Planet Python
Last update: June 20, 2026 04:48 PM UTC
June 20, 2026
Bob Belderbos
Profile First: A 10x Faster Django Test Suite
The Rust Platform Django test suite took 30 seconds to run. I had a hunch it was database-related. Of course I was wrong. I profiled it with cProfile and cut it from 30 to 3 seconds.
June 19, 2026
Core Dispatch
Core Dispatch #6
Welcome back to Core Dispatch! This edition covers June 4 through 19, 2026. Python 3.14.6 and 3.13.14 landed on June 10, and the next milestone is 3.15.0 beta 3 on June 23. The big news this fortnight comes from the Steering Council, who put out an [announcement on the path forward for the experim
Bob Belderbos
End-to-End Testing Every Rust Exercise with Playwright
The Rust platform has 71 exercises and counting (I just added a new track of Unix exercises). They all share the same interface: load an editor, type code, validate it against a Rust backend. When I make any changes to the platform, how do I confirm nothing breaks? Enter end-to-end testing with Playwright.
June 18, 2026
Ned Batchelder
Dodecahedron with stars
I saw this dodecahedron with an Islamic-inspired pattern designed by Taj Ragoo. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to make one. I studied the pattern, wrote some Python, and made myself a PDF. I cut it out, folded it, glued it together, and now I have one of my own:
I love that this elegantly combines two pure geometric forms: the Platonic dodecahedron (12 uniform pentagons), and an Islamic pattern using five-pointed stars.
Looking closely, details emerge:
Each face has ten small stars in a ring. I’ve lightened them a bit in the front face here. At the center of each face is a ten-pointed star (highlighted in red), made of two overlaid five-pointed stars.
The real genius of the pattern is at the corners. I’ve highlighted one in blue. It’s a star made of the same parts as the central ten-pointed star, but there are only nine points. It works because three pentagons lying flat touching at a point occupy 324 degrees, leaving a 36-degree gap.
When the dodecahedron is folded together, the gap is closed. 36 degrees is exactly one-tenth of a complete 360-degree circle, so exactly one point of the ten-pointed star is missing, leaving a perfect nine-pointed star using the same shapes, spread over the corners of three pentagons. Beautiful!
If this appeals to you, follow Taj on Instagram: he’s got more Platonic/Islamic mashups to enjoy. The paper versions are just prototypes of the final versions he makes in wood.
Of course, you can get my PDF and make one for yourself:
The Python code to draw the net isn’t great: it has no real parallels to the structure of each face. It’s a lot of math and line drawing to get things in the right places. My ideal would be to have a toolset that used a tile-placing abstraction, to be able to do more interesting designs. Some day.
It was a joy to work on this though. It was a slow process of studying the original, working out the math, then mulling over coding approaches. The code was developed in small steps over weeks. Then printing initial versions, marking them up, working out the tab structure. Some copies were colored to understand how the lines flowed across the whole dodecahedron. It was good to be working in both the mental and physical worlds:
Update: it looks like the design was originally by Dana Awartani: Dodecahedron Within an Icosahedron.
Python Software Foundation
PSF Board Election Dates for 2026
Bob Belderbos
When to use classmethod, staticmethod, or instance method in Python
In a coaching call this week we discussed a create classmethod, and someone asked the obvious question: why is that here? It just forwarded its arguments to __init__. We ended up discussing the difference between instance methods, classmethods, and staticmethods, and how to tell which is which. Here's a simple decision rule.
Seth Michael Larson
TIL “@here” only notifies online users on Discord and Slack
June 17, 2026
PyCharm
Every developer has tools they rely on daily. The workflows they’ve built around them, the ways they’ve learned to move faster, debug smarter, and write better code – that kind of hands-on experience can be hard to put into words. We’re collaborating with LinkedIn to make it easier for you to showcase your expertise with […]
Talk Python to Me
#552: Astral joins OpenAI
OpenAI just acquired Astral, the company behind uv, Ruff, and ty. And if your first thought was "wait, is uv toast?", you are not alone. But here's the twist Charlie Marsh shared with me: he thinks they may ship more open source at OpenAI than they ever did at Astral. On this episode, we get into the acquisition, the mixed feelings, the future of your favorite Python tools, and what it's like to build right at the center of the AI universe.
PyCharm
Your JetBrains IDE Expertise, Now on LinkedIn
Django Weblog
Announcing the Search for a DSF Executive Director
The Django Software Foundation is hiring its first Executive Director, and we have the Django community to thank for making it possible.
Six Django web development agencies have jointly pledged $47,500 to help fund the Executive Director's first year: Caktus Group, Lincoln Loop, Six Feet Up, Cuttlesoft, OddBird, and Two Rock. This is the financial foundation we needed to move from "we should hire an ED someday" to "we are hiring an ED now."
Why This Role Matters
The DSF has grown significantly over the past several years. We fund multiple Django Fellows, distribute grants to events around the world, manage corporate and individual memberships, oversee working groups, and handle the legal and operational responsibilities of a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. For years, volunteer board members have carried this operational load alongside their regular jobs. That dedication has carried us far, but there are real limits to what a volunteer board can do.
An Executive Director changes that. This person would handle day-to-day operations and administration, sponsorship development and partner relationships, community outreach and communications, coordination with the Django Fellows and working groups, and grant management and financial reporting.
It is a paid position, part-time or full-time depending on the candidate, for someone who understands open source communities and is genuinely excited about helping Django thrive as both a framework and a foundation.
"For years our board has run the DSF on volunteer time, and we've hit the limits of what that can do. An Executive Director lets us actually grow the work, more support for Django Fellows, better fundraising, and the operational help we've needed for a long time," said Jeff Triplett, DSF Board President. "We've talked about this hire for years, and funding was always what held us back. Six agencies who compete with each other decided to put money in together so we could finally do it. That tells you how much this community cares about Django's future."
The Agencies Who Made This Possible
These six agencies compete for the same clients, but they share a foundation: Django. That shared reliance drove them to collaborate on this pledge, and we want to recognize each of them.
Caktus Group ($12,500), the Durham, NC consultancy founded in 2007 and known for data-intensive Django work with clients like UNICEF and the University of Chicago, put it directly. CEO Tobias McNulty said: "Django is the bedrock of our business, and as a smaller team, contributing is a significant investment. We hope this coordinated action from six agencies sends a clear signal to the rest of the industry: it's time to contribute to the core technology that makes our businesses possible."
Lincoln Loop ($10,000), the remote-first Python consultancy that has built platforms for Planned Parenthood, Wharton, Mozilla, and PBS, framed it as a question of sustainability. Founder Peter Baumgartner said: "We've seen the Django community thrive under volunteer leadership, but we've reached a ceiling. The Executive Director role is about sustainability, providing the leadership and structure needed to scale the DSF's impact and protect Django's long-term future."
Six Feet Up ($10,000), the woman-owned consultancy founded in 1999 with clients including Capital One, Purdue University, and UNEP, focused on what this means for enterprise confidence in Django. CEO Gabrielle Hendryx-Parker said: "Tech leaders stake their roadmaps on the long-term viability of their technology stack. A full-time Executive Director de-risks the framework's future, protecting the robust and lasting systems we build for our clients and ensuring Django remains a bankable, innovative choice."
Cuttlesoft ($10,000), the product agency based in Tallahassee and Denver that has been building with Django since 2014, sees the hire as an investment in the whole ecosystem. Co-founder Frank Valcarcel said: "Investing in a dedicated Executive Director is a proactive step toward ensuring Django's continued evolution. We believe this role will unlock new opportunities for growth and collaboration within the community, benefiting all who rely on this incredible framework."
OddBird ($2,500), the remote boutique agency co-founded by Django core developer Jonny Gerig Meyer, has been contributing to both the framework and the community for more than 17 years. Jonny said: "Adding a dedicated Executive Director helps the DSF ensure Django's long-term sustainability, giving developers and enterprise clients peace of mind choosing the Django ecosystem. This investment is a no-brainer, and we're thrilled to partner with other peer agencies to help make it a reality."
Two Rock Software ($2,500), the Django-focused custom development shop with deep roots in the Django events community, rounded out the pledge. Co-founder Peter Grandstaff, who serves as President of Django Events Foundation North America and helps run DjangoCon US, said: "As President of Django Events Foundation North America, I know how hard it is for a volunteer board to run an effective organization. I feel strongly that Django is at a point where an Executive Director is the right step into the future."
We Need Your Help Too
This $47,500 pledge is a launchpad, not the finish line.
Hiring an Executive Director means taking on a recurring cost that our current fundraising levels cannot sustain on their own. That is why the DSF is raising its annual fundraising goal from $300,000 to $500,000 (2026 fundraising goals). The additional funding reflects what it takes to responsibly hire and maintain this role, continue supporting our Django Fellows, and keep the rest of our programs running without cutting corners.
Six agencies stepped up first. We are asking others to follow.
If your company builds on Django, sells products that run on Django, or employs developers who work with Django every day, this is your opportunity to invest in the infrastructure that makes that possible. No contribution is too small, and every organization that joins this effort makes it easier for the next one to say yes.
You can reach out directly through our Contact the DSF page to discuss a contribution toward the Executive Director fund, or make a general donation at djangoproject.com/foundation/donate/. Individual community members can also contribute via Open Collective.
With the community's help, with your company's help, we can get there.
What Comes Next
The board is formalizing the hiring process and will publish the job posting in the coming weeks. When it is ready, we will announce it across the DSF blog, Django Forum, Django Discord, and our other community channels.
If you know someone who would be a great fit for this role, start thinking about them now.
Thank you to Caktus Group, Lincoln Loop, Six Feet Up, Cuttlesoft, OddBird, and Two Rock for leading the way.
Python Software Foundation
Everything Security at PyCon US 2026
Bob Belderbos
Building an AI Agent in 6 Weeks (and Finally Understanding How They Work)
Jeff Haemer has written software since he was teaching it at the University of Colorado in the early 1980s. But he felt he needed to brush up his Python, and above all get a grounding in AI.
In his words AI was "a big undifferentiated cloud of things I didn't know." Time to change that.
June 16, 2026
PyCoder’s Weekly
Issue #739: JIT Delayed, Sandboxes, OpenRouter, and More (2026-06-16)
Ari Lamstein
Upcoming O’Reilly Workshop: Building Data Apps with Streamlit and Copilot (July 2026)
On July 9 (9am–1pm Pacific), I’ll be teaching a 4‑hour live workshop for O’Reilly: Building Data Apps with Streamlit and Copilot. This is the second time I’ve run this workshop, and I’ve made several improvements based on what I learned the first time. If you work in Python and want to turn your analyses into […]
Mariatta
Waitlisted for the Core Devs Sprint: When the Bad News was Also the Good News
Last week, I learned that I was one of 17 people waitlisted for the Python Core Devs Sprint at OpenAI this year.
A waitlist that long realistically means I probably won’t get in. I was sad, of course. The sprint alternates between Europe and the US. Traveling to Europe is … hard and complicated. I couldn’t go to last year’s in Europe, because of the location and work conflict. I was really hoping to go to this year’s US sprint. Next year it will be back in Europe, out of reach again. That’s potentially not sprinting for three years in a row.
Python Bytes
#484 All our tools
Topics include pi superpowers, Warp.dev OhMyZSH, Blink mosh tmux, Claude code, MacWhisper Handy, and Tailscale.
HoloViz
HoloViz for LLMs
Fine-tuning LLMs to work better with the Holoviz tools
June 15, 2026
Kay Hayen
Nuitka Release 4.1
This is to inform you about the new stable release of Nuitka. It is the extremely compatible Python compiler, “download now”.
June 14, 2026
PyPy
A new benchmark runner for PyPy
The https://speed.pypy.org site has been running the PyPy benchmark suite since 2010. Our first benchmarking machine was called tannit, and it faithfully ran the suite from May 2010 to Dec 2016. For a brief period in the middle we had a machine called speed-python, but tannit was the gold standard. In June 2016 we started running benchmarks on our current machine, benchmarker (Intel i7-7700). It has been graciously sponsored by Baroque Software. Based on an Ubuntu xenial chroot, the machine has been quite stable but over the years has had a few kernel exploits blocked in firmware that changed its base performance.
It is time to update. Rather than use the same machine with updated software, we decided to opt for different hardware. Since the beginning of May we have been running the benchmark suite on benchmarker2: an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 machine. In order to try to stabilize benchmarks the machine was set up:
- without SMT (hyper-threading)
- using
cpusetto partition CPUs 3,4,5 off (the CPU has 2 CCD chiplets so the CPU sets are truly independent, the reason we chose the Zen2 architecture) and use them exclusively for benchmarking - disable turbo speed strategy.
It runs debian13 as a base operating system, and the benchmarks run in a
manylinux2_28 docker, which provides gcc14.
In order to establish a baseline, I compiled CPython 3.11.5 with:
./configure --prefix=/opt/cpython-3.11 --enable-optimizations \ --with-computed-gotos --enable-shared LDFLAGS='-Wl,-rpath,\$$ORIGIN/../lib'
The difference between the two machines is striking: where the xenial image (with GCC 5.4) benchmark comparison to CPython 3.11.9 shows a 3x improvement when run on PyPy on benchmarker, the newer machine with the newer compiler and a fresh baseline shows a 4.3x improvement. I can only speculate that the major differences between the results is:
- The CPython 3.11.9 run was done in June 2024. This was before some firmware kernel changes applied to the host machine that slowed it down. I did notice at the time the exploit migitagion firmware was applied that the overall comparison dropped from 3.3x to 3x, but felt the additional protection was warrented.
- The newer software image uses GCC 14, where the older one used GCC 5.
- The AMD machine has 32MB of L3 cache, the Intel machine has 8MB.
- The AMD machine uses RAM at 3200MHz, the Intel at 2400MHz.
The last 3 points may affect PyPy more than CPython, since PyPy's JIT is more memory intensive and the RPython codegen may be handled better by newer compilers.
This is the first step in an overhaul of PyPy's infrastructure. Other plans in the pipeline:
- Move all the buildbot builds from
manylinux_2014tomanylinux2_28-based images. This will match the move on benchmarker2. It will require some adaptations so that tests will pass on the newer compiler, see pypy/pypy#5488. This will mean an ABI break, so the next PyPy release will leave behind the 7.3.x series. - Think about updating our use of buildbot 0.8.8, which is woefully out of date. Since we have a heavily customized summary page, and the twistd-based endpoints are not supported on buildbot 0.9 and up, we set up a build-summary alternative that is synchronized to the buildbot work.
- Perhaps make more use of the free GitHub actions workers to replace or enhance the buildbot workers. Some of that can be seen in PR 5488. The build-summary service is also able to ingest github action testing results.
- Continue to push on in CPython compatibility, performance improvements, and bugfixes, as well as work on a PyPy 3.12 version
Help of course is welcome.
Matti
Eli Bendersky
Plugins case study: Pluggy
Recently I came upon Pluggy, a Python library for developing plugin systems. It was originally developed as part of the pytest project - known for its rich plugin ecosystem - and later extracted into a standalone library. You're supposed to reach out for Pluggy if you want to add a plugin system …
Bob Belderbos
Why Rust does not need OOP
When I heard structs replace classes in Rust, I was a bit surprised. I thought, how can you do without classes? But as I started to learn Rust, I realized that structs, traits, ownership and composition help resist the temptation of OOP. In fact, Rust's approach to programming is more focused on data and behavior rather than objects.
Let's look at 5 reasons why Rust does not need OOP.
June 13, 2026
Armin Ronacher
Dangerous Technology For Americans Only
June 12, 2026
Real Python
The Real Python Podcast – Episode #299: EuroPython 2026: Celebrating 25 Years
What's happening at EuroPython 2026? The conference celebrates its 25th anniversary this year in Kraków, Poland. This week on the show, organizers Mia Bajić and Daria Linhart Grudzien join me to discuss this year's conference.
EuroPython
June Newsletter: Talks Schedule Released
We have just one month left until we all meet up in Kraków, and we’ve got a lot of new stuff to tell you: the schedule is available, new keynote announcements, plus plenty more 💚