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.
Dave has a Ph.D. in Computer Science and a M.S. in Math. From 1998-2005 he was an assistant professor at the University of Chicago. In 2023 and 2024, he taught Programming Language Design and Implementation with Shriram Krishnamurthi at Brown University. 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.