Add Load A File Into The Python REPL as a Python TIL

README.md

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ working across different projects via [VisualMode](https://www.visualmode.dev/).
 
 For a steady stream of TILs, [sign up for my newsletter](https://visualmode.kit.com/newsletter).
 
-_1741 TILs and counting..._
+_1742 TILs and counting..._
 
 See some of the other learning resources I work on:
 
@@ -1038,6 +1038,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Dunder Methods](python/dunder-methods.md)
 - [Install With PIP For Specific Interpreter](python/install-with-pip-for-specific-interpreter.md)
 - [Iterate First N Items From Enumerable](python/iterate-first-n-items-from-enumerable.md)
+- [Load A File Into The Python REPL](python/load-a-file-into-the-python-repl.md)
 - [Override The Boolean Context Of A Class](python/override-the-boolean-context-of-a-class.md)
 - [Store And Access Immutable Data In A Tuple](python/store-and-access-immutable-data-in-a-tuple.md)
 - [Test A Function With Pytest](python/test-a-function-with-pytest.md)

python/load-a-file-into-the-python-repl.md

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# Load A File Into The Python REPL
+
+I opened up a Python REPL to try some things out.
+
+```
+$ python3
+>>> import math
+>>> math.floor(5/2)
+2
+```
+
+Now, I want to reference a Python file I've been working on so that I can
+manually test the behavior of what I'm building. To do this, I can import a file
+by its name in the same way that I would import any module. Then I can use that
+namespace for class and method references. Crucially, the file should exist in
+the same directory the REPL was started from.
+
+First, here is the file:
+
+```python
+# bpe.py
+class BytePairEncoding:
+    def text_to_bytes(text: str) -> list[int]:
+        """Convert a string to a list of byte values (0-255)"""
+        return list(text.encode("utf-8"))
+```
+
+Now to use it from the REPL:
+
+```
+$ python
+>>> import bpe
+>>> bpe.BytePairEncoding.text_to_bytes("Gimme some bytes!")
+[71, 105, 109, 109, 101, 32, 115, 111, 109, 101, 32, 98, 121, 116, 101, 115, 33]
+```