Topics for PyCon DC 2003 - Build Your Own Conference!!!!

[https://python.domainunion.de/pycon/ PyCon DC 2003] is not going to be an elitist conference. It needs your help to ensure that there is something for everybody! Chris Johnson has found some basic data on PyConAccommodation which can help you to find a less expensive place to stay. Matt Croydon's notes in PyConForCheap might also help.

What can you do? Well, firstly you can contribute your ideas on this page. It's easy to edit Wiki content, so get to it - just click on Edit Text below! The more contributors we have, the more relevant and interesting PyCon DC 2003 will be. A few topics are listed below to get you started, but you should feel free to add others if you believe the PythonCommunities will benefit from having them covered at this, and future, conferences. You can show your support at PyConRandomExclamationsOfSupport.

IMPORTANT: When making a change, consider whether you should sign it. E.g., proposals for sprints are best accompanied by a name or email address so that we can contact you regarding further details, etc. Remember that "I" doesn't really refer to anyone in a Wiki.

There is a PyConIRCChannel: #pycon on irc.freenode.net.

Registration Fees

• $150 early bird (registered and paid up to 4 weeks before the conference)
• $200 regular pre-registration (registered and paid up to a few days before the conference)
• $250 all on-site payment (pre-registration is still strongly recommended when paying on-site, to ensure your space and to speed up badge creation)

Registration will open soon, with the help of YAPC.

What Can I Do for PyCon?

See the PyConHelpers page for areas where volunteers are currently needed, and please feel free to sign up there. Also to add other areas where you think you'd like help -- SH

Birds of a Feather Sessions

In many conferences the BoFs are where much of the real communication takes place. If your particular area of interest doesn't manage to generate its own track then at least register your interest on the BoFs page so people can sign up for it.

Sprints

The sprints are intended to benefit the Python core, as well as encouraging more developers to take part in Python's development. They will also be a good place to see ExtremeProgramming or other AgileDevelopment techniques in action. What would you like to see done, or at least attempted?

There is a separate SprintPlan page with more details. Please use it to flesh out the sprint plans.

Installathon

The ideas here are principally:

• help complete novices to install Python on their laptops, (possibly) as well as other needed software
• help Python newcomers, and the less-technically minded, to install needed modules
• debug the installation procedures for any modules and packages the authors care to put up for consideration, and
• investiagte the practicality of various "batteries included" distributions

Lightning Talks

At IPC 10 the Developer Day had many short talks on diverse topics. If you can't produce a full-blown paper, offer your own talk (as short as five minutes is acceptable) to distill a part of your hard-won experience and save others the learning time you put in. Or just say what you'd like someone else to give a lightning talk on.

The idea of lightning talks has also been extended to the possibility of lightning tutorials where the audience brings their laptops and a tutorial of around 15 to 30 minutes is held. Think of them as lightning talks with heavy audience participation. -- brett

I'm thinking about giving one or more talks on how to be a python developer. Topics could include: submitting patches, helping with bug reports, updating documentation, adding/updating tests, etc. I'd be interested in what people believe is important. -- neal

How about a lighting tutorial on Python in 3D? In fact I'll volunteer to do a 30 minute workshop on VPython. -- Justin Shaw

Feel free to sign up to give a talk that somebody else has suggested.

• Practical ssh -- to explain in simple terms that we can all understand how ssh works and how you can set it up for secure remote access to as many systems as you need. -- I'll do this SH

• Cygwin benefits -- how to be a good open source community member even though you run the Evil Empire's operating system on your laptop.

• CVS: Don't Leave Home Without It -- A quick tutorial on how to set up CVS, particularly with respect to using it remotely via SSH (though local machine use will be covered as well). "CVS is to programming as saving is to games." Do it in case you make a mistake or your machine freaks out... (jafo)

• Modules -- Pick a module (standard or third party) and talk it up. Go through some basic usage and perhaps some advanced tricks. This could be lots of fun and extremely informative.

  • [https://docutils.sf.net/rst.html reStructuredText] -- Lightning tutorial on the markup and basic usage of the tools included with [https://docutils.sf.net/ Docutils] for generating HTML pages from reST files. -- brett

  • Distutils. This is a module that causes a lot of confusion and isn't used widely enough yet. Techniques emerging in distutils 1.0.3 (such as --install-script on win32) should be covered.
  • rfc822 -- It's not just for breakfast any more. rfc822 makes parsing e-mail headers and e-mail addresses extremely easy. But it can be useful for parsing a whole slew of information. For example, I use it to parse requests to an e-mail-based calendaring and reminder system. (jafo)
  • pyPgSQL -- Samples of the use of pyPgSQL to communicate with a Postgres database. Covered will be DBAPI compliance and extra functionality that makes life really nice. (jafo)

Volunteers

The absence of professional organizers is the main way to keep the cost of PyCon down, but this means we're relying on YOU to help. Volunteer efforts don't need to be all-embracing -- if we can share the load then no one individual needs to suffer a heart attack to make things happen. This section will detail areas where help is needed, and you are encouraged to put your name down to offer assistance. Make it your conference. Make it our conference. This is a community effort, and it needs people to get involved.

Progress Reports

There are many areas of Python development where it's hard to stay in touch with what's going on. What would you like to see reports about? Two areas that have already been mentioned are Jython/JPython and the PythonBusinessForum. What else is of burning interest? Who is going to give these reports? Sign up here and help to make PyCon relevant and engaging. You don't need to be a professional speaker to help other Pythonistas out with a little information.

Which Batteries?

There seems to be some interest in building Python distributions that combine the core with various third-party libraries. ActiveState is probably the model here, packaging the Python core with Mark Hammond's win32all extensions and various others. How can this be done in ways that make more people's lives easier and at the same time assist the conference theme of Popularizing Python?

Choice of Freebies

If sponsorship is available (as it appears it might be), should the organizers ask for money, to be used to reduce conference registration fees, or should they try to get nice giveaways that your technical friends will think are outrageously cool when you return home? Suggestions, please.

ChoiceOfFreebies

Interested in Jython/J2EE track

I believe there would be intense interest in a track related toPython/Jython's use in J2EE applications that utilize Bean Scripting Framework (BSF).

That's great. It's a long time since I studied Beans, so clearly the Jythoneers will have to put this together. Maybe you and Matt Payne [Payne@MattPayne.org] could create a PyConJython page where the track details could be thrashed out and suitable authors could be press-ganged into submission? -- steve

Would an OpenSpace Track work for PyCon

Agile Universe in Chicago ran an OpenSpace track and it was exciting and well attended [https://www.xpuniverse.com/openSpace]. It is a straight forward way to get greater participation by all attendees. It is somewhat like BOF sessions but more dynamic and collaborative, with people negotiating slot times and combining/dividing talks. It has been called the XP of conference organization. One surprising result was that there were more testers in attendance than anyone expected, they essentially set up their own testing track in OpenSpace.

I have facilitated many training events and would be happy to facilitate such a track if people were interested. ?bob payne [bobpayne@webdc.com]

Note: Please send mail to [pycondc-2003@python.org] after updating this page if you want the organizers to respond with more alacrity.