The Hitchhiker's Guide to Python takes the journeyman Pythonista to true expertise. More than any other language, Python was created with the philosophy of simplicity and parsimony. Now 25 years old, Python has become the primary or secondary language (after SQL) for many business users. With popularity comes diversity-and possibly dilution.This guide, collaboratively written by over a hundred members of the Python community, describes best practices currently used by package and application developers. Unlike other books for this audience, The Hitchhiker's Guide is light on reusable code and heavier on design philosophy, directing the reader to excellent sources that already exist.

Mike Driscoll takes you on a journey talking to a hall-of-fame list of truly remarkable Python experts. You'll be inspired every time by their passion for the Python language, as they share with you their experiences, contributions, and careers in Python. Key Features Hear from these key Python thinkers about the current status of Python, and where it's heading in the future Listen to their close thoughts on significant Python topics, such as Python's role in scientific computing, and machine learning Understand the direction of Python, and what needs to change for Python 4 Book DescriptionEach of these twenty Python Interviews can inspire and refresh your relationship with Python and the people who make Python what it is today. Let these interviews spark your own creativity, and discover how you also have the ability to make your mark on a thriving tech community. This book invites you to immerse in the Python landscape, and let these remarkable programmers show you how you too can connect and share with Python programmers around the world. Learn from their opinions, enjoy their stories, and use their tech tips. * Brett Cannon - former director of the PSF, Python core developer, led the migration to Python 3. * Steve Holden - tireless Python promoter and former chairman and director of the PSF. * Carol Willing - former director of the PSF and Python core developer, Project Jupyter Steering Council member. * Nick Coghlan - founding member of the PSF's Packaging Working Group and Python core developer. * Jessica McKellar - former director of the PSF and Python activist. * Marc-Andre Lemburg - Python core developer and founding member of the PSF. * Glyph Lefkowitz - founder of Twisted and fellow of the PSF * Doug Hellmann - fellow of the PSF, creator of the Python Module of the Week blog, Python community member since 1998. * Massimo Di Pierro - fellow of the PSF, data scientist and the inventor of web2py. * Alex Martelli - fellow of the PSF and co-author of Python in a Nutshell. * Barry Warsaw - fellow of the PSF, Python core developer since 1995, and original member of PythonLabs. * Tarek Ziade - founder of Afpy and author of Expert Python Programming. * Sebastian Raschka - data scientist and author of Python Machine Learning. * Wesley Chun - fellow of the PSF and author of the Core Python Programming books. * Steven Lott - Python blogger and author of Python for Secret Agents. * Oliver Schoenborn - author of Pypubsub and wxPython mailing list contributor. * Al Sweigart - bestselling author of Automate the Boring Stuff with Python and creator of the Python modules Pyperclip and PyAutoGUI. * Luciano Ramalho - fellow of the PSF and the author of Fluent Python. * Mike Bayer - fellow of the PSF, creator of open source libraries including SQLAlchemy. * Jake Vanderplas - data scientist and author of Python Data Science Handbook. What you will learn How successful programmers think The history of Python Insights into the minds of the Python core team Trends in Python programming Who this book is forPython programmers and students interested in the way that Python is used - past and present - with useful anecdotes. It will also be of interest to those looking to gain insights from top programmers.