Archive

A brain dump of stories

I started making stories as kind of a brain dump a few times per day and posting them to [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/waylonwalker/(https://www.linkedin.com/in/waylonwalker/). Here are the last 11 days of stories. I store all the stories on my website with the hopes of doing something with them on my own platform eventually. For now it makes it easy to make these posts. cd static/stories ls | xargs -I {} echo '' Stories 10-10-2020 - 10-21-2020 # [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] References: [1]: #stories-10-10-2020---10-21-2020 [2]: https://waylonwalker.com/stories/TIL-kedro-sorts-nodes.png [3]: https://waylonwalker.com/stories/disable-base-pip.png [4]: https://waylonwalker.com/stories/discovered-social-cards.png [5]: https://waylonwalker.com/stories/find-kedro-de1-contributor.png [6]: https://waylonwalker.com/stories/hacktoberfest-2020-kedro-538-tests-pass.png [7]: https://waylo...

⭐ mmchougule kedro-grpc-server

Check out mmchougule [1] and their project kedro-grpc-server [2]. Kedro gRPC Server is a Kedro plugin that creates a gRPC server for triggering and monitoring pipeline runs using a general-purpose RPC framework gRPC References: [1]: https://github.com/mmchougule [2]: https://github.com/mmchougule/kedro-grpc-server

⭐ yetudada kedro-user-testing

Check out yetudada [1] and their project kedro-user-testing [2]. Discovery prototypes for user testing References: [1]: https://github.com/yetudada [2]: https://github.com/yetudada/kedro-user-testing

⭐ ikamensh flynt

The work on flynt [1] by ikamensh [2]. A tool to automatically convert old string literal formatting to f-strings References: [1]: https://github.com/ikamensh/flynt [2]: https://github.com/ikamensh

⭐ charmbracelet glow

charmbracelet [1] has done a fantastic job with glow [2]. Highly recommend taking a look. Render markdown on the CLI, with pizzazz! 💅🏻 References: [1]: https://github.com/charmbracelet [2]: https://github.com/charmbracelet/glow

⭐ mytechnotalent Python-For-Kids

Check out mytechnotalent [1] and their project Python-For-Kids [2]. A FREE comprehensive online Python development tutorial FOR KIDS utilizing an official BBC micro:bit Development Board going step-by-step into the world of Python for microcontrollers. References: [1]: https://github.com/mytechnotalent [2]: https://github.com/mytechnotalent/Python-For-Kids

⭐ nnja pycon_pybadge_2020

I’m impressed by pycon_pybadge_2020 [1] from nnja [2]. Initial code for Microsoft’s PyBadge at PyCon 2020 References: [1]: https://github.com/nnja/pycon_pybadge_2020 [2]: https://github.com/nnja

Fix git commit author

I was 20 commits into a hackoberfest PR when I suddenly realized they they all had my work email on them instead of my personal email 😱. This is the story of how I corrected my email address on 19 individual commits after already submitting for a PR. - Change the email for this repo [1] - Prepare for rebasing [2] - start the rebase [3] - 🛠 Fix First wrong Commit [4] - Fix all commits [5] - Done [6] - ReCap [7] Change the email for this repo # [1] stop the bleeding Before anything else set the email correctly! cd kedro git config user.name "Waylon Walker" git config user.email [email protected] Prepare for rebasing # [2] First thing is to find how many commits back this mistake goes. I opened up the git [8] log, and saw mine went back 19 commits. I rolled back 20 just to be sure. $ git log ... commit a355926b9d7ec4c05659adaa254beefbdb036332 Author: WaylonWalker <[email protected]> Date: Sat Oct 17 10:28:59 2020 -0500 give name of function inside incorrect parameters erro...

⭐ muesli duf

I like muesli’s [1] project duf [2]. Disk Usage/Free Utility - a better ‘df’ alternative References: [1]: https://github.com/muesli [2]: https://github.com/muesli/duf

Designing a "Router" for kedro

nodes_global # [1] I released a router-like plugin for kedro back in April 2020. This was not the first design, the idea actually came from one of the QB folks who taught me kedro nearly a year before. We were assembling our pipelines with something called nodes_global. It worked fairly well but did have some issues around being set as a global variable. But… One thing in particular that it did not lend itself well to was being able to create a packagable pipeline that I could pip install and append into any of my existing pipelines. Something I am still trying to work out, maybe I don’t need this. I think I have it working for our internal pipelines and it seems like the way to go, but we don’t necessarily end up using it. Also… With this pattern all of the nodes needed to be importable by the module containing nodes_global. I find that this becomes a big hurdle for new pipelines coming from jupyter to overcome and can be most infuriating when their nodes aren’t getting ran af...

⭐ AnkurDedania python_training

I came across python_training [1] from AnkurDedania [2], and it’s packed with great features and ideas. Intro to Python References: [1]: https://github.com/AnkurDedania/python_training [2]: https://github.com/AnkurDedania

⭐ github renaming

github [1] has done a fantastic job with renaming [2]. Highly recommend taking a look. Guidance for changing the default branch name for GitHub repositories References: [1]: https://github.com/github [2]: https://github.com/github/renaming

Reclaim memory usage in Jupyter

Today I ran into an issue where we had a one-off script that just needed to work, but it was just chewing threw memory like nothing. It started with a colleague asking me How do I clear the memory in a Jupyter notebook, these are the steps we took to debug the issue and free up some memory in their notebook. How do I clear the memory in a Jupyter notebook? Pre check the status of memory # [1] There are a number of ways that you can check the amount of memory on your system. The easiest is not necessarily my first go to is free… literally free. check for free space $ free -h total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 15G 15G 150M 0B 59M 8.7G Generally my first go to is a bit more graphical, and not available on a stock stystem, but far more useful…. htop. htop [2] is a terminal process explorer that shows cpu usage, mem usage, and running processes. htop sudo apt-get install htop # install it from your package repo htop [3] First step throw more swap at it # [4] Often be...

Strip Trailing Whitespace from Git projects

A common linting error thrown by various linters is for trailing whitespace. I most often use flake8. I generally have [pre-commit](https://waylonwalker.com/pre-commit-is-awesome hooks setup to strip this, but sometimes I run into situations where I jump into a project without it, and my editor lights up with errors. A simple fix is to run this one-liner. One-Liner to strip whitespace # [1] bash git grep -I --name-only -z -e '' | xargs -0 sed -i -e 's/[ \t]\+\(\r\?\)$/\1/' pre-commit is awesome I recently discovered the ✨ awesomeness that is pre-commit. I steered away from it for so long because it seemed like a big daunting thing to set up, but... Jun 5, 2020 [2] References: [1]: #one-liner-to-strip-whitespace [2]: /pre-commit-is-awesome/

⭐ tpope vim-sleuth

tpope [1] has done a fantastic job with vim-sleuth [2]. Highly recommend taking a look. sleuth.vim: Heuristically set buffer options References: [1]: https://github.com/tpope [2]: https://github.com/tpope/vim-sleuth

⭐ actions setup-python

actions [1] has done a fantastic job with setup-python [2]. Highly recommend taking a look. Set up your GitHub Actions workflow with a specific version of Python References: [1]: https://github.com/actions [2]: https://github.com/actions/setup-python

⭐ actions starter-workflows

I came across starter-workflows [1] from actions [2], and it’s packed with great features and ideas. Accelerating new GitHub Actions workflows References: [1]: https://github.com/actions/starter-workflows [2]: https://github.com/actions

⭐ actions checkout

checkout [1] by actions [2] is a game-changer in its space. Excited to see how it evolves. Action for checking out a repo References: [1]: https://github.com/actions/checkout [2]: https://github.com/actions

⭐ nicknisi dotfiles

Looking for inspiration? dotfiles [1] by nicknisi [2]. vim, zsh, git [3], homebrew, neovim - my whole world References: [1]: https://github.com/nicknisi/dotfiles [2]: https://github.com/nicknisi [3]: /glossary/git/

⭐ sirupsen zk

Just starred zk [1] by sirupsen [2]. It’s an exciting project with a lot to offer. Zettelkasten on the command-line 📚 🔍 References: [1]: https://github.com/sirupsen/zk [2]: https://github.com/sirupsen

⭐ sirupsen napkin-math

The work on napkin-math [1] by sirupsen [2]. Techniques and numbers for estimating system’s performance from first-principles References: [1]: https://github.com/sirupsen/napkin-math [2]: https://github.com/sirupsen

⭐ deepyaman kedro-accelerator

deepyaman [1] has done a fantastic job with kedro-accelerator [2]. Highly recommend taking a look. Kedro-Accelerator speeds up pipelines by parallelizing I/O in the background. References: [1]: https://github.com/deepyaman [2]: https://github.com/deepyaman/kedro-accelerator

Chrome Extensions I use

There are many useful chrome extensions out there. I probably have way too many installed, here are four that I am currently using. This post was inspired from Chris over at daily-dev-tips [1] - LastPass [2] - Stylus [3] - Vimium [4] - hypothesis [5] --- LastPass [6] # [7] Love it or hate it passwords are hard to manage. Everyone needs a password manager to avoid the dreaded password reuse, and to be able to quickly rotate them with a service. I use lastpass, thus it’s browser extension is my most used extension. [6] --- Stylus [8] # [9] Stylus is an extension that allows you to add your own CSS to style pages how you want. There seems to be a full community of folks that really use this to the nth degree to style all of their commonly used sites somewhat similarly or add dark mode to sites without it. Personally I mostly use it to add my favorite syntax highlighting theme to jupyter, onedark. I’ve long lost the original author, but have posted the CSS I use in this gi...

⭐ WaylonWalker find-kedro

The work on find-kedro [1] by WaylonWalker [2]. kedro plugin to automatically construct pipelines using pytest style pattern matching References: [1]: https://github.com/WaylonWalker/find-kedro [2]: https://github.com/WaylonWalker

⭐ WaylonWalker steel-toes

Looking for inspiration? steel-toes [1] by WaylonWalker [2]. a kedro hook to protect against breaking changes to data References: [1]: https://github.com/WaylonWalker/steel-toes [2]: https://github.com/WaylonWalker

⭐ htop-dev htop

I like htop-dev’s [1] project htop [2]. htop - an interactive process viewer References: [1]: https://github.com/htop-dev [2]: https://github.com/htop-dev/htop

Creating Reusable Bash Scripts

Bash is a language that is quite useful for automation no matter what language you write in. Bash can do so many powerful system-level tasks. Even if you are on windows these days you are likely to come across bash inside a cloud VM, Continuous Integration, or even inside of docker. I have three techniques that help me write more composable bash scripts. - functions [1] - Arguments [2] - positional arguments [3] - All Arguments [4] - Error Handling [5] - main script [6] --- Functions # [1] Break scripts down into reusable components Functions in bash are quite simple. They are something that I wish I would have started using long ago. They make your code much more reusable. I often use them in my aliases as well since they can simplify the process and allow more flexibility. syntax #!/bin/sh # hello_world hello_world () { echo "hello world" } Source the file to load the function and run it from the terminal. run it source hello_world hello_world outputs hello world ...

Three things to Automate with Python using Pandas

Here are three things that I see my non programming counterparts doing every single day. These really sum up so much of what folks do within an office. So many of us dabble in or become power users of spreadsheets without knowing there is an alternative out there that can save us time, automate boring things, and allow us to open up our minds for the part that we add value, Thinking about the data. Focus on Value Add Operations # [1] Lets face it, stitching together spreadsheets is zero value add by itself, but if you can see something in the data and take action on it, this can be huge value add to your company. Learning just a bit of python will help focus more of your attention on “value add operations” and leave the mundane stuff to your computer. Merge a directory full of spreadsheets into one # [2] I see this one all the time. One team gets a spreadsheet from another team once per month and they need to stich all the pieces together. Excel really opens the door for some na...

How to Install miniconda on linux (from the command line only)

miniconda is a python distribution from continuum. It’s a slimmed-down version of their very popular anaconda distribution. It comes with its own environment manager and has eased the install process for many that do not have a way to compile c-extensions. It made it much easier to install the data science stack on windows a few years ago. These days windows are much better than it was back then at compiling c-extensions. I still like its environment manager, which installs to a global directory rather than a local directory for your project. Installing miniconda on Linux # [1] Installing miniconda on Linux can be a bit tricky the first time you do it completely from the terminal. The following snippet will create a directory to install miniconda into, download the latest python 3 based install script for Linux 64 bit, run the install script, delete the install script, then add a conda initialize to your bash or zsh shell. After doing this you can restart your shell and conda will...

How to crush amazing posts on DEV

This post was inspired by a comment I left on @dsteenman’s post. {% post dsteenman/how-long-should-a-blogpost-be-2k6n %} Most of the time I prefer short as I am more likely to read the whole thing. If its setup as a series I am more likely to work my way through the whole series in a matter of a few sessions. Just my preference I will say though there are certain articles that fit well to the long format. They are articles that folks tend to come back to often as a reference again and again. Sections # [1] - layout is key [2] - Break it up [3] - Article types [4] - superpost [5] - single post [6] - series [7] - discussion [8] - Post what you want to read [9] layout is key # [2] Either way, you go layout is key. You are not Steven King, no matter how great of a writer you are, you are unlikely to hold attention like he can. Most folks reading blogs scan articles first. I often scan, then read. If the article is really good or pertains well to me I will read everything, ...

⭐ RanaEmad metrics-of-awesome-api

I like RanaEmad’s [1] project metrics-of-awesome-api [2]. A Node.js API with the main purpose of acting as a backend for practicing authentication in React. It enables the user to sign up, sign in and view a dashboard with his metrics of awesome through different endpoints. References: [1]: https://github.com/RanaEmad [2]: https://github.com/RanaEmad/metrics-of-awesome-api

⭐ elyase awesome-gpt3

If you’re into interesting projects, don’t miss out on awesome-gpt3 [1], created by elyase [2]. No description available. References: [1]: https://github.com/elyase/awesome-gpt3 [2]: https://github.com/elyase

⭐ shreyashankar gpt3-sandbox

shreyashankar [1] has done a fantastic job with gpt3-sandbox [2]. Highly recommend taking a look. The goal of this project is to enable users to create cool web demos using the newly released OpenAI GPT-3 API with just a few lines of Python. References: [1]: https://github.com/shreyashankar [2]: https://github.com/shreyashankar/gpt3-sandbox

Black Tech Pipeline

I was particularly inspired by @chantastic episode 103 of the react podcast with @ParissAthena. They spoke about the black tech pipeline as well as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Pariss is quite an inspiration. She has done so much work to create a better place for POC in tech. I like that not only is she helping them get jobs but acting as a mentor for their first few months on the job to make sure that they are able to find their place and fit in. Based on an episode of react podcast. 🎙 Listen to the full episode [1]. So Inspirational # [2] I was particularly inspired by @chantastic [3] episode 103 of the react podcast with @ParissAthena [4]. They spoke about the black tech pipeline as well as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Pariss is quite an inspiration. She has done so much work to create a better place for POC in tech. I like that not only is she helping them get jobs but acting as a mentor for their first few months on the job to make sure that they are able to find ...

Review of the git-auto-commit-action

It’s a really cool GitHub action that will automatically commit files changed during the action. I was using this to render a new readme based on a template. Check out the repo for git-auto-commit-action [1]. It’s a really cool GitHub action that will automatically commit files changed during the action. I was using this to render a new readme based on a template. This has been by far the easiest way to commit back to a repo that I have seen. Other patterns often require fully setting up the git [2] user and everything. While it’s not all that hard, this action already has all of that covered. You must give it a commit message and thats it. Optionally you can configure a number of things. Its possible to configure the commit_user_name, commit_user_email, and commit_author. I often also scope the file_pattern to a certain subset of files. --- Getting Started with GitHub Actions Github actions are written in configuration files using the YAML syntax. YAML is a superset of JSON...

What's New in Kedro 0.16.4

If we take a look at the release notes [1] I see one major feature improvement on the list, auto-discovery of hooks. ## Major features and improvements * Enabled auto-discovery of hooks implementations coming from installed plugins. This one comes a bit surprising as it was just casually mentioned in #435 [2] [2] Think pytest # [3] As mentioned in #435 [2] this is the model that pytest uses. Not all plugins automatically start doing things right out of the box but require a CLI argument. simplicity # [4] It feels a bit crazy that simply installing a package will change the way that your pipeline gets executed. I do like that it requires just a bit less reaching into the framework stuff for the average user. Most folks will be able to write in the catalog and nodes without much change to the rest of the project. Implementation # [5] Reading through the docs [6], they show us that we can make our hooks automatically register by adding a kedro.hooks endpoint that points to a ...

⭐ bdougie gitActionTraction

I’m impressed by gitActionTraction [1] from bdougie [2]. 📹 Home video of GitHub Actions tips for better traction. References: [1]: https://github.com/bdougie/gitActionTraction [2]: https://github.com/bdougie

⭐ elangosundar awesome-README-templates

If you’re into interesting projects, don’t miss out on awesome-README-templates [1], created by elangosundar [2]. A collection of awesome readme templates to display on your github profile. References: [1]: https://github.com/elangosundar/awesome-README-templates [2]: https://github.com/elangosundar

⭐ jgm pandoc

I’m really excited about pandoc [1], an amazing project by jgm [2]. It’s worth exploring! Universal markup converter References: [1]: https://github.com/jgm/pandoc [2]: https://github.com/jgm

⭐ anuraghazra github-readme-stats

I’m really excited about github-readme-stats [1], an amazing project by anuraghazra [2]. It’s worth exploring! ⚡ Dynamically generated stats for your github readmes References: [1]: https://github.com/anuraghazra/github-readme-stats [2]: https://github.com/anuraghazra

Integration testing with Python, TestProject.io, and GitHub Actions

Caution None of the testproject.io urls resolve anymore in JAN 2025, I removed all of the broken links. As I continue to build out waylonwalker.com [1] I sometimes run into some errors that are not caught because I do not have good testing implemented. I want to explore some integration testing options using GitHub’s actions. Running integration tests will not prevent bugs from happening completely, but it will allow me to quickly spot them and rollback. --- 🤔 What to test first? # [2] The very first thing that comes to my mind is anything that is loaded or ran client-side. Two things quickly came to mind here. I run gatsby so most of my content is statically rendered, and it yells at me if something isn’t as expected. For performance reasons I lazy load cards on my blogroll, loading all of the header images gets heavy and kills lighthouse (if anyone actually cares). I am also loading some information from the top open-source libraries that I have created. To prevent the need...

⭐ kelseyhightower nocode

I came across nocode [1] from kelseyhightower [2], and it’s packed with great features and ideas. The best way to write secure and reliable applications. Write nothing; deploy nowhere. References: [1]: https://github.com/kelseyhightower/nocode [2]: https://github.com/kelseyhightower

🐍 Practice Python Online

When learning a new skill it’s important to practice along the way. In order for me to show up to practice I need to make it easy to show up. An easy way to show up to practice with python is to use an online repl. With these you can try out something quick. Sometimes I see snippets from blogs or tweets and I need to try the out for myself to really understand. When learning a new skill it’s important to practice along the way. In order for me to show up to practice I need to make it easy to show up. An easy way to show up to practice with python is to use an online repl. With these, you can try out something quick. Sometimes I see snippets from blogs or tweets and I need to try them out for myself to really understand. Three online REPLS # [1] Here are three different options that I have used in the past to try out something at some various levels. I am sure there are plenty more, but these are three that I have tried. I am not covering all of them, because It’s been a while sin...

⭐ Thaiane Thaiane

I’m really excited about Thaiane [1], an amazing project by Thaiane [2]. It’s worth exploring! No description available. References: [1]: https://github.com/Thaiane/Thaiane [2]: https://github.com/Thaiane

⭐ sindresorhus css-in-readme-like-wat

Check out sindresorhus [1] and their project css-in-readme-like-wat [2]. Style your readme using CSS with this simple trick References: [1]: https://github.com/sindresorhus [2]: https://github.com/sindresorhus/css-in-readme-like-wat

⭐ gautamkrishnar blog-post-workflow

I’m impressed by blog-post-workflow [1] from gautamkrishnar [2]. Show your latest blog posts from any sources or StackOverflow activity or Youtube Videos on your GitHub profile/project readme automatically using the RSS feed References: [1]: https://github.com/gautamkrishnar/blog-post-workflow [2]: https://github.com/gautamkrishnar

⭐ commitizen-tools commitizen

The work on commitizen [1] by commitizen-tools [2]. Create committing rules for projects 🚀 auto bump versions ⬆️ and auto changelog generation 📂 References: [1]: https://github.com/commitizen-tools/commitizen [2]: https://github.com/commitizen-tools

How python tools configure

mypy # [1] Mypy’s config parser seems to be one of the most complex. This is likely in part to it having the largest backwards compatability of all projects that I looked at. mypy/config_parser [2] flake8 # [3] options/config.py [4] black # [5] black [6] portray # [7] - only uses pyproject.toml portray/config.py [8] interrogate # [9] - only uses pyproject.toml References: [1]: #mypy [2]: https://github.com/python/mypy/blob/master/mypy/config_parser.py [3]: #flake8 [4]: https://github.com/PyCQA/flake8/blob/master/src/flake8/options/config.py [5]: #black [6]: https://github.com/psf/black/blob/master/src/black/__init__.py#L277-L331 [7]: #portray [8]: https://github.com/timothycrosley/portray/blob/main/portray/config.py [9]: #interrogate

Edit On GitHub

I recently added a button to my blog, and subsequently my posts on DEV.to [1]. It’s the best thing that I have done for it in a while. It makes it so easy to do quick edits. finding errors # [2] I refer back to my old posts quite a bit, sometimes I find errors in them. Honestly most of the time its too much effort to load up my editor make the change and git add and git commit. It’s not much, but when I am referring to my own post generally I am just trying to get something done and don’t have time for that. The slug # [3] The slug that I am getting from gatsby is formatted as /blog/this-post/. Note the trailing slash and missing file extension, thats where the ${slug.slice(0, -1)}.md comes in. The Full Link # [4] GitHub makes it super easy to form a URL that puts you right into edit mode on the exact post you are looking for. This is format for the URL… you can always figure it out easily by clicking edit on one. https://github.com/<user>/<repo>/edit/<branch>/<filepath> The...

⭐ ChristopherBiscardi toast

Check out ChristopherBiscardi [1] and their project toast [2]. Moved! now at https://github.com/toastdotdev/toast References: [1]: https://github.com/ChristopherBiscardi [2]: https://github.com/ChristopherBiscardi/toast