Virtual Environments

  • Setting up a virtual environment is useful for managing project dependencies.
  • Using uv simplifies the process of creating and managing virtual environments.
  • There are several options other than uv for managing virtual environments, such as venv and conda.
  • It’s important to version control your project from the start, including a .gitignore file.

Creating A Module

  • Python modules are simply directories with an __init__.py file in them
  • You can add the path to your module directory to sys.path to make it available for import
  • You can use dot notation in your imports to specify the module, file, and function you want to use

Class Objects

  • Python classes are defined using the class keyword, followed by the class name and a colon.
  • The __init__ method is a special method that is called when an instance of the class is created.
  • Class methods are defined like normal functions, but they must include self as the first parameter.

Unit Testing

  • We can use pytest to write and run unit tests in Python.
  • A good test is isolated, repeatable, fast, and clear.
  • We can use fixtures to provide data or state to our tests.
  • We can use monkey patching to modify the behavior of functions or classes during testing.
  • Test Driven Development (TDD) is a practice where we write tests before writing the code to make the tests pass.

Extending Classes with Inheritance

  • Inheritance allows us to create a new class that is a specialized version of an existing class
  • We can override methods and properties in a subclass to provide specialized behavior

Inheritance and Composition

  • Composition allows us to build complex functionality by combining several smaller, simpler classes
  • Composition promotes separation of concerns, reusability, flexibility, and maintainability
  • By using abstract base classes, we can define interfaces that subclasses must implement, allowing for flexibility in our code design

Static Code Analysis

  • There are many static code analysis tools available for Python, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.
  • Ruff is a fast linter and code formatter that can replace several other tools, including flake8, pylint, and isort.
  • MyPy is a static type checker that can help catch type-related errors in Python code.

Building and Deploying a Package

  • We can build our package locally using uv build, which creates a dist/ directory with the built package files.
  • We can use GitHub Actions to automate the building and deployment of our package.
  • GitHub Actions workflows are defined using YAML files in the .github/workflows/ directory.
  • We can trigger our workflow to run on specific events, such as pushing a tag that follows semantic versioning.
  • We can add additional steps to our workflow, such as running tests and static code analysis, to ensure code quality before deployment.