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The Friday Loop

10 Tips to Keep Your Software Simple | Issue #49

Published 7 months ago • 2 min read

Hi there,

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Ever looked at your old code and felt secondhand embarrassment? Yeah, me too.

Keeping your code simple and maintainable is an art.

​

In today’s video, I break down 10 essential tips that will help you write cleaner, more efficient Python code. 🚀

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Some key takeaways:

🛑 Stop overengineering—simple solutions are often the best.

✂️ Cut the copy-paste habit—DRY code is maintainable code.

🧹 Refactor before your code turns into a horror movie.

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Happy coding! 🐍

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Cheers,

Arjan

# News

How Do Terminals Really Work?

Ever wondered why your terminal behaves the way it does? Julia Evans breaks it down in this fantastic article on terminal rules—the unwritten conventions that shape how terminals interpret input, handle output, and interact with programs. 💻

Learn about control characters, line discipline, and how different tools (like SSH) affect terminal behavior. If you’ve ever been surprised by how a command behaves, this post will help you understand what’s really happening under the hood. 📖 Read more here!

🚦 The Boolean Trap: When True/False Isn’t Enough

Booleans are simple, right? True or False, nothing in between. But in software design, relying too much on booleans can lead to rigid, unclear, and hard-to-extend code.

🛠️ This article explores why booleans can be a trap, when to replace them with richer data types, and how to write more expressive, maintainable code. If you’ve ever had a function with multiple if statements checking flags, this one’s for you! Click here to check it out.

# Community

One of our ArjanCodes Discord members, Niklas, is working on a bachelor thesis about music recommendations and album covers. He’s exploring a fascinating question:

💡 Can the visuals of an album cover influence how we perceive and choose music? 🎵🎨

To get statistically significant results, he needs 150+ people to take a quick survey where you listen to short music clips and swipe left or right based on your preferences.

If you want to help him out, check out the thread here or join the discussion on the ArjanCodes Discord to share your thoughts! 💬

Do you enjoy my content on YouTube and would you like to dive in deeper? Check out my online courses below. They've helped thousands of developers take the next step in their careers.

🚀 The Mindset Online Course Series

The goal of this series is to help junior developers grow their skills to become senior developers faster.

💥 Other Courses

💡 If you’re part of a development team at a company, I offer special packages for companies that give your team the tools to consistently write high-quality code and dramatically increase your team's productivity.

​Unsubscribe | Send by ArjanCodes

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The Friday Loop

by ArjanCodes

Every Friday, you'll get a recap of the most important and exciting Python and coding news. The Friday Loop also keeps everyone posted on new ArjanCodes courses and any limited offers coming up.

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