Python Bytes · Michael Kennedy and Brian Okken

#461: This episdoe has a typo

December 9, 2025·29 min·2 clips

Brian and Michael discuss PEP 798, a draft for Python 3.15 that allows unpacking in comprehensions to simplify double-layered code.

Typos gets the spotlight here. Sky Costco writes in with a nudge from code spell to typos, and the hosts follow it into the parts developers would actually use. It is very Rust. The project is described as 99.9% Rust and 0.0% Python, which turns into a quick joke because Python barely shows up. Still, Python people have a reason to care. The point is not language loyalty; it is whether the tool catches mistakes where developers make them. Snake case matters. The hosts spend time on typos finding a misspelled piece inside a bigger identifier, like a mangled version of connection string. That is where it earns the attention. It is not just scanning plain words. It can catch partial misspellings inside code-shaped names and give a clean correction path. One host compares it to PyCharm, noting that PyCharm handles something similar by separating ordinary spell checking from a misspelling finder that works across identifiers. The GitHub Action matters too. For teams that want spelling checks on PRs and commits, typos can act as a small gate instead of becoming one more thing someone has to catch by hand. Then the language server changes the feel. Sky's real reason for sending it in is that typos also has a VS Code and friends extension. Now the spelling tool is there while you code, not waiting until later to complain. The hosts stay practical: amused by the Rust percentage, impressed by the editor support, and happy when a small tool does its job. The ending gets silly, with a bit about printed output ending in exclamation marks turning into a fake signoff riff around "lies."

As heard by us

A small spelling tool becomes a practical discussion about code, editors, and CI.

The episode spends much of its time on typos and a Rust-based alternative to codespell, with the main appeal coming from its concrete-syntax-tree approach. That makes it useful for catching misspellings inside snake_case names as well as plain prose.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

A Rust typo checker that reaches into your editor and your PRs.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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