GeezerVison

The Blog Page

This page is an index to both noteworthy content and recent posts at this website. The header and footer wish to note their objection to calling this a "Blog" because that word is both fluid and trendy. But this qualifies on most counts (and "Posts" got 30% fewer hits). Below you'll find:

• A Featured section which showcases premium content here
• Curated posting lists that group items by date and category

In the former, tap icons or titles to visit pages. In the latter, higher means newer (roughly), and ⎋ means off-site for hover-challenged gadgets. As of 2022, the latter's posts have also begun relocating to a continuation page for space. Most items on this page are not book-specific; for resources that are, see your book's support page.

Featured Content

Best-of bits: general, programs, and Android.

General

Learning Python 6E — The Next Chapter
	Thirty years in the making, 2025's Learning Python covers the many mods of Python and its world in the last dozen years. It also slims down in the process, in part by dropping Python 2.X.
Teaching Python — 25 Years of Spam (so far)
	Some history, opinion, and comedy from my first quarter century+ of Python training, writing, and promotion. Includes photos from the crusade: tap its top-of-page scroll or see the next item.
Teaching Python — The Photos
	The image gallery that accompanies the prior item, updated in 2025 to demo new gallery tools. Pictures and narration of travel, books, and gadgets, served with a healthy side order of snark.
Python Changes 2014-2024 — Frankenthon Lives!
	A technical and subjective-but-fair look at Python's expansion and convolution since the publication of Learning Python, 5th Edition. Keep your arms and legs inside the car at all times...
Class Workbook — Free Python Tutorial
	The HTML workbook from my former classes. It lacks the words and interaction that went with it, has holes where live demos belong, and is now quite dated, but you may find some of it useful.
Python Strings — The Web Cut
	An early-draft tutorial on Unicode and byte strings in Python, that went on to fame and fortune in large books and evolved separately here. Read the tangled tale and kiss your ASCII goodbye.

Programs

Frigcal — Calendar Sans Login
	A basic calendar app for both PCs and Android that's coded in Python and uses a simple folder of ICS files for calendar content. Get Frigcal and keep the bad actors out of the moments of your life.
thumbspage — Image-Gallery Builder
	A program that uses Python, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to turn a folder of images into a gallery viewable both online and offline in any desktop or mobile browser. Plus rotating space monkeys.
Mergeall — Sync sans Cloud
	A cross-platform GUI+script that does fast backup and change propagation for content folders, no clouds required. With Mergeall, your stuff is your property, not someone else's point of control.
ziptools — Python's zipfile "++"
	A program+library that creates and extracts zips on all platforms, with tools Python's zipfile module lacks: symlink archiving, DST/timezone neutrality, and much more. Think zipfile on steroids.
tagpix — Organize Those Photos
	A tool that merges photos, adds origin dates to make them unique, and automatically handles duplicates—ideal for folks who let their picture folders grow out of control (and we know who we are).
Programs Central — Get Free Apps Here
	The distribution center for more free programs and software written in the Python programming language, which run on both PCs and smartphones and come with privacy baked in. Track this!

Android

Mergeall on Android — Wishful Syncing?
	Run Mergeall on your Android smartphone to sync content to and from a USB drive. No phone rooting or card removal required, though Android bugs and permissions keep it interesting.
Tkinter on Android — Yes, It Works
	Use desktop-level Python Tkinter GUIs on your Android devices, as long as you're willing to run an app's IDE, code around a few glitches, and tolerate freemium advertising. Hey—it's Android.
Android 11 — Just Say No
	Learn about Android's latest agenda-laden release, which narrows USB access, slows shared storage to a crawl, and slashes utility. Because we're not to be trusted with our own phones.
Android Deltas Sync — Just Say Yes
	Use Python to sync folders between your PC and phone by USB, despite Android 11's removal of POSIX USB access and Samsung's removal of microSD cards. Bust your content out of Big-Tech prison today!
PC-Phone USB Sync — The Last Word
	Sync folders between PCs and phones by USB, with a Python-coded standalone app that negates Android lockdowns, sports a seamless UI, and runs everywhere. Despite Google's best efforts. Tap Note here.

Recent Posts

The latest buzz: Python, programs, books, etcetera.

Python

• 3.X got f-strings, :=, type hints, match, and async—but no fix for this
• Python 3.10's switch; because we couldn't do without one for 30 years?
• Python 3.9 convolutes the language and breaks your code; surprise!
• Python Tkinter GUIs finally come to Android—advertising included
• python.org ends support for the still-widely-used Python 2.X, rudely
• Python 3.8 is briefly reviewed on Python Changes
• Python 3.7 broke generators too: read the posthumous coverage
• Expanded 3.6 topics—number underscores, f-string interpolation
• New Unicode article: mistaking CP-1252 for Latin-1 kills (quotes)
• Python 3.7 earns honorable mention on Python Changes
• Python 3.5's bytes string formatting gets a more thorough drubbing
• Updated 3.5 foibles: type declarations and core-language coroutines
• Popular searches: 3.X strings, Windows launcher, fun with decorators

Programs

• A new Frigcal sports a seamless Android app (and runs on PCs too)
• thumbspage 3.0 adds touchpad swipes, HTML tags in notes, and more
• Frigcal and PyEdit both get facelifts and finally do emojis (sort of)
• The new PC-Phone USB Sync app caps a five-year Android odyssey
• Why Mergeall uses modtimes instead of checksums to grok changes
• Android Deltas Sync—phones, fun, and fighting Big-Tech evil
• thumbspage grows image notes like this; test-drive here, here, here
• Just in time for the hõlidäys?—Mergeall adds Unicode normalization
• ziptools gets faster uncompressed zips, and Mergeall does delta sets
• The curiously convoluted case of exFAT and FAT32 on Linux
• Linux file associations and app launcher: a how-to for PyEdit et al.
• All apps: how to fix blurry Tkinter GUIs on Windows 10 (and 11)
• The latest ziptools adds permissions, UTC timestamps, and zip@
• Use Mergeall to sync your content with a USB drive on Android: how-to
• This site now displays code files nicely with this script
• This site has finally grown search, using this script

Books

• ⎋ $3K per stolen book to build a $1T AI chatbot?... priceless
• Full makeover—LP6E is now in production and coming soon
• The publisher page ends its mission with a preface
• Note to the reader: Python isn't easy; it's just easier
• Books are back? O'Reilly restarts direct book sales, and Amazon turns red
• ⎋ The show goes on: O'Reilly ends its conferences and sells access to you
• The latest publisher follies (and one reason my books aren't being updated)
• A new Chinese translation of Learning Python 5E is out: cover, page, etc
• Collateral damage?—pages like this and this lost to publisher morph
• O'Reilly stops selling books at its site to push online/video subscriptions
• ⎋ Shockingly, a few videos and AI queries aren't enough to master anything

Etcetera

• ⎋ Python code does evil in the movie Toy Story 5
• ⎋ Android registers developers and convolutes sideloading
• Bifurcation alert—how proprietary APIs double app code
• Google Play ❤️s malicious reviews from hacked accounts
• Android 15's dodgy 6-hours-per-day limit for sync-app services
• Chrome on Android overlays toolbars and snatches downswipes
• macOS: AppleDoubles flood exFAT, translocation kills autosaves
• Windows Storage Sense might make programs crash
• Google Play badly needs a paradigm shift: tap "Why Free?" here
• GUI apps on Windows WSL2 Linux: marginal but hopeful
• Android 11+ casualty: Pydroid 3 loses shared storage (and scope)
• Android 13 locks down app-specific storage; poorly
• The Windows-Chrome scrollbar blues
• Lessons learned from a four-year flirtation with Android
• Android 12's "phantom" process killer also kills Termux and Python
• How Android 11 broke my Python programs (so far)
• Android 10 11 may be as locked down and limited as iOS
• Why does Mac OS hate independent developers so?
• A desktop developer in the mobile corral
• Edge considered harmful: overlaid lower-left links
• In defense of critical thinking in open-source software
• Gmail users: Be afraid. Be very afraid...

More Recent Posts

You can find more posts like these on the blog continuation page:

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