Add Create A Range Of Descending Values 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).
 
-_1758 TILs and counting..._
+_1760 TILs and counting..._
 
 See some of the other learning resources I work on:
 
@@ -1047,6 +1047,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Check If Package Is Installed With Pip](python/check-if-package-is-installed-with-pip.md)
 - [Control Passing Of Time In Tests](python/control-passing-of-time-in-tests.md)
 - [Create A Dummy DataFrame In Pandas](python/create-a-dummy-dataframe-in-pandas.md)
+- [Create A Range Of Descending Values](python/create-a-range-of-descending-values.md)
 - [Dunder Methods](python/dunder-methods.md)
 - [Easy Key-Value Aggregates With defaultdict](python/easy-key-value-aggregates-with-defaultdict.md)
 - [Install With PIP For Specific Interpreter](python/install-with-pip-for-specific-interpreter.md)
@@ -1054,6 +1055,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Iterate Over A Dictionary](python/iterate-over-a-dictionary.md)
 - [Keep A Tally With collections.Counter](python/keep-a-tally-with-collections-counter.md)
 - [Load A File Into The Python REPL](python/load-a-file-into-the-python-repl.md)
+- [Look Inside Pytest tmp_path](python/look-inside-pytest-tmp-path.md)
 - [Override The Boolean Context Of A Class](python/override-the-boolean-context-of-a-class.md)
 - [Parse Relative Time To datetime Object](python/parse-relative-time-to-datetime-object.md)
 - [Store And Access Immutable Data In A Tuple](python/store-and-access-immutable-data-in-a-tuple.md)

python/create-a-range-of-descending-values.md

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+# Create A Range Of Descending Values
+
+A typical use of `range` looks something like this:
+
+```python
+>>> list(range(1, 5))
+[1, 2, 3, 4]
+```
+
+Which is equivalent to this one where we give a `step` value of `1`.
+
+```python
+>>> list(range(1, 5, 1))
+[1, 2, 3, 4]
+```
+
+If we try to create a _negative range_, that is, a range of values in decreasing
+order, we get an empty list.
+
+```python
+>>> list(range(0, -7))
+[]
+```
+
+That's because the `step` value still defaults to `1`. And there are no positive
+steps between `0` and `-7`. So, let's give `range` a `step` value of `-1`.
+
+```python
+>>> list(range(0,-7, -1))
+[0, -1, -2, -3, -4, -5, -6]
+```
+
+One practical use case of a negative range like this is using a list
+comprehension to transform it into a list of the _last seven days_.
+
+```python
+>>> from datetime import datetime, timedelta
+>>> [datetime.now().date() + timedelta(days=days) for days in range(0,-7, -1)]
+[datetime.date(2026, 3, 19), datetime.date(2026, 3, 18), datetime.date(2026, 3, 17), datetime.date(2026, 3, 16), datetime.date(2026, 3, 15), datetime.date(2026, 3, 14), datetime.date(2026, 3, 13)]
+```
+
+Of course this could have been written with a positive range and then
+subtracting the `timedelta`. I like that I have the option of doing this in
+whatever way makes the code most readable.

python/look-inside-pytest-tmp-path.md

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+# Look Inside Pytest tmp_path
+
+In [Isolate and Debug File Side-Effects with Pytest
+`tmp_path`](https://www.visualmode.dev/isolate-and-debug-file-side-effects-with-pytest-tmp-path),
+I wrote about how I use
+[`tmp_path`](https://docs.pytest.org/en/stable/reference/reference.html#std-fixture-tmp_path)
+in a Pytest fixture to test [my `py-vmt` CLI](https://github.com/jbranchaud/py-vmt). During testing of the CLI interface
+via [`click`'s testing utilities](https://click.palletsprojects.com/en/stable/testing/), `vmt` creates,
+modifies, and reads from files. Isolating that behavior with the `tmp_path`
+fixture is useful because it prevents individual test cases from conflicting
+with one another.
+
+Here is what the fixture looks like at the top of my test file:
+
+```python
+# auto fixture for all test cases that monkeypatches the platform dirs to a tmp
+# path so that test side-effects don't persist between runs
+@pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
+def use_tmp_platform_dirs(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    data_dir = tmp_path / "data"
+    config_dir = tmp_path / "config"
+    data_dir.mkdir()
+    config_dir.mkdir()
+    monkeypatch.setattr(CliContext, "get_data_dir", staticmethod(lambda: data_dir))
+    monkeypatch.setattr(CliContext, "get_config_dir", staticmethod(lambda: config_dir))
+```
+
+The root of the temp directory is located at `tempfile.gettempdir()` and the
+directories from there are organized with this structure:
+
+```
+{temproot}/pytest-of-{user}/pytest-{num}/{testname}/
+```
+
+So, in the case of `vmt`, I can find the `config` and `data` dirs for a specific
+test run here:
+
+```bash
+❯ ls /var/folders/zc/q6gnvbgx6kq77828jn38716r0000gn/T/pytest-of-lastword/pytest-2/test_start_status_stop_flow0
+config data
+```