Podcasts

Topics covered in this episode:

• The PSF has withdrawn a $1.5 million proposal to US government grant program
• A Binary Serializer for Pydantic Models
• T-strings: Python's Fifth String Formatting Technique?
• Cronboard
• Extras
• Joke

Watch on YouTube

About the show

Sponsored by us! Support our work through:

• Our courses at Talk Python Training
• The Complete pytest Course
• Patreon Supporters

Connect with the hosts

• Michael: @mkennedy@fosstodon.org / @mkennedy.codes (bsky)
• Brian: @brianokken@fosstodon.org / @brianokken.bsky.social
• Show: @pythonbytes@fosstodon.org / @pythonbytes.fm (bsky)

Join us on YouTube at pythonbytes.fm/live to be part of the audience. Usually Monday at 10am PT. Older video versions available there too.

Finally, if you want an artisanal, hand-crafted digest of every week of the show notes in email form? Add your name and email to our friends of the show list, we'll never share it.

Brian #1: The PSF has withdrawn a $1.5 million proposal to US government grant program

• Related post from Simon Willison
• ARS Technica: Python plan to boost software security foiled by Trump admin’s anti-DEI rules
• The Register: Python Foundation goes ride or DEI, rejects government grant with strings attached
• In Jan 2025, the PSF submitted a proposal for a US NSF grant under the Safety, Security, and Privacy of Open Source Ecosystems program. After months of work by the PSF, the proposal was recommended for funding.
• If the PSF accepted it, however, they would need to agree to the some terms and conditions, including, affirming that the PSF doesn't support diversity. The restriction wouldn't just be around the security work, but around all activity of the PSF as a whole. And further, that any deemed violation would give the NSF the right to ask for the money back.
• That just won't work, as the PSF would have already spent the money.
• The PSF mission statement includes "The mission of the Python Software Foundation is to promote, protect, and advance the Python programming language, and to support and facilitate the growth of a diverse and international community of Python programmers." The money would have obviously been very valuable, but the restrictions are just too unacceptable.
• The PSF withdrew the proposal. This couldn't have been an easy decision, that was a lot of money, but I think the PSF did the right thing.

Michael #2: A Binary Serializer for Pydantic Models

• 7× Smaller Than JSON
• A compact binary serializer for Pydantic models that dramatically reduces RAM usage compared to JSON.
• The library is designed for high-load systems (e.g., Redis caching), where millions of models are stored in memory and every byte matters.
• It serializes Pydantic models into a minimal binary format and deserializes them back with zero extra metadata overhead.
• Target Audience: This project is intended for developers working with:
  • high-load APIs
  • in-memory caches (Redis, Memcached)
  • message queues
  • cost-sensitive environments where object size matters

Brian #3: T-strings: Python's Fifth String Formatting Technique?

• Trey Hunner
• Python 3.14 has t-strings. How do they fit in with the rest of the string story?
• History
  • percent-style (%) strings - been around for a very long time
  • string.Template - and t.substitute() - from Python 2.4, but I don’t think I’ve ever used them
  • bracket variables and .format() - Since Python 2.6
  • f-strings - Python 3.6 - Now I feel old. These still seem new to me
  • t-strings - Python 3.14, but a totally different beast. These don’t return strings.
• Trey then covers a problem with f-strings in that the substitution happens at definition time.
• t-strings have substitution happen later. this is essentially “lazy string interpolation”
• This still takes a bit to get your head around, but I appreciate Trey taking a whack at the explanation.

Michael #4: Cronboard

• Cronboard is a terminal application that allows you to manage and schedule cronjobs on local and remote servers.
• With Cronboard, you can easily add, edit, and delete cronjobs, as well as view their status.
• ✨ Features
  • ✔️ Check cron jobs
  • ✔️ Create cron jobs with validation and human-readable feedback
  • ✔️ Pause and resume cron jobs
  • ✔️ Edit existing cron jobs
  • ✔️ Delete cron jobs
  • ✔️ View formatted last and next run times
  • ✔️ Accepts special expressions like @daily, @yearly, @monthly, etc.
  • ✔️ Connect to servers using SSH, using password or SSH keys
  • ✔️ Choose another user to manage cron jobs if you have the permissions to do so (sudo)

Extras

Brian:

• PEP 810: Explicit lazy imports, has been unanimously accepted by steering council
• Lean TDD book will be written in the open. TOC, some details, and a 10 page introduction are now available. Hoping for the first pass to be complete by the end of the year.
  • I’d love feedback to help make it a great book, and keep it small-ish, on a very limited budget.

Joke: You are so wrong!

CHA: Kon Knueppel has truly impressed early on

Join Dunc’d On Prime! It's the only place to get every episode with Nate & Danny, plus every pod with John Hollinger & Nate as well!

Subscribe on YouTube to see our hilarious faces and, more importantly, see watch this free pod twice a week.

Or, sign up for our FREE mailing list to get Dan Feldman's Daily Duncs with all the major topics around the league twice a week.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

OA1209 - Are you done with legal doomerism? Us too. Take some time away from doomscrolling and join Matt and Jenessa for Rapid Response Friday as we consider four stories of legal corruption and authoritarianism failing in the face of honest federal judges, and a footnote about how one brave prison nurse exposed even more corruption in Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell’s special treatment by the Trump administration.

1. Complaint in United States v. State of New York, Northern Dist. of NY (7/9/25)

2. New York’s motion to dismiss in U.S. v. New York (8/4/25) 

3. Judge Mae D’Agostino’s order granting plaintiff’s motion to dismiss in U.S. v. NY (11/17/25) 

4. Indictment of James Comey, Eastern Dist. of VA (9/25/25)

5. Judge William Fitzpatrick’s order granting disclosure of grand jury materials in U.S. v. Comey (EDVA)(11/20/25)

6. Judge Jeffrey Brown’s order in LULAC v. Abbot, Western Dist. of TX (11/18/25)

7. Decision on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s motion to dismiss in 9/11 litigation, Southern Dist. of NY (8/28/25)

Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

Zach and Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone go behind the scenes on the Nuggets journey to the 2023 NBA title, then ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk join to talk the Clippers at the crossroads, the James Harden situation, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bill rambles about 90's heroine sheik, roller coaster malfunctions, and heli-hogging.

---

Squarespace:  Head to www.squarespace.com/BURR for a free trial, and when you’re ready to launch, use OFFER CODE: (BURR) to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

Hims:  To get simple, online access to personalized, affordable care for ED, Hair Loss, Weight Loss, and more, visit www.Hims.com/BURR 

There's going to be sex, drugs, rock ’n’ roll, chips, dips, chains, whips … your basic Rewatchables episode. The Ringer’s Bill Simmons and Kyle Brandt revisit John Hughes’s 1985 hit ‘Weird Science,’ starring Anthony Michael Hall, Kelly LeBrock, and Ilan Mitchell-Smith. Producers: Craig Horlbeck, Chia Hao Tat, and Eduardo Ocampo Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the Personal Price Plan®. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there®. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Zach Lowe to have an NBA League Pass draft of the most fun teams to watch (2:19). Then, Joe House joins the pod to make their Ringer 107 picks for the week (02:01:30). Host: Bill Simmons Guests: Zach Lowe and Joe House Producers: Chia Hao Tat and Eduardo Ocampo This episode is brought to you by Apple Watch. Find our more at apple.com/apple-watch-series-11 Presented by @MichelobULTRA #ULTRACourtside LDA 21 and over. Drink responsibly. This episode is sponsored by State Farm®. Don’t settle for just any insurance when there’s State Farm. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit⁠⁠ www.rg-help.com⁠⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Python has many string formatting styles which have been added to the language over the years. Early Python used the % operator to injected formatted values into strings. And we have string.format() which offers several powerful styles. Both were verbose and indirect, so f-strings were added in Python 3.6. But these f-strings lacked security features (think little bobby tables) and they manifested as fully-formed strings to runtime code. Today we talk about the next evolution of Python string formatting for advanced use-cases (SQL, HTML, DSLs, etc): t-strings. We have Paul Everitt, David Peck, and Jim Baker on the show to introduce this upcoming new language feature.

Episode sponsors

Posit
Auth0
Talk Python Courses

Links from the show