GIS programmer writing Python in Emacs
EuroPython 2011 report
July 22, 2011 at 12:00 PM | categories: python | View CommentsAre you a Python programmer? Do you want to learn Python? Do you want to become a better programmer? Have you ever been to Florence?
If you've answered yes to at least one of these question and yet didn't show up at Florence in late June for EuroPython 2011 conference, then you have no excuse. And no, living in Australia or North America doesn't qualify as a valid reason, there were people from these continents.
Whew, that was a longish attempt at making a joke, now let's get to the real deal, that is, report. I must also note that I didn't stay for the whole length of EuroPython. Hey, it was my honeymoon! And that's why I didn't have time to write the report sooner.
Talks
Of course, talks are important. They are the reason people come to events like this. But it's always hard to choose which one suits you better, when you have 5 talks running in parallel. Sometimes you're sure to run into conflicts. And it's generally a good thing for conferences, having real concurenty between speakers. Watching all of the talks might be possible if you're diagnosed with insomnia or otherwise have tons of free time and I can't really recommend any talks, as I've been at the conference for only two days, but I've heard very good things about Armin Ronacher's Five Years of Bad Ideas talk. Fortunately, all of the talks are already uploaded to YouTube, so don't hesitate to watch those whose description you find interesting.
My talk
Ah, yes, forgot to mention -- I was one of the speakers too. Well, if you think about using OpenStreetMap data or just looking into using Python for GIS, my talk might give some hints as to where to start. Check out the slides here or perhaps check out talks' page at EuroPython site.
People
People in general are great. Pythonista are no exception from this rule. It's always fun to just talk to people around you, ask what mad things they are doing with Python, bash PyPy (ha-ha, joking) and Django (only half-joking) and just hang out talking about things not related to programming (not joking). Socializing with other geeks is fun!
Organization
Organization was actually pretty good. If you don't count WiFi issues in, it was fantastic. Just to make sure, I've made a list of good and bad things.
The good
- Distinguishibility of organisers from conferences visiters. Seriously, using yellow t-shirts as a uniform was a fantastic idea
- Names on both sides of badges. YES. BOTH SIDES. That was a minor gripe with PyCon this year -- after wearing the badge for 3 days, the name was almost invisible and furthermore, just like a sandwich that falls always butter down, the badge always turned the blank side up.
- Equipment. It worked. 'nuff said.
- Food. Now, this is something I like about Southern Europe in general -- good food. It's not that easy to cook something delicious for a crowd of 600 people, but cooks at Florence actually did a very good job.
- Wine at lunch. I love wine. I L O V E it! And having a glass of wine relaxes you enough to not care about internet issues anymore.
- Place. Bus stop right in front of the hotel? Check. Close to city center? Check.
The bad
- WiFi and Internet connectivity in general. Everybody would definitely tweet about if they could connect to the internet. Well, at least more people paid attention to talks. :)
- Partner programs, PyFiorentina and marketing. Constant reminders about those on EuroPython official twitter were kinda irritating.
In general -- organization was kick-ass and though I highlighted some issues I think organizers team did a great job. Go Italy!
Summary
Instead of a summary, I'm just going to say that I'm certain I'll visit EuroPython next year and so should you!