Project Night!

Winston Salem project night

We are continuing our monthly project night. We've also added this event to our meetup page: http://www.meetup.com/PYthon-Piedmont-Triad-User-Group-PYPTUG/events/144116272/

This month it will be the 2nd wednesday of the month.

That's the 9th of october.

When

2nd wednesday of the month, 6pm
October 9th 2013

Where

Inmar 

2650 Pilgrim Ct, 

Winston-Salem, NC 27106

directions

What

Do you have a project you want to show off? Or do you need a second set of eyes on your code? Would you like to hack on an open source project? Perhaps you need help getting a module on a specific platform? Don't have a project but would like to help others or to learn more Python?

Whatever the case may be, project nights are your opportunity to get some help or to help others, so bring your laptop (or Raspberry Pi or whatever device that can run Python) and let's get things going. One project this month will be playing with debuggers.

Podemos hacer proyectos en español también. Ou même en français. Aucune excuse possible!

Other locations coming

We are working on securing a day/location in Greensboro, and we will let y'all know when it becomes a reality.

PYPTUG Meeting - September 30th

PYthon Piedmont Triad User Group meeting

Come join PYPTUG at out next meeting (September 30th 2013) to learn more about the Python programming language, modules and tools. Python is the perfect language to learn if you've never programmed before, and at the other end, it is also the perfect tool that no expert would do without.

What

Meeting will start at 5:30pm.

We will open on an Intro to PYPTUG and on how to get started with Python, PYPTUG activities and members projects, then on to News from the community. After that, on to our main talk. This month we are adding a hands on session. You can watch the screen, or even better, fire up your laptop and try it out.

Main talk: I'm on the clock

by Francois Dion

Why did the White Rabbit have a pocket watch? Why do computers have a clock? Does a clock always tell the time? Scheduling is an important aspect of computing and is tied to a concept of time and timekeeping, at least on a relative scale. It is used during the boot process of a computer, and throughout the day to get updates, notifications, and many many other things.

If you are running your Python code more than once by hand, you'll benefit from learning about your options when it comes to automating processes. Not only using the built in tools of the operating system (such as Unix and Linux crontab) but how Python provides you with the helpers you need to get your job done, in time. No White Rabbits involved.

As always, bring your laptop if you want to try some of this out during the presentation.

Lightning talks!

After the main talk, we will have some time for extemporaneous "lightning talks" of 5-10 minute duration. If you'd like to do one, some suggestions of talks were provided here, if you are looking for inspiration. Or talk about a project you are working on.

When

Monday, September 30th 2013
Meeting starts at 5:30PM

Where

We continue to have the meetings at Wake Forest University, close to Polo Rd and University Parkway:

Manchester Hall
room: Manchester 241 

Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27109

 Map this

See also this campus map (PDF) and also the Parking Map (PDF) (Manchester hall is #20A on the parking map)

And speaking of parking:  Parking after 5pm is on a first-come, first-serve basis.  The official parking policy is:

"Visitors can park in any general parking lot on campus. Visitors should avoid reserved spaces, faculty/staff lots, fire lanes or other restricted area on campus. Frequent visitors should contact Parking and Transportation to register for a parking permit."

 

Mailing List

Don't forget to sign up to our user group mailing list:

https://groups.google.com/d/forum/pyptug?hl=en

It is the only step required to become a PYPTUG member.

Project nights!

Winston Salem project night

We are adding a new monthly event to our PYPTUG meetings, a project night. Francois Dion had been working with John Wheeler to secure a location, and we are now all systems go!

We are starting this in september, on the 2nd wednesday of the month. That's the 11th of september.

When

2nd wednesday of the month, 6pm

Where

Inmar 

2601 Pilgrim Ct, 

Winston-Salem, NC 27106

directions

What

Do you have a project you want to show off? Or do you need a second set of eyes on your code? Would you like to hack on an open source project? Perhaps you need help getting a module on a specific platform? Don't have a project but would like to help others or to learn more Python?

Whatever the case may be, project nights are your opportunity to get some help or to help others, so bring your laptop (or Raspberry Pi or whatever device that can run Python) and let's get things going.

Podemos hacer proyectos en español también. Ou même en français. Aucune excuse possible!

Other locations coming

We are working on securing a day/location in Greensboro, and we will let y'all know when it becomes a reality.

PYPTUG meeting - August 26th

PYthon Piedmont Triad User Group meeting

Come join PYPTUG at out next meeting (August 26nd 2013) to learn more about the Python programming language, modules and tools. Python is the perfect language to learn if you've never programmed before, and at the other end, it is also the perfect tool that no expert would do without.

What

Meeting will start at 5:30pm.

We will open on an Intro to PYPTUG and on how to get started with Python, PYPTUG activities and members projects, then on to News from the community. After that, on to our main talk. This month we are adding a hands on session. You can watch the screen, or even better, fire up your laptop and try it out.

Main talk: The Awkward Squad

by Brendan Younger

The awkward squad: How to design coherent, distributed, long-running systems without putting in the huge amount of effort currently required for testing and debugging, especially in a distributed environment with the attendant failure modes and delays.

In Brendan's words: "It's mostly an excuse to get other people excited about some of the stuff I've picked up trawling the programming sub-Reddit.".

Hands on Python: From Java to Burma

by Francois Dion

Getters and setters are an engrained pattern for the islanders of Java, C++ and some other islanders. Naturally, as these islanders travel to Myanmar and encounter The Python (well, yes, we do know that Python is from that TV show, and not the reptile, be it a Burmese or other kind), they continue these ancient customs.

In this hands on session, we will show you how to keep it simple and we will get deep into attributes, properties, descriptors and have fun with them.

Lightning talks!

After the main talk, we will have some time for extemporaneous "lightning talks" of 5-10 minute duration. If you'd like to do one, some suggestions of talks were provided here, if you are looking for inspiration. Or talk about a project you are working on.




Already committed:

• A slice of Py by Don Jennings

When

Monday, August 26th 2013
Meeting starts at 5:30PM

Where

We continue to have the meetings at Wake Forest University, close to Polo Rd and University Parkway:

Manchester Hall
room: Manchester 241 

Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27109

 Map this

See also this campus map (PDF) and also the Parking Map (PDF) (Manchester hall is #20A on the parking map)

And speaking of parking:  Parking after 5pm is on a first-come, first-serve basis.  The official parking policy is:

"Visitors can park in any general parking lot on campus. Visitors should avoid reserved spaces, faculty/staff lots, fire lanes or other restricted area on campus. Frequent visitors should contact Parking and Transportation to register for a parking permit."

 

Mailing List

Dont forget to sign up to our user group mailing list:

https://groups.google.com/d/forum/pyptug?hl=en

It is the only step required to become a PYPTUG member.

PYPTUG meeting - July 22nd

 

PYthon Piedmont Triad User Group meeting

Come join PYPTUG at out next meeting (July 22nd 2013) to learn more about the Python programming language, modules and tools. Python is the perfect language to learn if you've never programmed before, and at the other end, it is also the perfect tool that no expert would do without.

What

Meeting will start at 5:30pm.

We will open on an Intro to PYPTUG and on how to get started with Python, PYPTUG activities and members projects, then on to News from the community. After that, on to our main talk.

Main talk: Using Python to explore physics in video games

by Dr. Aaron Titus of High Point University

In 2012, Dr. Titus created a physics course for nonscience majors at High Point University called "Physics for Video Games." The course combines physics experiments, physics theory, and video game development using VPython.

Physics content includes a subset of topics in classical mechanics, such as kinematics, reference frames and relative motion, Newton's laws, inelastic and elastic collisions, and conservation of momentum. For each topic, there is an experiment and programming activity. Many of the resulting programs resemble classic arcade-style games like Pong, Space Invaders, Lunar Lander, Tank Wars, and Asteroids, for example. An outline of physics topics and examples of programming activities will be presented.

Hands On: Raspbian alternative on Raspberry Pi Part Deux

There will be a quick hands on session with Pidora (with Bluetooth) and a TOR Project access point.

Lightning talks!

After the main talk, we will have some time for extemporaneous "lightning talks" of 5-10 minute duration. If you'd like to do one, some suggestions of talks were provided here, if you are looking for inspiration. Or talk about a project you are working on.




Already committed:

• HTTP and Requests by Don Jennings
• No processing required: PyFirmata + Arduinos by Francois Dion

 

When

Monday, July 22nd 2013
Meeting starts at 5:30PM

 

Where

We continue to have the meetings at Wake Forest University, close to Polo Rd and University Parkway:

Manchester Hall
room: Manchester 241 

Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27109

 Map this

See also this campus map (PDF) and also the Parking Map (PDF) (Manchester hall is #20A on the parking map)

And speaking of parking:  Parking after 5pm is on a first-come, first-serve basis.  The official parking policy is:

"Visitors can park in any general parking lot on campus. Visitors should avoid reserved spaces, faculty/staff lots, fire lanes or other restricted area on campus. Frequent visitors should contact Parking and Transportation to register for a parking permit."

 

Mailing List

Dont forget to sign up to our user group mailing list:

https://groups.google.com/d/forum/pyptug?hl=en

It is the only step required to become a PYPTUG member.

PYPTUG meeting - June 24th

PYthon Piedmont Triad User Group meeting

Come join PYPTUG at out next meeting (June 24th 2013) to learn more about the Python programming language, modules and tools. Python is the perfect language to learn if you've never programmed before, and at the other end, it is also the perfect tool that no expert would do without.

What

Meeting will start at 5:30pm.

We will open on an Intro to PYPTUG and on how to get started with Python, PYPTUG activities and members projects, then on to News from the community including a session on SELF:

SELF 2013 recap

This month is a joint meeting with PYPTUG and PLUG (Piedmont Linux User Group) since we are doing a South East Linux Fest recap. Some members will talk about some of the subjects that were presented at SELF 2013. If you attended, we invite you to speak up and share what you enjoyed there during this recap session.

Lightning talks!

Switching the order around this time, we will have some time for extemporaneous "lightning talks" of 5-10 minute duration. If you'd like to do one, some suggestions of talks were provided here, if you are looking for inspiration. Or talk about a project you are working on.


There might be a lightning talk on the Requests module, and one of the following (based on a poll):

• I trace, you trace, dtrace
• XKCD stylee
• Ping py pong

After the lightning talks, we will get everybody involved:

 

Hands On: Raspbian alternative on Raspberry Pi

We will play around with a Raspberry Pi running FreeBSD and Arch Linux. If you bring a cat 5 cable and your laptop, you'll be able to login and get a feel for it. An SD card reader will be setup for those who want to burn an image on their own SD card.

Main talk:  The Lost Art Of Digital Entomology

In recent years, the scientific study of "bugs" has been reduced to running a debugger (or perhaps writting a bunch of print statements - you know who you are...). But is it really just that? Do we even need the debugger? Are you one with your logs? Can you quantify the sting?

Francois Dion will talk about the lost art of finding and (sometimes) correcting bugs encountered in Python development from various angles. This talk will be of interest to developers, system administrators, web designers and power users.

We'll then wrap up the meeting.

When

Monday, June 24th 2013
Meeting starts at 5:30PM

 

Where

We continue to have the meetings at Wake Forest University, close to Polo Rd and University Parkway:

Manchester Hall
room: Manchester 241 

Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27109

 Map this

See also this campus map (PDF) and also the Parking Map (PDF) (Manchester hall is #20A on the parking map)

And speaking of parking:  Parking after 5pm is on a first-come, first-serve basis.  The official parking policy is:

"Visitors can park in any general parking lot on campus. Visitors should avoid reserved spaces, faculty/staff lots, fire lanes or other restricted area on campus. Frequent visitors should contact Parking and Transportation to register for a parking permit."

 

Mailing List

Dont forget to sign up to our user group mailing list:

https://groups.google.com/d/forum/pyptug?hl=en

It is the only step required to become a PYPTUG member.

Python at SELF 2013?

The boat...

Looks like we (Python user groups in the south east) might have missed the boat...

I'd like to be proven wrong, but there is not a single Python related talk on the whole program of SELF. There is some Raspberry Pi content and I'm sure that the Hitchhiker's Guide to Cloud Computing has to include some Python content. Anything else that I missed?

The lighthouse...

What would be an interesting concept for the community is to have a clearinghouse for all conferences and opportunities to present about Python to help community members to navigate the waters of conferences.

Perhaps something as simple as an web form / email server that receives event names with RFP and EVENT dates, and a URL. Then a Calendar gets automatically built from that, and it can be further filtered by zip code etc. FOSS and Python User group leaders can then more easily track down which events to attend and when the RFP are due.

Of course, it would require some time investment to build this, but it would be quite beneficial.

So, what do you, the reader, think of that?