Summary

Alex Martelli has dedicated a large part of his career to teaching others how to work with software. He has the highest number of Python questions answered on Stack Overflow, he has written and co-written a number of books on Python, and presented innumerable times at conferences in multiple countries. We spoke to him about how he got started in software, his work with Google, and the trends in development and design patterns that are shaping modern software engineering.

Brief Introduction

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• Your hosts as usual are Tobias Macey and Chris Patti
• Today we’re interviewing Alex Martelli

Interview with Alex Martelli

• Introductions
• How did you get introduced to Python? – Chris
• You have achieved a number of honors and recognitions throughout your career for significant technical achievements. What kind of learning strategies do you use to enable you to achieve mastery of technical topics? – Tobias
• How do you keep the Python In A Nutshell book current as aspects of the core language and its libraries change? – Chris
• You are known for your prolific contributions to Stack Overflow, particularly on topics pertaining to Python. Was that a specific goal that you had set for yourself or did it happen organically? – Tobias
• When answering Stack Overflow questions, do you usually already know the answers or do you treat it as a learning opportunity? – Tobias
• What are some of the most difficult Python questions that you have been faced with? – Tobias
• You have presented quite a number of times at various Python conferences. What are some of your favorite talks? – Tobias
• Design patterns and idiomatic code are common themes in a number of your presentations. Why is it important for developers to understand these concepts and what are some of your favorite resources on the topic? – Tobias
• What do you see as the most influential trends in software development and design, both currently and heading into the future? – Tobias
• As a long-time computer engineer, are there any features or ideas from other languages that you would like to see incorporated into Python?

Picks

• Tobias
  • The Great Gatsby Movie
• Chris
  • Stone Ruination Double IPA
  • Ghost Soldiers
• Alex
  • Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
  • Hamilton Musical

Links

• Permission or Forgiveness
• Good enough is good enough
• Modern Python Patterns and Idioms
• Handling Errors and Exceptions in Modern Python
• Microservices
• Google SRE Book
• Python In A Nutshell use code AUTHD for a discount

The intro and outro music is from Requiem for a Fish The Freak Fandango Orchestra / CC BY-SA