Talks, workshops, and tutorials

Invite me! 🎙️

If you would like me to speak at your event – be it a local meetup or an international conference –, drop me a line! Sharing knowledge is a passion of mine and public speaking is an excellent outlet for that.

Mastering comprehensions

PyCon Portugal 2023

This practical workshop presented the audience with several exercises on comprehensions (list, set, dictionary & generator expressions) and idioms around their usage.

(More) Animations from first principles in 5 minutes ⚡️

PyCon Portugal 2023

After my first lightning talk was so well-received, I came back to show a different type of animation where we make a recursive drawing that zooms in infinitely.

Comprehending comprehensions

PyCon Portugal 2023

In this talk I helped the audience discover the immense potential of Python's list comprehensions, dictionary comprehensions, set comprehensions, and generator expressions, as I presented them as an idiom that focuses on data transformations.

This talk complemented my tutorial on the same subject, but the talk hadn't been accepted for the original schedule. However, I stepped in when a speaker had to cancel a few days before the conference.

Animations from first principles in 5 minutes ⚡️

PyCon Portugal 2023

In this lightning talk I show how to create simple animations in Python and pygame from first principles, from drawing a circle to morphing it into a figure eight.

How APL made me a better Python developer

Func Prog Sweden meetup

This talk is a personal account of the things that I do differently in Python after having learned APL, a language that seemingly had nothing to do with Python and nothing to offer with respect to my Python code.

What APL taught me about Python ⚡️

EuroPython 2023

In this lightning talk I wanted to share my personal story of how learning how to program in APL ended up teaching me things about Python.

You DON'T know comprehensions 🤷

EuroPython 2023

In this poster session, I make the claim that the vast majority of people don't know comprehensions well enough! Thankfully, this is very easy to fix!

  • Where: EuroPython 2023
  • When: 20th of July, 2023
  • Written version of the poster: book
  • Download the poster for yourself: poster

Dozens approached me during my poster presentation – which I repeated tirelessly from noon until 3 pm because people just kept showing up – and I am very proud to say that my poster (presentation) got a lot of praise.

But, most importantly, I got feedback from people that learned new things about list comprehensions thanks to my poster.

How dunder methods rule Python under the hood

EuroPython 2023

In this impromptu talk, I gave an introduction to dunder methods for a beginner audience.

This talk had not been scheduled in advance! There was a last-minute cancellation and the organisation reached out to me to fill in the slot.

Practical introduction to descriptors

EuroPython 2023

In this impromptu Python tutorial, I gave a practical introduction to descriptors.

This tutorial had not been scheduled in advance. The day before, I noticed there was an empty slot in the schedule. After talking to the organisers, we concluded it was OK for me to use that slot and so I whipped up a short, practical tutorial for descriptors!

I got incredible feedback! A participant, Sofia, wrote:

“Fantastic workshop about descriptors! I came out of it having learnt a lot about what goes on in the background. Really loved the friendly approach and the practical exercises with solutions so that everyone can follow. Keep going 🚀”

Build a terminal TODO application with Textual

EuroPython 2023

In this Python tutorial, I introduce people to Textual by building a TODO that runs in a terminal.

Alexander attended my tutorial and he wrote “Rodrigo did a really good job with the tutorial. I hope he starts teaching more regularly because his tutorial was fun and I learned a lot.”

Original photo by Braulio Lara.

Describing descriptors

PyCon Sri Lanka 2023

In this Python talk, I introduce descriptors and show they are not black magic.

Pydon'ts – Write elegant Python code v4

PyCon Portugal 2022

I was scheduled to give this talk in person but I had a family emergency and couldn't attend. Later, I recorded the talk at home and made it unofficially available online.

In this Python talk, I continuously refactored a piece of code by using Python features elegantly.

Comprehending Comprehensions

PyOhio 2022

In this Python talk, I teach the key ideas necessary for you to finally understand list, dict, and set comprehensions, and generator expressions.

Smoosh all the things ⚡️

EuroPython 2022

In this lightning talk, I show how functools.reduce is such an important function that we use implicitly when we call built-ins like sum and all.

Python objects under the hood

EuroPython 2022

This was my very first appearance at an in-person conference... And I just loved it...

In this Python tutorial, I show how Python uses dunder methods to define how objects (built-ins and custom objects) interact with the Python syntax.

Why mastering Python is impossible and why that's OK

University College London meetup

In this Python talk I share some insights on how to avoid learning plateaus in Python.

  • Where: University College London meetup, virtual
  • When: 29th of April, 2022
  • Written version of the talk: blog article
  • Slide deck: link

Why APL is a language worth knowing

FnConf 2022

In this talk I show how learning APL influenced the way I write Python code. For example, I show how APL helped me understand how list comprehensions work.

Pydon'ts – Write elegant Python code v3

PyCon Sri Lanka 2022

In this Python talk, I continuously refactored a piece of code by using Python features elegantly.

Fifty shades of sign

PyCascades 2022

In this Python talk, I went over +10 implementations of a very simple function while exploring elegance, simplicity, and some intricate Python subtleties.

Your first Python class & Python objects under the hood

New Zealand PUG

In this 2-part Python tutorial, I introduce classes in Python and then proceed to show how Python uses dunder methods to define how objects (built-ins and custom objects) interact with the Python syntax.

Pydon'ts – Write elegant Python code v2

Pyjamas Conf 2021

In this Python talk, I continuously refactored a piece of code by using Python features elegantly.

Pydon'ts – Write elegant Python code v1.1

DjangoCon US 2021

In this Python talk, I continuously refactored a piece of code by using Python features elegantly.

Pydon'ts – Write elegant Python code

EuroPython 2021

This was my very first conference talk and what I consider a great milestone in my career.

In this Python talk, I continuously refactored a piece of code by using Python features elegantly.

Implementing a neural network from scratch

EuroPython 2021

This was my very first conference appearance and a moment I have very fond memories of!

In this Python tutorial, I guided attendees in their journey to implementing a full neural network with nothing but NumPy.