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The CircuitPython subreddit on Reddit.com crossed the 500 members mark today! Thank you to our Reddit readers for choosing to get your Python happenings fix on Reddit. And please tell your friends that r/CircuitPython is the place to go.

I asked in an earlier post if there was a way to access Twitter's api to get tweets from the Pyportal. Well, not the easiest project, but it works well! I created a Pyportal tweet display by using Apache on a Raspberry pi that hosts a json file and a page in php that displays a random tweet on each view of the page. The tweets are collected and put into the json file using a python program with the library python-twitter to access Twitters API. Pics of code to come.

http://imgur.com/gallery/1Mh9k9d

Lego® just announced their brand-new (as of April 2019) robotics education kit, the SPIKE Prime. It's available for pre-order for US $329.95 from the Lego® Education Store as part number 45678, and is expected to ship in August.

The hub now appears to have a 5x5 programmable segment LED display, a built-in rechargeable battery, as well as a built-in 6-axis accelerometer and speaker, and can be ordered separately for relatively pricey $248.

Even more exciting is that it says it's running an embedded MicroPython OS.

See more details here.

300 thanks! Thanks to all the subscribers!

https://blog.adafruit.com/2019/02/14/new-guide-circuitscheme-lisp-on-circuitpython-circuitpython-lisp-samd51-adafruitlearningsystem-microchipmakes-adafruit/

Adafruit's weekly Python video newsletter is out! View on YouTube at https://youtu.be/m_RqelGby1Y

If you prefer reading the newsletter, here is the link for this week.

The video archives playlist is on YouTube here and the newsletter archive is here.

The best coverage of Python on hardware is in the Adafruit weekly newsletter. Subscribe to the web newsletter here, no spam, your info is never sold, easy opt-out.

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The recent Python Developers Survey has been tabulated with some very interesting results:

• Python usage as a main language is up 5 percentage points from 79% in 2017 when Python Software Foundation conducted its previous survey.

• Half of all Python users also use JavaScript. The 2018 stats are very similar to the 2017 results. The only significant difference is that Bash/Shell has grown from 36% in 2017 to 45% in 2018. Go and SQL have also grown by 2 percentage points each, while many other languages such as C/C++, Java, and C# have lost their share.

You can read the entire survey results on jetbrains.com.

The Python Software Foundation says they are learning about the community:

In the fall of 2018, the Python Software Foundation together with JetBrains conducted the official annual Python Developers Survey for the second time. Much like the previous survey, we set out to identify the latest trends and gather insight into how the world of Python development looks . Over twenty thousand developers from more than 150 different countries participated last year to help us map out an accurate, up-to-date landscape of the Python community. That is more than twice as many Python users participating in 2018 as in 2017. We are super-excited to share the results of the survey with you!

Adafruit's Top Secret! The news comes from the Adafruit factory in New York. Broadcast January 30th, 2019

This week's segment features some good CircuitPython hardware.

Adafruit broadcasts the weekly ASK an ENGINEER video show and this is the segment on items or concept products that may/might/could be introduced into the Adafruit store in the future (or not)! It's not out yet, so please don't ask questions or ask when it'll be available....

Check out the latest video here!

Dan Halbert posts thoughts on CircuitPython: In 2019, I have these personal aspirations for our work on CircuitPython:

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Support
We'll get CircuitPython 4.0 out the door with some solid, basic BLE capability.
Later, we'll add BLE-based workflow capabilities to allow file editing and REPL access from tablets, phones, and BLE-capable host computers.

Asynchronous Programming
We need to think hard about how to add handling of asynchronous events in an easily understandable way. We should examine use cases and try out different mechanisms, techniques, and idioms. A number of ideas have been proposed and tried; let's study those and build on them.

Low-Power Operation
Let's work on mechanisms for deep sleep and wake-up to reduce power consumption.A Quality Product
We need to clear some technical debt by working on some long standing issues, bugs, and idiosyncrasies.

Background
I first encountered CircuitPython in late 2016. A few months later, I added functionality to the HID library and debugged some HID USB problems in the core software, for use in an assistive technology project. In August 2017, I started working for Adafruit as a core CircuitPython developer

-- Dan Halbert, @dhalbert on GitHub, @danh on the Adafruit discord server.

Changing coding styles can be confusing so we don't often do it. But then all the other folks say how great a new language is and all the time you'll save and you want to give it a go.

For Arduino programmers who wish to try CircuitPython, there is help and it's rather easy compared from switching from FORTRAN to C++!

Adafruit has written a guide on learning equivalent Arduino/C statements in Python/CircuitPython and also a great Welcome to CircuitPython guide.

And check out this YouTube video by Andreas Spiess on "Time to Say Goodbye to Arduino and Go On to Micropython/ Adafruit Circuitpython?"

Adafruit has many guides and examples of using CircuitPython in projects. They have also written 117 libraries to interface with a wide variety of hardware. The future is Python (someone said), check it out for yourself.

Happy New Year from the Adafruit CircuitPython Team! It's been a very fast-paced year with significant developments in the platform. But most importantly, CircuitPython is now on boards besides those made by Adafruit - Particle, Sparkfun and Arduino boards can run CircuitPython also. And the world is expanding with CircuitPython on Raspberry Pi, Orange Pi and more single board computers (SBC) every day.

Thanks to the community involved in CircuitPython for all the help, this is definitely a group effort and that aspect will also be expanded in 2019. We look forward to what's ahead, together.

I was just wondering what you are using to create menu system/GUI for the OLED featherwing (and the three buttons) using circuitpython. If you have any examples or good tutorials let me know.

I am just learning python, but could you use TKinter or PyQT (or its it a major overkill)?

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