Orientation
What CPython does with your source, which version to target in 2026, the toolchain that gets a real project on disk in five minutes, and the one sentence about assignment that explains most of the surprises ahead.
3 lessons · 32 min
Print the whole moduleModule objectives
- Describe what CPython does between source text and a running frame
- Choose a target version and a floor version for a new project in 2026
- Create a packaged project with uv and run it without activating anything
- Explain assignment as name binding rather than copying
- Identify the aliasing, mutable default and late-binding traps in unfamiliar code
01The runtime and the toolchain
What the interpreter does with your source, which version to write for, and the commands that put a real project on disk.
Print this unit- 1.1The runtime you are targetingWhat Python does with your source between typing it and running it, which version to write for in 2026, and the two facts about the interpreter, the GIL and the free-threaded build, that decide how the rest of this course reads.10m
- 1.2A project in five minutesuv creates the project, the virtual environment, the lockfile and the entry point, and runs your code without you ever activating anything. This lesson gets a real, packaged, runnable project on disk and names what each generated file is for.11m
02The mental model
Assignment binds a name to an object and copies nothing, and almost every early surprise follows from that one sentence.
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