From Python Regional Conferences

Arkansas: Schedule

2009 Schedule (proposed and certainly going to change)

November 14, 2009, at the University of Central Arkansas, Conway, Ark. (campus map)

Python 101 for Programmers is FULL! Please do not sign up for it.

Proposed Classes

Python 101 for the Complete Beginner

A class designed to introduce computer programming and the Python language to students with little or no prior knowledge of programming. Python 2.6 will be covered (Python 3.1 will be discussed). The presenter is Bernard Chen, assistant professor of computer science at the University of Central Arkansas.

Python 101 for Programmers

Introduces Python to those with programming experience in another language. Students should know about conditional expressions (if, while, for) and functions/subroutines. If most of the audience is familiar with object-oriented features, the class will cover Python's object-oriented support. Python 2.6 will be presented (Python 3.1 will be discussed). The presenter is Carl Burch, the chair of computer science at Hendrix College.

Image Processing with Jython

Introduces students to Jython (Python written using Java libraries) with an emphasis on image processing. Some previous programming experience is required. The presenter is Chenyi Hu, the chair of computer science at the University of Central Arkansas.

Python 201

Intermediate topics including file processing, database operations, and a look at the Python Standard Library. The presenter is Gloria Jacobs, a developer from the New York City area who often publishes articles about Python and presents talks at Python conferences. Topics requested include:

• Threading
• Writing non-blocking code for asynchronous I/O
• Debugging (using pdb, and also in places where pdb may not be available, such as a hosted Django app)

Django 101

Introduction to developing web sites using Django. Chad Files is the lead web developer at Novasys Health in Little Rock, Arkansas and will show you how to install Django and create a simple web site.

Django 201

Presented by Jacob Kaplan-Moss, co-creator of the Django framework.

Using Blender

Blender is a system to create amazing videos like those from big studios. The presenter, Gordon Fisher, is an award-winning animator and programmer who has produced animations for clients as diverse as Ford Motor Co., Jazzercise, and World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia. His work has been displayed at the National Air and Space Museum.

Scheduled Talks

An Overview of the Twisted framework (Derek Horton)

"Twisted" is an open-sourced Python framework for building network applications. It gives developers a complete set of tools for communicating across networks and and the Internet. In this talk, Derek will show you some of the cool things Twisted allows you to do.

Programming Python with Blender 3D (Gordon Fisher)

2008 Schedule

Scheduled Classes (subject to change, but we're pretty sure)

Python 101

New to programming or want to learn Python from scratch? This is the class for you. Dr. Bernard Chen (incoming UCA Faculty) will teach a portion of the class he has taught at Georgia State University to non Computer Science students. Come use the computers at UCA and find out what all of the excitement is all about.

Python 201 - A Tour of Python Concepts (talk outline) (slides/handouts)

Jeff Rush is the National Advocacy Chair for Python and is coming to us from the Dallas Python Users Group. This class is a tour of concepts woven throughout the Python language; types orientation, namespaces, closures, code objects, callability and iterators.

Python 202 - A Survey of Useful Python Technologies (talk outline) (slides/handouts)

A survey of five useful Python technologies; the enhanced Python shell "IPython", a Pythonic way of templating XHTML (Stan/Nevow), the many places that ReStructuredText is used, accessing relational databases with DB-API and the power of object-oriented databases (ZODB/Durus). Wrapping it up is coverage of the many resources in the Python community, lists, blogs, registries, etc.

Python for Unix/Linux System Administration

We are excited to offer this class taught by Noah Gift of the Atlanta Python Users Group. Noah has teamed up with Jeremy Jones to author an O'Reilly title of the same name (http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596515829/). This is an advanced class. Noah is brought to us through the O'Reilly Speakers Program.

Scheduled Talks (also subject to change) !!

Talks will run for 50 minutes and are not intended to be as in depth as the morning classes. All talks will be interactive with lots of opportunity for asking questions.

pyGame

Pygame is a set of Python modules designed for writing games. Pygame adds functionality on top of the excellent SDL library. This allows you to create fully featured games and multimedia programs in the python language. Pygame is highly portable and runs on nearly every platform and operating system. Pygame itself has been downloaded millions of times, and has had millions of visits to its website.

Python Standard Library

Python is said to come with "batteries included" because of the extensive standard library. Noah Gift will walk you through some of the more important modules and show you how to find and use library modules.

An Introduction to Python Eggs (talk outline) (slides/handouts)

"Eggs are to Pythons as Jars are to Java..." Python eggs are a way of bundling additional information with a Python project, that allows the project's dependencies to be checked and satisfied at runtime, as well as allowing projects to provide plugins for other projects. There are several binary formats that embody eggs, but the most common is '.egg' zipfile format, because it's a convenient one for distributing projects. All of the formats support including package-specific data, project-wide metadata, C extensions, and Python code.

Text/File Processing

A look at common techniques to read from and write to files as well as processing text once you get it. Python comes with many built-in methods to make manipulating text and files easy.

Eclipse and Python

Eclipse is a powerful text editor and much more. This talk will show you how to use Python extensions with Eclipse to help you write, debug and test your code from the editor.

One Laptop per Child

The OLPC initiative is an exciting effort to get inexpensive, nearly indestructible computers into the hands of children in developing countries. The OLPC computer uses Python extensively. Chad Files was one of the first people in Arkansas to purchase two of these (one for him, one to give to a child in Africa) and will show off this remarkable computer.