Real Python Podcast Episode #111 Title Artwork

Episode 111: Questions for New Dependencies & Comparing Python Game Libraries

The Real Python Podcast

May 27, 2022 51m

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Christopher Bailey
Christopher Bailey
Host
Christopher Trudeau
Christopher Trudeau
Host

What are the differences between the various Python game frameworks? Would it help to see a couple of game examples across several libraries to understand the distinctions? This week on the show, Christopher Trudeau is here, bringing another batch of PyCoder’s Weekly articles and projects.

Episode Sponsor:

We discuss a Real Python article by previous guest Jon Fincher titled “Top Python Game Engines”. Jon compares five different game frameworks and provides example projects and thorough commentary for each.

We talk about a blog post by recent guest Adam Johnson about determining if a project is well maintained. He suggests twelve questions to decide whether to add a new dependency to your project.

We cover several other articles and projects from the Python community, including a news roundup, Python decorator patterns, finding the smallest and largest values with min() and max(), a discussion about the most-used Python packages, the pony object-relational mapper, and a project to read PEPs in your console.

Topics:

  • 00:00:00 – Introduction
  • 00:02:04 – News: Python Release Python 3.11.0b1
  • 00:02:56 – Faster CPython project
  • 00:04:16 – nogil conversation at the 2022 summit
  • 00:06:08 – PEP 690: Lazy Imports
  • 00:08:14 – DjangoCon US & Europe 2022 Call for Proposals
  • 00:09:25 – Top Python Game Engines
  • 00:20:38 – Sponsor: CData Software
  • 00:21:20 – Python Decorator Patterns
  • 00:24:00 – The Well-Maintained Test: 12 Questions for New Dependencies
  • 00:29:27 – Python’s min() and max(): Find Smallest and Largest Values
  • 00:33:33 – Video Course Spotlight
  • 00:34:44 – Which Python Packages Do You Use the Most?
  • 00:41:42 – pony: Pony Object Relational Mapper
  • 00:47:41 – pepdocs: Read PEPs in Your Console
  • 00:50:20 – Thanks and goodbye

News:

Topic Links:

  • Top Python Game Engines – In this tutorial, you’ll explore several Python game engines available to you. For each, you’ll code simple examples and a more advanced game to learn the game engine’s strengths and weaknesses.
  • Python Decorator Patterns – Decorators are a way of wrapping functions around functions, they’re a common technique for providing pre- and post-conditions on your code. Learn about the different ways decorators get invoked and how to write each pattern.
  • The Well-Maintained Test: 12 Questions for New Dependencies – There is lots of openly available code out there, but how do you know if you should build a dependency on some random coder’s package? 12 Questions you should ask yourself before using a library.
  • Python’s min() and max(): Find Smallest and Largest Values – In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use Python’s built-in min() and max() functions to find the smallest and largest values. You’ll also learn how to modify their standard behavior by providing a suitable key function. Finally, you’ll code a few practical examples of using min() and max().

Discussion:

Projects:

Additional Links:

Level Up Your Python Skills With These Courses:

Python Decorators

Python Decorators 101

Python's map(): Processing Iterables Without a Loop

Python's map() Function: Transforming Iterables

Build an Asteroids Game With Python and Pygame

Using Pygame to Build an Asteroids Game in Python

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