James Powell's nearly two-hour PyData talk builds up Python's data model, decorators, generators and context managers, coding live in Vim. It aims to take intermediate programmers toward real Python expertise.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN calls it one of the best technical talks and the clearest explanation of decorators, generators and context managers.
“It's legitimately the best technical talk I think I've seen and I can't recommend it highly enough.”HN comment, 2020
“It's legitimately the best technical talk I think I've seen and I can't recommend it highly enough.”
Gives core understanding of Python's data model
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I work professionally in C/C++ and the instances I needed to use Python I always felt like I was missing the core understanding of the language and was writing C in a different syntax. I found James Powell's PyData 2017 talk "So you want to be a Python expert?" ( this video ) to be incredible at helping me to gain that core understanding of the language. It's legitimately the best technical talk I think I've seen and I can't recommend it highly enough.
Strongly recommendsransom1538Sep 2020
“this python expert video was absolutely amazing done by a true pro.”
Absolutely amazing Python expert talk by a true pro
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I don't even use python. But this python expert video was absolutely amazing done by a true pro. James Powell this video
Strongly recommendscharlyslJul 2023
“the best explanation I've seen of decorators, generators and context managers.”
Explains decorators, generators, context managers and the data model
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Another good (and entertaining) resource is James Powell's talk "So you want to be a Python expert" [1], the best explanation I've seen of decorators, generators and context managers. Good intro to the Python data (object) model too. [1] this video
RecommendsbarefegNov 2022
“I recommend any of the talks by James Powell at PyData.”
James Powell's PyData talks on Python
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I recommend any of the talks by James Powell at PyData. For example this one this video Edit: maybe this one on Numpy may be more relevant: link
RecommendsjphowardJan 2023
“shows you his coding approach in real time on Vim. Plenty of them are on YouTube and are worth a watch.”
Deep Python talk with live Vim coding
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James Powell frequently gives very deep Python talks at conferences like Pydata, and shows you his coding approach in real time on Vim. Plenty of them are on YouTube and are worth a watch. This one [1] entitled "So you want to be a Python expert?" has almost half a million views! [1] this video
RecommendskengoaJan 2026
“I'd recommend watching this PyData talk”
Understanding Python's data model improves engineering
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Understanding Python's data model helped me become a better software engineer. I'd recommend watching this PyData talk (James Powell: So you want to be a Python expert? | PyData Seattle 2017 - this video ) and then using the official doc as a reference which is also fun to read: link
