You will be learning the following topics related to the DOM:

• The query one method
• Textual queries

You will learn more in the second part of this series next week!

You will soon see the value of working with DOM queries and the power that these queries give you. Let’s get started!

The Query One Method

You will find the query_one() method throughout the Textual documentation and many Textual applications on GitHub. You may use query_one() to retrieve a single widget that matches a CSS selector or a widget type.

You can pass in up to two parameters to query_one():

• The CSS selector
• The widget type
• Or both at the same time

If you pass both, pass the CSS selector first, with the widget type as the second parameter.

Try some of this out. Open up your Python editor and create a file named query_input.py. Then enter this code in it:

# query_input.py

from textual.app import App, ComposeResult
from textual.widgets import Button, Input


class QueryInput(App):

    def compose(self) -> ComposeResult:
        yield Input()
        yield Button("Update Input")

    def on_button_pressed(self) -> None:
        input_widget = self.query_one(Input)
        new_string = f"You entered: {input_widget.value}"
        input_widget.value = new_string


if __name__ == "__main__":
    app = QueryInput()
    app.run()

Your code creates an Input and a Button widget. Enter some text in the Input widget and press the button. Your on_button_pressed() method will get called. You call query_one() and pass it an Input widget. Then, you update the returned Input widget’s value with a new string.

Here is what the application might look like:

Now, you will try writing a new piece of code where you use query_one() with a CSS selector. Create a new file called query_one_same_ids.py and use this code:

# query_one_same_ids.py

from textual.app import App, ComposeResult
from textual.widgets import Button, Label


class QueryApp(App):

    def compose(self) -> ComposeResult:
        yield Label("Press a button", id="label")
        yield Button("Test", id="button")

    def on_button_pressed(self) -> None:
        widget = self.query_one("#label")
        widget.update("You pressed the button!")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    app = QueryApp()
    app.run()

In this example, you create two widgets with different IDs. Then you use query_one() to select the Label widget and update its text.

If you call query_one() and there are no matches, you will get a NoMatches exception. On the other hand, if there is more than one match, the method will return the first item that does match.

What will the following code do if you put it in your example above?

self.query_one(”#label”, Button)

If you guessed that Textual will raise an exception, you should congratulate yourself. You have good intuition! If the widget matches the CSS selector but not the widget type, then you will get a WrongType exception raised.

Textual Queries

Textual has more than one way to query the DOM. You may also use the query() method, which you can use to query or find multiple widgets. When you call query(), it will return a DOMQuery object, which behaves as a list-like container of widgets.

You can see how this works by writing some code. Create a new Python file named query_all.py and add this code to it:

# query_all.py

from textual.app import App, ComposeResult
from textual.widgets import Button, Label


class QueryApp(App):

    def compose(self) -> ComposeResult:
        yield Label("Press a button", id="label")
        yield Button("Test", id="button")

    def on_button_pressed(self) -> None:
        widgets = self.query()
        s = ""
        for widget in widgets:
            s += f"{widget}\n"
        label = self.query_one("#label")
        label.update(s)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    app = QueryApp()
    app.run()

The idea is to get all the widgets in your application and print them out. Of course, you can’t print out anything when your terminal application is blocking stdout, so instead, you create a string of widgets separated by new lines and update the Label widget.

Here is an example of what you might get if you run the code and press the button on your machine:

You might be surprised by that output. Perhaps you thought you would only see a Label and a Button widget in that list? If so, you forgot that a Screen widget is always lurking in the background. But there are also two more: a ToastRack and a Tooltip widget. These come with all your applications. The ToastRack positions Toast widgets, which you use to display a notification message. A Tooltip is a message that appears when you hover your mouse over a widget.

You do not need to know more about those extra widgets now.

Also note that all query methods can be used on both the App and Widget subclasses, which is very handy.

You can use CSS selectors with query() in much the same way as you can with query_one(). The difference, of course, is that query() always returns an iterable DOMObject.

Let’s pretend you want to get all the Button widgets in your application and iterate over them. Create a new Python script called query_button.py with this code:

# query_buttons.py

from textual.app import App, ComposeResult
from textual.widgets import Button, Label


class QueryApp(App):

    def compose(self) -> ComposeResult:
        yield Label("Press a button", id="label")
        yield Button("One", id="one")
        yield Button("Two", id="two")
        yield Button("Three")

    def on_button_pressed(self) -> None:
        s = ""
        for widget in self.query("Button"):
            s += f"{widget}\n"
        label = self.query_one("#label")
        label.update(s)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    app = QueryApp()
    app.run()

Here you are passing in a string, “Button”, to query(). If using query_one, you would use the Button type directly. Regardless, when you run this code and press the button, you will see the following:

That worked great! This time, you queried the DOM and returned all the Button widgets in your application.

What if you wanted to find all the disabled buttons in your code? You can disable widgets using the disabled style flag or the CSS attribute. To find those widgets, you would update the query like this: widgets = self.query("Button.disabled").

The query objects in Textual also provide a results() method that you can use as an alternative way of iterating over the widgets. For example, you can use results() to rewrite the query above that would retrieve all the disabled buttons to be something like this:

widgets = self.query(".disabled").results(Button)
s = ""
for widget in widgets:
    s += f"{widget}\n"

This code combines the last example query with the last full code example. Although this latter version is more verbose, you might find it easier to read than the original query for disabled widgets.

Another benefit of using results() is that Python type checkers, such as Mypy, can use it to determine the widget type in the loop. When you do not use results(), then Mypy will only know that you are looping over a Widget object, rather than a Button object.

Wrapping Up

You learned the basics of using Textual’s DOM query methods in this article. You can use these query methods to access one or more widgets in your user interface.

Specifically, you learned about the following:

• The query one method
• Textual queries

Textual is a great way to create a user interface with Python. You should check it out today!

Learn More

The post Textual – An Intro to DOM Queries (Part I) appeared first on Mouse Vs Python.

Check your understanding of what a single asterisk means in the following quiz!

What will be the output if you run this code?

numbers = range(3)
output = {*numbers}
print(output)

A) {range}

B) (range)

C) [0, 1, 2]

D) (0, 1, 2)

E) {0, 1, 2}

“Unpacking generalizations” is the term to look up if you get stuck..

E) {0, 1, 2}

A single asterisk before a Python dictionary or list is known as the unpacking operator. In this example, you tell Python to unpack three integers (0 – 2) into a set.

Here is the example running in a REPL:

>>> numbers = range(3)
>>> output = {*numbers}
>>> print(output)
{0, 1, 2}
>>> print(type(output))
<class 'set'>

The code output shows that you have created a set!

You can also use a single asterisk to unpack a dictionary’s keys:

>>> my_dict = {1: "one", 2: "two", 3: "three"}
>>> print({*my_dict})
{1, 2, 3}

If you want to take your knowledge of unpacking further, it can help to see Python functions use asterisks:

>>> def my_func(*args):
...     print(args)
... 
>>> my_func(1)
(1,)
>>> numbers = range(3)
>>> output = {*numbers}
>>> my_func(output)
({0, 1, 2},)
>>> my_func(*output)
(0, 1, 2)

When you see a single asterisk in a function definition, the asterisk means that the function can take an unlimited number of arguments. In the second example, you pass in the set as a single argument, while in the last example, you use a single asterisk to unpack the numbers and pass them in as three separate arguments.

For more information, see PEP 448 – Additional Unpacking Generalizations, which has many more examples!

Get the Book

Want to try out over one HUNDRED more quizzes? Check out the book!

Purchase at Gumroad or Leanpub or Amazon

The post Python Pop Quiz – Number Explosion appeared first on Mouse Vs Python.

Atari created Pong and put it in arcades. The name of the game is derived from the game of ping-pong. Pong has been remade many times, with different features and gameplay elements added or removed.

Want to know more? Get the Book!

You will use Anthropic’s Claude AI to create this game in Python using the pygame package.

Let’s get started!

Prompt: Please create the pong videogame using Python and pygame. Give the user a way to start a new game and keep score.

I’ll create a classic Pong game for you using Python and pygame. This will include two paddles, a ball, scoring, and the ability to start new games.

import pygame
import sys
import random

# Initialize Pygame
pygame.init()

# Constants
SCREEN_WIDTH = 800
SCREEN_HEIGHT = 600
PADDLE_WIDTH = 15
PADDLE_HEIGHT = 90
BALL_SIZE = 15
PADDLE_SPEED = 7
BALL_SPEED_X = 6
BALL_SPEED_Y = 6

# Colors
BLACK = (0, 0, 0)
WHITE = (255, 255, 255)
GRAY = (128, 128, 128)

class Paddle:
    def __init__(self, x, y):
        self.rect = pygame.Rect(
            x, y, PADDLE_WIDTH, PADDLE_HEIGHT)
        self.speed = PADDLE_SPEED
    
    def move_up(self):
        if self.rect.top > 0:
            self.rect.y -= self.speed
    
    def move_down(self):
        if self.rect.bottom < SCREEN_HEIGHT:
            self.rect.y += self.speed
    
    def draw(self, screen):
        pygame.draw.rect(screen, WHITE, self.rect)

class Ball:
    def __init__(self):
        self.rect = pygame.Rect(
            SCREEN_WIDTH // 2, 
            SCREEN_HEIGHT // 2, 
            BALL_SIZE,
            BALL_SIZE)
        self.reset_ball()
    
    def reset_ball(self):
        self.rect.center = (SCREEN_WIDTH // 2, 
            SCREEN_HEIGHT // 2)
        self.speed_x = BALL_SPEED_X * random.choice([-1, 1])
        self.speed_y = BALL_SPEED_Y * random.choice([-1, 1])
    
    def move(self):
        self.rect.x += self.speed_x
        self.rect.y += self.speed_y
        
        # Bounce off top and bottom walls
        if (self.rect.top <= 0 
            or self.rect.bottom >= SCREEN_HEIGHT):
            self.speed_y = -self.speed_y
    
    def draw(self, screen):
        pygame.draw.rect(screen, WHITE, self.rect)

class PongGame:
    def __init__(self):
        self.screen = pygame.display.set_mode(
            (SCREEN_WIDTH, SCREEN_HEIGHT))
        pygame.display.set_caption("Pong Game")
        self.clock = pygame.time.Clock()
        
        # Create game objects
        self.left_paddle = Paddle(
            30, SCREEN_HEIGHT // 2 - PADDLE_HEIGHT // 2)
        self.right_paddle = Paddle(
            SCREEN_WIDTH - 30 - PADDLE_WIDTH,
            SCREEN_HEIGHT // 2 - PADDLE_HEIGHT // 2)
        self.ball = Ball()
        
        # Scores
        self.left_score = 0
        self.right_score = 0
        self.font = pygame.font.Font(None, 74)
        self.small_font = pygame.font.Font(None, 36)
        
        # Game state
        self.game_state = "menu"  # "menu", "playing", "paused"
    
    def handle_collision(self):
        # Ball collision with paddles
        if self.ball.rect.colliderect(self.left_paddle.rect):
            # Only bounce if moving toward paddle
            if self.ball.speed_x < 0:  
                self.ball.speed_x = -self.ball.speed_x
                # Add some variation based on where ball hits paddle
                hit_pos = (self.ball.rect.centery - self.left_paddle.rect.centery
                          ) / (PADDLE_HEIGHT / 2)
                self.ball.speed_y += hit_pos * 2
        
        if self.ball.rect.colliderect(self.right_paddle.rect):
            # Only bounce if moving toward paddle
            if self.ball.speed_x > 0:  
                self.ball.speed_x = -self.ball.speed_x
                # Add some variation based on where ball hits paddle
                hit_pos = (self.ball.rect.centery - self.right_paddle.rect.centery
                          ) / (PADDLE_HEIGHT / 2)
                self.ball.speed_y += hit_pos * 2
        
        # Limit ball speed
        max_speed = 12
        if abs(self.ball.speed_y) > max_speed:
            self.ball.speed_y = max_speed if self.ball.speed_y > 0 else -max_speed
    
    def check_scoring(self):
        # Check if ball went off screen
        if self.ball.rect.left <= 0:
            self.right_score += 1
            self.ball.reset_ball()
        elif self.ball.rect.right >= SCREEN_WIDTH:
            self.left_score += 1
            self.ball.reset_ball()
    
    def handle_input(self):
        keys = pygame.key.get_pressed()
        
        if self.game_state == "playing":
            # Left paddle controls (W/S)
            if keys[pygame.K_w]:
                self.left_paddle.move_up()
            if keys[pygame.K_s]:
                self.left_paddle.move_down()
            
            # Right paddle controls (UP/DOWN arrows)
            if keys[pygame.K_UP]:
                self.right_paddle.move_up()
            if keys[pygame.K_DOWN]:
                self.right_paddle.move_down()
    
    def draw_menu(self):
        self.screen.fill(BLACK)
        
        title_text = self.font.render("PONG", True, WHITE)
        title_rect = title_text.get_rect(
            center=(SCREEN_WIDTH // 2, 150))
        self.screen.blit(title_text, title_rect)
        
        start_text = self.small_font.render(
            "Press SPACE to Start", True, WHITE)
        start_rect = start_text.get_rect(
            center=(SCREEN_WIDTH // 2, 250))
        self.screen.blit(start_text, start_rect)
        
        controls_text = [
            "Controls:",
            "Left Player: W (Up) / S (Down)",
            "Right Player: Arrow Keys",
            "Press R to restart during game",
            "Press ESC to return to menu"
        ]
        
        for i, text in enumerate(controls_text):
            rendered_text = self.small_font.render(
                text, True, GRAY if i == 0 else WHITE)
            text_rect = rendered_text.get_rect(
                center=(SCREEN_WIDTH // 2, 320 + i * 40))
            self.screen.blit(rendered_text, text_rect)
    
    def draw_game(self):
        self.screen.fill(BLACK)
        
        # Draw center line
        for i in range(0, SCREEN_HEIGHT, 20):
            if i % 40 == 0:
                pygame.draw.rect(
                    self.screen, 
                    WHITE, 
                    (SCREEN_WIDTH // 2 - 2, i, 4, 10))
        
        # Draw paddles and ball
        self.left_paddle.draw(self.screen)
        self.right_paddle.draw(self.screen)
        self.ball.draw(self.screen)
        
        # Draw scores
        left_score_text = self.font.render(
            str(self.left_score), True, WHITE)
        right_score_text = self.font.render(
            str(self.right_score), True, WHITE)
        
        self.screen.blit(left_score_text, (SCREEN_WIDTH // 4, 50))
        self.screen.blit(
            right_score_text, 
            (3 * SCREEN_WIDTH // 4 - right_score_text.get_width(),
             50))
        
        # Draw instructions
        instruction_text = self.small_font.render(
            "Press ESC for menu, R to restart", True, GRAY)
        instruction_rect = instruction_text.get_rect(
            center=(SCREEN_WIDTH // 2, SCREEN_HEIGHT - 30))
        self.screen.blit(instruction_text, instruction_rect)
    
    def reset_game(self):
        self.left_score = 0
        self.right_score = 0
        self.ball.reset_ball()
        self.left_paddle.rect.y = (SCREEN_HEIGHT // 2 - 
            PADDLE_HEIGHT // 2)
        self.right_paddle.rect.y = (SCREEN_HEIGHT // 2 - 
            PADDLE_HEIGHT // 2)
    
    def run(self):
        running = True
        
        while running:
            for event in pygame.event.get():
                if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
                    running = False
                
                if event.type == pygame.KEYDOWN:
                    if (event.key == pygame.K_SPACE 
                        and self.game_state == "menu"):
                        self.game_state = "playing"
                        self.reset_game()
                    elif event.key == pygame.K_ESCAPE:
                        self.game_state = "menu"
                    elif (event.key == pygame.K_r 
                        and self.game_state == "playing"):
                        self.reset_game()
            
            if self.game_state == "menu":
                self.draw_menu()
            elif self.game_state == "playing":
                self.handle_input()
                self.ball.move()
                self.handle_collision()
                self.check_scoring()
                self.draw_game()
            
            pygame.display.flip()
            self.clock.tick(60)
        
        pygame.quit()
        sys.exit()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    game = PongGame()
    game.run()

I’ve created a complete Pong game in Python using pygame! Here are the key features:

Game Features:

• Classic Pong gameplay with two paddles and a bouncing ball
• Score tracking for both players
• Menu system with game start option
• Ability to restart games and return to menu

Controls:

• Left Player: W (up) / S (down)
• Right Player: Arrow keys (up/down)
• SPACE: Start new game from menu
• R: Restart current game
• ESC: Return to main menu

Game Mechanics:

• Ball bounces off top/bottom walls and paddles
• Ball speed varies slightly based on where it hits the paddle
• Scores increase when ball goes off either side
• Ball resets to center after each score

To run the game:

• Make sure you have pygame installed: pip install pygame
• Save the code to a .py file (e.g., pong.py)
• Run it with: python pong.py

The game includes a clean menu system, smooth 60 FPS gameplay, and responsive controls. The ball physics include some randomization to keep gameplay interesting, and the paddle collisions add a bit of strategy by allowing players to influence the ball’s trajectory based on where they hit it.

Prompt: Can you explain how the code works?

I’ll break down how the Pong game code works, explaining each major component and how they work together.

The code is organized using object-oriented programming with three main classes:

• Paddle – represents the player paddles
• Ball – handles the bouncing ball
• PongGame – manages the overall game logic and flow

pygame.init()
# Constants define game dimensions and speeds
SCREEN_WIDTH = 800
SCREEN_HEIGHT = 600
PADDLE_SPEED = 7

class Paddle:
    def __init__(self, x, y):
        self.rect = pygame.Rect(x, y, PADDLE_WIDTH, PADDLE_HEIGHT)

if self.rect.top > 0:  # Don't go above screen
if self.rect.bottom < SCREEN_HEIGHT:  # Don't go below screen

class Ball:
    def reset_ball(self):
        self.speed_x = BALL_SPEED_X * random.choice([-1, 1])
        self.speed_y = BALL_SPEED_Y * random.choice([-1, 1])

self.game_state = "menu"  # "menu", "playing", "paused"

def run(self):
    while running:
        # Handle events (keyboard, quit)
        # Update game logic based on current state
        # Draw everything
        # Control frame rate (60 FPS)

def handle_collision(self):
    if self.ball.rect.colliderect(self.left_paddle.rect):
        # Only bounce if moving toward paddle
        if self.ball.speed_x < 0:  
            self.ball.speed_x = -self.ball.speed_x

hit_pos = (self.ball.rect.centery - 
           self.left_paddle.rect.centery
           ) / (PADDLE_HEIGHT / 2)
self.ball.speed_y += hit_pos * 2

def handle_input(self):
    keys = pygame.key.get_pressed()
    if keys[pygame.K_w]:
        self.left_paddle.move_up()

def check_scoring(self):
    if self.ball.rect.left <= 0:  # Ball went off left side
        self.right_score += 1
        self.ball.reset_ball()

for i in range(0, SCREEN_HEIGHT, 20):
    if i % 40 == 0:  # Only draw every other dash
        pygame.draw.rect(
            self.screen, 
            WHITE, 
            (SCREEN_WIDTH // 2 - 2, i, 4, 10))

python pong.py

The post Vibe Coding Pong with Python and pygame appeared first on Mouse Vs Python.

You can check out their book, Python Illustrated, on Packt or Amazon.

Maaike is an Udemy instructor, and she also has courses on Pluralsight.

This episode was originally published on The Python Show!

The post The Python Show – Python Illustrated appeared first on Mouse Vs Python.

You can use many different widgets in Textual. However, the widget you will be focusing on in this tutorial is the humble checkbox.

Checkboxes are used for Boolean choices. They return a True if checked and a False if unchecked. You can use a checkbox as a clear visual cue to indicate whether one or more options are enabled or disabled.

In this tutorial, you will learn the following:

• How to create a standard checkbox
• How to customize the checkbox widget

Let’s get started!

How to Create a Standard Checkbox

You should always start with the default widget to see if it works for you. With that in mind, open up your favorite Python IDE and create a new file with the following code in it:

from textual.app import App, ComposeResult
from textual.containers import VerticalScroll
from textual.widgets import Checkbox


class CheckboxApp(App[None]):

    def compose(self) -> ComposeResult:
        with VerticalScroll():
            yield Checkbox("Mike")

    def on_checkbox_changed(self, event: Checkbox.Changed) -> None:
        self.notify(f"Checkbox value: {event.value}")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    CheckboxApp().run()

The example above is based on a code example from the Textual documentation. You don’t have to use a VerticalScroll container here, but it is convenient when adding a series of widgets to the container.

Your main focus should be on the Checkbox itself. Here, you simply yield it from compose(), and then you catch the Checkbox.Changed event. When the event is fired, you display a notification to the user indicating that they have changed the checkbox value.

When you run this code, you will see something like this:

However, if you want to make the widget’s borders always visible, then you’ll need to add a border to the widget.

But what if you want the checkbox to be completely empty, too, rather than a greyed-out “X”? That is what you will learn how to do in the next section!

How to Customize the Checkbox Widget

Having a greyed out “X” isn’t necessarily bad thing if you have set up your Textual application to have a lighter background. But if you are using a default or dark background, then you will have some contrast issues.

Many GUI toolkits will show a checkbox as empty for its False state, though, while Textual defaults to a greyed-out “X.” If you want to change the character that is shown or make it an empty box like other toolkits, then you will need to learn how to customize the widget itself.

Fortunately, making a custom widget in Textual is very straightforward. Create a new Python file in your IDE and enter the following code:

from textual.app import App, ComposeResult
from textual.containers import VerticalScroll
from textual.widgets import Checkbox

class CustomCheck(Checkbox):
    BUTTON_INNER = " "

    def toggle(self) -> None:
        if self.value:
            CustomCheck.BUTTON_INNER = " "
        else:
            CustomCheck.BUTTON_INNER = "X"
        self.value = not self.value
        return self


class CheckboxApp(App[None]):
    #CSS_PATH = "checkbox.tcss"

    def compose(self) -> ComposeResult:
        check = CustomCheck("Mike")

        with VerticalScroll():
            yield check

    def on_checkbox_changed(self, event: Checkbox.Changed) -> None:
        self.notify(f"Checkbox value: {event.value}")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    CheckboxApp().run()

When you want to customize a pre-existing widget in Textual, you will almost always subclass it. So here, you subclass the Checkbox class to create a new CustomCheck class. Next, you override the BUTTON_INNER class attribute as well as the toggle() method.

If you go looking at the source code, you will find that BUTTON_INNER defaults to the “X” so here you are defaulting it to an empty string. Then you update toggle() to swap the “X” in when it is checked, and swap it back out when it is unchecked.

The other change is to use the new widget class in your application code.

To increase the widget’s visibility, you can add a border using Textual CSS. Create a new file called checkbox.tcss and add the following code to it:

CustomCheck {
    border: round green;
}

Make sure you save this file in the same folder as your Python file.

Now, when you run this code, you will see the following:

Good job! You now have a custom checkbox.

Wrapping Up

Textual is a great way for you to create beautiful user interfaces in your terminal. In this tutorial, you learned how to create a regular checkbox widget and then learned how to create a custom checkbox.

You can apply this knowledge to customize other widgets in Textual. You will need to study the widget’s code closely to understand how it works so you can modify it successfully. You may have to go through several iterations to get exactly what you want.

Don’t give up! You’ll get there eventually, and then you will be proud of yourself for sticking to it!

Learn More

If you thought this article was interesting you and you want to learn more about Textual, check out the following links:

• The Textual website
• Creating TUI Applications with Textual and Python (book)

The post Textual – Creating a Custom Checkbox appeared first on Mouse Vs Python.

You will also learn how to use Python type checkers, configure them, and set them up in pre-commit or GitHub Actions. This knowledge will give you the power to check your code and your team’s code automatically before merging, hopefully catching defects before they make it into your products.

Support the Book!

What You’ll Learn

You will learn all about Python’s support for type hinting (annotations). Specifically, you will learn about the following topics:

• Variable annotations
• Function annotations
• Type aliases
• New types
• Generics
• Hinting callables
• Annotating TypedDict
• Annotating Decorators and Generators
• Using Mypy for type checking
• Mypy configuration
• Using ty for type checking
• ty configuration
• and more!

Rewards to Choose From

There are several different rewards you can get in this Kickstarter:

• A signed paperback copy of the book (See Stretch Goals)
• An eBook copy of the book in PDF and ePub
• A t-shirt with the cover art from the book (See Stretch Goals)
• Other Python eBooks

Kickstart the Book

The post Python Typing Book Kickstarter appeared first on Mouse Vs Python.

In this book, you will learn how to use artificial intelligence to create mini-games. You will attempt to recreate the look and feel of various classic video games. The intention is not to violate copyright or anything of the sort, but instead to learn the limitations and the power of AI.

Instead, you will simply be learning about whether or not you can use AI to help you know how to create video games. Can you do it with no previous knowledge, as the AI proponents say? Is it really possible to create something just by writing out questions to the ether?

You will use various large language models (LLMs), such as Google Gemini, Grok, Mistral, and CoPilot, to create these games. You will discover the differences and similarities between these tools. You may be surprised to find that some tools give much more context than others.

AI is certainly not a cure-all and is far from perfect. You will quickly discover AI’s limitations and learn some strategies for solving those kinds of issues.

What You’ll Learn

You’ll be creating “clones” of some popular games. However, these games will only be the first level and may or may not be fully functional.

• Chapter 1 – The Snake Game
• Chapter 2 – Pong Clone
• Chapter 3 – Frogger Clone
• Chapter 4 – Space Invaders Clone
• Chapter 5 – Minesweeper Clone
• Chapter 6 – Luna Lander Clone
• Chapter 7 – Asteroids Clone
• Chapter 8 – Tic-Tac-Toe
• Chapter 9 – Pole Position Clone
• Chapter 10 – Connect Four
• Chapter 11 – Adding Sprites

Where to Purchase

• Leanpub
• Gumroad
• Amazon Kindle

The post New Book: Vibe Coding Video Games with Python appeared first on Mouse Vs Python.

Functions can be used just like any other data type in Python. A function can be passed to a function or returned from a function, just like a string or integer.

If you have jumped on the type-hinting bandwagon, you will probably want to add type hints to your decorators. That has been difficult until fairly recently.

Let’s see how to type hint a decorator!

Type Hinting a Decorator the Wrong Way

Here’s an example:

from functools import wraps
from typing import Any, Callable, TypeVar


Generic_function = TypeVar("Generic_function", bound=Callable[..., Any])

def info(func: Generic_function) -> Generic_function:
    @wraps(func)
    def wrapper(*args: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> Any:
        print('Function name: ' + func.__name__)
        print('Function docstring: ' + str(func.__doc__))
        result = func(*args, **kwargs)
        return result
    return wrapper

@info
def doubler(number: int) -> int:
    """Doubles the number passed to it"""
    return number * 2

print(doubler(4))

If you run mypy —strict info_decorator.py you will get the following output:

info_decorator.py:14: error: Incompatible return value type (got "_Wrapped[[VarArg(Any), KwArg(Any)], Any, [VarArg(Any), KwArg(Any)], Any]", expected "Generic_function")  [return-value]
Found 1 error in 1 file (checked 1 source file)

class ParamSpec(object):
  """ Parameter specification variable.
  
  The preferred way to construct a parameter specification is via the
  dedicated syntax for generic functions, classes, and type aliases,
  where the use of '**' creates a parameter specification::
  
      type IntFunc[**P] = Callable[P, int]
  
  For compatibility with Python 3.11 and earlier, ParamSpec objects
  can also be created as follows::
  
      P = ParamSpec('P')
  
  Parameter specification variables exist primarily for the benefit of
  static type checkers.  They are used to forward the parameter types of
  one callable to another callable, a pattern commonly found in
  higher-order functions and decorators.  They are only valid when used
  in ``Concatenate``, or as the first argument to ``Callable``, or as
  parameters for user-defined Generics. See class Generic for more
  information on generic types.
  
  An example for annotating a decorator::
  
      def add_logging[**P, T](f: Callable[P, T]) -> Callable[P, T]:
          '''A type-safe decorator to add logging to a function.'''
          def inner(*args: P.args, **kwargs: P.kwargs) -> T:
              logging.info(f'{f.__name__} was called')
              return f(*args, **kwargs)
          return inner
  
      @add_logging
      def add_two(x: float, y: float) -> float:
          '''Add two numbers together.'''
          return x + y
  
  Parameter specification variables can be introspected. e.g.::
  
      >>> P = ParamSpec("P")
      >>> P.__name__
      'P'
  
  Note that only parameter specification variables defined in the global
  scope can be pickled.
   """

from functools import wraps
from typing import Callable, ParamSpec, TypeVar


P = ParamSpec("P")
R = TypeVar("R")

def info(func: Callable[P, R]) -> Callable[P, R]:
    @wraps(func)
    def wrapper(*args: P.args, **kwargs: P.kwargs) -> R:
        print('Function name: ' + func.__name__)
        print('Function docstring: ' + str(func.__doc__))
        return func(*args, **kwargs)
    return wrapper

@info
def doubler(number: int) -> int:
    """Doubles the number passed to it"""
    return number * 2

print(doubler(4))

from functools import wraps
from typing import Callable


def info[**P, R](func: Callable[P, R]) -> Callable[P, R]:
    @wraps(func)
    def wrapper(*args: P.args, **kwargs: P.kwargs) -> R:
        print('Function name: ' + func.__name__)
        print('Function docstring: ' + str(func.__doc__))
        return func(*args, **kwargs)
    return wrapper

@info
def doubler(number: int) -> int:
    """Doubles the number passed to it"""
    return number * 2

print(doubler(4))

The post How to Type Hint a Decorator in Python appeared first on Mouse Vs Python.

Microsoft also has a Python type checker that you can use in VS Code called Pyright, and then there’s the lesser-known Pyrefly type checker and language server.

The newest type checker on the block is Astral’s ty, the maker of Ruff. Ty is another super-fast Python utility written in Rust.

In this article, you will learn how to switch your project to use ty locally and in GitHub Actions.

Installation

To install ty with uv, run the following:

uv tool install ty@latest

If you do not want to use uv, you can use the standalone installer. Instructions vary depending on your platform, so it is best to refer to the documentation for the latest information.

Note: Technically, you can use pip or pipx to install ty as well.

Running ty Locally

Running with uv

uv run ty

uvx ty

ty check

• pyproject.toml
• ty.toml

There are many rules that you can change. Check out the documentation for full details.

In general, if you run mypy in strict mode, then running ty without changing any of its settings is very similar. However, ty currently does not highlight missing type hints. If you need to enforce adding type hints, you can use Ruff’s flake8-annotations.

Here is how to enable the flak8-annotations in your pyproject.toml file:

If you have other rules already selected, you can add “ANN” to the end of the list to enable it.

Running ty in GitHub Actions

.github/workflows/ty.yml

Make sure you include the leading period!

Next, inside your yaml file, you will add the following code:

name: ty
on:
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, synchronize, reopened, ready_for_review]
  workflow_dispatch:
jobs:
  build:
    if: github.event.pull_request.draft == false
    runs-on: self-hosted
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Install Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
        with:
          python-version: “3.12”
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: |
          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
          pip install ty==0.0.7      
      - name: Run ty
        run: ty check
        continue-on-error: false

Now, when your team opens a new PR in your project, it will automatically run ty against it. Feel free to update the Python version to the one you are using. Also note that this GitHub Action sets the ty version to 0.0.7, which you may need to update as newer releases become available.

Using ty with pre-commit

• https://github.com/NSPC911/ty-pre-commit
• https://github.com/JacobCoffee/ty-pre-commit
• https://github.com/hoxbro/ty-pre-commit
• https://github.com/allganize/ty-pre-commit
• https://foundry.fsky.io/vel/ty-pre-commit

When Astral supports pre-commit itself, you should update your pre-commit configuration accordingly.

However, for this tutorial, you can use that first link which tells you to add the following to your .pre-commit-config.yaml:

Now, when you commit a file locally, pre-commit will run ty to check it for you automatically.

Wrapping Up

Have fun and happy coding!

The post How to Switch to ty from Mypy appeared first on Mouse Vs Python.

Welcome to Vibe Coding Video Games with Python. In this book, you will learn how to use artificial intelligence to create mini-games. You will attempt to recreate the look and feel of various classic video games. The intention is not to violate copyright or anything of the sort, but instead to learn the limitations and the power of AI.

Instead, you will simply be learning about whether or not you can use AI to help you know how to create video games. Can you do it with no previous knowledge, as the AI proponents say? Is it really possible to create something just by writing out questions to the ether?

Release date: January 2026 (eBook) / March 2026 (paperback)

You will be using various large language models (LLMs) such as Google Gemini, Grok, Mistral, CoPilot, and others to create these games. You will discover the differences and similarities between these tools. You may be surprised to find that some tools give much more context than others.

AI is certainly not a cure-all and is far from perfect. You will quickly discover AI’s limitations and learn some strategies for solving those kinds of issues.

Here are some examples of what you will be creating in this book:

Lune Lander Clone

Asteroids Clone

Pong Clone

What You’ll Learn

You’ll be creating “clones” of some popular games. However, these games will only be the first level and may or may not be fully functional.

• Chapter 1 – The Snake Game
• Chapter 2 – Pong Clone
• Chapter 3 – Frogger Clone
• Chapter 4 – Space Invaders Clone
• Chapter 5 – Minesweeper Clone
• Chapter 6 – Luna Lander Clone
• Chapter 7 – Asteroids Clone
• Chapter 8 – Tic-Tac-Toe
• Chapter 9 – Pole Position Clone
• Chapter 10 – Connect Four
• Chapter 11 – Intro to Sprites

Rewards to Choose From

There are several different rewards you can get in this Kickstarter:

• A signed paperback copy of the book
• An eBook copy of the book in PDF and ePub
• A t-shirt with the cover art from the book
• Other Python eBooks

Support the Kickstarter Today

The post ANN: Vibe Coding Video Games with Python appeared first on Mouse Vs Python.