Weekend Reading: Inside the Python Virtual Machine by Obi Ike-Nwosu, Free E-book (with Suggested Donation)
The 130pp. 35K-word free e-book already has 1,000 readers through learnpub:
Inside the Python Virtual Machine provides a guided tour under the covers of the Python interpreter for the curious pythonista. It attempts to show the user what happens from the moment the user executes a piece of Python code to the point when the interpreter returns the result of executing the piece of code.
This book will provide the readers with an understanding of the various processes that go into compiling and executing a python program removing most of the mystery surrounding how the python interpreter executes source code. The books starts out with a description of the compilation phase with emphasis on the less generic parts of the compilation phase. It then proceeds to discuss python objects and their implementation in CPython. This is followed by a discussion of various objects types that are central to the interpreter such as frame objects and code objects. The process of evaluating code objects by the interpreter loop is also discussed as well as how to extend the Python programming language with your own constructs.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, or even use Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for MakeCode, CircuitPython, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell with Google Hangouts On-Air is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
