I’ve always been a bit skeptical about code formatters. I don’t know, I always felt like they would curb my freedom to format the code in my own way. Because, you know, no one formats code better than me. 😛 Joking aside, I got to know black about 2 years ago. Everyone was talking about it. A bunch of people adopted it. Massive codebases were being reformatted daily. It was the new kid on the block.

It’s no secret that IPython is my favorite Python shell. I am the guy who is always asking everyone “did you try IPython already?” as soon as I see they opening the regular Python shell. Yes, I know, you’d probably hate me. The reason I like it so much is that IPython makes it very easy for me to incrementally experiment when coding. I consider experimentation to be a crucial step when writing software, as it helps to reduce the unkowns in a problem or technology.

I find myself writing quick command line scripts every so often. They usually automate a random task from my daily routine and end up saving me a bunch of time. These scripts usually start as quick and dirty snippets, but once I figure that they are not a one-off thing, then I iterate to make them more usable. There are several things that I find valuable in scripts like these: