Python Monthly 💻🐍 February 2020
Tags: python, productivity, news, machinelearning
Published: 2020-03-23 13:21:39

**The newsletter below is sent to 30,000+ developers at the beginning of each month to give them the latest industry news, trends, free resources, etc. You can join them and be first to get the March 2020 issue by subscribing [here](https://zerotomastery.io/blog/python-monthly-february-2020?utm_source=devto&utm_medium=PM).**

**This is the 3rd issue! You can read all of the past issues [here](https://zerotomastery.io/blog/?tag=PM&utm_source=devto&utm_medium=PM).**

### If it’s your first time here… (otherwise, skip this part)

Being a Python developer is a fantastic career option. Python is now the most popular language with lots of growing job demand (especially in Web, Data Science and Machine Learning field). You have many job opportunities, you can work around the world, and you get to solve hard problems. One thing that is hard, however, is staying up to date with the constantly evolving ecosystem. You want to be a top-performing python developer, coder, programmer, software developer, but you don’t have time to select from hundreds of articles, videos and podcasts each day.

This monthly newsletter is focused on keeping you up to date with the industry, keeping your skills sharp, without wasting your valuable time. I will be sharing the most important articles, podcasts and videos of the month. Think [Tim Ferriss](https://tim.blog/about) and [the Pareto Principle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle) (80/20 rule) meeting the Software Development world. What’s the 20% that will get you 80% of the results?

__Reminder: If you want to receive the next issue of Python Monthly before anyone else, subscribe here: [https://zerotomastery.io/blog/python-monthly-february-2020](https://zerotomastery.io/blog/python-monthly-february-2020?utm_source=devto&utm_medium=PM)__

### What you missed in February as a Python Developer…

*****
### The 22 Most-Used Python Packages 🍡
What are the the [22 most-used Python Packages in the world?](https://medium.com/better-programming/the-22-most-used-python-packages-in-the-world-7020a904b2e) Some of them are surprising, but it is a good idea to be aware of these libraries since they are all popular for a reason and you may need them one day.


### `!=` vs `is not`  🐇
Here is a fun little bit of trivia for you and your Python friends: is there a difference between using `!=` vs `is not`? The answer is that there is a slight difference. Learn about the details in this [in depth look](https://realpython.com/python-is-identity-vs-equality/).

To get even more down the rabbit hole what is the answer to this:

`print(None is not None)`

Find out more about the NoneType [in this article](https://realpython.com/null-in-python/).

### Dicts are Now Ordered 🤯
That's right, Dictionaries in Python now maintain their insertion order. If you have taken my [Master the Coding Interview: Data Structures + Algorithms course](https://links.zerotomastery.io/datastructures_academy), you would know that one of the downsides of using Dictionaries is that we don't get to maintain insertion order like we do with Arrays or Lists. Well, CPython now maintains this order. [You can learn more here](https://softwaremaniacs.org/blog/2020/02/05/dicts-ordered/en/). Sounds like a good trick question you may get in a Python interview.

### Python Tooling Best Practices 🎬
[An interesting article](https://medium.com/better-programming/understanding-best-practice-python-tooling-by-comparing-popular-project-templates-6eba49229106) talking about the tooling that is recommended to use based on what other popular projects are using.

### Quick 5 Tips in Python 🚀
[These are the 5 things a lot of people make mistakes within Python](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMRzuwlqfzs) when they first start out. I highly recommend watching this video but a heads up that the last tip is actually a little bit wrong *(check out the comments for the right/easier solution)*.

### itertools ⛓ 
Try to say itertools fast 5 times. That will be harder than this well explained post describing 2 utility libraries to unleash all the power that comes with iterables: [Another great post by Martin Heinz](https://martinheinz.dev/blog/16).

   
### PEP 614 ⛑
A new PEP that changes the way decorators work, mainly relaxing some grammar restrictions that they had when they first were implemented. [Read all about it here](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0614/). 

### Is Parallelism Always Faster? 🔥
This was a trick question. Parallelism isn't always faster. If you run your code on 2 CPUs vs 1 CPU, wouldn't it always be faster though? Well [here is a deep dive](https://pythonspeed.com/articles/parallelism-slower/) into this tricky situation.


### Animated Images with Python 🖼
This is a fun 1 day project that you can try yourself to make animated images or gifs from a set of images: [Follow the guide here](https://medium.com/swlh/python-animated-images-6a85b9b68f86).


### Sequential, Multiprocessing, Multithreading? 🤔
What do those 3 terms mean and how are they different from one another? More importantly, how can you use Python to demonstrate these three concepts? [This article will teach you what you need to know](https://zacs.site/blog/linear-python.html). Make sure to check out the conclusion for some surprising findings.


### SciPy 1.0 is Here! 🌅
Although you may not use it, SciPy is a very important library in the Python ecosystem. SciPy is an open-source scientific computing library for the Python programming language. Since its initial release in 2001, SciPy has become the de facto standard for leveraging scientific algorithms in Python, and almost 20 years later, [version 1.0 is out](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-019-0686-2).


### Types In Python 🎛
Static typing is all the rage these days. [Here is one account](https://blog.meadsteve.dev/programming/2020/02/10/types-at-the-edges-in-python/) of how you might want to incorporate static typing in your Python applications using tools like mypy and Pydantic.

### Big Tech News 🏢

* Google is annoying more people with their privacy practices. One person pointed out that [Google sends client device data](https://github.com/w3ctag/design-reviews/issues/467#issuecomment-581944600) *(that may be able to identify you)* to all of its properties. In other news, GCP or Google's cloud division is projected to make about [$10 billion this year](https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/03/alphabet-earnings-show-google-cloud-on-10b-run-rate/) which shows that it is a strong contender to be around for a long time *(lot's of advantages especially when it comes to their Machine Learning compute)*.

* Microsoft angered some users with [Windows 10 bugs](https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2020/02/09/windows-10-warning-serious-failure-provokes-questions-and-anger/#35f5c28634f4). Then it angered even more people with some [anti-Firefox ad](https://news.softpedia.com/news/microsoft-begins-showing-an-anti-firefox-ad-in-the-windows-10-start-menu-529137.shtml) on Windows 10.

* Uber apparently is now the [top ride hailing company in India](https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/08/uber-claims-top-spot-in-indian-ride-hailing-market/). This is big news because the Indian market = lots of users.

* Amazon [spends more money on ads than any company in the world](https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/amazon-biggest-advertiser-earth-adspend-hits-11bn/1672723).

* Facebook + Dating App? [The EU says no thank you](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22316980) due to privacy concerns. Shocker. They also did other [Facebook things](https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/17/regulate-facebook/).

* Apple announced their [Apple Edge Cache](https://cache.edge.apple/), similar to how Netflix provides specific hardware to ISPs so their content loads faster, Apple is developing its own technology to make their content faster for you. 

### Learning to Learn 🏄‍♂️🏄‍♀️
[I just came out with a new course](https://links.zerotomastery.io/LTL_academy) very different from what I have done in the past. However, I think it is the most important course I have made to date. It covers a skill that is becoming more and more important in a world where skills, technology and information is constantly evolving. Have a look if you want...if not, that's cool too... YOU MONSTER.
![](https://media.giphy.com/media/3ohzdI2qPIkiHBwJMY/giphy.gif)

### Completely useless to your career but still great 🙃
Ever wanted to draw pixel art in your free time?? Now you can on [this website](https://www.pixilart.com/) and showcase your work, while also checking out some of the others with insanely impressive art skills. 

Also, [this is the best twitter response](https://twitter.com/jimmy_wales/status/1226868636020805632) from the creator of Wikipedia (Jimmy Wales). Also, I am not taking any sides here, but here is a [related comic from xkcd](https://m.xkcd.com/2267/).

Do you think your code is performant on your new laptop? [That's cute](https://gizmodo.com/developer-finds-usb-chargers-have-as-much-processing-po-1841598560).


### Best Resource of the Month 🥽
[A great list of short little tidbits and practices](https://github.com/zedr/clean-code-python) that you should use in your python programming to make your code "clean". Most of these apply to other programming languages as well. Enjoy it!

### Trick of the Month 🎩
![](https://media.giphy.com/media/vQqeT3AYg8S5O/giphy.gif)

[Generate Art](https://www.generativehut.com/post/robots-and-generative-art-and-python-oh-my) using python. Who says you need to be artistic to create good art?

Still not impressed? Ok, how about this: [personalize your python prompt](https://arpitbhayani.me/blogs/python-prompts)

  
See you next month!

*****

__Congrats, you’re all caught up for this month! If you haven't already, subscribe [here](https://zerotomastery.io/blog/python-monthly-february-2020?utm_source=devto&utm_medium=PM) to receive Python Monthly next month. If you're already subscribed, please share it with one person who might find it useful, they'll love you and so will we. See you next month!__

By the way, my full-time job is to teach people to code in the most efficient way possible. You can learn more about our [online coding academy here](https://zerotomastery.io/academy?utm_source=devto&utm_medium=PM) and see all of my courses by visiting the [courses page](https://zerotomastery.io/courses?utm_source=devto&utm_medium=PM).