Planning a Faster Future at the Python Language Summit

The Real Python Podcast

Do you wonder what the future may hold for the Python language? Are there speed improvements coming soon? What if you could be in the room while the core developers discuss Python’s future? This week on the show, we have Joanna Jablonski, who was invited to the Python Language Summit 2021 as a journalist to summarize and document the event.

A small group of core developers from the Python community gather to work toward a healthy future for the language. Through presentations and group discussions, they share insights, ideas, and potential problems.

Joanna has been the executive editor at Real Python and she was invited to write a series of blog posts for the Python Software Foundation (PSF) that summarize the presentations and deeper conversations of the summit. We walk through the two days and discuss the topics covered.

Several of the presentations focused on performance and speeding up CPython. There were conversations about packaging, documentation, the standard library, handling exceptions, testing, and more.

Course Spotlight: Defining and Calling Python Functions

In this course, you’ll learn how to define and call your own Python function. You’ll also learn about passing data to your function and returning data from your function back to its calling environment.

Topics:

• 00:00:00 – Introduction
• 00:01:58 – What is the Python Language Summit?
• 00:06:44 – How do you summarize the talks?
• 00:08:17 – Terminology and technological level of the conversations
• 00:13:02 – PEP 654 — Exception Groups and except*
• 00:16:10 – Sponsor: Sentry
• 00:17:12 – Progress on Running Multiple Python Interpreters in Parallel in the Same Process
• 00:18:15 – CPython Performance Improvements at Instagram
• 00:20:41 – Making CPython Faster
• 00:23:22 – HPy — Present and Future
• 00:25:07 – Lightning Talks, Round 1
• 00:31:03 – Video Course Spotlight
• 00:32:34 – The Challenges of Packaging Python for a Linux Distro
• 00:36:12 – The Python Documentation Work Group
• 00:39:11 – What Is the stdlib?
• 00:42:07 – What Should I Work on as a Core Dev?
• 00:44:34 – Fuzzing and Testing Python With Properties
• 00:46:00 – Lightning Talks, Round 2
• 00:53:41 – What are you excited about in the world of Python?
• 00:54:46 – What do you want to learn next?
• 00:55:57 – Shout out and social connections
• 00:56:57 – Thanks and goodbye

Show Links:

• Joanna Jablonski: Real Python Profile
• Joanna Jablonski - Personal Site
• Joanna’s Twitter
• The 2021 Python Language Summit
• The 2021 Python Language Summit: Welcome, Introductions, Guidelines
• PEP 654 — Exception Groups and except*
• Progress on Running Multiple Python Interpreters in Parallel in the Same Process
• CPython Performance Improvements at Instagram
• Making CPython Faster
• HPy — Present and Future
• Lightning Talks, Round 1
• The Challenges of Packaging Python for a Linux Distro
• The Python Documentation Work Group
• What Is the stdlib?
• What Should I Work on as a Core Dev?
• Fuzzing and Testing Python With Properties
• Lightning Talks, Round 2

Additional Links:

• PEP 654 – Exception Groups and except*: Python Developer’s Guide PEP Index
• Cinder: Instagram’s internal performance-oriented production version of CPython 3.8
• CircuitPython: The easiest way to program microcontrollers
• ABI - Application Binary Interface
• Tiers of Execution in a high-performance interpreter for CPython
• Mort, Elvis, Einstein, and You: Coding Horror
• Ren’Py: A visual novel engine

Level up your Python skills with our expert-led courses:

• Python Inner Functions
• Defining and Calling Python Functions
• Test-Driven Development With pytest

Support the podcast & join our community of Pythonistas