Serdar Yegulalp
Senior Writer

Stupendous Python stunts without a net

analysis
Mar 14, 20253 mins

Dare to speed up Python with Zig, jazz up Django with HTMX, juggle Python threads with async, or set up an air-gapped Python machine. Plus, Python cozies up to Linux and more.

Silhouette of tightrope walker with balancing pole on one leg against a yellow sky background
Credit: maradon 333 / Shutterstock

In this week’s Python Report: Sly tricks for setting up Python on a machine with no network, snappier Python code with asyncand await, swifter Python programs with Zig, and slicker web apps with HTMX and Django.

Top picks for Python readers on InfoWorld

Air-gapped Python: Setting up Python without a net(work)
Flaky connection? No connection at all? Air gapped by design? You can still get Python, and Python packages, set up and running with a little juggling.

Get started with async in Python
Speaking of juggling… Do you want to interleave tasks in Python more efficiently without threads or multiple processes? Python’s async and await help you get more done in less time.

How to boost Python program performance with Zig
Old and venerable Python meets the hot new Zig, and both win. See how you can write fast, machine-native code with Zig, and wrap it in Python for ease and convenience.

Dynamic web apps with HTMX, Python, and Django
Use HTMX to give HTML the easy interactivity it always needed. Combine HTMX with Python and its super-powered Django framework, and you’ve got a web stack to beat them all.

More good reads and Python updates elsewhere

Proposed Linux kernel patches would allow access to libperf from Python
Imagine having access to a low-level Linux subsystem through a Python libraryβ€”one supported natively by the Linux kernel. IBM’s proposal prepares to make that happen.

Fastplotlib: Interactive plotting in Python powered by the GPU
Create snappy, live-updating graphs and plots that can run in a variety of contexts (Jupyter notebooks, PyQt-powered windows, and more). The current release is considered a late alpha, but you’re encouraged to give it a whirl outside production.

A map of Python
A highly granular, interactive map of the package dependencies on PyPI, along with details about how to generate the same sort of interactive graph from a similarly sprawling data set. (Caution: Don’t try to plot everything!)

An oral history of Bank Python
How Python has been used, in proprietary forks, by various investment firms. Prepare to be stupefied at the flagrant abuse of Python’s object system and at the bizarre, proprietary data structures, like pre-Pandas tables.

Serdar Yegulalp

Serdar Yegulalp is a senior writer at InfoWorld. A veteran technology journalist, Serdar has been writing about computers, operating systems, databases, programming, and other information technology topics for 30 years. Before joining InfoWorld in 2013, Serdar wrote for Windows Magazine, InformationWeek, Byte, and a slew of other publications. At InfoWorld, Serdar has covered software development, devops, containerization, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, winning several B2B journalism awards including a 2024 Neal Award and a 2025 Azbee Award for best instructional content and best how-to article, respectively. He currently focuses on software development tools and technologies and major programming languages including Python, Rust, Go, Zig, and Wasm. Tune into his weekly Dev with Serdar videos for programming tips and techniques and close looks at programming libraries and tools.

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