Conditional Python Dependencies

Since the inception of wheels that install Python packages without executing arbitrary code, we need a static way to encode conditional dependencies for our packages. Thanks to PEP 508 we do have a blessed way but sadly the prevalence of old setuptools and pip versions make it a minefield to use.

How I Stopped Worrying and Started Loving PyLadies

When I read about PyLadies for the first time, my thoughts were a common knee-jerk: “separation is bad, dividing the community, …”. Like many of my privileged peers, I was pro-diversity but I thought this is the wrong way. My views changed over time and I filed it under “lessons learned”. Unfortunately, my old thinking patterns don’t cease to pop up in discussions, so I decided to share my perspective.

Twisted Sybase SQL Anywhere

Using the official sqlanydb driver for Python together with Twisted’s adbapi produces not-so-occasional crashes as of today (sqlanydb 1.0.2, Twisted 11.0.0). Apparently, the official SQL Anywhere drivers aren’t thread-safe. It cost me several days to figure out because I was searching the fault in my code so I hope to spare you some pain.