Summary
Tom Christie is probably best known as the creator of Django REST Framework, but his contributions to the state the web in Python extend well beyond that. In this episode he shares his story of getting involved in web development, his work on various projects to power the asynchronous web in Python, and his efforts to make his open source contributions sustainable. This was an excellent conversation about the state of asynchronous frameworks for Python and the challenges of making a career out of open source.
Announcements
Hello and welcome to Podcast.__init__, the podcast about Python and the people who make it great.When you’re ready to launch your next app or want to try a project you hear about on the show, you’ll need somewhere to deploy it, so take a look at our friends over at Linode. With 200 Gbit/s private networking, node balancers, a 40 Gbit/s public network, and a brand new managed Kubernetes platform, all controlled by a convenient API you’ve got everything you need to scale up. And for your tasks that need fast computation, such as training machine learning models, they’ve got dedicated CPU and GPU instances. Go to pythonpodcast.com/linode to get a $20 credit and launch a new server in under a minute. And don’t forget to thank them for their continued support of this show!You listen to this show to learn and stay up to date with the ways that Python is being used, including the latest in machine learning and data analysis. For even more opportunities to meet, listen, and learn from your peers you don’t want to miss out on this year’s conference season. We have partnered with organizations such as O’Reilly Media, Corinium Global Intelligence, ODSC, and Data Council. Upcoming events include the Software Architecture Conference in NYC, Strata Data in San Jose, and PyCon US in Pittsburgh. Go to pythonpodcast.com/conferences to learn more about these and other events, and take advantage of our partner discounts to save money when you register today.Your host as usual is Tobias Macey and today I’m interviewing Tom Christie about the Encode organization and the work he is doing to drive the state of the art in async for PythonInterview
IntroductionsHow did you get introduced to Python?Can you start by describing what the Encode organization is and how it came to be?What are some of the other approaches to funding and sustainability that you have tried in the past?What are the benefits to the developers provided by an organization which you were unable to achieve through those other means?What benefits are realized by your sponsors as compared to other funding arrangements?What projects are part of the Encode organization?How do you determine fund allocation for projects and participants in the organization?What is the process for becoming a member of the Encode organization and what benefits and responsibilities does that entail?A large number of the projects that are part of the organization are focused on various aspects of asynchronous programming in Python. Is that intentional, or just an accident of your own focus and network?For those who are familiar with Python web programming in the context of WSGI, what are some of the practices that they need to unlearn in an async world, and what are some new capabilities that they should be aware of?Beyond Encode and your recent work on projects such as Starlette you are also well known as the creator of Django Rest Framework. How has your experience building and growing that project influenced your current focus on a technical, community, and professional level?Now that Python 2 is officially unsupported and asynchronous capabilities are part of the core language, what future directions do you foresee for the community and ecosystem?What are some areas of potential focus that you think are worth more attention and energy?What do you have planned for the future of Encode, your own projects, and your overall engagement with the Python ecosystem?Keep In Touch
Websitetomchristie on Github@_tomchristie on TwitterPicks
TobiasMaleficent: Mistress of EvilAbominableTomThe LobsterThe Master And His Emissary by Ian McGilchristClosing Announcements
Thank you for listening! Don’t forget to check out our other show, the Data Engineering Podcast for the latest on modern data management.Visit the site to subscribe to the show, sign up for the mailing list, and read the show notes.If you’ve learned something or tried out a project from the show then tell us about it! Email [email protected]) with your story. To help other people find the show please leave a review on iTunes and tell your friends and co-workersJoin the community in the new Zulip chat workspace at pythonpodcast.com/chatLinks
EncodeDjango Rest FrameworkStarletteZopeDjangoDjango PistonDjango TastypieAndrew GodwinASGIDjango ChannelsPodcast EpisodeFlaskPyramidSentryPodcast EpisodeTideliftUvicornHTTPXTideliftOpen CollectiveStripeGithub SponsorsPython Software FoundationPodcast EpisodeFirebaseDatabasesORMHTTP3The intro and outro music is from Requiem for a Fish The Freak Fandango Orchestra / CC BY-SA
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