About

David Beazley is an independent author, educator, and researcher primarily known for his contributions in the Python community. Dave's early career focused on high-performance scientific software and ultimately led to the creation of Swig, a compiler that allowed existing C/C++ software to be scripted from Python and other dynamic languages. In 1999, he authored the Python Essential Reference, the first reference book published on Python. From 1998-2005, Dave was a tenure-track assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Chicago where he primarily taught courses in operating systems and networks. Since 2007, he has operated Dabeaz LLC, a business that's focused on his teaching. If asked, Dave would probably say he's running a one-person graduate school and you'd be right to scratch your head and wonder what kind of lunatic does that? Maybe it's better not to ask.

In 2013, he authored the 3rd edition of the Python Cookbook (O'Reilly Media), modernized to Python 3. In 2016, he recorded a video training series on the Python Programming Language. In 2021, he authored Python Distilled (Addison-Wesley).

You might also know Dave from this somewhat infamous bit of live coding. Or maybe this bit of exploration in "the vault". Or this bit of madness involving WebAssembly. Or all of these other talks.

In 2023 and 2024, he taught Programming Language Design and Implementation with Shriram Krishnamurthi at Brown University.

David has a Ph.D. in computer science and a MS/BA in math.

Contact

Dave can be contacted by sending email to dave@dabeaz.com. You can also follow him on Mastodon.