Namepy – on the shoulders of giants

Whilst my core skill/tool is Python, I’m always learning new things, either inside or outside the Python ecosystem. I recently had the pleasure of working with Angular and Python/Flask. Here is a playful application based on these, plus Highcharts.

Going through “Python for Data Analysis”, some of the examples use a database of frequency of (US) baby names since 1880. I thought I’d combine this with a bit of Scrabble™.

In the Python world it’s common to add “py” to a word when making up names, so I’m calling this project “namepy”.

Since I’ll be using various frameworks and libraries, all created by others, I’ve subtitled this “On the shoulders of giants”.

Taking small steps often results in faster progress, so that’s what I’m be doing here.

Technical set up

The source code is at https://github.com/CoachCoen/namepy, with one branch per step.

Many production sites Content Delivery Networks for serving Javascript frameworks and libraries, usually minified, which helps to take the load of the server and may speed up first page load. To keep things simple and stable over time, I’m using full-sized, downloaded, copies.

I’m using WebFaction (affiliate link) as the host, since they make it easy to create Flask, Django and similar projects. And, as a popular host for developers, you’ll find lots of helpful documentation for developers online.

Getting started

Create a project folder

mkdir namepy
cd namepy

At the start of each of the steps

cd (my folder for personal projects)
cd namepy
git clone https://github.com/CoachCoen/namepy.git -b step1 step1

Note: “-b step1” specifies the name of the branch to clone. The second “step1” is the target folder, i.e. namepy/step1.

Next

Continue to Step 1 – Angular “Hello World”