The Blog Page

This page is an index to both noteworthy content and recent posts at this website. The header and footer wish to note their objection to calling this a "Blog" because that word is both fluid and trendy. But this qualifies on most counts (and "Posts" got 30% fewer hits). Below you'll find:

In the former, tap icons or titles to visit pages. In the latter, higher means newer (roughly), and ⎋ means off-site for hover-challenged gadgets. As of 2022, the latter's posts have also begun relocating to a continuation page for space. Most items on this page are not book-specific; for resources that are, see your book's support page.

Featured Content

Best-of bits: general, programs, and Android.

General

Learning Python 6E — The Next Chapter
icon Thirty years in the making, 2025's Learning Python covers the many mods of Python and its world in the last dozen years. It also slims down in the process, in part by dropping Python 2.X.
Teaching Python — 25 Years of Spam (so far)
icon Some history, opinion, and comedy from my first quarter century+ of Python training, writing, and promotion. Includes photos from the crusade: tap its top-of-page scroll or see the next item.
Teaching Python — The Photos
icon The image gallery that accompanies the prior item, updated in 2025 to demo new gallery tools. Pictures and narration of travel, books, and gadgets, served with a healthy side order of snark.
Python Changes 2014-2024 — Frankenthon Lives!
icon A technical and subjective-but-fair look at Python's expansion and convolution since the publication of Learning Python, 5th Edition. Keep your arms and legs inside the car at all times...
Class Workbook — Free Python Tutorial
icon The HTML workbook from my former classes. It lacks the words and interaction that went with it, has holes where live demos belong, and is now quite dated, but you may find some of it useful.
Python Strings — The Web Cut
icon An early-draft tutorial on Unicode and byte strings in Python, that went on to fame and fortune in large books and evolved separately here. Read the tangled tale and kiss your ASCII goodbye.

Programs

thumbspage — Image-Gallery Builder
icon A program that uses Python, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to turn a folder of images into a gallery viewable both online and offline in any desktop or mobile browser. Plus rotating space monkeys.
Mergeall — Sync sans Cloud
icon A cross-platform GUI+script that does fast backup and change propagation for content folders, no clouds required. With Mergeall, your stuff is your property, not someone else's point of control.
ziptools — Python's zipfile "++"
icon A program+library that creates and extracts zips on all platforms, with tools Python's zipfile module lacks: symlink archiving, DST/timezone neutrality, and much more. Think zipfile on steroids.
tagpix — Organize Those Photos
icon A tool that merges photos, adds origin dates to make them unique, and automatically handles duplicates—ideal for folks who let their picture folders grow out of control (and we know who we are).
Programs Central — Get Free Apps Here
icon The distribution center for more free programs and software written in the Python programming language, which run on both PCs and smartphones and come with privacy baked in. Track this!

Android

Mergeall on Android — Wishful Syncing?
icon Run Mergeall on your Android smartphone to sync content to and from a USB drive. No phone rooting or card removal required, though Android bugs and permissions keep it interesting.
Tkinter on Android — Yes, It Works
icon Use desktop-level Python Tkinter GUIs on your Android devices, as long as you're willing to run an app's IDE, code around a few glitches, and tolerate freemium advertising. Hey—it's Android.
Android 11 — Just Say No
icon Learn about Android's latest agenda-laden release, which narrows USB access, slows shared storage to a crawl, and slashes utility. Because we're not to be trusted with our own phones.
Android Deltas Sync — Just Say Yes
icon Use Python to sync folders between your PC and phone by USB, despite Android 11's removal of POSIX USB access and Samsung's removal of microSD cards. Bust your content out of Big-Tech prison today!
PC-Phone USB Sync — The Last Word
icon Sync folders between PCs and phones by USB, with a Python-coded standalone app that negates Android lockdowns, sports a seamless UI, and runs everywhere. Despite Google's best efforts. Tap Note here.

Recent Posts

The latest buzz: Python, programs, books, etcetera.

Python

  • 3.X got f-strings, :=, type hints, match, and async—but no fix for this
  • Python 3.10's switch; because we couldn't do without one for 30 years?
  • Python 3.9 convolutes the language and breaks your code; surprise!
  • Python Tkinter GUIs finally come to Android—advertising included
  • python.org ends support for the still-widely-used Python 2.X, rudely
  • Python 3.8 is briefly reviewed on Python Changes
  • Python 3.7 broke generators too: read the posthumous coverage
  • Expanded 3.6 topics—number underscores, f-string interpolation
  • New Unicode article: mistaking CP-1252 for Latin-1 kills (quotes)
  • Python 3.7 earns honorable mention on Python Changes
  • Python 3.5's bytes string formatting gets a more thorough drubbing
  • Updated 3.5 foibles: type declarations and core-language coroutines
  • Popular searches: 3.X strings, Windows launcher, fun with decorators

Programs

Books

  • Shocker?—LP6E is now in production and coming soon
  • The publisher page ends its mission with a preface
  • Note to the reader: Python isn't easy; it's just easier
  • Books are back—O'Reilly restarts direct book sales, and Amazon turns red
  • ⎋ The show goes on: O'Reilly ends its conferences and sells access to you
  • The latest publisher follies (and one reason my books aren't being updated)
  • A new Chinese translation of Learning Python 5E is out: cover, page, etc
  • Collateral damage?—pages like this and this lost to publisher morph
  • O'Reilly stops selling books at its site to push online/video subscriptions
  • ⎋ Shockingly, a few hours of video aren't enough to master anything

Etcetera

  • Android 15's dodgy 6-hours-per-day limit for sync-app services
  • Chrome on Android overlays toolbars and snatches downswipes
  • macOS: AppleDoubles flood exFAT, translocation kills autosaves
  • Windows Storage Sense might make programs crash
  • Google Play badly needs a paradigm shift: tap "Why Free?" here
  • GUI apps on Windows WSL2 Linux: marginal but hopeful
  • Android 11+ casualty: Pydroid 3 loses shared storage (and scope)
  • Android 13 locks down app-specific storage; poorly
  • The Windows-Chrome scrollbar blues
  • Lessons learned from a four-year flirtation with Android
  • Android 12's "phantom" process killer also kills Termux and Python
  • How Android 11 broke my Python programs (so far)
  • Android (削除) 10 (削除ここまで) 11 may be as locked down and limited as iOS
  • Why does Mac OS hate independent developers so?
  • A desktop developer in the mobile corral
  • Edge considered harmful: overlaid lower-left links
  • In defense of critical thinking in open-source software
  • Gmail users: Be afraid. Be very afraid...

More Recent Posts

You can find more posts like these on the blog continuation page:

Read more here



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