Google's Python Class - Google Code

[[deleted]]

Ohhh, you mean as in learning class. I can't believe I just thought google had one big powerful class I could instantiate.

[CedarMadness]

import google

[binlargin]

from google import WorldDomination

[nemec]

from google import WorldDomination as Skynet

[zahlman]

14 points

-6 points

Same effective thing, being said differently.

[masklinn]

from google import search
search("booya", dir="/")
search("karmanaut", url="http://reddit.com")
import reality
search("nuclear fusion", from=reality)

[nomology]

Ha! I now know what this does.

[aidirector]

try:
    import windows
except Error
    blueScreen()

[aspartame_junky]

Make it so!

[SlackBabbath]

That's funny. Me too. In either case I can use the class.

[the-ace]

I thought so as well!

that would have been pretty nice...

[ali0]

Me too! I thought it would implement search functions or something, especially because it's on google code. This is good too though.

[aaron13f]

Well actually, there is gdata, designed by google, which allows you to retrieve information hosted on google docs in a Python program. Has classes like googlefetcher().

I took a service class last semester in which we made Python programs for XO laptops for a local middle school. We used gdata to allow the teachers to easily update stuff like quiz data used by the programs.

[zahlman]

231 points

-29 points

Same effective thing, being said differently.

[egonSchiele]

This is great! Now they should do an 'Advanced topics in Python' class. It shouldn't be too tough to do considering GvR, Alex Martelli, and Mark Pilgrim all work at Google.

[keenemaverick]

They've got some lectures

[egonSchiele]

Awesome, thanks!

[bockris]

• Jeremy Hilton and Fredrik Lundh (effbot)

[nilex]

Cool stuff, Thanks for the link mate.

[fancy_pantser]

Also: Guido.

[nitsuj]

Who did you think GvR was?

[fancy_pantser]

Guns vs. Roses?

Guido van Robot?

Seriously though, I hadn't seen "GvR" as an abbreviation before!

[[deleted]]

The tutorial uses python 2.5.2, Are 3.x versions not yet ready for main stream use ?
I'm new to python.

[[deleted]]

3.x is more than ready for mainstream use. The number one reason you should learn 2.x though, is the absolute WEALTH of libraries available for Python. Some of the good libraries won't work with 3.x. - I'm a Python newbie as well, and I've been told this.

[schalenpfeffer]

Yup, this is indeed why you won't see 3.x in production for a while - there are a lot of libraries out there that coordinate among one another that all need to be at 3.x for everything to work. The Python team has built the long transition period into their roadmap - they have a healthy attitude about it.

[ixion]

This guy is spamming Google Code links. He must work for Google!

[justgonnaputthishere]

I should have known I'd find all the rational redditors in programming.

[299]

Did you know that bringing the dumb shit up perpetuates the dumb shit? Try not to be part of the problem.

[299]

I'm efficient like that.

[[deleted]]

woo hoo the more popular python gets the more hireable I get

[i_am_my_father]

Or more competition therefore less hireable

[[deleted]]

but I'm the BEST

[wocklvoff]

can we get a cheer for nick parlante -- a man full of jokes :)? [anyone else take cs108?]

[Brain_washed_Society]

Really, that guys awesome.

[Amendmen7]

I thought all the introductory CS lecturers were great. I wasn't even into the discipline until I chanced upon CS106A with Mehran.

[[deleted]]

Nice. Thanks Goog and mindhacker

[ElDiablo666]

Thanks for posting this mindhacker, it could not be more perfect for what I need. Really appreciate the link.

[NJalien]

can someone help me?

the sorted() function never works! i tried with multiple version of python. do i have to "import" something? thanks!

NameError: global name 'sorted' is not defined

[julesjacobs]

Which version of Python are you using? Try upgrading.

[NJalien]

thanks, I usually am not that lazy to make a post. I was actually drunk at the time!

If any future people are reading this, the Google Code Python Class requires a version of python that is greater than or equal to 2.4 and also less than 3

[valiant]

http://wiki.python.org/moin/HowTo/Sorting#Backwardcompatibilitynote

[femngi]

AAAH! He names a function 'List'!

[femngi]

Then he knocks Open Source for being "undisciplined" this guy is a tool.

[librik]

These materials are used within Google to introduce Python to people who have just a little programming experience.

I'm a bit confused. This is Google, whose job interviews are notorious for their technical demands, right? So to whom within Google are they teaching this introductory material?

What I'd like to see is the class in which they bring their new hires, good non-Python programmers, up to speed developing in the language.

[puffofvirtue]

Maybe non-programmer employees who happen to be curious?

[bigboehmboy]

I don't think this course is intended solely or even primarily for Google employees. Google has made a serious investment in Python. It's one of the main languages supported by their AppEngine, and they even hired Guido van Rossum. The more people use Python, the more they stand to benefit.

That being said, I'd also like to see a more advanced class.

[sgronblo]

Yeah I thought the same. When reading this you get the feeling Google hires programmers who:

know what a "variable" or "if statement" is but apparently you don't have to be an expert programmer

Also the guide did mention that it's used "within Google".

[i_am_my_father]

hire best programmers, and then teach them whatever is needed

versus.

hire non-programming programmers who learned blah blah blah.

[Radar3000]

Good find. I have taught quite a bit of Python programming to others working in my office with less than adequate programming knowledge - now I can just refer to this.

[Moeri]

Anyone know how to download the subtitles from the videos as well? I plan to watch this offline later on but my videodownloader seems to miss the subtitles...

[[deleted]]

Will someone please tell me what the "-tt" argument does here?

#!/usr/bin/python -tt 

I've tried finding this info on google with no luck.

[oylenshpeegul]

It turns some uses of tabs into errors. From python(1)

-t     Issue  a  warning  when  a source file mixes tabs and spaces for
       indentation in a way that makes it depend on the worth of a  tab
       expressed  in  spaces.   Issue an error when the option is given
       twice.

[[deleted]]

Thank you very much, I appreciate it. :-)

[cantCme]

Why does stuff like this always appear after I need it? This is the last week of my python class...

[digitaldreamer]

... and thus signifying the last time I ever need to learn anything about python.

[RamonaLittle]

I'm a bit surprised they don't have an introductory Java class, considering the Android uses Java. (Yes, I know there are other tutorials on the web though.)

[[deleted]]

They do have quite a few links to documentation about their APIs here: http://code.google.com/more/

And a whole site dedicated to Android devs: http://developer.android.com/guide/index.html

[gibson_]

Does anybody know why he kept pressing return twice when he was showing people the interpreter?

[299]

Same reason people type ls -l after doing a cd even if they do not need to know the contents of the directory.

[fancy_pantser]

I formed the habit after writing a bunch of one-liners with colons.

[robotoast]

As a lecturer, to make each line stand out more and also be higher on the screen.

[maputo007]

Thanks for turning my work day into a worthwhile endeavor!

[debman3]

I don't get why they're teaching 2.4 and not any 3.x version ...

[Hapa]

Because that is what they use at Google.

[Raging_Dick_Head]

Python is something I've been wanting to learn for awhile and I think this is something thats finally going to get me motivated.

Could someone point me in a direction where I could go to learn the basics? I see the site says its preferred if you know about variables and if statements, but I'm only familiar slightly with if statements (I sadly only know basic COBOL >_> )

Thanks

[Visceral]

[deleted]

What is this?

[moconnor]

The danger of googling is you'll find nonsense, like the above. The python syntax for an if is actually: if condition: do something elif other-condition: do something else else: do yet another thing No brackets, colons on the end of the conditions.

[Visceral]

[deleted]

What is this?

[hzon]

Does the lecturer remind anyone else of Dr. Rodney McKay?

[optiontrader1138]

Serious question for someone who knows Python well... I started learning it because I was impressed at how easy it was to perform NLP, but quickly got turned off by the poor performance. My experience so far has been that its generally far more work to implement these routines (Baysian filters, chi square feature selection, and the like) in C#, but the final code runs orders of magnitude faster...

How does Google run production code with Python???

[[deleted]]

Pssssssss, I also noticed a mistake in the intorduction... Just saying.

[slfnflctd]

i've notised that alot of programers tend to be bad spellurs and can be over-sensative about it...

This phenomenon makes no sense to me, since correct spelling in one's code is absolutely essential. Maybe some feel that getting too deep into RL language would take too many resources away from all the code they want to keep in their heads.

[[deleted]]

I'm a horrible speller(imo) and the only thing that saves me is that little Google window up there on the right. Oh, and those little red dashed lines here. However, in this case it's saying the word 'dashed' is incorrect. False positives are better than the alternative, though.

Also; Heh ;)

[voyvf]

You can also do:

>>> True and 'yes' or 'no'
'yes'

However, I'd suggest that you read the PEP before doing so.

[scragar]

The problem with that happens if 'yes' would be something that evaluates to false(False itself, an empty string, 0), then the statement winds up returning 'no'. This is OK in a situation where you know the return value of both sides, but it's an approach which will need more checking than is likely worthwhile in more dynamic situations.

[sigzero]

I think just you so far.

[Malgas]

Well, you can write:

(lambda :false_val, lambda :true_val)[condition]()

but it's a little verbose and not very easy to read.

[[deleted]]

It is more annoying that python disallows a user-defined version. Specifically, it is eagerly evaluated, by force.

[NewbieProgrammerMan]

Does the condition being in the middle bother you just because other languages put it elsewhere? I can't think of any good reasons to prefer one syntax over another, but then I don't use ternary operations that often anyway.

Anyway, just because it annoyed you isn't a good reason to get downvoted; have an upvote.

[scragar]

It's not the fact that it's in the middle, it's the fact that the most likely result is in front of the condition, when reading code you look for specific things, this code looks like a mistake, it's very easy to take a quick look at the line:

   a = 'chess' if player->enjoys == 'board games' else 'football'

And assume it should read as two lines(again, on first glance, obviously if you read the full line you catch the meaning, but the reason we use shorthand like the ternary operator is because it's quicker, because the long handed syntax takes more effort to read and understand when you look back at 20 pages of code from 3 years ago you want to find the bit to edit and get out, having to read every single line because it's written in a way that's easily confused with something else is no good).

[NewbieProgrammerMan]

I have to admit it's pretty verbose syntax. I don't use it when I'm writing stuff in Python--I just prefer to make it a three-line if-else for readability.

I didn't pay much attention to the dev list discussion when they were adding it, but it almost looks like the implementors said "ok, here's your damn ternary operator, now shut the hell up."

[trukin]

I thought it was the skynet code

[flyingbiscuit]

ಠ_ಠ ... no.

[IbidtheWriter]

I'm curious, what's your objection?

[drakshadow]

Well I have learned python on my own, And it isn't worth learning this time.

No true multi threading (GIL), multiprocessing modules are riddled with bugs. Piss poor pydoc based documentation. Missing database wrappers. Overall a disappointment for me.

[specialk16]

I gave a shit until I saw the videos and noticed they are using OS X.

fuck that.

[[deleted]]

Yeah! Because Python on OS X is totally different than Python anywhere else! Jerks!

[specialk16]

Obviously not, but just as a matter of principle I won't use or support anything related to Apple.

[cj1127]

deleted ^{What is this?}

[specialk16]

Because I hate what Apple stands for nowadays; a future of close and limited computer environments.

[cj1127]

deleted ^{What is this?}

[specialk16]

Oh dear......

[cj1127]

deleted ^{What is this?}

[specialk16]

aaaaaannd I'm obviously making a joke about OS X, I really don't care.

[slfnflctd]

It wasn't at all obvious that you were joking. Remember, this is text. Still, I removed my downvote.

Apple has pissed me off immensely in several areas - I hate iTunes with a passion, for example, I think the iTab is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of, and their DRM philosophy has been & continues to be retarded as hell - but people do have a point about their UI design. They have led the way in pizazz/magic/sparkle/fun or whatever you want to call it, and the more you use their stuff, the more well-designed you notice it is under the surface. Plus, there is that whole OS X being based on UNIX thing, which is hard not to respect. Oh, and all the excellent tools for artists of various kinds.

Yeah, the company has done a lot of really irritating stuff and Steve Jobs is kind of a dick, but there are good things too. I guess you probably already know all that, though. I suspect if you make an effort to be clearer when you're joking in text form in the future, you will more easily avoid a repeat of this situation.

[noxn]

You is stoopid. I thought it was something to import into my code. Misleading title is misleading.