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Python Package Management

Update 2024-04-07

I've to using remote containers over SSH.

I use pdm as a Python package manager, which is something like npm.

I've found it much better in terms of updating dependencies (pdm update -u) and ensuring build reproducibility with the use of lockfiles.

Regarding automatic dependency updates and deployment:

- The main use of Github workflows is being able to automatically rebuild hosted web apps when dependencies are detected to have been changed.
- If the project is hosted locally, I can update dependencies myself with pdm update -u or ncu -u now and then.
- Dependabot doesn't support pdm lockfiles, and even if it did, when there is an update, I would have to access the terminal to rebuild the container, in which case I might have as well have did the update and tested it there and then myself.

Update 17/11/21

I now use WSL2 containers in VSCode. Additionally, I use requirements.txt files generated with:

pip list --format freeze --not-required

--not-required ensures only top-level packages are printed.

In addition, I use == X.Y.* (aka compatible version specifiers) to pin the major and minor version of packages, while allowing for patch versions to be updated automatically each time the container is rebuilt. This prevents surprises during deployment (e.g. missing functionality in minor versions) while allowing bugfix versions to automatically be upgraded without hassle.

Life Insurance

I am a strong proponent of term life insurance.

In this post, I go against the common wisdom of 'getting your money back'1 and refute common arguments for whole life insurance. I propose, and defend, my recommendation to buy term life + critical illness coverage.

  • in Finance
  • 9 min read

Asset Allocation1

There are approximately 41,000 listed companies around the world. This number doesn't even begin to include the even larger market of derivatives based on these companies.

With so many choices, how do people decide what asset classes to buy, and how many % to allocate to each?

Why not just put everything in stocks (e.g. the S&P 500)?

To answer this question, we need to understand volatility, risk and diversification.

You may also want to read about my investment portfolio.

DNS settings for serving Github Pages over Cloudflare

Update (20/12/20) - Cloudflare proxying prevents SSL Certificate renewal

When the SSL certificate (provisioned by Github automatically for the custom domain you specified, via Let's Encrypt) expired on 18/12/20, I started getting errors from Cloudflare.

Looking deeper, I realized Github was having trouble provisioning the SSL certificate.

The solution was to disable Cloudflare proxying. Upon doing so, I was able to get an SSL certificate provisioned for the root domain, nicholaslyz.com.