Astrophysics and Astronomy With Python & PyCon Africa 2024

The Real Python Podcast

Are you interested in practicing your Python skills while learning how to solve astrophysics and astronomy problems? Christopher Trudeau is back on the show this week, bringing another batch of PyCoder’s Weekly articles and projects.

Christopher shares a pair of his recent Real Python video courses about exploring astronomy and astrophysics with Python. Throughout the courses, you’ll get to practice using a variety of data science libraries, such as NumPy, Matplotlib, pandas, pint, and Astropy.

We speak with Mannie Young who is the Organizing Committee Chair of PyCon Africa. Real Python is excited to be a contributing sponsor of this year’s conference. Mannie discusses reinvigorating a continent-spanning conference after a multiyear hiatus. He also talks about introducing Python to students and new developers across Africa through PyClubs, PyLadies, and PyData programs.

We share several other articles and projects from the Python community, including a news roundup, logging in Python, understanding operator precedence, reconciling why it only works on your machine, a fast way to create an HTML app, and a tool for deep inspection of Python objects.

This episode is sponsored by InfluxData.

Course Spotlight: Sorting Dictionaries in Python: Keys, Values, and More

In this video course, you’ll learn how to sort Python dictionaries. By the end, you’ll be able to sort by key, value, or even nested attributes. But you won’t stop there, you’ll also measure the performance of variations when sorting and compare different key-value data structures.

Topics:

• 00:00:00 – Introduction
• 00:03:05 – PEP 750: Tag Strings for Domain-Specific Languages
• 00:05:19 – PEP 752: Package Repository Namespaces
• 00:07:32 – PyCon US 2024 Recap and Recording Release
• 00:08:01 – Logging in Python
• 00:14:57 – It Works on My Machine. Why?
• 00:17:33 – Python’s Operator Precedence
• 00:20:54 – Exploring Astrophysics in Python With pandas and Matplotlib
• 00:24:03 – Using Astropy for Astronomy With Python
• 00:26:37 – Sponsor: InfluxData
• 00:27:22 – fasthtml: The Fastest Way to Create an HTML App
• 00:32:50 – wat: Deep Inspection of Python Objects
• 00:38:08 – PyCon Africa 2024
• 00:40:47 – What goes into re-energizing a conference?
• 00:44:20 – Talks and speakers
• 00:46:58 – Video Course Spotlight
• 00:48:29 – How did you get involved?
• 00:52:19 – PyClubs and growing Python education
• 00:58:41 – What industries are using Python in Ghana?
• 01:00:20 – Sponsorship and support
• 01:01:51 – Travel in and outside the continent
• 01:04:23 – Call to action
• 01:05:05 – Thanks and goodbye

News:

• PEP 750: Tag Strings for Domain-Specific Languages (Added)
• PEP 752: Package Repository Namespaces (Added)
• PyCon US 2024 Recap and Recording Release – PyCon US 2024 had a record breaking attendance with over 2,700 in-person tickets sold. This article is a recap from the conference runners and links to all the available recordings.

Show Links:

• Logging in Python – If you use Python’s print() function to get information about the flow of your programs, then logging is the natural next step for you. This tutorial will guide you through creating your first logs and show you ways to curate them to grow with your projects.
• It Works on My Machine. Why? – A list of things to check when something works on your computer but not on someone else’s.
• Python’s Operator Precedence – Stephen uses a story-telling style to explain how operator precedence works in Python.
• Exploring Astrophysics in Python With pandas and Matplotlib – This course uses three problems often covered in introductory astro-physics courses to play in Python. Along the way you’ll learn some astronomy and how to use a variety of datascience libraries like NumPy, Matplotlib, pandas, and pint.
• Using Astropy for Astronomy With Python – This course covers two problems from introductory astronomy to help you play with some Python libraries. You’ll use NumPy, Matplotlib, and pandas to find planet conjunctions, and graph the best viewing times for a star.

Projects:

• fasthtml: The Fastest Way to Create an HTML App
• wat: Deep Inspection of Python Objects

Additional Links:

• PyCon Africa 2024 - Home
• Announcing PyCon Africa 2024 Blog: A Return to Accra and a Look Ahead
• Episode #65: Expanding the International Python Community With the PSF
• Django Girls - Start your journey with programming
• PyLadies Ghana - Python Ghana’s Blog
• PyData Ghana - Python Ghana’s Blog
• PyClubs - Home
• Quiz: Logging in Python
• Mannie Young - LinkedIn
• Mannie Young (@mawy_7) - X

Level up your Python skills with our expert-led courses:

• Using Astropy for Astronomy With Python
• Sorting Dictionaries in Python: Keys, Values, and More
• Exploring Astrophysics in Python With pandas and Matplotlib

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