python Tales


New project: Optimize Images X

New project: Optimize Images X

Just for fun, this month I set myself to start a new Python project. It’s the same as Optimize Images, but with a big X and a nice graphical user interface. It wants to help you reduce the file size of images, and hopefully make your websites load faster.
Reading time: 2 minutes
Book review - Foundations of Deep Reinforcement Learning, by Laura Graesser and Wah Loon Keng

Book review - Foundations of Deep Reinforcement Learning, by Laura Graesser and Wah Loon Keng

Deep Reinforcement Learning is a somewhat new field within Machine Learning or Artificial Intelligence (you may pick your favorite term between these two, even if they’re not strictly the same), which combines Deep Learning and Reinforcement Learning and is based on the general idea that an agent can learn by observing its actions and their consequences. No, it is not a return to John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner’s behavioral psychology. We are talking, instead, about a set of pretty advanced machine learning algorithms that, when properly mastered, allow computers to achieve remarkable results in some complex tasks. That’s what this book is about, so let’s dive in…
Reading time: 5 minutes
Just updated - Optimize Images v1.4.0

Just updated - Optimize Images v1.4.0

Optimize Images has a new version just released on PyPI! Besides the usual clean and polish, this release includes two new features that may be of interest for you, especially if you are using this utility on servers.
Reading time: 2 minutes
Book review — Effective Python, by Brett Slatkin (and a free chapter for download)

Book review — Effective Python, by Brett Slatkin (and a free chapter for download)

Those among you who have already learned some Python or may even have used it in some projects will certainly have heard the expression “Pythonic Code”, which conveys a general and somewhat wide meaning of “clean code and good software development practices in the context of Python”. With Effective Python, the author presents you with nothing less than 90 practical examples on how to adopt a pythonic developer mindset and how to write better Python code.
Reading time: 4 minutes
Just updated - Optimize Images v1.3.6

Just updated - Optimize Images v1.3.6

Optimize Images has just been updated to version 1.3.6, a minor but still important release that fixes a few bugs and improves its overall stability. Thank you for using Optimize Images and/or contributing with feature suggestions, bug reports, or pull requests!
Haiku R1/beta2 has been released

Haiku R1/beta2 has been released

After about 20 months of hard work, the Haiku team has finally released, a few days ago, the second beta version of Haiku, the BeOS-inspired open-source operating system that aims to offer a fast, simple to use, and powerful alternative for personal computing. This time, I am particularly happy, even a bit proud myself, because I have also been contributing with Portuguese translations for the user interface, and this is the first beta which includes those translations. So, let’s celebrate!
Reading time: 12 minutes