Djangocon: Lightning talks¶

Pycon Namibia - Daniele Procida¶

In february 2015, the python conference in Africa actually took place! In Namibia! Daniele Procida talked about the plans at many conference (like at djangocon.eu 2014).

It was really good. They formed valuable relationships and learned a lot. Several of the attendees are here at the conference. They’re going to organize another conference later this year. So if you want to escape a dreadful European winter…

I’m new to django but why should I use it? - Ben Sharif¶

Why should you use it? You’re new, so why Django? He’s in that situation.

He’s a medical student. He’s not a doctor yet. It also means he isn’t a professional programmer. He wants to quickly prototype ideas for medical web apps. He wants something that lets him develop things fast: Django fits the bill.

He started learning python in may 2014. He tried the django tutorial, but that didn’t really work. He got pointed at web2py. Easy to get started. Almost no configuration. Through the web development.

His demo is at http://medboard.co.uk/

So… what is he missing? The django community is absolutely massive. So… tell him how he can get involved with Django with a bit more success!

Speech to text typists¶

(Note: The whole conference, there were screens on which a live transcription/subtitling of the talks was provided for those that needed it (non-native speakers of those with hearing problems). (So if you think that I’m typing fast by typing in all these summaries: I don’t stand a chance against those two ladies!)

They travel around the country to support deaf people. She had a top 3 of hard conferences. Now she has a top 4.

They work with machine shorthand. It works with a system of phonetics. It is a special keyboard. You use it like a piano with chords: you press multiple keys together to form words and parts of the words. The software matches the keys they’re pressing to a dictionary.

They can adjust the dictionary. That was why halfway the conference the term “wiskey” got turned into “WSGI”.

With a regular keyboard, you get a 120 word per minute if you’re really really good. With a keyboard like this, you can get to 250. That’s enough to keep up with most people (except Russell) :-)

(Note: They got a thunderous applause!)

DjangoBeer Florence¶

Two years ago he attended the djangocon in the Warsaw circus tent. Why not do something similar in Florence? They now rebooted the event and turned it into a monthly meeting about all things web.

They like (craft) beer, but they love to enjoy it responsibly. No drunkenness. The code of conduct is strictly enforced!

The even had beer tasting lessons.

http://djangobeer.com

Systers - Ana Balica¶

There are a lot of organizations that want to increase the number of women in IT. Djangogirls (lots of applause!), Pyladies (lots of applause!) and lots more.

Systers is a community for women involved in STEM areas (Science, Technology, Mathematics).

I wrote my first line of code 1.25 years ago - Geraint Palmer¶

He’s a PhD student. His first line of code was in VBA. He could do a lot with it: a for loop and a condition…

In October 2014 he started using python.

He learned enough of it to quickly start teaching python. That’s the best way to learn the language yourself. Recommended.

Google a lot. Once you don’t know the answer, google it.

Then he found a new nice text editor. It revolutionized his programming!

Afterwards he installed his first library.

Then pair programming! He learned structuring his code. He learned to use version control. This helped him a lot to grow up as a programmer.

He participated in Pycon Namibia and discovered there was a huge python community all around the world. Thank you!

Do I need to update my django project? - Mounier Messelmeni¶

He uses django since three years.

Why do updates matter?

• Security and performance. Old unsupported releases don’t get security updates!

• Bugfixes.

• New features: every new version gets nice new features.

The good news: the current 1.8 version is a long term support version.

Python versions? If you still use python 2.6, you really should upgrade to 2.7

For every upgrade step, read the release notes and especially the added/removed section.

Make sure you have good backups of your database and your uploaded files.

It would be great if you could also look at using python 3. Look at https://caniusepython3.com/ or install caniusepython3 from pypi.

The missing method murder mistery¶

Great visual talk about tabs and spaces. Impossible to write down, watch the video when it comes out. Great.

Moral of the story: friends don’t let friends mix tabs and spaces.

Beter still: friends tell friends to use python 3 (that has better tab/space warnings).

Sprinting - Russell Keith-Magee¶

A sprint is a collection of people that turn up in a space to hack on code.

There is a sprint the next two days. What needs to be done? There are bugs. You could solve them, you could triage them, you could check patches, you can provide tests for patches or to prove bugs. You could help with the documentation.

Not being an english speaker isn’t a problem. Just get the first draft done, then other people can work on the spelling.

If you’re new to django: working on the tutorial would be great! Point out problem areas.

You can work on django core. On libraries. On programs that help django. On the django project website.

So: pick an area that interests you!

If you have questions: just ask a core developer! Or better still, ask the person next to you. The core team aren’t superheroes, we’re all in the same boat.

Djangocon Europe 2016¶

Djangocon Europe 2016 will be in… Budapest in Hungary!