Learning Python
Finally here!! Welcome to my new blog dedicated specifically to Python programming. My old blog at LiveJournal is getting a little long in the tooth, plus their spam filtering was lacking... something....
View ArticleWriting 2.x & 3.x Compatible Code
While we're at the crossroads transitioning from Python 2 to 3, you may wonder whether it is possible to write code runs without modification under both Python 2 and 3. It seems like a reasonable...
View ArticleA new PyCon... and a new book (and a new article)!!
I'm excited about this year's PyCon conference happening this time in the heart of Silicon Valley. There are many firsts, so let's just list a few here (let me know if I'm missing any)!This is the...
View ArticleIntegrating Google APIs and Technologies
In 1997, long before my tenure at Google, I became a member of the Python community in helping to create Yahoo!Mail, one of the most popular web-based email systems in the world. There were only two...
View ArticleTuples aren't what you think they're for
While I'm happy that the number of Python users continues to grow at a rapid pace and that there are many tutorials added each day to support all the newbies, there are a few things that make me cringe...
View ArticleLearning Programming
Two years ago, I wrote a post on "learning Python" to launch this blog dedicated to Python. While useful, it doesn't address beginners' needs as much, so it's time for a revisit. Because Python is such...
View ArticleIntroduction to Python decorators
In this post, we're going to give you a user-friendly introduction to Python decorators. (The code works on both Python 2 [2.6 or 2.7 only] and 3 so don't be concerned with your version.) Before...
View ArticleSimple Google API access from Python
IntroductionBack in 2012 when I published Core Python Applications Programming, 3rd ed., Iposted about how I integrated Google technologies into the book. The only problem is that I presented very...
View ArticleAuthorized Google API access from Python
NOTE: You can also watch a video walkthrough of the common code covered in this blogpost here. IntroductionIn this final installment of a (currently) two-part series introducing Python developers to...
View ArticleMigrating from tools.run() to tools.run_flow()
This mini-tutorial slash migration guide slash PSA (public service announcement) is aimed at Python developers using the Google APIs Client Library (to access Google APIs from their Python...
View ArticleAccessing Gmail from Python (plus BONUS)
NOTE: The code covered in this blogpost is also available in a video walkthrough here. IntroductionThe last several posts have illustrated how to connect to public/simple and authorized Google APIs....
View ArticleCreating events in Google Calendar from Python
NOTE: The code covered in this blogpost is also available in a video walkthrough here. IntroductionSo far in this series of blogposts covering authorized Google APIs, we've used Python code to access...
View ArticleGoogle Drive: Uploading & Downloading files with Python
UPDATE: Since this post was published, the Google Drive team released a newer version of their API. After reading this one, go to the next post to learn about migrating your app from v2 to v3 as well...
View ArticleMigrating to the new Google Drive API v3
NOTE: The code covered in this and the previous post are also available in a video walkthrough. IntroductionIn a blog post last week, we introduced readers to performing uploads and downloads files...
View ArticleMigrating SQL data to Google Sheets using the new Google Sheets API
NOTE: The code covered in this post are also available in a video walkthrough.UPDATE (Sep 2016): Removed use of argparse module & flags (effective as of Feb 2016).IntroductionIn this post, we're...
View ArticleExporting a Google Sheet spreadsheet as CSV
IntroductionToday, we'll follow-up to my earlier post on the Google Sheets API and multiple posts (first, second, third) on the Google Drive API by answering one common question: How do you download a...
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Formatting cells in Google Sheets with Python
IntroductionOne of the critical things that developers have not been able to do in previous versions of the Google Sheets API is to format cells... that's a big deal! Anyway, the past is the past, and...
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Replacing text & images with the Google Slides API with Python
NOTE: The code covered in this post are also available in a video walkthrough however the code here differs slightly, featuring some minor improvements to the code in the video.IntroductionOne of the...
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Generating slides from spreadsheet data
NOTE: The code covered in this post are also available in a video walkthrough.IntroductionA common use case when you have data in a spreadsheet or database, is to find ways of making that data more...
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Modifying email signatures with the Gmail API
IntroductionIn a previous post, I introduced Python developers to the Gmail API with a tutorial on how to search for threads with a minimum number of messages. Today, we'll explore another part of the...
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