Every now and again it is useful to look back at what’s been achieved – ShowMeDo started three years ago and we considered ourselves lucky if 1 Python video was contributed a month. Now we get several whole series each month! Often each series is information-laden and created by a competent screencaster. Viewers learn very quickly and they remember ‘seeing it happen’ after they’ve watched the video.
I figured that a look at some of the recent series might be useful. In total we have over 330 Python screencasts, with 8 series alone for Django. Over 150 of the screencasts are aimed at Beginner Python coders.
We’ve had several series which cover test-driven development (TDD), unit testing and coverage, as well as discussing the whole development process. Seeing these hard-core videos teaching ‘a good way of coding’ is really nice, these skills are hard to describe and easy for a beginner to ignore. Three that spring to mind are:
- Agile Development Tools in Python inc. VirtualEnv, PasteScript
- Agile Python+Pylons inc. TDD, coverage, unit testing
- Developing emol! inc. use-cases and class diagrams in 24 beautiful episodes
It is nice to see some web-framework series sprouting up:
- Pylons in action (mentioned above)
- Quick-start guide to TurboGears 2
- Setting Up the Django Dev Environment
In the Club (for paying users) we’ve been busy, currently we’re simultaneously publishing several meaty series. They’re aimed at beginner/intermediate Python programmers, mixing Python background with useful worked examples:
- Loops and Iteration
- Common Variables and Containers
- What does Python look like?
- Database Programming
- Introducing the Google App Engine
In total we have 11 strong series in the Club which reduce the learning time for a beginner. We’ve also commissioned some of our open-source authors to join us in the Club, two new series on ‘batteries included’ and ‘C+Python’ are in the works.
We welcome new open-source authors – each author’s contributions are special to us, we don’t stick ads on the pages or require ownership of any rights. We just do our best to bring an author’s knowledge to a wider audience.
I guess the biggest thing that we’ve achieved is ‘recognition’ – it is nice mailing a project author to discuss a relevant series that we’ve had submitted and to have them say ‘ShowMeDo – yes, I was watching some cool stuff there just the other day…’.