Christopher Trudeau - Author, Course Creator, Podcast Co-host

Fractional CTO · contributor to Real Python since 2020

Christopher has a passion for the Python language and writes, records, and podcasts for Real Python. He is a consultant with an M.Sc in Computer Engineering and the author of Django In Action. He helps advise organizations on how to improve their technical teams. Christopher is a strong advocate for automation throughout the delivery process and the power of small teams with well defined goals.

Tutorials by Christopher:

• How to Write an Installable Django App
• Django Templates: Implementing Custom Tags and Filters
• Django Templates: Built-In Tags and Filters
• Get Started With Django Part 3: Django View Authorization
• Customize the Django Admin With Python

Courses by Christopher:

• Thread Safety in Python: Locks and Other Techniques
• What Can You Do With Python?
• Working With Python Polars
• NumPy Techniques and Practical Examples
• Building Dictionary Comprehensions in Python
• Building HTTP APIs With Django REST Framework
• Programming Sockets in Python
• Documenting Python Projects With Sphinx and Read the Docs
• Understanding Python's Global Interpreter Lock (GIL)
• What's New in Python 3.13
• Advanced Python import Techniques
• When to Use .__repr__() vs .__str__() in Python
• Using Astropy for Astronomy With Python
• Exploring Astrophysics in Python With pandas and Matplotlib
• pandas GroupBy: Grouping Real World Data in Python
• Rounding Numbers in Python
• Efficient Iterations With Python Iterators and Iterables
• Flattening a List of Lists in Python
• Using raise for Effective Exceptions
• SQLite and SQLAlchemy in Python: Move Your Data Beyond Flat Files
• Create Conway's Game of Life With Python
• What's New in Python 3.12
• Design and Guidance: Object-Oriented Programming in Python
• Inheritance and Internals: Object-Oriented Programming in Python
• Class Concepts: Object-Oriented Programming in Python
• Jinja Templating
• Recursion in Python
• Metaclasses in Python
• Publishing Python Packages to PyPI
• YAML: Python's Missing Battery
• Writing Clean, Pythonic Code With namedtuple
• Context Managers and Using Python's with Statement
• Cool New Features in Python 3.11
• Sneaky REST APIs With Django Ninja
• Building Command Line Interfaces With argparse
• Caching in Python With lru_cache
• Python mmap: Doing File I/O With Memory Mapping
• Testing Your Code With pytest
• Using Python's datetime Module
• Counting With Python's Counter
• Python's len() Function
• Working With Pipenv
• Binary, Bytes, and Bitwise Operators in Python
• Using Pygame to Build an Asteroids Game in Python
• Cool New Features in Python 3.10
• Rock, Paper, Scissors With Python: A Command Line Game
• The Square Root Function in Python
• Python Inner Functions
• Python vs JavaScript for Python Developers
• Stacks and Queues: Selecting the Ideal Data Structure
• Records and Sets: Selecting the Ideal Data Structure
• Dictionaries and Arrays: Selecting the Ideal Data Structure
• Python Modulo: Using the % Operator
• Evaluate Expressions Dynamically With Python eval()
• Speed Up Python With Concurrency
• Regular Expressions and Building Regexes in Python
• Cool New Features in Python 3.9
• Exploring HTTPS and Cryptography in Python
• Django Redirects
• Unicode in Python: Working With Character Encodings
• The Python print() Function: Go Beyond the Basics
• Structuring a Python Application
• Supercharge Your Classes With Python super()

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Tutorials Contributed to by Christopher:

• Python 3.10: Cool New Features for You to Try
• Python 3.9: Cool New Features for You to Try
• Python Packages: Five Real Python Favorites

Courses Contributed to by Christopher:

• Django View Authorization: Restricting Access
• Django Admin Customization

Podcast Episodes Featuring Christopher:

• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #253: Starting With Marimo Notebooks & Python App Config Management
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #251: Python Thread Safety & Managing Projects With uv
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #250: DjangoCon Europe 2025: Live Recording From Dublin
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #247: Exploring DuckDB & Comparing Python Expressions vs Statements
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #245: GUIs & TUIs: Choosing a User Interface for Your Python Project
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #243: Manage Projects With pyproject.toml & Explore Polars LazyFrames
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #241: Deciphering Python Jargon & Compiling Python 1.0
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #239: Behavior-Driven vs Test-Driven Development & Using Regex in Python
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #237: Testing Your Python Code Base: Unit vs. Integration
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #235: Principles for Considering Your Python Tooling
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #233: PyCoder's Weekly 2024 Top Articles & Missing Gems
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #231: Good Python Programming Practices When New to the Language
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #229: The Joy of Tinkering & Python Free-Threading Performance
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #227: New PEPs: Template Strings & External Wheel Hosting
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #225: Python Getting Faster and Leaner & Ideas for Django Projects
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #223: Exploring the New Features of Python 3.13
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #222: Using Virtual Environments in Docker & Comparing Python Dev Tools
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #220: Configuring Git Pre-Commit Hooks & Estimating Software Projects
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #219: Astrophysics and Astronomy With Python & PyCon Africa 2024
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #217: Packaging Data Analyses & Using pandas GroupBy
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #215: Using GraphQL in Django With Strawberry & Prototype Purgatory
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #213: Constraint Programming & Exploring Python's Built-in Functions
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #211: Python Doesn't Round Numbers the Way You Might Think
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #209: Python's Command-Line Utilities & Music Information Retrieval Tools
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #207: Decomposing Software Problems & Avoiding the Trap of Clever Code
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #206: Building Python Unit Tests & Exploring a Data Visualization Gallery
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #204: Querying OpenStreetMaps via API & Lazy Evaluation in Python
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #202: Pydantic Data Validation & Python Web Security Practices
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #200: Avoiding Error Culture and Getting Help Inside Python
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #198: Build a Video Game With Python Turtle & Visualize Data in Seaborn
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #196: Exploring Duck Typing in Python & Dynamics of Monkey Patching
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #194: Automate Tasks With Python & Building a Small Search Engine
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #192: Practical Python Decorator Uses & Avoiding datetime Pitfalls
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #189: Building a Python Debugger & Preparing for NumPy 2.0
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #187: Serializing Data With Python & Underscore Naming Conventions
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #184: PyCoder's Weekly 2023 Wrap Up
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #182: Building a Python JSON Parser & Discussing Ideas for PEPs
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #180: Studying Python Software Architecture & Creating Lambda Expressions
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #178: Guiding Scientific Python Library Development
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #176: Building Python Best Practices and Fundamental Skills
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #175: Exploring the New Features of Python 3.12
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #173: Getting Involved in Open Source & Generating QR Codes With Python
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #171: Making Each Line of Code Efficient & Python In Excel
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #168: Common Python Stumbling Blocks & Quirky Behaviors
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #166: Differentiating the Versions of Python & Unlocking IPython's Magic
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #164: Constructing Python Library APIs & Tackling Jinja Templating
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #162: Exploring the Zen of Python & pandas Features for Finance
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #160: Inheriting a Large Python Code Base & Building a GUI With Kivy
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #158: Building Python CI With Docker & Applying for a Hacker Initiative Grant
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #157: Discussing Mojo & Improving Python Object-Oriented Programming
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #155: Checking Project Dependencies & Python Dev Resource Collections
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #153: Seeking Faster Text Processing & Python's .__repr__() vs .__str__()
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #151: Evaluating Python Packages & Celebrating 20 Years of PyCon US
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #149: Coding With namedtuple & Python's Dynamic Superpowers
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #147: Django Deployment Strategies & Preparing for PyCascades 2023
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #145: Creating a Python Wordle Clone & Testing Environments With Nox
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #143: Create Interactive Maps & Geospatial Data Visualizations With Python
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #141: Exploring Python With bpython & Formalizing f-String Grammar
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #139: Surveying Comprehension Constructs & Python Parallelism Infighting
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #136: Package Python Code With pyproject.toml & Listing Files With pathlib
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #134: Building Python REST APIs With Flask & Structuring Pull Requests
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #132: Creating Tic-Tac-Toe With an AI Player & Shortcuts for Python Decorators
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #131: Exploring the New Features of Python 3.11
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #129: Using an Ellipsis in Python & Goals for CPython 3.12
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #127: Explaining Access Control Using Python & Cautiously Handling Pickles
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #125: Improve Matplotlib With Style Sheets & Python Async for the Web
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #122: Configuring a Coding Environment on Windows & Using TOML With Python
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #118: Creating Documentation With MkDocs & When to Use a Python dict
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #115: Digging Into PyScript & Preventing or Handling Python Errors
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #113: Build Streamlit Data Science Dashboards & Verbose Regex f-Strings
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #111: Questions for New Dependencies & Comparing Python Game Libraries
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #109: Start Testing Your Python with doctest & Pagination in Django
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #108: Run Python in a Browser With Pyodide & The Power of f-Strings
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #106: Class Constructors & Pythonic Image Processing
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #104: Building a Hash Table in Python and Thoughtful REST API Design
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #102: Making Your Notebook Interactive and Using Python's Assert
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #100: Defining Optional Arguments and Moving Beyond "Beginner" Python
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #98: Drawing Fractals With Python and Working With a Weather API
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #85: Exploring Django Templates, Tags, and Filters
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #81: Exploring the New Features of Python 3.10
• The Real Python Podcast – Episode #30: Exploring the New Features of Python 3.9

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