Petr was here

Magic of Python packages

2022-06-16T11:23:00+02:00

Magic of Python packages

There is always some magic when you learn python and install packages with pip install command. But have you ever wondered how python packages are born?

At first, there is almost any package for your need in the PYPI repository. PYPI is a PYthon Package Index. That is a default repository for python modules. When you install a module with pip install command, it downloads the required package and its dependencies from pypi.org. Of course that could be overwritten with your private repository instance, if you have one. 🙂 While you accumulate more and more experience with writing python code you may face some extra needs for python packages. You check pypi and voila! Wait... No. There is no package for your specific purpose. It has not been developed yet. Okay, you have an idea of how to make the package. And then you did it. Nice. It's time to share your awesome code and make other developers happy because there is no need to develop the package again. How to start?

Well, there is a great python packaging guide. I would recommend to go through it. It will help you to through the basics of packaging process. The guide includes the following steps:

Preparing your package repository folder structure for packaging;
Creating configuration files for packaging and distribution (license and readme);
Generating distribution archives;
Downloading the archives to a python index repo;
And finally, installing the newly added package.

Yes, your friends will be able to install your package with pip install <your_cool_package_name> now. You may worry about making mistakes while uploading distribution archives to PYPI. Stop it 🙂 There is a test PYPI instance to master interaction with pypi repository. It is here. Don't place any valuable info there because the testing PYPI instance is periodically cleaned.

Huh. It seems that now some magic smoke disappeared and you understand more clearly of how things are done in python. Enjoy!

Hacktoberfest2021

2021-10-14T15:25:00+02:00

Hacktoberfest 2021 and contributing to open source

What is Hacktoberfest? It is a month-long celebration of open source software run by DigitalOcean. (More official info is available here: https://hacktoberfest.digitalocean.com/)

For me it's a time of a year to make our world better. I believe that almost every person using any products of the modern technology leverages open source. Contributing to Open Source is a modern type of charity where your donate a very valuable entity, I mean your ideas and their implementation.

That's why I like the spirit of the event and I'm very grateful to Digital Ocean for the Hacktoberfest. Also, I visited the event's official kick-off meeting and there were a lot of information for newcomers. It aimed everyone to easily start participating in open source.

Github actions

2021-09-26T23:29:00+02:00

Update from GitHub Actions

I'd like to make my articles automatically posted to GitHub pages. That's why I created a GitHub Actions workflow where all the updates will be processed on Github Actions nodes.

And this post was processed and deployed automatically... Great success!!!)

Posting to GitHub pages

2021-09-12T01:25:00+02:00

Posting the website to Github Pages

Generating a static website was an easy task. Thanks Pelican. The output is a folder with a bunch of html and css files. All you need to make this a website is to create a public GitHub repo named your_username.github.io and push the output files into main branch there. The resulted website will be available at https://your_username.github.io. More details on GitHub Pages here: https://pages.github.com/

The first website template is a bit ugly though it is simple and understandable. So I'm gonna create my own template. It means to make blog even more uglier :D

I have an idea about how to make the blog content delivery more comfortable and faster. I will post it later.

My blog on GitHub pages

2021-09-05T10:20:00+02:00

This is an initial post

Could it be easy to create your own static GitHub pages blog using Python Pelican package? Let's try!

The docs are good enough. And you can create something very simple.

My first steps in 3d printing

2021-02-13T22:20:00+01:00

My first steps in 3d printing

A couple of years ago I've bought a DIY 3d printer kit Anycubic 4MAX. I was dreaming about my own 3d printer to make cases for my electronic projects. DIY kit was a cheaper option than buying an assembled one and I also wanted to understand how things are done 'under the hood' of a 3d printer. There was a detailed instruction for the Anycubic 4max 3d printer, and I spent about 2 days putting it together. That was a real pleasure to watch the first model was printing.

Then I asked myself a question: 'What next? What things I'd like to create?' I was already familiar with sites like thingiverse.com, and it turned out that there are lots of upgrades that could be printed for my Anycubic 4max. Making upgrades for my 3d printer then became a desire. I've upgraded mother-board and extruder's coolers, printed an improved fan duct, assembled more quiet TMC2208 drivers for stepper motors. And everything was ok. My 3d printer has become quieter. I customized its settings so the print quality was great. And then I decided to install another and very hyped extruder Titan Aero. I was expecting the print quality would increase many times. I've found a model of a carriage with the Titan Aero mount for Anycubic 4max and printed it. Then I assembled it and tried to make prints. They were faulty. I had to adjust printing settings many times, do lots of calibrations, re-flash internal printer firmware to achieve the same printing quality. The extruder upgrade consumed a lot of my time, and I was very upset of my expectations haven't met the reality. Neither great quality nor speed increase appeared.

Two years have passed since then. My 3d printer was packed and gathered dust in the corner. I wanted either sell it or gift it to someone. I wanted to give up.