profile

The Friday Loop

How to Design an AWESOME Function Header in Python | Issue #19

Published 10 months ago • 3 min read

Hi there,
​

​This week’s video covers tips you probably haven’t considered—ones that can make or break your code and potentially save you hours of debugging. 🕵️‍♂️
​

Today I’m breaking down the art of designing function headers—because a good one makes your life 10x easier, while a bad one… well, you’ll wish you had known sooner.
​

👨‍💻 I’ll walk you through the essentials of function naming, and why using verbs in your function names can make all the difference.
​
You’ll also learn how to streamline your function arguments to keep your code clean and readable, plus, I dive into type annotations to make sure your IDE catches issues before they become a problem.
​
Enjoy the video and happy coding!

​

Cheers,

Arjan

# News

The API Gateway Reinvented

Forget about wrestling with complex configurations and clunky editors. With Zuplo today’s sponsor, you can leverage your coding skills to build powerful, customizable APIs.

Built to natively support OpenAPI, Zuplo eliminates the hassle of syncing your spec with your deployment. What you define is what you get. Plus, their global edge network ensures lightning-fast performance and frees up your backend resources.

Zuplo simplifies secure API key authentication, adhering to industry best practices. With a built-in, high-quality developer portal to ensure you deliver an exceptional developer experience and empower your users with self-service key management for streamlined access.

Need more control? Zuplo lets you write any custom policies that you need to handle any edge case imaginable.

Ready to take your API development to the next level? Click here and try Zuplo today.

Simplifying Python Data Validation

Real Python has just launched a new course on how to streamline data validation in Python using Pydantic! 🚀

Pydantic is one of the most popular libraries for data validation in Python (I’ve even created a few videos on it—check one out here).

This course covers everything from basic data validation to handling complex cases with custom validators. You’ll also learn to validate function arguments and manage application settings, all with minimal boilerplate. If you want to make your Python data handling more robust and efficient, this course is a fantastic resource. Dive into the details here.

Everything I Learned About Technical Debt

In his article, Erik Bernhardsson compares technical debt to real debt. He explains how you borrow resources now but pay back more later. 💸

Bernhardsson talks about the “interest rate” of technical decisions. He stresses how important it is to acknowledge and manage technical debt. Using practical examples, he illustrates when to take on or avoid technical debt, ensuring you make informed decisions that benefit your projects in the long run.

Want to learn how to strategically handle technical debt? Click here to read the full article.

# Community

Synacktra, one of our community members, has shared a post about the tool-parse library, which makes calling tools for LLMs simpler and more efficient. If you’re into Python, AI, or working with LLMs, this could be right up your alley! 💡

Curious to dive in? Head over to our Discord server and take a look for yourself. Feel free to drop your feedback or join the conversation in the thread! 💬

Do you enjoy my content on YouTube and would you like to dive in deeper? Check out my online courses below. They've helped thousands of developers take the next step in their careers.

🚀 The Mindset Online Course Series

The goal of this series is to help junior developers grow their skills to become senior developers faster.

💥 Other Courses

💡 If you’re part of a development team at a company, I offer special packages for companies that give your team the tools to consistently write high-quality code and dramatically increase your team's productivity.

🪄 Learntail

My team and I created an AI quiz generator designed to accelerate your learning, called Learntail. You can try it for free or unlock even more capabilities and features with the monthly subscription. Take a look here.

​Unsubscribe | Send by ArjanCodes

Wolvenplein 25, Utrecht, UT 3512 CK

The Friday Loop

by ArjanCodes

Every Friday, you'll get a recap of the most important and exciting Python and coding news. The Friday Loop also keeps everyone posted on new ArjanCodes courses and any limited offers coming up.

Read more from The Friday Loop

Hey everyone, I love it when I come up with a design that uses exactly the things I thought were a sign of bad design. In this week's video I show you how to build a clean Python SDK for a REST API. The idea was simple: create a reusable base model that handles all the CRUD operations so you can just write User.find() and user.save(), without duplicating logic all over your codebase. Sounds great, right? Well, after recording the video, I realized something: not all APIs will have all CRUD...

4 days ago • 1 min read

Hey everyone, Python’s flexibility is great, but if you're working on a larger project it becomes hard to make sure not everything depends on everything else. There is a way to avoid that trap, and that's by using abstractions. Unfortunately, I often see production code with way too much coupling that can be easily improved by relying on abstractions. This week’s video shows simple abstractions using Callable, ABC, and Protocol. You’ll learn how to: Reduce unnecessary imports Decouple your...

11 days ago • 1 min read

Hey everyone, I was reviewing some of the projects I’ve worked on over the past year, and I noticed something interesting: I almost never use Python’s @dataclass anymore. Not because it’s bad. In fact, dataclasses are still a great feature of the language. But as my projects have grown more complex, especially with tools like FastAPI, Pydantic, and SQLAlchemy, I’ve found that dataclasses just… don’t fit the way I design software anymore. In my latest video, I dive into this in detail. You’ll...

18 days ago • 1 min read