DEV Community: PyLenin

Migration to Python 3 is still very slow

PyLenin — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 06:53:52 +0000

I was just going through Stack Overflow and I realized that people are still asking questions about Python 2.7. Surely, a lot of them are about ways to migrate to Python 3, but still, there were a lot of questions being asked on functionality.

That got me curious and I started researching PyPI package downloads for Python 2.7. I came across this page and saw how one can look into the number of installations of various libraries for various Python versions.

I specifically used this query to find the number of library downloads per Python version.

SELECT
  REGEXP_EXTRACT(details.python, r"[0-9]+\.[0-9]+") AS python_version,
  COUNT(*) AS num_downloads,
FROM `bigquery-public-data.pypi.file_downloads`
WHERE
  -- Only query the last 6 months of history
  DATE(timestamp)
    BETWEEN DATE_TRUNC(DATE_SUB(CURRENT_DATE(), INTERVAL 6 MONTH), MONTH)
    AND CURRENT_DATE()
GROUP BY `python_version`
ORDER BY `num_downloads` DESC

The results have totally surprised me. There have been more than 5.5 billion package downloads for Python 2.7 just in the last 6 months and it is more than the number of installations for Python 3.9!

This shows that people are not really migrating to Python 3, even with all the support down for Python 2!!

I mean, it both surprises me and confuses me! If anyone reading this is also one of the above, I highly recommend you moving to Python 3 as soon as possible. You are missing out on a lot of advantages.

Just for you, I wrote this blog to showcase the advantages of Python 3 over Python 2. If you are interested, please take a look. And if it helps you to move on to Python 3, I would be very happy!

Python program to print over the same line

PyLenin — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 09:28:10 +0000

Let's say you have a bunch of print statements.

Code

print("Pylenin")
print("loves")
print("Python")

The output will look like below.

Output

Pylenin
loves
Python

However, if you want to print over and over the same line in Python, you have to use the carriage return \r symbol with the end argument.

Code

print("Pylenin", end="\r")
print("loves", end="\r")
print("Python")

Output

Pythonn

Even though the first 2 print statements are executed, the carriage return makes the next stdout line start at the beginning of the current line.

Also, carriage return will only replace the number of characters contained in the print statement. That is the reason, you have an extra n at the end.

This is one of the applications of print in Python. If you are curious to know more, check out my blog on the various aspects of printing in Python.

What if you forget to add Python to the PATH variable?

PyLenin — Fri, 20 Aug 2021 04:35:24 +0000

If you forget to add Python to the PATH, you won't be able to run Python in your command line from any other directory.

You will get a message saying,

'python' is not recognized as an internal or external command.

This is because Windows is trying to search for Python in its PATH variable and is unable to find it.

Here is a step-by-step instruction to add Python to the PATH variable in Windows 10.

Copy the directory to which Python is being installed.
Search for System Properties in the Search Bar.
Click on the "Environment Variables" button in System Properties.
Click on the "Path" variable and then click on "Edit".
Now here's the deal. Pay Attention! Paste the directory path from Step 1 at the top of the list. You can use the "Move up" button to get it to the top. Now click on "Ok".

Now you can open up your command line and run python. The Python interactive shell will open up.

*Here is a little extra tip! *

Add the Scripts folder to the PATH variable too. This is the folder where all your libraries will be installed.

If the instructions are not clear enough for you, you can also check out the visual guide containing images of every step, on my blog for achieving the above objective.

Good luck and let me know!

How I got into Python programming?

PyLenin — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 04:29:40 +0000

My first encounter with Python happened because of a small lie.

During my application to an internship that required me to build the control system of robots using Python, I lied to my recruiter about already possessing beginner-level programming skills in python.

Thankfully, he didn't ask me anything else and accepted me for the internship program. But since that day, I have religiously practiced Python every day in my life, so that I wouldn't have to lie to anyone else!

In my beginner days, I did the whole dance to learn Python.

I did a lot of free courses on the internet.
I solved every problem I could find on any Python topic again and again. And then again!

Initially, I only did it to do excel at my thesis. But eventually, I fell in love with this simple language.

So much so that I started applying for Python programming jobs even before my Masters in Transportation Engineering got over and happily accepted the job offer when I got one.

Websites I followed for learning

I would like to provide the list of websites, that were of great help when I began programming.

2015 was not the year when there tons of Medium or Dev posts on learning Python. So, finding something useful was actually tricky.

I was a student and therefore, could not afford any paid courses. So I had to stick to the free websites that were available at that time.

Stack Overflow
Python for everybody course on Coursera

Shout out to Charles Severance for helping me land my first job.
Learn Python the Hard Way

How learning Python has helped me in my career?

Learning Python changed my life! Believe me, its an understatement!

It opened up so many doors for me in various different fields. Infact, I was the only student in my batch to have a student job as a Python developer and getting paid 18 Euros an hour. Sweet, isn't it?

Infact, I have told my full story of how I became a Python developer without any formal training in Computer Science in this video. If you are interested to hear an Indian guy with an accent, speak about his life experience, do check it out.

For those of you confused about your career decisions, I would definitely recommend that Python is a great programming language to learn. It provides a lot of job opportunities and doesn't have a huge learning curve. Check out my blog on 5 career-driven decisions to learn Python in 2021.