Welcome!
David Beazley is an independent educator and author primarily known for his contributions in the Python community. He's probably most well known as the author of Python Distilled (Addison-Wesley), the Python Essential Reference (Addison-Wesley), and the Python Cookbook, 3rd Edition (O'Reilly Media). Since 2007, he's operated Dabeaz, LLC, a company offering a variety of advanced courses for software developers. Presently, he is pursuing a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Secondary Education at National Louis University.
This site primarily serves as an archive of Dave's past work as well as a place to find out about upcoming events.
Upcoming Courses
- Crusty Interpreter, April 20-24, 2026. Take on the challenge of writing an interpreter in Rust for the Lox language as presented in the Crafting Interpreters book.
- Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP), June 1-5, 2026. Shatter your brain into bits as you tackle one of the classic texts of computer science. Presented in the original Scheme programming language.
Learn Python
For more than a decade, Dave developed and taught a pair of Python courses that were primarily used for in-person corporate training. These were taught to more than 400 groups all over the world by some of Python's foremost experts. The courses have since been released under a Creative Commons license. Human created, ad-free, and AI-free. Simply click the link and go straight to the course!
Dave recorded a video training series on the Python Programming Language for Addison-Wesley that's largely based on the above courses.
Talks and Tutorials
Dave has given many well-received conference talks and tutorials. You can find more information by following the links below. Most of these presentations can also be viewed ad-free on Dave's YouTube channel.