11 ms·

What really happened at PyCon 2013

746 points by LeafStorm 14y ago

Articulate 14y ago
This is a really great summary and it is too bad that so much great knowledge sharing is going unnoticed because of the lure of controversy. Solid explanation.
waterside81 14y ago
You forgot StartupRow! 6 startups on Friday (we were one of them) plus another 6 on Saturday. Got to make some great contacts as a result.
michaelochurch 14y ago
Thank you for posting this. I wasn't at PyCon 2013, but I really wish the discussion would get back to the fact that 99% of what happens when technical people get together is positive and cool. It's really sad that the ridiculous 1% gets so much attention. I actually don't think technology people are that bad, not as a class. Most types of ambitious male business people are a lot more vulgar and perverse than the technologists. VC-istan execs tend to have inappropriate, power-imbalanced office affairs, traders and bankers go strip clubs more often than is healthy... programmers swear slightly more than average and some are socially awkward. Not the same category.
- _delirium 14y ago
  That's an interesting point. I don't have any real basis to generalize, but I have been in a number of situations where business people think that tech people are too politically correct. Coming from a general view that tech isn't really a role model in that category to begin with, that was surprising to encounter. My limited time in Europe suggests that European culture on the whole is less attentive on this subject as well. Rather notable lapses in that category also occasionally make HN (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3975588 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3975588) but usually it somehow avoids the radar, perhaps due to Europe otherwise having a reputation as progressive/liberal.
  - michaelochurch 14y ago
    The truth, which is ugly, is that the white-collar Work culture that has existed for over 200 years is based on some extremely sexist assumptions. It's designed in a way that makes it very difficult for women to fit in, in any stable and reliable way. Additionally, most of the things about Work that make it hard for women are also deeply defective attributes (e.g. male dominance hierarchies) of it that are maladaptive in the 21st century. Technology is still defective, but it's less-so than most other industries. The difference, and the reason there are fewer women in technology than the more defective culture of banking, is that technology's appeal is to risk-seekers and idealists... who tend in this particular context, for a variety of (probably cultural) reasons, to be men. To the extent that technology has problems, most of that comes from tech executives who swoop in to take advantage of idealistic (and socially awkward) tech people, then encourage an imbalanced and nasty culture.
    - obstacle1 14y ago
      Is this a troll? I don't know your history, but I've heard that you have one, so... If this is a troll, someone let me know, please. Otherwise... >It's designed in a way that makes it very difficult for women to fit in, in any stable and reliable way. Additionally You can't just make a statement, not provide evidence, and then say "additionally...". You haven't proven your first point. What sexist assumptions is white-collar Work [sic] culture based on? And how is it designed such that it is difficult for women to fit in? >the reason there are fewer women in technology than the more defective culture of banking, is that technology's appeal is to risk-seekers and idealists This is such a ridiculous claim I don't even know where to begin. First off, I can tell you've never been anywhere near a trading floor, or a commercial bank for that matter. The entire industry is based on risk. What do you think trading is? The calculated harnessing of risk. You make bets. That is all. Pure risk. FAR more risky than technology. And further the proportion of people who are taking risks in finance is MUCH higher than the proportion who are taking risks in technology. There's only one founder per company in tech; there are 100 traders for every founder in a bank. >To the extent that technology has problems, most of that comes from tech executives who swoop in to take advantage of idealistic (and socially awkward) tech people, then encourage an imbalanced and nasty culture. Take advantage HOW? And HOW does that create the problems we're currently seeing in tech? I don't like the way you speak in platitudes. Completely devoid of content. I don't know who you are, I know you have a reputation, though, and I am ready to weather a storm in the name of truth.
- materialhero 14y ago
  Totally agree. So much going on today makes a bad name for everybody in the startup/tech community :{
  - michaelochurch 14y ago
    What can you do? Just kick out a few funny tweets. I decided to promote my card game: https://twitter.com/MichaelOChurch/status/314934411223252995 https://twitter.com/MichaelOChurch/status/314934411223252995 I think the PlayHaven guy will be fine. All he needs to do is say, "I'm the Dongle Guy". Adria didn't deserve the Internet hatred (which probably came mostly from trolls and assholes, not tech people) but her getting fired wasn't unreasonable. If you're a tech evangelist, your job is PR and you ought to know that public shaming is Seriously Not Cool.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- grey-area 14y ago
  Somewhat ironically, you've now threadbombed this story with discussions of that ridiculous 1% by mentioning it :) I know that probably wasn't your intention, but please let's not turn this story into one of those interminable threads about gender relations, there are enough of those elsewhere.
  - rplnt 14y ago
    The article itself was playing on that 1%, both with title and the first paragraph. I wouldn't blame michaelochurch for mentioning it.
- tatsuke95 14y ago
  >"programmers swear slightly more than average and some are socially awkward" I agree, but it will be interesting to watch this trend shift over time. There was a time in the not-so-distant past when if you were a computer guy, you were a "geek". Computers were for "geeks", which meant at least one of your parents was a "geek" to involve you with computers as a child. And, generally, "geeks" may be awkward socially, but are pretty normal, easy-going people (obviously generalizing here, but I also consider myself part of this group). You can see this represented in the pop-culture of the past 30 years. But that stigma is definitely disappearing, if it hasn't disappeared already. What will the place look like when the would-be Alpha-males of the financial world (which has been gutted as a career) go to the next best place to make a killing, where the money flows like water? Is it already happening?
- grappler 14y ago
  Who is Michael O. Church? He seems to have lots of top comments on this site. Is it mostly because if the interesting (and voluminous) stuff he writes about office politics? Or is there more of a story here? I haven't found much.
rzendacott 14y ago
This is a pretty unrelated question, but how does one find out about these conferences? I typically only hear about them afterward (Heroku's Waza and now PyCon). Are there any that are known to be particularly good? Additionally, any recommendations for which to try to attend as a first year computer science student?
- sgdesign 14y ago
  http://lanyrd.com http://lanyrd.com
  - icebraining 14y ago
    Thanks! Such a shame that if you want something in Europe, you have to look country by country, since selecting "Europe" returns no results.
    - piquadrat 14y ago
      If you're looking for Python cons, You should definitely check out DjangoCon 2013 in Warsaw, Poland (http://2013.djangocon.eu/ http://2013.djangocon.eu/, 15-19 May, possibly sold out) and EuroPython in Florence, Italy (https://ep2013.europython.eu/ https://ep2013.europython.eu/, 1-7 Juli).
- DannoHung 14y ago
  PyCon's a yearly thing and has been for a while. Newer cons will make a post to a place like HN. There's a con coming up this year that I got contacted about because I went to one that is being run by organizers of a different con I went to a few years ago.
ncw 14y ago
This was my first PyCon and I had an awesome time. There were so many interesting talks and I have so many new ideas that I am going to hack on when I get home. It's a shame that I didn't meet as many people as I would have liked. It's a real shame that all the good things that went on seem to have been forgotten.
14113 14y ago
I hope it's a good message that there were only 2 problems PyCon staff had to deal with - but I wish the current shitstorm had stopped here: http://pycon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/pycon-response-to-inappropriate.html http://pycon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/pycon-response-to-inappr...
- michaelochurch 14y ago
  Do we know that those pertain to the same incident? It seems likely to me that they don't.
  - benatkin 14y ago
    They don't. One was at the testing BoF. http://term.ie/blog/how-to-get-banned-from-pycon/ http://term.ie/blog/how-to-get-banned-from-pycon/
dinkumthinkum 14y ago
This is good, it's sad that someone doing something stupid and making a spectacle had to overshadow people getting together and doing interesting stuff.
edgesrazor 14y ago
Thank you - so good to hear something positive.
cloudwizard 14y ago
I had a great time at PyCon. My son who is 7 attended young coders and learned a lot. All the kids got Pi's too so now we have two Pi's to work on. I did not even hear about the Twitter incident. I consider it a twitter incident and not real.
- izak30 14y ago
  It was really, really cool to see all the young folks around this year. I'm glad your son could come.
peteforde 14y ago
Great write-up! I'm a Ruby developer, but it sounds like your community is really excellent. I'd love to come check out PyCon sometime in the future.
- steveklabnik 14y ago
  I almost went this year, and I often go to Python related events if I'm around when they happen. You should go.
pwang 14y ago
Thank you. Also don't forget that we had an amazing Python Data conference during the sprints, with over 300 people and featuring Peter Norvig and Fernando Perez as speakers. http://pydata.org http://pydata.org
jetsnoc 14y ago
I really enjoyed Pycon. I had never attended a Pycon, nor dealt with the Python community at large but the day I listened to Jesse Noller's keynote I knew I was in the right place. He discussed the values of teaching children, being an inclusive community, and philanthropy. I thought I was attending to get my Python on and discovered the warm fluffy side of a beautiful community. These people really mean well. At Pycon I met the developers and project maintainers of high-profile projects I use all of the time like Django and SQLAlchemy. Heck, I paid $150 to receive classroom training from Mike Bayer himself. How inexpensive is that to receive training from the developer and maintainer of SQLAlchemy himself? The tutorials were incredibly useful, the keynotes moving (Noller, Hettinger, etc.), the sessions well-produced and all of the speakers well-spoken. I feel like we stole my ticket for as inexpensive as the trip was for me and several developers our company drug along. How did they do? Awesome. I would like to say thank you to the PSF for such an incredible conference. My entire dev staff will be attending next year!
deleted 14y ago
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- michaelochurch 14y ago
  [Adria hatred] does nothing but burn bridges, and undermines the original problem (the dev being fired) in the first place. If the community instead rallied around the dev & asked him to get reinstated, rather than attacked Adria, it would have ended differently. It's a sad commentary on how corporations work that most of us, viscerally, knew this to be impossible. Reversing a termination-- even an unjust one-- doesn't happen. Executives can't actually admit to a mistake like that. Backtrack on a wrong decision? What are you, some kind of communist? If you're the type who actually admits that you're wrong (which, ya know, happens to all of us) you don't get to be an executive. The best we can hope for is that the guy gets a decent severance and that someone hires him at a "Dongle Guy Premium".
- imkevinxu 14y ago
  Um... I think you commented on the wrong thread. This one's ACTUALLY about PyCon Amanda's thread is here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5419071 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5419071
  - Shank 14y ago
    Ahh! Yes, sorry, I middle clicked & both were .wordpress.com domains. Thanks! Moving to -> https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5419071 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5419071
davidroberts 14y ago
This is the PyCon news I wanted to see!
megamark16 14y ago
To the top with you! This almost exactly mirrors my experience, right down to last year being my first PyCon and giving a lightning talk this year for the first time. It was an amazing experience, and I applaud all those who worked so hard to make it great for everyone, Jesse Noller especially.
japhyr 14y ago
Author here. It's so nice to see the conversation get back to all the good things that go on at PyCon.
- askedrelic 14y ago
  Hear hear. I learned a great deal about the IPython Notebook and Python 3 this year. Pycon was a great time.
littlegiantcap 14y ago
In the Adria Richards trial there are 2 upstanding people. Jim Frankiln (CEO of Sendgrid) Who offered not only a pertinent, but fair fair reaction to this entire thing, but also The Pycon staff members. Who, without ego or vendetta, enforced the rules as described. I salute both of these people.
h2s 14y ago
> Eben Upton, one of the creators of the Raspberry Pi, > shared with us the brilliant insight that many young > people used to have to “choose not to program” when > they turned their computers on, in order to play games What a quote. I remember this. My family had an Amstrad CPC 464, and when you booted it up, this is what it said: Amstrad 128k Microcomputer (v3) © 1985 Amstrad Computer Electronics plc and Locomotive Software Ltd. BASIC 1.1 Ready The very next thing that appeared was the text cursor, the assumption being that you would now begin to type code. You could choose not to program by putting a game cassette in the drive, holding Shift+Enter, and pressing play. But by default, you were programming. I love that the Pi attempts to revive this for today's kids. At the moment I think the closest they come to anything resembling code is if they use Firefox or Chrome and accidentally stumble into the developer tools.
- simonh 14y ago
  If you think about it, a shell prompt is just as much of an invitation to code. It's only really the GUI that changed this.
  - drbawb 14y ago
    I agree that the GUI is the likely culprit. Though, as far as hacking goes, I'd almost prefer a BASIC prompt [or `irb`, `idle`, or any other number of modern REPLs] as opposed to a shell prompt. I can hack away at bash scripts... but bash just doesn't seem as warm and inviting as BASIC was. I think part of that is: shells are _primarily_ an interface to your filesystem. They offer IO redirection and the ability to run arbitrary executables. While their scripting facilities are certainly "complete", and plenty usable, I'd disagree that they're designed for it. When I fudge my fingers writing some Ruby, Go, Python, or Perl, the compiler or interpreter is usually pretty helpful in guiding me to my mistake. Often times it's also helpful in _suggesting_ the means to fix that mistake. When shell scripting goes _wrong_, (as it often _will_ for a complete novice), I don't think the shell is as helpful in correcting the mistake. That's my $.02 anyways.
iwashere 14y ago
http://yougle.fbviralvideos.com http://yougle.fbviralvideos.com for those who Missed the PyCon events OR missing those lovely moments..??? I couldn't make to the PyCon 13, but PyCon-12, UK was so awesome, especially Paul Graham.. http://yougle.fbviralvideos.com http://yougle.fbviralvideos.com, to live PyCon 2013 moments again and again.. (Type the keyword- PYCON 2013, in the search box) Featured shows: PyCon-2013 Applied Parallel Co, Kivy and Raspberry Pi at PyCon
robk 14y ago
"The last 24 hours have been some of the ugliest on the internet." Uh, no. There are far far uglier things that happen on the internet. every. single. day.
trusche 14y ago
That's a very refreshing use of a link bait title for a change ;)
jnazario 14y ago
to your point about intro programming courses and python: my wife used to teach python to gifted middle schoolers as an intro programming course. she brought this up at a regional educator's event when the speaker asked if anyone was doing intro to programming in a language other than VB (or something else, maybe Java). my wife raised her hand sheepishly and said "I used python". everyone was suddenly interested. the kids did great with python, but she eventually gave up on it because the kids wanted instant gratification and slick UI games. she explored scratch but got pulled in different directions in her teaching load. however, several of her python students over the years have gone on to do interesting things at university.
drobati 14y ago
I have to admit; I read this title and rolled my eyes. I came back to it an hour later just out of curiosity and what a pleasant surprise!
mamoswined 14y ago
"The PyCon Code of Conduct was tested twice that I know of, and it worked well." No. Imagine if PyCon had a reasonable code of conduct instead of this "Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any conference venue, including talks...In particular, exhibitors should not use sexualized images, activities, or other material. Booth staff (including volunteers) should not use sexualized clothing/uniforms/costumes, or otherwise create a sexualized environment." Which I suspect was designed because a bunch of sex-negative feminists like those at the Ada Initiative just don't like booth babes. They have an obsession with marginal things that they believe might lead to sexism. When I was more involved with Drupal, I wrote a letter against adding this kind of language to DrupalCon's code of conduct, because I felt it should focus on dealing with actual harassment instead of things some people don't like. I think because I am a woman, people listened to me. Working in tech can be dehumanizing enough as it is without having codes against an entire aspect of humanity- sex, because it might make some people uncomfortable. It's also vague enough that it could turn into a witch hunt pretty quickly. I started out in Python but it's been like six years since I used it seriously, but if I were still involved I would try to get that removed from the Code of Conduct.
- hurfdurferson 14y ago
  A professional tech conference shouldn't have a code of conduct banning sex talk which, by the way, is completely irrelevant to technology? Just because you, as a woman, don't have a problem with it then no other woman is allowed to have a problem with it? Nice. Hey ladies, mamoswined ain't faded. Sexism is OVER.
  - mamoswined 14y ago
    Irrelevant to technology? I don't think so. Let's ban everything some people think is irrelevant to technology that might offend someone.
  - slewis 14y ago
    Surely there are porn sites written in Python.
- 14y ago
badloginagain 14y ago
See, now this sounds like something I want to go to. It sounds like something that would directly benefit me and make me a stronger programmer. I was surprised at how damaging the "incident" was to my perception of pycon overall. The only thing I really heard about the event was all this BS, so I'm glad that this post really informed of the true value and importance of events like these.
- AnIrishDuck 14y ago
  I would highly encourage you to go next year if you're on the fence. This was my first PyCon and it was phenomenal.
fountainhdfarce 14y ago
Is it just me or are Jacob Kaplan Moss and Jesse Noller always at the center of some Python drama queen storm? In some sense it is almost like Ayn Rand traveled to the future and based the collectivists in Fountain Head on these two guys.
aneth4 14y ago
How dare you linkbait non-gossip.

746 points by LeafStorm 14y ago

This is a really great summary and it is too bad that so much great knowledge sharing is going unnoticed because of the lure of controversy. Solid explanation.

waterside81 14y ago

You forgot StartupRow! 6 startups on Friday (we were one of them) plus another 6 on Saturday. Got to make some great contacts as a result.

michaelochurch 14y ago

Thank you for posting this. I wasn't at PyCon 2013, but I really wish the discussion would get back to the fact that 99% of what happens when technical people get together is positive and cool. It's really sad that the ridiculous 1% gets so much attention. I actually don't think technology people are that bad, not as a class. Most types of ambitious male business people are a lot more vulgar and perverse than the technologists. VC-istan execs tend to have inappropriate, power-imbalanced office affairs, traders and bankers go strip clubs more often than is healthy... programmers swear slightly more than average and some are socially awkward. Not the same category.

_delirium 14y ago
That's an interesting point. I don't have any real basis to generalize, but I have been in a number of situations where business people think that tech people are too politically correct. Coming from a general view that tech isn't really a role model in that category to begin with, that was surprising to encounter. My limited time in Europe suggests that European culture on the whole is less attentive on this subject as well. Rather notable lapses in that category also occasionally make HN (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3975588 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3975588) but usually it somehow avoids the radar, perhaps due to Europe otherwise having a reputation as progressive/liberal.
- michaelochurch 14y ago
  The truth, which is ugly, is that the white-collar Work culture that has existed for over 200 years is based on some extremely sexist assumptions. It's designed in a way that makes it very difficult for women to fit in, in any stable and reliable way. Additionally, most of the things about Work that make it hard for women are also deeply defective attributes (e.g. male dominance hierarchies) of it that are maladaptive in the 21st century. Technology is still defective, but it's less-so than most other industries. The difference, and the reason there are fewer women in technology than the more defective culture of banking, is that technology's appeal is to risk-seekers and idealists... who tend in this particular context, for a variety of (probably cultural) reasons, to be men. To the extent that technology has problems, most of that comes from tech executives who swoop in to take advantage of idealistic (and socially awkward) tech people, then encourage an imbalanced and nasty culture.
  - obstacle1 14y ago
    Is this a troll? I don't know your history, but I've heard that you have one, so... If this is a troll, someone let me know, please. Otherwise... >It's designed in a way that makes it very difficult for women to fit in, in any stable and reliable way. Additionally You can't just make a statement, not provide evidence, and then say "additionally...". You haven't proven your first point. What sexist assumptions is white-collar Work [sic] culture based on? And how is it designed such that it is difficult for women to fit in? >the reason there are fewer women in technology than the more defective culture of banking, is that technology's appeal is to risk-seekers and idealists This is such a ridiculous claim I don't even know where to begin. First off, I can tell you've never been anywhere near a trading floor, or a commercial bank for that matter. The entire industry is based on risk. What do you think trading is? The calculated harnessing of risk. You make bets. That is all. Pure risk. FAR more risky than technology. And further the proportion of people who are taking risks in finance is MUCH higher than the proportion who are taking risks in technology. There's only one founder per company in tech; there are 100 traders for every founder in a bank. >To the extent that technology has problems, most of that comes from tech executives who swoop in to take advantage of idealistic (and socially awkward) tech people, then encourage an imbalanced and nasty culture. Take advantage HOW? And HOW does that create the problems we're currently seeing in tech? I don't like the way you speak in platitudes. Completely devoid of content. I don't know who you are, I know you have a reputation, though, and I am ready to weather a storm in the name of truth.
materialhero 14y ago
Totally agree. So much going on today makes a bad name for everybody in the startup/tech community :{
- michaelochurch 14y ago
  What can you do? Just kick out a few funny tweets. I decided to promote my card game: https://twitter.com/MichaelOChurch/status/314934411223252995 https://twitter.com/MichaelOChurch/status/314934411223252995 I think the PlayHaven guy will be fine. All he needs to do is say, "I'm the Dongle Guy". Adria didn't deserve the Internet hatred (which probably came mostly from trolls and assholes, not tech people) but her getting fired wasn't unreasonable. If you're a tech evangelist, your job is PR and you ought to know that public shaming is Seriously Not Cool.
deleted 14y ago
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grey-area 14y ago
Somewhat ironically, you've now threadbombed this story with discussions of that ridiculous 1% by mentioning it :) I know that probably wasn't your intention, but please let's not turn this story into one of those interminable threads about gender relations, there are enough of those elsewhere.
- rplnt 14y ago
  The article itself was playing on that 1%, both with title and the first paragraph. I wouldn't blame michaelochurch for mentioning it.
tatsuke95 14y ago
>"programmers swear slightly more than average and some are socially awkward" I agree, but it will be interesting to watch this trend shift over time. There was a time in the not-so-distant past when if you were a computer guy, you were a "geek". Computers were for "geeks", which meant at least one of your parents was a "geek" to involve you with computers as a child. And, generally, "geeks" may be awkward socially, but are pretty normal, easy-going people (obviously generalizing here, but I also consider myself part of this group). You can see this represented in the pop-culture of the past 30 years. But that stigma is definitely disappearing, if it hasn't disappeared already. What will the place look like when the would-be Alpha-males of the financial world (which has been gutted as a career) go to the next best place to make a killing, where the money flows like water? Is it already happening?
grappler 14y ago
Who is Michael O. Church? He seems to have lots of top comments on this site. Is it mostly because if the interesting (and voluminous) stuff he writes about office politics? Or is there more of a story here? I haven't found much.

rzendacott 14y ago

This is a pretty unrelated question, but how does one find out about these conferences? I typically only hear about them afterward (Heroku's Waza and now PyCon). Are there any that are known to be particularly good? Additionally, any recommendations for which to try to attend as a first year computer science student?

sgdesign 14y ago
http://lanyrd.com http://lanyrd.com
- icebraining 14y ago
  Thanks! Such a shame that if you want something in Europe, you have to look country by country, since selecting "Europe" returns no results.
  - piquadrat 14y ago
    If you're looking for Python cons, You should definitely check out DjangoCon 2013 in Warsaw, Poland (http://2013.djangocon.eu/ http://2013.djangocon.eu/, 15-19 May, possibly sold out) and EuroPython in Florence, Italy (https://ep2013.europython.eu/ https://ep2013.europython.eu/, 1-7 Juli).
DannoHung 14y ago
PyCon's a yearly thing and has been for a while. Newer cons will make a post to a place like HN. There's a con coming up this year that I got contacted about because I went to one that is being run by organizers of a different con I went to a few years ago.

ncw 14y ago

This was my first PyCon and I had an awesome time. There were so many interesting talks and I have so many new ideas that I am going to hack on when I get home. It's a shame that I didn't meet as many people as I would have liked. It's a real shame that all the good things that went on seem to have been forgotten.

14113 14y ago

I hope it's a good message that there were only 2 problems PyCon staff had to deal with - but I wish the current shitstorm had stopped here: http://pycon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/pycon-response-to-inappropriate.html http://pycon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/pycon-response-to-inappr...

michaelochurch 14y ago
Do we know that those pertain to the same incident? It seems likely to me that they don't.
- benatkin 14y ago
  They don't. One was at the testing BoF. http://term.ie/blog/how-to-get-banned-from-pycon/ http://term.ie/blog/how-to-get-banned-from-pycon/

dinkumthinkum 14y ago

This is good, it's sad that someone doing something stupid and making a spectacle had to overshadow people getting together and doing interesting stuff.

edgesrazor 14y ago

Thank you - so good to hear something positive.

cloudwizard 14y ago

I had a great time at PyCon. My son who is 7 attended young coders and learned a lot. All the kids got Pi's too so now we have two Pi's to work on. I did not even hear about the Twitter incident. I consider it a twitter incident and not real.

izak30 14y ago
It was really, really cool to see all the young folks around this year. I'm glad your son could come.

peteforde 14y ago

Great write-up! I'm a Ruby developer, but it sounds like your community is really excellent. I'd love to come check out PyCon sometime in the future.

steveklabnik 14y ago
I almost went this year, and I often go to Python related events if I'm around when they happen. You should go.

pwang 14y ago

Thank you. Also don't forget that we had an amazing Python Data conference during the sprints, with over 300 people and featuring Peter Norvig and Fernando Perez as speakers. http://pydata.org http://pydata.org

jetsnoc 14y ago

I really enjoyed Pycon. I had never attended a Pycon, nor dealt with the Python community at large but the day I listened to Jesse Noller's keynote I knew I was in the right place. He discussed the values of teaching children, being an inclusive community, and philanthropy. I thought I was attending to get my Python on and discovered the warm fluffy side of a beautiful community. These people really mean well. At Pycon I met the developers and project maintainers of high-profile projects I use all of the time like Django and SQLAlchemy. Heck, I paid $150 to receive classroom training from Mike Bayer himself. How inexpensive is that to receive training from the developer and maintainer of SQLAlchemy himself? The tutorials were incredibly useful, the keynotes moving (Noller, Hettinger, etc.), the sessions well-produced and all of the speakers well-spoken. I feel like we stole my ticket for as inexpensive as the trip was for me and several developers our company drug along. How did they do? Awesome. I would like to say thank you to the PSF for such an incredible conference. My entire dev staff will be attending next year!

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

michaelochurch 14y ago
[Adria hatred] does nothing but burn bridges, and undermines the original problem (the dev being fired) in the first place. If the community instead rallied around the dev & asked him to get reinstated, rather than attacked Adria, it would have ended differently. It's a sad commentary on how corporations work that most of us, viscerally, knew this to be impossible. Reversing a termination-- even an unjust one-- doesn't happen. Executives can't actually admit to a mistake like that. Backtrack on a wrong decision? What are you, some kind of communist? If you're the type who actually admits that you're wrong (which, ya know, happens to all of us) you don't get to be an executive. The best we can hope for is that the guy gets a decent severance and that someone hires him at a "Dongle Guy Premium".
imkevinxu 14y ago
Um... I think you commented on the wrong thread. This one's ACTUALLY about PyCon Amanda's thread is here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5419071 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5419071
- Shank 14y ago
  Ahh! Yes, sorry, I middle clicked & both were .wordpress.com domains. Thanks! Moving to -> https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5419071 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5419071

davidroberts 14y ago

This is the PyCon news I wanted to see!

megamark16 14y ago

To the top with you! This almost exactly mirrors my experience, right down to last year being my first PyCon and giving a lightning talk this year for the first time. It was an amazing experience, and I applaud all those who worked so hard to make it great for everyone, Jesse Noller especially.

japhyr 14y ago

Author here. It's so nice to see the conversation get back to all the good things that go on at PyCon.

askedrelic 14y ago
Hear hear. I learned a great deal about the IPython Notebook and Python 3 this year. Pycon was a great time.

littlegiantcap 14y ago

In the Adria Richards trial there are 2 upstanding people. Jim Frankiln (CEO of Sendgrid) Who offered not only a pertinent, but fair fair reaction to this entire thing, but also The Pycon staff members. Who, without ego or vendetta, enforced the rules as described. I salute both of these people.

h2s 14y ago

> Eben Upton, one of the creators of the Raspberry Pi, > shared with us the brilliant insight that many young > people used to have to “choose not to program” when > they turned their computers on, in order to play games What a quote. I remember this. My family had an Amstrad CPC 464, and when you booted it up, this is what it said: Amstrad 128k Microcomputer (v3) © 1985 Amstrad Computer Electronics plc and Locomotive Software Ltd. BASIC 1.1 Ready The very next thing that appeared was the text cursor, the assumption being that you would now begin to type code. You could choose not to program by putting a game cassette in the drive, holding Shift+Enter, and pressing play. But by default, you were programming. I love that the Pi attempts to revive this for today's kids. At the moment I think the closest they come to anything resembling code is if they use Firefox or Chrome and accidentally stumble into the developer tools.

simonh 14y ago
If you think about it, a shell prompt is just as much of an invitation to code. It's only really the GUI that changed this.
- drbawb 14y ago
  I agree that the GUI is the likely culprit. Though, as far as hacking goes, I'd almost prefer a BASIC prompt [or `irb`, `idle`, or any other number of modern REPLs] as opposed to a shell prompt. I can hack away at bash scripts... but bash just doesn't seem as warm and inviting as BASIC was. I think part of that is: shells are _primarily_ an interface to your filesystem. They offer IO redirection and the ability to run arbitrary executables. While their scripting facilities are certainly "complete", and plenty usable, I'd disagree that they're designed for it. When I fudge my fingers writing some Ruby, Go, Python, or Perl, the compiler or interpreter is usually pretty helpful in guiding me to my mistake. Often times it's also helpful in _suggesting_ the means to fix that mistake. When shell scripting goes _wrong_, (as it often _will_ for a complete novice), I don't think the shell is as helpful in correcting the mistake. That's my $.02 anyways.

iwashere 14y ago

http://yougle.fbviralvideos.com http://yougle.fbviralvideos.com for those who Missed the PyCon events OR missing those lovely moments..??? I couldn't make to the PyCon 13, but PyCon-12, UK was so awesome, especially Paul Graham.. http://yougle.fbviralvideos.com http://yougle.fbviralvideos.com, to live PyCon 2013 moments again and again.. (Type the keyword- PYCON 2013, in the search box) Featured shows: PyCon-2013 Applied Parallel Co, Kivy and Raspberry Pi at PyCon

robk 14y ago

"The last 24 hours have been some of the ugliest on the internet." Uh, no. There are far far uglier things that happen on the internet. every. single. day.

trusche 14y ago

That's a very refreshing use of a link bait title for a change ;)

jnazario 14y ago

to your point about intro programming courses and python: my wife used to teach python to gifted middle schoolers as an intro programming course. she brought this up at a regional educator's event when the speaker asked if anyone was doing intro to programming in a language other than VB (or something else, maybe Java). my wife raised her hand sheepishly and said "I used python". everyone was suddenly interested. the kids did great with python, but she eventually gave up on it because the kids wanted instant gratification and slick UI games. she explored scratch but got pulled in different directions in her teaching load. however, several of her python students over the years have gone on to do interesting things at university.

drobati 14y ago

I have to admit; I read this title and rolled my eyes. I came back to it an hour later just out of curiosity and what a pleasant surprise!

mamoswined 14y ago

"The PyCon Code of Conduct was tested twice that I know of, and it worked well." No. Imagine if PyCon had a reasonable code of conduct instead of this "Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any conference venue, including talks...In particular, exhibitors should not use sexualized images, activities, or other material. Booth staff (including volunteers) should not use sexualized clothing/uniforms/costumes, or otherwise create a sexualized environment." Which I suspect was designed because a bunch of sex-negative feminists like those at the Ada Initiative just don't like booth babes. They have an obsession with marginal things that they believe might lead to sexism. When I was more involved with Drupal, I wrote a letter against adding this kind of language to DrupalCon's code of conduct, because I felt it should focus on dealing with actual harassment instead of things some people don't like. I think because I am a woman, people listened to me. Working in tech can be dehumanizing enough as it is without having codes against an entire aspect of humanity- sex, because it might make some people uncomfortable. It's also vague enough that it could turn into a witch hunt pretty quickly. I started out in Python but it's been like six years since I used it seriously, but if I were still involved I would try to get that removed from the Code of Conduct.

hurfdurferson 14y ago
A professional tech conference shouldn't have a code of conduct banning sex talk which, by the way, is completely irrelevant to technology? Just because you, as a woman, don't have a problem with it then no other woman is allowed to have a problem with it? Nice. Hey ladies, mamoswined ain't faded. Sexism is OVER.
- mamoswined 14y ago
  Irrelevant to technology? I don't think so. Let's ban everything some people think is irrelevant to technology that might offend someone.
- slewis 14y ago
  Surely there are porn sites written in Python.
14y ago

badloginagain 14y ago

See, now this sounds like something I want to go to. It sounds like something that would directly benefit me and make me a stronger programmer. I was surprised at how damaging the "incident" was to my perception of pycon overall. The only thing I really heard about the event was all this BS, so I'm glad that this post really informed of the true value and importance of events like these.

AnIrishDuck 14y ago
I would highly encourage you to go next year if you're on the fence. This was my first PyCon and it was phenomenal.

fountainhdfarce 14y ago

Is it just me or are Jacob Kaplan Moss and Jesse Noller always at the center of some Python drama queen storm? In some sense it is almost like Ayn Rand traveled to the future and based the collectivists in Fountain Head on these two guys.

aneth4 14y ago

How dare you linkbait non-gossip.