Tessera

Big news! The US is playing soccer today... But bigger news for me, Effective XGBoost 2nd Edition is now out. From 200 pages in the first edition to 480+ in this edition. Grab it now with a 20% discount code: SOCIAL20 store.metasnake.com/xgboost

Having a shootout today between C++ and Python. Two different tools to solve the same problem. Working on some video tools. (Also prepping Effective XGBoost 2nd edition). Hoping that the game tonight does not end in a shootout...

Trying to get the next version of Effective XGBoost out this week. Made a nice little utility (an Inkscape plugin) to template covers. This is something that I would never have had time to create in the past, but now I can create it in less time than it takes to make a cover.

Just wrapped up teaching an AI course. Here's the before-and-after from my skills deck. It applies my Effective Visualization skill from my book...

Teaching AI this week...

Cool conftest.py addition to run certain tests...

There is a difference between "write code then tests" and "write tests then code". When I say this to my clients, I often get confused looks. A test written before creates pressure on the code. A test written after agrees with the implementation.

My top orange comment of the week...

I'm playing an FDE this week. Ask me anything.

Afraid of leaking your credentials to AI? Use a dataclass wrapper like this...

My clients ask me what they should put in their AGENTS.md. Where is a canonical source that they can copy? My answer: Don't copy it. Create it from your unique requirements.

Sometimes folks like my comments on the orange site...

Heading out for training!

Now I have live annotations on top of Jupyter...

I've wanted Jupyter to behave differently for a while. So... I'm vibe-coding a new front-end for Jupyter. As one does.

From the upcoming 2nd Edition of Effective XGBoost

20+ pycons! Excited to give my Professional Python tutorial today.

Playing around with blue/orange lighting ... as one does.

Excited to teach @pycon.us in a few weeks

Excited to be in Boston speaking at ODSC tomorrow. Stop by, say hi. I will also be having a book signing.

From the second edition of Effective XGBoost! Coming soon.

Cycling technology has come a long way. When I got back into mountain biking, one of the biggest shifts was the move to tubeless tires. The idea sounded simple: remove the inner tube, run lower pressure for better traction, and eliminate pinch flats.

As a consumer, I love the competition in the AI world. Today is evidence. New Qwen 3.6 model. New Opus 4.7 model!

Wrapping up edits to the second edition of Effective XGBoost. The book has almost doubled in size, providing much more value than ever. Clients have used the techniques from the first edition to save $$$, predict pricing, and more. Excited to get this one out.