe into your self-image and reactions. How you react when challenged; what do you do about obstacles. I suspect anyone whose career revolves around solving problems has a few stories about “the one that got away.”
A recent online conversation inadvertently reminded me of all three that stand out in my history. I made a note to write a post about them. The new year seems like a good time for a trip down memory lane…
The Hard-Core Coder 