The Advanced Python Task Scheduler

Summary

Most long-running programs have a need for executing periodic tasks. APScheduler is a mature and open source library that provides all of the features that you need in a task scheduler. In this episode the author, Alex Grönholm, explains how it works, why he created it, and how you can use it in your own applications. He also digs into his plans for the next major release and the forces that are shaping the improved feature set. Spare yourself the pain of triggering events at just the right time and let APScheduler do it for you.

Announcements

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• Your host as usual is Tobias Macey and today I’m interviewing Alex Grönholm about APScheduler, a library for scheduling tasks in your Python projects

Interview

• Introductions
• How did you get introduced to Python?
• Can you start by describing what APScheduler is and the main use cases that APScheduler is designed for?
  • What was your movitvation for creating it?
• What is the workflow for integrating APScheduler into an application?
  • In the documentation it says not to run more than one instance of the scheduler, what are some strategies for scaling schedulers?
• What are some common architectures for applications that take advantage of APScheduler?
  • What are some potential pitfalls that developers should be aware of?
• Can you describe how APScheduler is implemented and how its design has evolved since you first began working on it?
  • What have you found to be the most complex or challenging aspects of building or using a scheduling framework?
• What are some of the most interesting/innovative/unexpected ways that you have seen APScheduler used?
• What are some of the features or capabilities that you have consciously left out?
  • What design strategies or features of APScheduler are often overlooked or underappreciated?
• What are some of the most useful or interesting lessons that you have learned while building and maintaining APScheduler?
• When is APScheduler the wrong choice for managing task execution?
• What do you have planned for the future of the project?

Keep In Touch

• agronholm on GitHub

Picks

• Tobias
  • The Data Exchange Podcast
• Alex
  • Tenacity

Links

• APScheduler
• PHP
• Java
• ECMAScript
• Celery
• ERP == Enterprise Resource Planning
• Cron Daemon
• RPyC
• Zookeeper
  • Data Engineering Podcast Episode
• RethinkDB
• Daylight Saving Time
• Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Time
• PyTZ
• Celery Beats
• Asphalt Framework
  • Podcast Episode
• AnyIO
• Twisted
  • Podcast Episode
• Py2EXE
• PyInstaller

The intro and outro music is from Requiem for a Fish The Freak Fandango Orchestra / CC BY-SA