#313 Programming Robots With a Marker

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About the show

Sponsored by Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub.

Connect with the hosts

• Michael: @mkennedy@fosstodon.org
• Brian: @brianokken@fosstodon.org
• Special guest: Kelly Schuster-Paredes
• Special guest: Sean Tibor

Michael #1: How do you say that number?

• Inflect: fosstodon.org/@linuxgal@techhub.social/109430499504962727

• Num2Words: pypi.org/project/num2words/

  # Inflect: import inflect inflector=inflect.engine() print(inflector.number_to_words(8675309)) # eight million, six hundred and seventy-five thousand, three hundred and nine # Num2Words from num2words import num2words print(num2words(8675309)) # eight million, six hundred and seventy-five thousand, three hundred and nine

• Num2Words also has a CLI:

• pipx install num2words
• $ num2words 2948475
• two million, nine hundred and forty-eight thousand, four hundred and seventy-five

Brian #2: The Origins of Python

• Lambert Meertens
• A wonderful tale starting with TELCOMP, traveling through ABC, and finally reaching Python.
• This is a long article, but a wonderful story.
• It includes a nice emphasis at all times to keep a language simple enough for the absolute beginner but powerful enough to not be annoying for experienced developers.
• A few quotes from the article:
  • “Ease of learning and ease of use are both desirable attributes in any programming language. Nonetheless, I have often felt that this aspect of language design does not always receive the attention it deserves. And what may seem easy to a designer may not necessarily be easy for a language learner.”
  • Regarding ABC: “To serve our intended users, absolute beginners, we sought to hide low-level implementation details and instead to provide powerful high-level, task-oriented features.
  • Then Python: “The growth in popularity of Python, from its inception thirty years ago as a one-person effort flying under the radar, has been phenomenal, but not meteoric. Instead it has been a long, slow, and steady rise. Python’s ease of learning gave it a competitive advantage in a period when there was a perpetual need for more programmers. Its clean syntax and semantics make it easier to maintain a software base written in Python than other languages—an important consideration given that the cost of maintaining software dwarfs the cost of creating new software.”

Kelly #3:

• Ozobot Evo Introduces a Python Beta Version. (August 17, 2022)
• The original Ozobot model – the Ozobot Bit – is no longer available for purchase . The New Evo Ozobit- has three Kit options. The Entry Kit (single robot), the Ozobot Evo 12-Pack, and the Ozobot Evo 18-Pack.
• https://beta.python.ozobot.com/doc-python-api/ozobot.html#module-0
• Still has the updated OzoBlockly platform for Block Programming.
• This tiny bot comes with:
  • Line following
  • Color detection
  • Sound
  • proximity sensor
  • bluetooth
  • Crash detection
  • Students can even code functions
• Ozobot simulator(block) https://games.ozoblockly.com/shapetracer-freeform
• Web beta app: beta.python.ozobot.com

Michael #4: setproctitle

• A Python module to customize the process title

• Awesome for servers and anytime “python” is not enough

• Easy to use directly:

• from setproctitle import setproctitle

• setproctitle("tp-search daemon")

• Used automatically by servers like uwsgi and gunicorn I believe.

  ### # uWSGI server configuration ### [uwsgi] # uWSGI provides some functionality which can help identify the workers procname-prefix = training- auto-procname = true

• Some nice results, example from Talk Python Training

Brian #5: Looking forward to Python 3.12

• New features in 3.12a2
  • Improved Error Messages
  • lots of other goodies, like pathlib.walk().
• Release scheduled for Oct 2023
• But why wait? Start testing your projects with it now: Testing with Python 3.12
• Note that “During the alpha phase, features may be added up until the start of the beta phase (2023-05-08) and, if necessary, may be modified or deleted up until the release candidate phase (2023-07-31). Please keep in mind that this is a preview release and its use is not recommended for production environments.”
• Actually, with that note, you might want to wait. I don’t. I’ll deal with it when/if I get a failure.

Sean #6: Re:Invent 2022 EF Education Breakout

• Presentation at AWS Re:Invent 2022
• Complete redesign of online learning platform by one of the largest education companies in the world
• We’ve all seen Zoom classrooms with rows on rows of students
• A more immersive experience for learning with green screens, digital sets, and props
• Massive amount of analytics around student engagement and learning, including full transcription of every student, engagement tracking, and computer vision

Extras

Michael:

• You can support the PSF if you’re selling things on EBay. Check “Donate a portion to charity” and choose “Python Software Foundation” via Joe Riedley
• Textinator for Windows (the Windows version of TextSniper)
• Paperlike for iPad

Kelly: A new Special Interest Group for the PSF launched 6 days ago. “Edu-sig, through its mailing list, provides an informal venue for comparing notes and discussing future possibilities for Python in education.” Led by Timothy Wilson.

Sean:

• Dr. Werner Vogel’s keynote - everything is coming up async
• EventBridge Pipes

Jokes:

fosstodon.org/@kimvanwyk/109389398652030679

And a new mastodon user:

fosstodon.org/@vruz@mastodon.social/109394538570819699