import bacon 🥓

The standard library modules you never knew (you needed)

Ivana Kellyerova

CPython Python general The Answer to Life the Universe and Everything Else

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It's often said that Python comes with batteries included, meaning that the standard library can do basically anything except for maybe conjure bacon for you (though I heard that's coming in 3.8). I don't think we fully appreciate the sheer vastness of it, though, so I went through it module by module looking for hidden gems (sorry, eggs). This is a by no means exhaustive compilation of the useful, the underrated, and the funny.

When it comes to the Python standard library, chances are you use it on a daily basis -- or more likely, a more or less stable subset of it. The usual way we add things to the subset is by looking for a solution to a problem and ending up getting pointed to a standard library module. That, however, means that the odds of you finding out that there is a whole module whose sole purpose is to tell you if a string is a Python keyword are very slim.

The aim of this talk is to showcase CPython libraries that are interesting in some way: mostly for their usefulness, but in some cases simply for being wonderfully weird in some way. The talk is not aimed at any particular level of Python experience - as a beginner you'll get a taste of just how many batteries Python ships with, and as a person using the language often you might end up growing your own personal subset a bit more.

Type: Talk (30 mins); Python level: Beginner; Domain level: Beginner


Ivana Kellyerova

wegfinder

I currently work as a backend developer building web services with aiohttp. When I'm not coding I can usually be found playing indie games of varying obscurity.