Illustration by PyCon Conference

PyCon 2004

Spring is in the air in Washington DC, and that can mean only one thing for Python users -- PyCon! Forget the Cherry Blossom festival and visiting G-Dub, from March 21 and 23 Python users from all over the community will congregate at a George Washington University Conference Center for a week full of Python talks, speeches, development, and social activities.

Guido van Rossum, creator of Python and our BDFL (Benevolent Dictator for Life) says “PyCon is the most important conference in the year for me. It brings together the largest group of Python users and developers imaginable. I come to PyCon for many reasons: to meet with other core Python developers face to face; to hear about the exciting things that users from all over the world are doing with Python; to interact in person with Python users of all types, from newbies to veterans of many years; to hear everybody's feedback on where Python is and where they'd like it to go; and perhaps most of all to continue to encourage this wonderful community to grow, reach out to new users of all kinds, and keep listening to each other.

I hope everyone who comes to the conference will return from it with a new or renewed feeling of excitement about Python, whether they are developers, sophisticated users, beginners, or even skeptical passers-by. The Python community includes everyone, from grade schoolers just learning about computer science to renowned scientists interested in using the best tools and business people looking for a secret weapon.”

This is the second year of the all-volunteer operated conference that is organized by the PSF (Python Software Foundation). Steve Holden, the PyCon Chairman and author of ‘Python Web Programming’ shared: "I was the bright spark who suggested that the Python community might be able to put together a better conference than the professional organizers of the International Python Conferences. It turns out I was right, but doing everything with volunteers was a little scary the first time through. I'm happy to say that with the first year under our belt we are looking forward to an expanded range of topics and formats. We hope this will broaden our appeal to the Python community and allow us to reach every skill level. PyCon should be a great place to learn about Python as well as an excellent venue for learning more."

Helping with PyCon is a great way to give back to the community without having to commit code. To volunteer before or at the conference, go to http://www.pycon.org/dc2004/volunteer

The Opening Keynote Speaker is Mitchell Kapor, founder and Chair of the Open Source Applications Foundation (OSAF), a non-profit organization working to create and gain wide adoption for software applications using open-source methods. OSAF is designing a new application called "Chandler" to manage email, appointments, contacts, and tasks, and easily allow information to be shared with friends, family, and colleagues. Chandler will be free of charge and will run on the Windows, Macintosh and Linux platforms.

Kapor has worn many hats over the past 25 years: software designer, entrepreneur, and social activist, among them. He founded Lotus Development Corporation in 1982 and designed Lotus 1-2-3, the "killer app," which made the PC ubiquitous in business. He is the co-founder and former Chair of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization working in the public interest to protect privacy and free expression on the Internet.

Kapor has written widely about the impact of personal computing and networks on society in publications including Forbes, Scientific American, and The Buddhist Review. In 1997, he created and endowed the Mitchell Kapor Foundation, a private foundation focused on the intersection of health and the environment, the social impact of information technology, and removing barriers to full participation in education and the workplace, by historically disadvantaged groups.

And another popular speaker in the Python Communty, Bruce Eckel will be talking about “weak typing”.

Bruce Eckel is the author of Thinking in Java, the Hands-On Java Seminar CD ROM, Thinking in C++ , C++ Inside & Out (Osborne/McGraw-Hill 1993), among others. He's given hundreds of presentations throughout the world, published over 150 articles in numerous magazines, was a founding member of the ANSI/ISO C++ committee and speaks regularly at conferences. He provides public and private seminars & design consulting in C++ and Java.

Although he writes about C++ and Java, Bruce reaches for Python first when creating his own tools.

Guido van Rossum’s will give his Annual talk about Python. Will it be about “The State of Python” or more about the Zen of Python? You will have to attend and find out for yourself.

Due to the overwhelming positive feedback from PyCon 2003, organizers expect 50% more attendees this year as the popularity of the conference grows. This is already reflected in the expanded range of topics that include "Modeling of a Fuel Fabrication Facility Using Python and SimPy" to "Literate unit testing: Unit Testing with Doctest".

A well known Python developer, Aahz explains. “I'm really looking forward to "Distribution Basics" and "Packaging Python with Microsoft Installer". Now that Python is getting used more heavily for distributed stand-alone applications, these two sessions will help people produce polished deployments.”

Along the Windows theme, Jim Fulton, creator of Zope, is “most looking forward to the Iron Python talk, by Jim Hugunin, the creator of Jython. I think that having Python running well on the .NET platform is a great way to expand opportunities for Python and Python developers.”

You will be able to view Photos via this link from the Keynote:
http://www.pycon.org/dc2004/talks/keynote

During PyCon PyZine (the sister publication of ZopeMag) will be covering the Python conference in DC via the PyZine "On-the-road" Weblog.

Though the conference is only 3 days starting on Wednesday, a week of events kick-off Saturday the 20th with a “no cost to attend” four day Sprint on various topics that will draw at least 50 developers working shoulder-to-shoulder in Extreme Programming (XP) style on various projects. Projects include the Python core, Docutils, Plone and even an Introduction to Zope 3 Development Tutorial by Jim Fulton. To find out more and sign up, check out the Sprint wiki at http://www.python.org/cgi-bin/moinmoin/SprintPlan2004