Through the Looking Glasses

Python's Comedic Roots, Keeping Code Dry, and more

Author

David Thurman
January 16, 2025

Morning folks! This is Beyond Code - the newsletter designed to help developers build their careers, one Thursday at a time.

Note: This newsletter is not sponsored. Any websites/tools/apps we recommend are purely because we enjoy them personally

Did You Know…

Python Was Named After Monty Python

Guido van Rossum, the creator of Python, named it not after the snake, but after his favorite comedy show, Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

But I guess a flying circus didn’t make as good a logo

Handy Coding Tool

Stop Searching for Hex Colors - ColorSlurp

ColorSlurp

One of my most used dev tools is one of the simplest out there: a color picker! If you ever have an element on your screen that you need to get the Hex/RGB/etc of, you can do it in an instant with one of these handy tools.

One of the more popular options is ColorSlurp. Not only does it have a color picker, it also includes nice additions for color pallets and accessibility. Check it out!

Tech Highlights

2025 In Tech Is Looking 20/20

Smart glasses have often been overshadowed in the AR/VR landscape, but 2025 is poised to bring them into sharper focus. Major tech companies are gearing up to release advanced smart eyewear that seamlessly integrates into daily life.

  • Android Comes to Glasses: Google recently announced Android XR, their port of the Android OS for smart glasses. Source

  • Samsung Has Entered the Chat: Partnering with Google, Samsung plans to use Android XR in a new smart glasses project, (currently named Project Moohan) which is set to release in 2025. Source

  • Meta’s Ray-Ban Collab: Meta plans to enhance its Ray-Ban smart glasses by adding displays capable of showing notifications and AI assistant responses. Source

Time for us to see the world in rose-tinted, wifi-enabled glasses

Programming Tip

Keep It Dry

Writing repetitive code might seem like a quick fix, but it creates long-term headaches. Repeated logic scattered across your codebase becomes a maintenance nightmare when changes are needed. The DRY (Dont Repeat Yourself) principle encourages you to consolidate repetitive logic into reusable functions or modules.

  • Less Error-Prone: Fixing a bug in one place is easier than hunting down 10 copies of the same code.

  • Cleaner Codebase: Your code will be easier to read, understand, and modify.

  • Future-Proofing: Changes happen in one spot, not scattered across the code.

Bad:

def greet_morning(name):
    return f"Good morning, {name}!"

def greet_afternoon(name):
    return f"Good afternoon, {name}!"

def greet_evening(name):
    return f"Good evening, {name}!"

# Usage:
print(greet_morning("Alice"))
print(greet_afternoon("Bob"))
print(greet_evening("Charlie"))

Good: 

def greet(name, time_of_day):
    greetings = {
        "morning": "Good morning",
        "afternoon": "Good afternoon",
        "evening": "Good evening",
    }
    if time_of_day not in greetings:
        raise ValueError(f"Invalid time_of_day: {time_of_day}")
    return f"{greetings[time_of_day]}, {name}!"

# Usage:
print(greet("Alice", "morning"))
print(greet("Bob", "afternoon"))
print(greet("Charlie", "evening"))

Why it’s better:

• Single Source of Truth: The greeting messages are stored in one place, making updates easy.
• Scalable: Adding a new time of day (e.g., “night”) is as simple as adding a new key-value pair.
• Validation: The function ensures only valid time_of_day values are used.

Ask the Experts

“I'm trying to apply for entry level jobs, but they all require experience. Do you have any advice on how to show experience in order to land my first job?”

Write a lot of code! Make your own projects and continuously maintain them and update them, using interesting and new technologies to show that you are always learning. Give links to your websites, apps, and github with specific code examples. Make sure that you've caught all bugs for your projects. One of my new favorite ways to come up with projects is just to join some online hackathons - there are some fun prompts, you have a deadline so you might be more likely to finish your project, and you'll definitely learn something new along the way! Plus if you win anything, you can add that to your resume :)

Eileen Ho, Senior Frontend Software Engineer @ foodpanda

Open Source Highlight

Want to do Some AI Powered Renovations - RoomGPT

RoomGPT

RoomGPT is an open-source tool that uses AI to help you reimagine your space. Simply upload a photo of your room, and RoomGPT generates new designs, layouts, or styles based on your preferences.

Website: https://github.com/Nutlope/roomGPT
Github: https://www.roomgpt.io/

What’s Open Source?
“Open sourced projects” refer to projects that have their code open to the public. They allow anyone to contribute to the project and help maintain it. Not only are they a great way to get hands on experience early on in your career, they also provide you a way to add bigger projects to your resume!

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Pop Quiz

Can You Spot the Bug?

def calculate_interest(balance):
    if balance > 1000:
        print("Set total_interest to 5!")
        return 5

    if balance > 2000:
        print("Set total_interest to 10!")
        return 10

    return 0

interest = calculate_interest(2500)
print(f"Final interest is: {interest}")

Find the answer at the bottom of the newsletter!

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Pop Quiz Answer: The if statements are in the wrong order. It will return during the first and never get to the next