Date: Tue, 12 May 2015 08:00:00 -0400
<p>Visit <a href="http://www.pythonpodcast.com?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss">podcastinit.com</a> for information about the show and links to our iTunes and Stitcher feeds.</p> <h3>Brief Introduction</h3> <ul> <li>Date of recording – May 4th, 2015</li> <li>Hosts – Tobias Macey and Chris Patti</li> <li>Overview – Interview with Ned Batchelder</li> <li>Follow us on iTunes, Stitcher or TuneIn</li> <li>Give us feedback! (iTunes, Twitter, email, Disqus comments)</li> <li>You can donate (if you want)!</li> </ul> <h3>Interview with Ned Batchelder</h3> <ul> <li>Introductions</li> <li>How did you get introduced to Python? <ul> <li>Zope</li> <li>… Implemented in Python</li> </ul> </li> <li>How did you get started as the organizer for Boston Python Meetup? <ul> <li>History is long and varied (Why is this switching to numbers?</li> <li>Started – 6 people sitting around a coffee table</li> <li>5 or 6 years</li> <li>Co-organizer Jessica McKeller <ul> <li>Built structures to help keep the community goingr</li> </ul> </li> <li>Weekend Python Workshop <ul> <li>People ‘adjacent’ to the male members – wives, mothers, etc.</li> </ul> </li> <li>“What comes next” from weekend workshops – became Project Night</li> </ul> </li> <li>How much of your time ends up being dedicated to the Python community? <ul> <li>Also maitainer of <a href="http://nedbatchelder.com/code/coverage/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">coverage.py</a></li> <li>Active on Freenode IRC #python</li> <li>20 hours a week</li> </ul> </li> <li>What are your goals for the Boston Python community? <ul> <li>Continue to grow</li> <li>More events, different events?</li> <li><a href="http://www.chipy.org/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">chipy</a> – Chicago UG very active – 1 on 1 mentoring program</li> <li>Smaller events – 5 person events – study groups <ul> <li>All levels not just beginners</li> <li>Computational Biologists – study genomics</li> <li>Three user groups <ul> <li>Pyladies Boston</li> <li>DJango Boston</li> <li>Boston Python Meetup</li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li>What do you find to be the most important thing(s) for building a healthy community (particularly in reference to programming)? <ul> <li>Consistency – good to know what to expect</li> <li>Pick a cadence – don’t burn out</li> </ul> </li> <li>Speakers aren’t superheroes, they’re just people. ‘Everyone has at least one talk in them’.</li> <li>Value in having a blog, twitter stream – people talk back to you and by correcting your mistakes everyone benefits.</li> <li>How do you keep people engaged outside of the monthly meetings? <ul> <li><a href="http://www.meetup.com/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Meetup.com</a> – requires moderation</li> <li><a href="https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">python.org mailing lists</a> – unmoderated – low traffic</li> <li>Need to do more in that regard</li> </ul> </li> <li>What do you like the most/least about the Python community? <ul> <li>Communities can improve – IRC has gotten better</li> <li>Turmoil on PSF mailing list over election for directors</li> </ul> </li> <li>How do you strike a balance between sponsors and the rest of the community? Do you have policies around sponsored presentations / talks? <ul> <li>Tend not to do sponsored talks</li> <li><a href="https://microsoftnewengland.com/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Microsoft NERD</a> – great benefit to Boston Python</li> <li>Provides monthly space for the group</li> <li>1 minute slots for sponsors</li> <li>No sales pitches</li> </ul> </li> <li>What are the steps I can take to start my own tech community? <ul> <li>How can you get the word out?</li> <li>Meetup.com is useful</li> <li>People like free food and beer <img alt="🙂" class="wp-smiley" src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f642.png?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" style="height: 1em;" /></li> <li>Be predictable. Pick something sustainable</li> </ul> </li> <li>What is the State of Python, from your perspective? <ul> <li>No signs of slowing down</li> <li>Ruby people are moving to other environments</li> <li>Python people are still using Python</li> <li>Python 2 to 3 conflict is unfortunate – transition could have been handled more smoothly</li> <li>Python 3 ecosystem is getting much better</li> <li>Next big drama – type hinting proposal</li> <li>Appears to be contrary to one of the basics tenets of the language at first blush</li> </ul> </li> <li>Do you feel that Boston will ever have its own regional Python conference? <ul> <li>Toyed with bid to bring Pycon to Boston</li> <li>Would require someone stepping up to do it</li> <li>Not sure how a regional conference ‘feels’ as a local event</li> <li>Try to have Boston Python be like a year long conference all year long</li> <li>Huge undertaking</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h3>Picks</h3> <ul> <li>Tobias <ul> <li><a href="https://www.scribd.com/g/4ko3os?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Scribd</a></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/sloria/konch?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Konch</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.hardcoded.net/dupeguru/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">DupeGuru</a></li> </ul> </li> <li>Chris <ul> <li><a href="http://therivercafe.com/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The River Cafe</a></li> <li><a href="http://omz-software.com/pythonista/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Pythonista</a></li> <li><a href="https://robots.thoughtbot.com/rototo-space-survival?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Rototo – IOS Game</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.arrogantbastard.com/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Stone Brewing Arrogant Bastard</a></li> </ul> </li> <li>Ned <ul> <li><a href="https://pypi.python.org/pypi/tox?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Tox</a></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/saghul/pythonz?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Pythonz</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.spelltower.com/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Spell Tower</a></li> <li><a href="http://io9.com/watch-a-series-of-seven-brilliant-lectures-by-richard-f-5894600?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Richard Feynman’s Cornell Lectures</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h3>Keep in Touch</h3> <ul> <li>Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/nedbat?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">@nedbat</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/bostonpython?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">@bostonpython</a></li> <li>IRC: nedbat</li> <li><a href="http://nedbatchelder.com/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">nedbatchelder.com</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.meetup.com/bostonpython/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">bostonpython.com</a></li> </ul> <p><img alt="" height="0" src="https://analytics.boundlessnotions.com/piwik.php?idsite=1&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pythonpodcast.com%2Fepisode-5-ned-batchelder%2F&action_name=Ned+Batchelder+-+Episode+5&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pythonpodcast.com%2Ffeed%2F&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" style="border: 0; width: 0; height: 0;" width="0" /></p>