This coming Thursday I am speaking at GOSCON, a conference organized with the specific intentions of informing governmental IT users about open source. Most of the speakers will be from the government side if the last such event I attended is typical, so I am giving a talk called No Free Lunch. The idea is to suggest ways that government can maximize the benefits of using open source, and provide open source teams with resources that will enable us to increase production, so this isn't just a talk for the Python Software Foundation - I want to represent a wider community if I can.
Twitter friends have already provided some useful ideas, but I will be happy to weave more in there if you can provide them. So, what would you like to see government (which in this context is principally the executive branch, but I am happy to include points for the legislative and judicial branches if you have them) doing for open source?
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" -- Arthur C Clarke
Musings from the technological frontier
Showing posts with label evangelism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label evangelism. Show all posts
October 24, 2010
January 7, 2008
Teaching Python to Programmers
Well, PyCon is now less than three months away, and the most recent event of note was the announcement of the list of tutorials. I am happy to say that my own proposal was accepted, so one of the offerings is Python 101 for Programmers.
The intention is to give experienced programmers who are new to Python enough insight into the language that the simpler PyCon sessions will make sense to them. PyCon is an incredibly valuable resource for promoting the Python language, and I hope that all readers will encourage programmers they know to come to the conference and learn more about this interesting language. Of course I'll be happy to see them in the tutorial too!
The PSF has made real attempts in the last couple of years to evangelize the language, but ultimately the lesson of evangelism is: the best promoters of a language are its enthusiastic users. It seems to me that Python is crossing the knee of some curve right now, and acceptance is improving to the stage that it's getting hard to find Python programmers.
Of course there's another reason for going to PyCon if you are looking for a job. The biggest and best Python employers have realized that PyCon is the easiest place to make contact with the community. You only have to look at the list of past and present sponsors to see that.
So, I hope to see you all at PyCon, preferably in the company of a programmer who's just starting out with the language!
The intention is to give experienced programmers who are new to Python enough insight into the language that the simpler PyCon sessions will make sense to them. PyCon is an incredibly valuable resource for promoting the Python language, and I hope that all readers will encourage programmers they know to come to the conference and learn more about this interesting language. Of course I'll be happy to see them in the tutorial too!
The PSF has made real attempts in the last couple of years to evangelize the language, but ultimately the lesson of evangelism is: the best promoters of a language are its enthusiastic users. It seems to me that Python is crossing the knee of some curve right now, and acceptance is improving to the stage that it's getting hard to find Python programmers.
Of course there's another reason for going to PyCon if you are looking for a job. The biggest and best Python employers have realized that PyCon is the easiest place to make contact with the community. You only have to look at the list of past and present sponsors to see that.
So, I hope to see you all at PyCon, preferably in the company of a programmer who's just starting out with the language!
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