On December 19, the Python Software Foundation’s board voted to present Antoine Pitrou with a Community Service Award for the fourth quarter of 2012.
Antoine has been a prolific CPython contributor throughout his more than five years of work, with his efforts reaching many areas of the code. His improvements to CPython’s global interpreter lock, or GIL, in the fall of 2009 caught a lot of attention around the web. He was also a major contributor to Python 3’s I/O system for the 3.0 release, and his recent work on PEP 3151 to rework the OS and IO exception hierarchy was shipped in the 3.3 release.
His activity extends throughout the codebase and development process, where he’s active in bug triage and spends time in IRC. On top of the over 3000 commits made by Antoine since gaining access in June 2008, making him the seventh most active committer, he has been involved in several parts of the python.org infrastructure, including CPython’s buildbot system.
The Python Software Foundation and Python community thanks Antoine for his consistent efforts and excellent contributions!
News from the Python Software Foundation
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Stefan Krah chosen for Q4 Community Service Award
On December 19, the Python Software Foundation’s board voted to present Stefan Krah with a Community Service Award for the fourth quarter of 2012.
Stefan has been a CPython committer since April 2010 when his work on a C version of the decimal module was tracked in a Subversion branch tied to issue #7652, though his work began far before that. Stefah created the mpdecimal C library, an implementation of the General Decimal Arithmetic Specification, as a multi-platform project providing “correctly-rounded arbitrary precision decimal floating point arithmetic.” The cdecimal module utilizes mpdecimal to provide a much more performant decimal library for Python.
The code was checked in early this year in changeset 7355550d5357, in time for the release of CPython 3.3. As the What’s New in Python 3.3 document shows, cdecimal has proven to be significantly faster with speedups as high as 120x on a pi calculation benchmark. The mpdecimal quickstart page shows how to execute the code yourself, and even the telecom and database tests show speedups of 30x and 12x, respectively.
Stefan has also contributed to several other areas of the codebase, including work on PEP 3118 for Python 3.3. He also contributes changes to platforms such as HP-UX and AIX.
The Python Software Foundation and Python community thanks Stefan for his consistent efforts and excellent contributions!
Stefan has been a CPython committer since April 2010 when his work on a C version of the decimal module was tracked in a Subversion branch tied to issue #7652, though his work began far before that. Stefah created the mpdecimal C library, an implementation of the General Decimal Arithmetic Specification, as a multi-platform project providing “correctly-rounded arbitrary precision decimal floating point arithmetic.” The cdecimal module utilizes mpdecimal to provide a much more performant decimal library for Python.
The code was checked in early this year in changeset 7355550d5357, in time for the release of CPython 3.3. As the What’s New in Python 3.3 document shows, cdecimal has proven to be significantly faster with speedups as high as 120x on a pi calculation benchmark. The mpdecimal quickstart page shows how to execute the code yourself, and even the telecom and database tests show speedups of 30x and 12x, respectively.
Stefan has also contributed to several other areas of the codebase, including work on PEP 3118 for Python 3.3. He also contributes changes to platforms such as HP-UX and AIX.
The Python Software Foundation and Python community thanks Stefan for his consistent efforts and excellent contributions!
Thursday, December 06, 2012
PSF Moves to Require Code of Conduct for Conference Grants
On Wednesday, November 21, the Python Software Foundation’s board of directors voted on two resolutions on the topic of Codes of Conduct at Python conferences. As the Python conference landscape grows to include more events and attract more attendees, the Foundation looks to ensure that conferences, new and old, are being run in a way that is enjoyable for all.
The first resolution passed by the board serves as the Foundation’s recommendation that all Python conferences and related events create and apply a Code of Conduct. The board unanimously agreed on this point, suggesting that publicly documented expectations and plans of action are necessary when planning and running an event in our community.
The second resolution passed by the board serves as the Foundation’s requirement that all Python conferences and related events create and apply a Code of Conduct. Without a code in place, the Foundation will not fund the event.
PyCon US, the largest of the Python conferences, first implemented a Code of Conduct for the March 2012 conference. For PyCon 2013, the code was left the same, but comes with the addition of documented incident handling guidelines. Many conferences followed suit to add a code, such as PyOhio, pyArkansas, PyTexas, PyCon Canada, and others.
PyCon’s Code of Conduct is structured after one created by The Ada Initiative and others, available under the Creative Commons Zero license at http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Conference_anti-harassment/Policy.
The first resolution passed by the board serves as the Foundation’s recommendation that all Python conferences and related events create and apply a Code of Conduct. The board unanimously agreed on this point, suggesting that publicly documented expectations and plans of action are necessary when planning and running an event in our community.
The second resolution passed by the board serves as the Foundation’s requirement that all Python conferences and related events create and apply a Code of Conduct. Without a code in place, the Foundation will not fund the event.
PyCon US, the largest of the Python conferences, first implemented a Code of Conduct for the March 2012 conference. For PyCon 2013, the code was left the same, but comes with the addition of documented incident handling guidelines. Many conferences followed suit to add a code, such as PyOhio, pyArkansas, PyTexas, PyCon Canada, and others.
PyCon’s Code of Conduct is structured after one created by The Ada Initiative and others, available under the Creative Commons Zero license at http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Conference_anti-harassment/Policy.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
python.org is getting a makeover!
It is with great pride that on behalf of the Python Software Foundation and the community as a whole, I am pleased to announce that the official Python.org website, sub-sites, and back-end architecture are getting a total makeover.
Introduction
Python has grown significantly in the last few years, both in terms of audience and the amount of topical information about it. This abundance of information has outgrown the current website’s taxonomy and fundamental design.
The key goal of the redesign project is to update Python’s official web presence with an eye towards better organizing the information we have today, and expect to add in the future.
The end result aims to help our audience find the information they need whether it’s official information like downloads and documentation, or resources from our vibrant community.
Although the current implementation of the Python website has served its purpose over the years, the time has come for the site to progress and complement the growth and maturity of the language itself as well as the vibrancy of the community.
The key goal of the redesign project is to update Python’s official web presence with an eye towards better organizing the information we have today, and expect to add in the future.
The end result aims to help our audience find the information they need whether it’s official information like downloads and documentation, or resources from our vibrant community.
Although the current implementation of the Python website has served its purpose over the years, the time has come for the site to progress and complement the growth and maturity of the language itself as well as the vibrancy of the community.
There’s a lot we want to achieve
- Modern design and experience
- Concise and intuitive navigation
- Showcase the simplicity and elegance of the language
- Attract and convert potential Python users and Python Software Foundation sponsors
- Represent our vibrant, active community
- Make it easy for a wide range of contributors to add content
- Enhance the visibility of the PSF and its sponsors
- Provide examples of success stories
- Enhance the visibility of alternate implementations
- Stable and scalable infrastructure
The redesign involves some tall tasks. From the fresh and modern UI/UX to the online and offline content editing features, no aspect of the project is to be taken lightly, or even incrementally. Such approaches have stalled and ultimately failed in the past, and rapidly outstrip the free time our community of volunteers can dedicate to the project.
The Process
This is a process that started over two years ago with the drafting of the of the Request For Proposals. This year we issued it publicly, and since that time the psf-redesign team grew to include Nick Coghlan, Doug Hellmann, Idan Gazit, Steve Holden, Brian Curtin, Andrew Kuchling, Issac Kelly, Katie Cunningham, Noah Kantrowitz and others.
The team received seven bids in total - all of them which included strong points and compelling stories. The team deliberated, ranked, discussed, and asked questions of the bidders, working through the bids for several months. We were constantly impressed by the high quality, well thought out, professional work that the community members submitted to us.
After the review period came to a close, we had a single bid which ranked higher than any of the others, based on experience, references, and overall quality of the proposal. They'll be working with the second highest rated bid, which contained UI/UX and IA that absolutely floored the reviewers.
The first bid, submitted by a joint effort between Project Evolution and Revolution Systems, was the overall highest ranked bid. The team was unanimous in our recommendation to proceed forward with this bid based on the credentials of the team, quality of the proposal, and their deep understanding of how to work with volunteer organizations, oversight and the community as a whole.
This bid provides a clear project management and accountability system as well as detailing how they wish to work with the community as a whole to achieve the project goals.
Second, we had the Divio.ch team bid. The IA/UX/UI work which they poured over 120 hours into as a company impressed us a great deal. We were quite literally floored by the amount of thought, planning, and work invested in the visual and IA aspects of the Divio bid.
Together with Project Evolution and Revolution Systems leading the project, and the stellar Divio team consulting on the visual/IA aspects of the project, the redesign team and the board is sure that we will be able to deliver a next generation experience. The architecture being developed will achieve all of the goals we set forth when we went down the path of drafting the redesign RFP.
On September 26th, the Python Software Foundation's board of directors unanimously approved the combined bids:
The team received seven bids in total - all of them which included strong points and compelling stories. The team deliberated, ranked, discussed, and asked questions of the bidders, working through the bids for several months. We were constantly impressed by the high quality, well thought out, professional work that the community members submitted to us.
After the review period came to a close, we had a single bid which ranked higher than any of the others, based on experience, references, and overall quality of the proposal. They'll be working with the second highest rated bid, which contained UI/UX and IA that absolutely floored the reviewers.
The first bid, submitted by a joint effort between Project Evolution and Revolution Systems, was the overall highest ranked bid. The team was unanimous in our recommendation to proceed forward with this bid based on the credentials of the team, quality of the proposal, and their deep understanding of how to work with volunteer organizations, oversight and the community as a whole.
This bid provides a clear project management and accountability system as well as detailing how they wish to work with the community as a whole to achieve the project goals.
Second, we had the Divio.ch team bid. The IA/UX/UI work which they poured over 120 hours into as a company impressed us a great deal. We were quite literally floored by the amount of thought, planning, and work invested in the visual and IA aspects of the Divio bid.
Together with Project Evolution and Revolution Systems leading the project, and the stellar Divio team consulting on the visual/IA aspects of the project, the redesign team and the board is sure that we will be able to deliver a next generation experience. The architecture being developed will achieve all of the goals we set forth when we went down the path of drafting the redesign RFP.
On September 26th, the Python Software Foundation's board of directors unanimously approved the combined bids:
RESOLVED, that the Python Software Foundation accept the Python.org site redesign proposal set forth by Project Evolution / Revolution Systems and Divio with a budget not to exceed $70,000 in total without further board approval.
Overview of the Accepted Bids
The redesign project will completed by the three teams, Project Evolution, RevSys, and Divio, with a division of labor using the best aspects of each team. The project plan and the back end will be handled by members of Project Evolution and RevSys. Members of Project Evolution will handle the front end work, incorporating the guidance of the Divio team.
The accepted bids from the three entities can be found below:
The company relies on the agile SCRUM-methodology for its projects.
The accepted bids from the three entities can be found below:
Project Evolution
Project Evolution (PE) is a design driven development team founded in 1999 with clients ranging from school districts to Fortune 1000 fashion conglomerates with international holdings. The 12-person team includes creative leads, front-end and back-end developers, and associated support staff all committed to open-source technology.Revolution Systems
Revolution Systems, LLC., based in Lawrence, Kansas, was formed in 2002 by Frank Wiles to help businesses benefit from open source software. While many large organizations use open source software internally (sometimes without their knowledge), he realized that many organizations did not know how to properly take advantage of this revolutionary type of software.Divio
Divio, a web agency located in Zürich, Switzerland, builds web applications and is specialised in the areas of design and development. For production, Divio uses the Django web framework and is heavily involved in the development of the successful open source projects django CMS and django SHOP.The company relies on the agile SCRUM-methodology for its projects.
Screenshots, Maybe?
As if the bids and the prospect of the project were not enough to get you excited, I thought I might share some tidbits from the current mockups we're working through:
In Closing
I am sincerely proud, as both a Python community member and PSF director, to have been part of this process. The entire review team, every single submitted bid, and the Foundation's board works tirelessly for a great deal of time pulling together what is already turning out to be an impressive and surprising redesign.
The design will work on mobile devices. It will follow all of the guidelines of the RFP, support accessibility requirements, and much much more.
Most of all, it will showcase our language and global community like it has never has been before.
Jesse Noller (person post on this), Director Python Software Foundation, on behalf of the entire team.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Grants to Assist Kivy, NLTK in Porting to Python 3
From time to time, the Python Software Foundation receives grant requests for projects wishing to receive assistance to complete some task. In the past, grants have gone towards aspects of the PyPy project and the email6 redesign, and have even financed the creation of a new developer guide. Whether it’s a project central to the Python language or any of the great projects this community has created, the PSF is there for all and accepts requests from any projects that provide benefit to the Python community.
Requestors are asked to provide answers to questions such as a project background, what work will be completed, who will be involved, who will benefit, and costs associated with the work. The requests then go before the board of directors, who then debate various aspects of each request and render a decision.
The last two months were very interesting for the board, as we received two requests to help finance the porting of projects to Python 3.
Kivy
In October, the Kivy project reached out to us with a request to fund their porting efforts, where they requested a grant of $5,000 USD. Their plan includes the porting a number of Kivy project dependencies (their Android and iOS tools), the porting of a number of third-party dependencies (e.g., PIL, gstreamer, opencv), some work on their OSX and Windows packaging, and of course, the core Kivy codebase.
On October 17, the board voted to approve the Kivy request. Their porting effort hopes to be a great story for Kivy and Python 3 on a number of platforms and interfaces, as Kivy supports development of applications for desktops, tablets, and phones, and includes support for multi-touch. We’re really looking forward to sharing more details as the Kivy port moves along.
NLTK
Just a few weeks ago, a request came before the board to fund porting efforts for the NLTK project. NLTK is the Natural Language Toolkit, a project which exposes very powerful linguistics tools to Python. For many, NLTK is one of the major remaining roadblocks to Python 3 adoption. As many projects have been ported and many more are working on it, getting NLTK on Python 3 will be huge for the community.
On November 21, Mikhail Korborov was granted $1,000 USD to finish the in-progress port of NLTK under the watchful eye of project lead Steven Bird. Mikhail was recently added as a committer to the project after some time as a contributor, and he’ll be following their plan as laid out on their GitHub repo. Not only will the NTLK port be a boon to wider Python 3 adoption, but it should provide a good story for others to lean on when porting large codebases, especially when it comes to working with Python 3’s Unicode implementation.
We hope you’re as excited as we are to see Kivy and NLTK making moves towards Python 3! We’ll follow up with progress reports as we receive them.
Requestors are asked to provide answers to questions such as a project background, what work will be completed, who will be involved, who will benefit, and costs associated with the work. The requests then go before the board of directors, who then debate various aspects of each request and render a decision.
The last two months were very interesting for the board, as we received two requests to help finance the porting of projects to Python 3.
Kivy
In October, the Kivy project reached out to us with a request to fund their porting efforts, where they requested a grant of $5,000 USD. Their plan includes the porting a number of Kivy project dependencies (their Android and iOS tools), the porting of a number of third-party dependencies (e.g., PIL, gstreamer, opencv), some work on their OSX and Windows packaging, and of course, the core Kivy codebase.
On October 17, the board voted to approve the Kivy request. Their porting effort hopes to be a great story for Kivy and Python 3 on a number of platforms and interfaces, as Kivy supports development of applications for desktops, tablets, and phones, and includes support for multi-touch. We’re really looking forward to sharing more details as the Kivy port moves along.
NLTK
Just a few weeks ago, a request came before the board to fund porting efforts for the NLTK project. NLTK is the Natural Language Toolkit, a project which exposes very powerful linguistics tools to Python. For many, NLTK is one of the major remaining roadblocks to Python 3 adoption. As many projects have been ported and many more are working on it, getting NLTK on Python 3 will be huge for the community.
On November 21, Mikhail Korborov was granted $1,000 USD to finish the in-progress port of NLTK under the watchful eye of project lead Steven Bird. Mikhail was recently added as a committer to the project after some time as a contributor, and he’ll be following their plan as laid out on their GitHub repo. Not only will the NTLK port be a boon to wider Python 3 adoption, but it should provide a good story for others to lean on when porting large codebases, especially when it comes to working with Python 3’s Unicode implementation.
We hope you’re as excited as we are to see Kivy and NLTK making moves towards Python 3! We’ll follow up with progress reports as we receive them.
Monday, October 08, 2012
Simon Cross Awarded Community Service Award
On Friday, Python Software Foundation administrator Ewa Jodlowska presented Simon Cross with the PSF’s Community Service Award for the third quarter.
The award was presented at the first PyCon South Africa in Cape Town, of which Simon is the lead organizer. Simon and team were able to start from the ground up and build a solid conference with a very nice schedule, including many of the community’s best speakers. They even brought in ten sponsors to help keep the conference costs low, including the PSF.
Simon is also a leader in the Cape Town Python User Group, a group which often meets to discuss hot topics in the Python world. Along with talks, the group has been getting together to hack on projects they all use. In 2010 and 2011, the PSF sponsored sprints lead by Simon and crew to port matplotlib and Genshi to Python 3. The matplotlib code was merged but not yet released by the project, and Genshi has been available on Python 3 since shortly after their sprint.
Simon’s efforts also extend around the Python community, where he’s a maintainer of Genshi and contributes to PyPy, among other projects.
The PSF wishes to thank Simon for his efforts with PyCon ZA and everything else he does for the Python community.
Photo by Morgan Collett
The award was presented at the first PyCon South Africa in Cape Town, of which Simon is the lead organizer. Simon and team were able to start from the ground up and build a solid conference with a very nice schedule, including many of the community’s best speakers. They even brought in ten sponsors to help keep the conference costs low, including the PSF.
Simon is also a leader in the Cape Town Python User Group, a group which often meets to discuss hot topics in the Python world. Along with talks, the group has been getting together to hack on projects they all use. In 2010 and 2011, the PSF sponsored sprints lead by Simon and crew to port matplotlib and Genshi to Python 3. The matplotlib code was merged but not yet released by the project, and Genshi has been available on Python 3 since shortly after their sprint.
Simon’s efforts also extend around the Python community, where he’s a maintainer of Genshi and contributes to PyPy, among other projects.
The PSF wishes to thank Simon for his efforts with PyCon ZA and everything else he does for the Python community.
Friday, October 05, 2012
Kenneth Gonsalves Posthumously Awarded Community Service Award
The Python Software Foundation, represented by director David Mertz, posthumously awarded Kenneth Gonsalves with the foundation’s Community Service Award for the third quarter. The award was presented to his daughter last weekend at PyCon India.
Kenneth passed away on August 3, 2012 at the age of 59. After finding the open source world in 1995, he was drawn to the Python community in 2003 and has since taught over 50 seminars on Python and Django in his area. He was also a major contributor to many mailing lists, generously helping as many people as he could.
Kenneth was known for founding and leading the Indian Python Software Society, and is credited with helping to shape the Python community all across India. He was also a well known member of the Django community, where his presence and action will surely be missed.
Outside of software, Kenneth took interest in golf, even becoming a referee and earning international certification. Throughout his time as an official he was assigned to several national tournaments.
In addition to the Community Service Award, the foundation presented a grant of $3500 USD (~190K Rs) to the IPSS to seed an award in Kenneth’s name. The award is planned to be given annually to a community member who goes above and beyond to evangelize, innovate, and mentor other members of the Python community. As much of Kenneth’s work was focused on students, the IPSS wants to see further efforts in growing their community and educating the membership.
Kenneth passed away on August 3, 2012 at the age of 59. After finding the open source world in 1995, he was drawn to the Python community in 2003 and has since taught over 50 seminars on Python and Django in his area. He was also a major contributor to many mailing lists, generously helping as many people as he could.
Kenneth was known for founding and leading the Indian Python Software Society, and is credited with helping to shape the Python community all across India. He was also a well known member of the Django community, where his presence and action will surely be missed.
Outside of software, Kenneth took interest in golf, even becoming a referee and earning international certification. Throughout his time as an official he was assigned to several national tournaments.
In addition to the Community Service Award, the foundation presented a grant of $3500 USD (~190K Rs) to the IPSS to seed an award in Kenneth’s name. The award is planned to be given annually to a community member who goes above and beyond to evangelize, innovate, and mentor other members of the Python community. As much of Kenneth’s work was focused on students, the IPSS wants to see further efforts in growing their community and educating the membership.
Kenneth Gonsalves -- 1952-2012
Photo by Kushal Das
Friday, September 14, 2012
Announcing the 2012 Distinguished Service Award - John Hunter
The Distinguished Service Award
The Python Software Foundation voted unanimously on September 12, 2012 to authorize the creation of a new award: the Distinguished Service Award. The award is offered in recognition of long-term excellence in the Python community, and is intended to stand as the Foundation's highest honor. Whether for contributions of code, activism, evangelism, or for other services to Python and its global community, the Foundation seeks to honor those who have a record of sustained and prolific giving to the Python world.
The award will not be made to a schedule, but as deserving candidates emerge. It comes with a check for $5,000, in simple recognition of the kind of devoted service for which the award will be presented.
Full details of the award, and a list of recipients, can be found on the Foundation's awards page.
The First Recipient
The inaugural recipient of the Distinguished Service Award is John Hunter, who passed away on August 28, 2012 after losing an all-too-brief battle with colon cancer.
He is survived by his wife Miriam and three daughters Clara, Ava, and Rahel. To mark his passing, the NumFOCUS Foundation has setup a memorial fund for the care and education of his three daughters at http://numfocus.org/johnhunter/.
John Hunter
There are few projects in the Python world which have enjoyed the reach, longevity, and value that matplotlib has offered in the 10 years since its creation. John Hunter, at the time a post-doctoral neurobiologist at the University of Chicago, started the matplotlib library as a way to work around downtime created by limited licensing for expensive proprietary tools. His choice to use Python was a bold one at the time, given Python's relatively young age, especially within the sciences. However, his efforts paid off and he was able to create an open alternative to allow him to continue analyzing epileptic seizure data in children without the limitations he was experiencing with other products.
Over time, John left the academic world and entered Chicago's finance industry, taking employment at TradeLink Securities. While there, he took his science background and matplotlib project into the field of quantitative analysis. In the ten years since matplotlib's creation, John brought three daughters into the world and cared for his family all while maintaining the number one spot on the matplotlib committer list. He became further involved in the numeric and scientific communities, presenting at conferences and expanding his involvement to the recently formed NumFOCUS Foundation, at which he was a founding board member.
John's creation and contribution of matplotlib to not just the Python community, but to the science and mathematics communities, is truly an effort that will live on and continue to influence these communities and more for many years to come. Whether you found Python through matplotlib or matplotlib through Python, John Hunter's efforts have left a lasting mark on so many people in so many places.
In addition to the Distinguished Service Award, the Foundation will be contributing $3500 to a project which is currently in the works, the John Hunter Technical Fellowship. More details on this will follow.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Welcome New PSF Members!
Just the other day the Python Software Foundation held an election, the second and final one of the year, and the results are in! 18 new members were introduced, and the membership approved three new sponsor members. Please join us in welcoming all of them!
Candidates for PSF membership are nominated by an existing member for their work in the Python community. The membership is comprised of people from around the world and from many areas of the community.
These new members are selected from many different areas of the Python community. While some members are known for their contributions of code, many are known for their work to grow their local and regional communities. Some members are known for their work in educational workshops and conferences. It takes a diverse membership to ensure the success of a foundation steering a diverse community, so we're happy to have members of all types from all areas, both geographically and within the Python world.
Please join us in welcoming all of the new members to the Foundation!
- Nick Barcet
- Dana Bauer
- James Blair
- Thierry Carrez
- Anand Chittipothu
- Antonio Cuni
- Anne Gentle
- Noufal Ibrahim
- Vish Ishaya
- Christopher MacGown
- Dave Malcolm
- Joshua McKenty
- Mark McLoughlin
- Mariano Reingart
- Bruno Rocha
- Monty Taylor
- Dean Troyer
- Vicky Twomey-Lee
The following sponsor members were approved:
For the full PSF membership roster, please see http://www.python.org/psf/members/
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Redesign Proposals Due July 21
Just a quick reminder: Proposals for the python.org redesign are due by 11:59 PM EST on July 21, 2012. That's four days away!
For more details, please read our Request for Proposals.
As always, questions and comments can be emailed to the psf-redesign mailing list at psf-redesign@python.org.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
PSF Sponsors First PyCon Philippines
The Python Software Foundation donated USD $600 to the first Python Conference in the Philippines. The conference will be held in Manila from June 30th to July 1st, 2012. The organizers behind this conference are the Philippines Python User Group (PHPUG), pyDanny, Audrey Roy and various other members of the Python community. You can meet and greet them in a very nice tropical clime. Who wouldn't want to study Python on a beautiful island? They're still accepting registrations, so act fast!
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
PSF Sponsors Upcoming International Python Conferences
The Python Software Foundation is happy to announce the sponsorship of five upcoming Python related conferences all over the world. The PSF donated EUR 3500 to EuroPython which is being held in Florence, Italy this year from July 2-8. Next on the calendar is PyCon Australia 2012, which the PSF granted AUD $1500 . The Pythoneers down under will be in Hobart, Tasmania on August 18th through the 19th. The PSF gave NZD 1000 to Kiwi PyCon which is being held September 1-2 in Dunedin, New Zealand. PyCon Argentina received USD $3000 in funding this year. They will be holding their conference in Buenos Aires starting November 12th and running through the 17th. Finally PythonBrazil also received USD $3000 in funding and will be holding their conference November 21-24 in Rio de Janerio.
If you're in the area or in the mood for travel and you want to learn some Python or just meet some of the international Python people, this year is a good one. You can travel to scenic Italy for EuroPython, head down to Australia for their exotic animals and then take a boat over to New Zealand for Kiwi PyCon. When it starts getting cold outside, you can head down to South America and spend a couple weeks learning Python in Argentina and Brazil. Can you think of a better way to get out of the cold?
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Welcome New PSF Members!
After the spring elections, the Foundation is happy to welcome a new group of members.
All members of the PSF are nominated by an existing member for their work in the Python community. We have quite a diverse set of community members joining us this year, with representation across many countries and individuals contributing to many areas of the Python world.
As with years past, a group of individuals known for their contributions of code, either to Python implementations or other projects in the Python ecosystem, were elected. We also have a number of members recognized for their work with PyCon and other Python conferences around the world. Community effort is another theme and we have several members known for their work building and expanding their local Python communities as well as the global community. Several folks who keep various Python infrastructure up and running were also elected.
Please join us in welcoming all of the new members to the Foundation!
- Tim Ansell
- Martin Aspeli
- Henrique Bastos
- Benoit Chesneau
- Jan Ulrich Hasecke
- Larry Hastings
- Stephen Hawkes
- Ewa Jodlowska
- Andreas Jung
- Noah Kantrowitz
- Peter Kropf
- Jannis Leidel
- Chris McDonough
- Paul McMillan
- Carl Meyer
- Luciano Ramalho
- Kenneth Reitz
- Armin Ronacher
- Michelle Rowley
- Tres Seaver
- Hanno Schlichting
- Armin Stroß-Radschinski
- Christian Theune
- Giles Thomas
- Nicholas H. Tollervey
- Wilfredo Sanchez Vega
- Chris Withers
For the full PSF membership roster, please see http://www.python.org/psf/members/
Thursday, May 24, 2012
2012 Q1 Community Service Awards
The Foundation wishes to thank Carl Trachte and Audrey Roy for their work in the Python community with Community Service Awards for the first quarter of 2012.
Carl has put significant effort into diversifying and supporting non-English speaking writers for the Python Wiki.
Audrey also put in a lot of time diversifying the community with her work in creating the PyLadies group as well speaking on outreach issues as numerous conferences.
On behalf of the Python community, the PSF thanks Carl and Audrey for their time and effort!
Carl has put significant effort into diversifying and supporting non-English speaking writers for the Python Wiki.
Audrey also put in a lot of time diversifying the community with her work in creating the PyLadies group as well speaking on outreach issues as numerous conferences.
On behalf of the Python community, the PSF thanks Carl and Audrey for their time and effort!
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Request for Proposal: Redesign python.org
The main Python site at www.python.org was redesigned in 2005-2006 -- over six years ago. It's time for a redesign, to improve the organization of the site and its appearance, and to simplify the task for the volunteers who maintain the content. The PSF would therefore like fund the design and implementation of a new look and architecture for python.org. The web development landscape has also changed a lot since 2006, and we look forward to seeing what this community can produce.
The Request for Proposal for the python.org redesign has been published on readthedocs.org. Questions and comments can be e-mailed to the psf-redesign mailing list at psf-redesign at python.org. Proposals are due by July 21st 2012, two months from today.
The RFP was initially drafted by Jesse Noller, and feedback from the python.org site maintainers was incorporated by Andrew Kuchling.
The Request for Proposal for the python.org redesign has been published on readthedocs.org. Questions and comments can be e-mailed to the psf-redesign mailing list at psf-redesign at python.org. Proposals are due by July 21st 2012, two months from today.
The RFP was initially drafted by Jesse Noller, and feedback from the python.org site maintainers was incorporated by Andrew Kuchling.
Monday, May 07, 2012
Steve Holden steps down as Chairman
Throughout his time with the Python Software Foundation, starting as the informal chair of the first several PyCons, the Python community has enjoyed the friendly face of Steve Holden at the helm and around the community, exemplifying the open source ethos. Through his 8 years as a Director, two of which he spent as Vice Chairman, and the last four spent as Chairman of the Board, Steve's hard work and countless hours of effort have helped shape this community and foundation into the great state we have in 2012.
While Steve isn't leaving the community or even the foundation, where he'll remain as a Director, he's moving on from the Chairman position earlier than planned to take some well needed personal time. As he outlines in his last post, Swan Song, there's likely to be some surgery in his future, and we wish him all the best.
On behalf of the foundation and the community, we want to thank Steve for everything he's done for us personally and for everything he's done for the Python community.
While Steve isn't leaving the community or even the foundation, where he'll remain as a Director, he's moving on from the Chairman position earlier than planned to take some well needed personal time. As he outlines in his last post, Swan Song, there's likely to be some surgery in his future, and we wish him all the best.
On behalf of the foundation and the community, we want to thank Steve for everything he's done for us personally and for everything he's done for the Python community.
Friday, April 06, 2012
Indianapolis Python Workshop - April 13-14
If you're in the Indianapolis, Indiana area on April 13-14, join the locals from IndyPy as well as the Boston Python Workshop and OpenHatch in a weekend workshop. The groups have joined forces to create a beginner-friendly environment with a focus on involving women of the community and introducing computer programming with Python. There's no prerequisite knowledge required to attend, as the weekend is planned for true beginners not just to Python but to programming in general. For the full details, see https://openhatch.org/wiki/Indianapolis_Python_Workshop.
One of the weekend's stated goals is to "increase Python community diversity through programming outreach events." The event is female-focused and is staffed primarily with women, and encourages attendees to bring a friend. For men who are interested in the event, bring along a female friend to get involved with you!
The group's organizers, Catherine Devlin and Mel Chua, with the help of Boston's Jessica McKellar, want to get you writing and enjoying programming. Another goal of the event is to introduce and involve the attendees in their local community, fostering growth of events such as Indiana LinuxFest (where the workshop takes place) as well as local meetups and project nights.
If you're interested in coming out and joining the fun, sign up on the IndyPy Meetup and sign up for Indiana LinuxFest as well!
If you're interested in sponsoring the workship, please email event organizer Catherine Devlin at catherine.devlin@gmail.com.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
User groups: the PSF can help cover your meetup.com fees
Did you know that the PSF has a budget to cover Python user groups' meetup.com fees?
Well, we do! The PSF can:
Here is a sample proposal:
Well, we do! The PSF can:
- reimburse user group organizers for fees paid to meetup.com in the past year
- prepay annual fees for meetup.com Python groups
Here is a sample proposal:
Grant Proposal: $144 to cover the cost of the Boston Python user group’s meetup.com subscription for six months: January through December of 2012.
Grant Objective: Fund the use of meetup.com for organizing and managing the Boston Python user group for a 12 month period. meetup.com helps to increase the visibility of the user group, as well as boost attendance through automated reminders, RSVP functionality, and other tools. It also makes organizing and promoting the group easier, as well as providing a platform to garner sponsorships and thank sponsors publicly.
Grant Size: $144 total, which is the cost of 12 months to organize a group on meetup.com.
Grant Beneficiaries: The Boston Python user group has over 1500 members on meetup.com. We have had monthly meetings since before 2007 and have an average attendance of 60-100 Python programmers. meetup.com provides a centralized location where our members see what’s coming up and who has RSVPed for the meeting. Members can also leave comments about the group itself.
This subscription will also benefit Python programmers who may not yet know about the group by providing highly visible insight into what we do and why they may want to join. meetup.com is a well-known site for people looking for like-minded individuals, providing us good visibility for new members. It also cross-promotes groups to each other, encouraging members of other tech groups to consider joining ours. We get several new members each month who find us on meetup.com.
Preferred method of funds delivery: A deposit into the PayPal account for meetup@bostonpython.com.
Q: My user group uses a site other than meetup.com to advertise events. Can we still get reimbursed?
A: The April 2009 proposal is specifically for meetup.com fees, but you are still encouraged to submit a general grant proposal for a particular expense to psf@python.org.
Q: How else can the PSF help my user group financially?
A: You can apply for a grant through the PSF Grants program.
Edited 15 February 2016 to remove references to the Sprints and Outreach and Education Committees, which are now retired.
Edited 15 February 2016 to remove references to the Sprints and Outreach and Education Committees, which are now retired.
Friday, January 06, 2012
Armin Rigo Receives PSF Community Service Award
The Python Software Foundation has presented a Community Service Award for the fourth quarter of 2011 to Armin Rigo for his outstanding work on PyPy.
The Python Software Foundation is pleased to recognize Armin's contributions to the community.
Thursday, January 05, 2012
Mike Müller Receives PSF Community Service Award
The Python Software Foundation has presented a Community Service Award for the fourth quarter of 2011 to Mike Müller for his outstanding work in bringing Python forward in the science world, through the organization of the first two EuroSciPy conferences and for heading the new yearly PyCon DE conference, which gives the large number of German speaking Python users a platform for interchange and discussion.
The Python Software Foundation is pleased to recognize Mike's contributions to the community.
Sunday, January 01, 2012
PSF Grants Over $37,000 to the Python Community in 2011
The Python Software Foundation provides financial support to many Python related conferences and projects. In 2011, the grants and awards totaled US$37,511. As we enter the new year, we want to take this opportunity to review some of the work funded by, and for, the Python community throughout the year.
Conferences
One of the most prominent ways the PSF supports the community is through the conference assistance program. Organizers of Python-related conferences are eligible to receive grants toward conference-related expenses, including renting space, travel, catering, etc.
- PyCon AU (Australia) was the first conference to be granted money in 2011 and received US$1500
- EuroPython 2011 was given US$2000
- SciPy 2011 received US$2000 for the conference held in Austin, TX
- Kiwi PyCon 2011 also received US$2000
- PyCon DE (Germany) was given US$1500
- PyArgentina received US$1500
- PyCon Ireland received US$1500
- PyCon PL (Poland) received US$750
- PyTexas 2011 received US$750
- The GNOME Foundation for the 2011 Libre Graphics Meeting was given US$1500 in funds
Projects and Porting
This year the PSF gave grants to support several software and community projects that provide significant benefit to Python users.
- Read the Docs received US$840 for hosting fees
- The Python Miro Community project received US$1800 to cover service fees and project expenses
- The PyPy Project was awarded US$10,000 at PyCon 2011
- Chris McDonough was granted US$3000 to port the WebOb project to Python 3
- The PSF also gave US$2121 to 11 Python-related sprints
Outreach
Besides funding projects from existing community members, the PSF has also funded projects intended to introduce new people to Python and expand our community.
- Vern Ceder was granted US$500 to travel to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) for a speaking engagement
- PyLadies received US$1220
- The Boston Python Workshop received a US$3300 grant to support and grow the workshop
Receiving Grants
There are several sources for funding through the PSF, depending on the nature of your project.
- Conference organizers can contact the PSF Board directly (psf at python.org) with inquiries. Please keep in mind that it may take some time to approve and transfer the funds, so plan ahead and submit your request early.
- The Python Sprints project provides modest grants for groups to host sprints on Python-related projects.
- A special fund is set aside for porting open source projects to Python 3. All you need to do is apply for assistance, and Jesse Noller will even help you with your proposal! See the Grant Guidelines for more information.
- Other projects seeking assistance should also email the board (psf at python.org) with a detailed request.
Donating to the PSF
The Python Software Foundation accepts donations through the web or via check or wire transfer. For US taxpayers, contributions to the PSF are tax-deductible.
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