Configuring a Coding Environment on Windows & Using TOML With Python | Real Python Podcast #122

Have you attempted to set up a Python development environment on Windows before? Would it be helpful to have an easy-to-follow guide to get you started? This week on the show, Christopher Trudeau is here, bringing another batch of PyCoder's Weekly articles and projects.

We talk about a Real Python tutorial for configuring a Windows coding environment. The guide contains valuable suggestions, best practices, and powerful coding tools. It also covers how to use a package manager, a new windows terminal, PowerShell Core, and a program to manage multiple versions of Python.

Christopher covers another Real Python article about using TOML in Python. TOML is a configuration format for building and distributing your own packages. We discuss how TOML parsing will be added to Python's standard library in version 3.11.

We cover several other articles and projects from the Python community, including technical writing for developers, a news round-up, saying goodbye to obsolete Python libraries, uncommon uses of Python in commonly used libraries, a prettier `ls`, and a project for advanced hot reloading Python.

Topics:

- 00:00:00 -- Introduction
- 00:02:13 -- Python 3.10.6 Released
- 00:02:41 -- Python 3.11.0rc1 Released
- 00:03:13 -- Django 4.1 Released
- 00:04:07 -- 10 malicious Python packages exposed in latest repository attack
- 00:05:12 -- Protestware: Why Developers Sabotage Their Own Code
- 00:06:41 -- Python and TOML: New Best Friends
- 00:16:19 -- Say Goodbye to These Obsolete Python Libraries
- 00:25:51 -- Video Course Spotlight
- 00:27:26 -- Uncommon Uses of Python in Commonly Used Libraries
- 00:37:56 -- Your Python Coding Environment on Windows: Setup Guide
- 00:48:20 -- Technical Writing for Developers
- 00:55:24 -- reloadium: Advanced Hot Reloading for Python
- 00:58:07 -- pls: A Prettier 'ls'
- 01:00:56 -- Thanks and goodbye

[eksortso]

A note on TOML strings. You can write strings with both single and double quotes, but they work differently. If you need to use escape codes, use double quotes. Use single quotes for literal strings. It's been awhile since I read the article, so I can't recall if it mentions this distinction.