The Python Podcast.init

By Tobias MaceyTechnology Education

The Python Podcast.init episodes

August 06, 2016PyCon Canada with Francis Deslauriers and Peter McCormick
Summary
Aside from the national Python conferences such as PyCon US and EuroPyCon there are a number of regional conferences that operate at a smaller scale to service their local communities. This week we interviewed Peter McCormick and Francis Deslauriers about their work organizing PyCon Canada to provide a venue for Canadians to talk about how they are using the language. If you happen to be near Toronto in November then you should get a ticket and help contribute to their success!
Brief Introduction
Hello and welcome to Podcast.__init__, the podcast about Python and the people who make it great.
I would like to thank everyone who has donated to the show. Your contributions help us make the show sustainable. For details on how to support the show you can visit our site at pythonpodcast.com
Linode is sponsoring us this week. Check them out at linode.com/podcastinit and get a $20 credit to try out their fast and reliable Linux virtual servers for your next project
We are also sponsored by Sentry this week. Stop hoping your users will report bugs. Sentry’s real-time tracking gives you insight into production deployments and information to reproduce and fix crashes. Check them out at getsentry.com and use the code podcastinit at signup to get a $50 credit!
Hired has also returned as a sponsor this week. If you’re looking for a job as a developer or designer then Hired will bring the opportunities to you. Sign up at hired.com/podcastinit to double your signing bonus.
Visit our site to subscribe to our show, sign up for our newsletter, read the show notes, and get in touch.
To help other people find the show you can leave a review on iTunes, or Google Play Music, and tell your friends and co-workers
Join our community! Visit discourse.pythonpodcast.com for your opportunity to find out about upcoming guests, suggest questions, and propose show ideas.
Your hosts as usual are Tobias Macey and Chris Patti
Today we’re interviewing Peter McCormick and Francis Deslauriers about their experiences organizing PyCon Canada
Interview with Peter McCormick and Francis Deslauriers
Introductions
How did you get introduced to Python? – Chris
How did you get involved as an organizer of PyCon Canada? – Tobias
How does PyCon Canada, and other regional conferences, differ from PyCon US, both in terms of scale and overall experience? – Tobias
How do the audience and presenters differ from the US conferences? Is there perhaps a differen mix of industry versus academia, or maybe different disciplines? Chris
Are you thinking of trying to hold the conference in different cities across Canada, similarly to how PyCon US moves venues every two years? – Tobias
In addition to the national and regional conferences, there are a number of special interest Python conferences that take place (e.g. SciPy, PyData, etc.). What kind of relationship do you have with organizers of those events and how do they impact the kinds of talk submissions that you are likely to receive? – Tobias
There has been a lot of focus in recent years on trying to increase the diversity of conference speakers. What are some of the methods that you have used to encourage speakers of various backgrounds to submit talks? – Tobias
Organizing a conference involves a lot of moving parts. How do you structure the process to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for the attendees? – Tobias
What are some of the biggest logistical challenges you face as conference organizers? – Chris
Given that PyCon Canada is a regional conference, how has that affected your focus in terms of marketing and the general theme? – Tobias
Tell our listeners about your favorite PyCon Canada moments. – Chris
What has been the most surprising part of organizing the conference? – Tobias
Keep In Touch
PyCon Canada
Twitter
Website
Email for sponsorship enquiries

Peter
Email
Twitter
Website

Francis
Email
Twitter

Picks
Tobias
Juice SSH

Chris
Chinese Man
Stiletto
Amazon Echo

Peter
DjangoCon US documentation

Francis
Spam Nation

Links
PSF Calendar of Events
Symposion
The intro and outro music is from Requiem for a Fish The Freak Fandango Orchestra / CC BY-SA
47 min
July 30, 2016 Test Engineering with Cris Medina
We all know that testing is an important part of software and systems development. The problem is that as our systems and applications grow, the amount of testing necessary increases at an exponential rate. Cris Medina joins us this week to talk about some of the problems and approaches associated with testing these complex systems and some of the ways that Python can help.
59 min
July 30, 2016Test Engineering with Cris Medina
Summary
We all know that testing is an important part of software and systems development. The problem is that as our systems and applications grow, the amount of testing necessary increases at an exponential rate. Cris Medina joins us this week to talk about some of the problems and approaches associated with testing these complex systems and some of the ways that Python can help.
Brief Introduction
Hello and welcome to Podcast.__init__, the podcast about Python and the people who make it great.
I would like to thank everyone who has donated to the show. Your contributions help us make the show sustainable. For details on how to support the show you can visit our site at pythonpodcast.com
Linode is sponsoring us this week. Check them out at linode.com/podcastinit and get a $20 credit to try out their fast and reliable Linux virtual servers for your next project
We are also sponsored by Sentry this week. Stop hoping your users will report bugs. Sentry’s real-time tracking gives you insight into production deployments and information to reproduce and fix crashes. Check them out at getsentry.com
Hired has also returned as a sponsor this week. If you’re looking for a job as a developer or designer then Hired will bring the opportunities to you. Sign up at hired.com/podcastinit to double your signing bonus.
The O’Reilly Velocity conference is coming to New York this September and we have a free ticket to give away. If you would like the chance to win it then just sign up for our newsletter at pythonpodcast.com
To help other people find the show you can leave a review on iTunes, and tell your friends and co-workers
Join our community! Visit discourse.pythonpodcast.com for your opportunity to find out about upcoming guests, suggest questions, and propose show ideas.
Your hosts as usual are Tobias Macey and Chris Patti
Today we’re interviewing Cris Medina about test engineering for large and complex systems.
Interview with Cris Medina
Introductions
How did you get introduced to Python? – Chris
To get us started can you share your definition of test engineering and how it differs from the types of testing that your average developer is used to? – Tobias
What are some common industries or situations where this kind of test engineering becomes necessary? – Tobias
How and where does Python fit into the kind of testing that becomes necessary when dealing with these complex systems? – Tobias
How do you determine which areas of a system to test and how can Python help in that discovery process? – Tobias
What are some of your favorite tools and libraries for this kind of work? – Tobias
What are some of the areas where the existing Python tooling falls short? – Tobias
Given the breadth of concerns that are encompassed with testing the various components of these large systems, what are some ways that a test engineer can get a high-level view of the overall state? – Tobias
How can that information be distilled for presentation to other areas of the business? – Tobias
Could that information be used to provide a compelling business case for the resources required to test properly? – Chris

Given the low-level nature of this kind of work I imagine that proper visibility of the work being done can be difficult. How do you make sure that management can properly see and appreciate your efforts? – Tobias

Keep In Touch
Twitter
Picks
Tobias
Samsung Galaxy Tab S2
Anker SoundCore Bluetooth Speaker

Chris
On Writing Well
This Episode Was Written by an AI
The Three Rs

Cris
CherryPy
Etcd
Thinking Fast And Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Spain

Links
Behave
Pytest BDD
Hypothesis
Episode XX – Hypothesis
Flask
CherryPy
Django
Pandas
NumPy
Celery
Bokeh
Vincent
Toga
D3 Sunburst
D3 Chord Diagrams
The intro and outro music is from Requiem for a Fish The Freak Fandango Orchestra / CC BY-SA
59 min
July 23, 2016 Crossing The Streams - Talk Python with Michael Kennedy
The same week that we released our first episode of Podcast.__init__, Michael Kennedy was publishing the very first episode of Talk Python To Me. The years long drought of podcasts about Python has been quenched with a veritable flood of quality content as we have both continued to deliver the stories of the wonderful people who make our community such a wonderful place. This week we interviewed Michael about what inspired him to get started, his process and experience as Talk Python continues to evolve, and how that has led him to create online training courses alongside the podcast. He also interviewed us, so check out this weeks episode of Talk Python To Me for a mirror image of this show!
1 hr 18 min
July 23, 2016Crossing The Streams - Talk Python with Michael Kennedy
Summary
The same week that we released our first episode of Podcast.__init__, Michael Kennedy was publishing the very first episode of Talk Python To Me. The years long drought of podcasts about Python has been quenched with a veritable flood of quality content as we have both continued to deliver the stories of the wonderful people who make our community such a wonderful place. This week we interviewed Michael about what inspired him to get started, his process and experience as Talk Python continues to evolve, and how that has led him to create online training courses alongside the podcast. He also interviewed us, so check out this weeks episode of Talk Python To Me for a mirror image of this show!
Brief Introduction
Hello and welcome to Podcast.__init__, the podcast about Python and the people who make it great.
I would like to thank everyone who has donated to the show. Your contributions help us make the show sustainable. For details on how to support the show you can visit our site at pythonpodcast.com
Linode is sponsoring us this week. Check them out at linode.com/podcastinit and get a $20 credit to try out their fast and reliable Linux virtual servers for your next project
We are also sponsored by Sentry this week. Stop hoping your users will report bugs. Sentry’s real-time tracking gives you insight into production deployments and information to reproduce and fix crashes. Check them out at getsentry.com
Visit our site to subscribe to our show, sign up for our newsletter, read the show notes, and get in touch.
To help other people find the show you can leave a review on iTunes, or Google Play Music, and tell your friends and co-workers
Join our community! Visit discourse.pythonpodcast.com for your opportunity to find out about upcoming guests, suggest questions, and propose show ideas.
Your hosts as usual are Tobias Macey and Chris Patti
Today we’re interviewing Michael Kennedy about his work with Talk Python to Me, another podcast about Python and its community, and on-demand Python trainings. Michael has also offered to give away one of each of his Python courses to our listeners. If you would like the chance to win, then sign up for our newsletter at pythonpodcast.com, or our forum at discourse.pythonpodcast.com. If you want to double your chances, then sign up for both!
Interview with Michael Kennedy
Introductions
How did you get into programming?
How did you get introduced to Python? (Chris)
What is the craziest piece of software you’ve ever written? – Tobias
You’ve taken some pretty drastic steps around Python and your career lately. What inspired you to do that and how’s it going?(yes, quit my job, focus only on podcast and online courses).
You are basically self-taught as a developer, how did you get into this teaching / mentor role?
Why did you first get started with Talk Python to Me? – Tobias
Did you know when you started that it would turn into a full-time endeavor? – Tobias
For a while there weren’t any podcasts available that focused on Python and now we’re each producing one. What’s it like to run a successful podcast? – Tobias
What have been your most popular episodes? Tell us a bit about each – Tobias
In your excellent episode with Kate Heddleston you talked about how we tend to bash other programming languages. We’ve done a fair bit of Java bashing here. How can we help get ourselves and others in our community out of this bad habit? – Chris
How do you select the guests and topics for your show? – Tobias
What topics do you have planned for the next few episodes?
How do you prepare the questions for each episode? – Tobias
What is the most significant thing you’ve learned from the podcasting experience?
What do you wish you did differently and how are you looking to improve? – Tobias
I had a great time hanging out with you at PyCon this year. What was your impression of the conference?
What were your favorite sessions and do you have any shows scheduled to follow up on them? – Tobias
Your sites are 100% “hand-crafted” as they say. Can you give us a look inside? What are the moving parts in there?
So you stirred things up with Stitcher this week. What’s up with that?
Can you recommend some podcasts? What’s in your playlist?
Final call to action?
Keep In Touch
Twitter
Podcast
Web
Github
Picks
Tobias
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Lego Brickumentary
Hashicorp Consul

Chris
Yarn
Apple Magic Mouse 2
Remembering Stonewall

Michael
PyPI
passlib
Python 2016 Youtube Channel
K Lars Lohn – Closing Keynote

Links
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Trello
Recommended podcasts:
Test and Code Podcast
Partially Derivative
Exponent Podcast
Mixergy
Startup Podcast (season 1 & 2)
Away from the keyboard
Developer On Fire

Michael’s courses:
Python Jumpstart by Building 10 Apps
Write Pythonic Code Like a Seasoned Developer

The intro and outro music is from Requiem for a Fish The Freak Fandango Orchestra / CC BY-SA
1 hr 18 min
July 17, 2016 Zorg with Gunther Cox and Kevin Brown
Everyone loves to imagine what they would do if they had their own robot. This week we spoke with Gunther Cox and Kevin Brown about their work on Zorg, which is a Python library for building a robot of your own! We discussed how the project got started, what platforms it supports, and some of the projects that have been built with it. Give it a listen and then get building!
26 min
July 17, 2016Zorg with Gunther Cox and Kevin Brown
Summary
Everyone loves to imagine what they would do if they had their own robot. This week we spoke with Gunther Cox and Kevin Brown about their work on Zorg, which is a Python library for building a robot of your own! We discussed how the project got started, what platforms it supports, and some of the projects that have been built with it. Give it a listen and then get building!
Brief Introduction
Hello and welcome to Podcast.__init__, the podcast about Python and the people who make it great.
I would like to thank everyone who has donated to the show. Your contributions help us make the show sustainable. For details on how to support the show you can visit our site at pythonpodcast.com
Linode is sponsoring us this week. Check them out at linode.com/podcastinit and get a $20 credit to try out their fast and reliable Linux virtual servers for your next project
We are also sponsored by Sentry this week. Stop hoping your users will report bugs. Sentry’s real-time tracking gives you insight into production deployments and information to reproduce and fix crashes. Check them out at getsentry.com
Visit our site to subscribe to our show, sign up for our newsletter, read the show notes, and get in touch.
To help other people find the show you can leave a review on iTunes, or Google Play Music, and tell your friends and co-workers
Join our community! Visit discourse.pythonpodcast.com for your opportunity to find out about upcoming guests, suggest questions, and propose show ideas.
Your host as usual is Tobias Macey
Today we’re interviewing Gunther Cox and Kevin Brown about Zorg, a Python framework for robotics and physical computing
Interview with Gunther Cox and Kevin Brown
Introductions
How did you get introduced to Python? – Tobias
What is Zorg and what is its origin story? – Tobias
How would you define and differentiate the concepts of robotics, physical computing, and the internet of things? – Tobias
I noticed in the documentation that Zorg is based on the Cylon.js project. How closely does the implementation of Zorg stick to that of Cylon and how much needs to be changed due to differences in the language? – Tobias
Is Zorg useful for production applications or is it primarily intended for educational purposes and hobby projects? – Tobias
Zorg currently only supports the Intel Edison, with plans for Raspberry Pi and Arduino Firmata support in the works. What is involved in adding compatibility with other platforms? – Tobias
What are some of the most interesting projects that you have seen created using Zorg? – Tobias
How does Zorg compare to other Python robotics projects such as ROSPy? – Tobias
Robotics is a large and complex problem space. What are some of the other features and projects in Python that are often used when building robots? – Tobias
Keep In Touch
GitHub
Newsletter
Picks
Tobias
Padlock Password Manager
Vault

Gunther
Robot Builder’s Bonanza

Kevin
Facial Recognition with OpenCV in Python

Links
RS232
The Hybrid Group
Gobot
Artoo
Cylon.js
Salvius
ROSPy
The intro and outro music is from Requiem for a Fish The Freak Fandango Orchestra / CC BY-SA
26 min
July 10, 2016 Mypy with David Fisher and Greg Price
As Python developers we are fond of the dynamic nature of the language. Sometimes, though, it can get a bit too dynamic and that’s where having some type information would come in handy. Mypy is a project that aims to add that missing level of detail to function and variable definitions so that you don’t have to go hunting 5 levels deep in the stack to understand what shape that data structure is supposed to be. This week we spoke with David Fisher and Greg Price about their work on Mypy and its use within Dropbox and the broader community. They explained how it got started, how it works under the covers, and why you should consider adding it to your projects.
1 hr 1 min
July 10, 2016Mypy with David Fisher and Greg Price
Summary
As Python developers we are fond of the dynamic nature of the language. Sometimes, though, it can get a bit too dynamic and that’s where having some type information would come in handy. Mypy is a project that aims to add that missing level of detail to function and variable definitions so that you don’t have to go hunting 5 levels deep in the stack to understand what shape that data structure is supposed to be. This week we spoke with David Fisher and Greg Price about their work on Mypy and its use within Dropbox and the broader community. They explained how it got started, how it works under the covers, and why you should consider adding it to your projects.
Brief Introduction
Hello and welcome to Podcast.__init__, the podcast about Python and the people who make it great.
I would like to thank everyone who has donated to the show. Your contributions help us make the show sustainable. For details on how to support the show you can visit our site at pythonpodcast.com
Linode is sponsoring us this week. Check them out at linode.com/podcastinit and get a $20 credit to try out their fast and reliable Linux virtual servers for your next project
We are also sponsored by Sentry this week. Stop hoping your users will report bugs. Sentry’s real-time tracking gives you insight into production deployments and information to reproduce and fix crashes. Check them out at getsentry.com
Visit our site to subscribe to our show, sign up for our newsletter, read the show notes, and get in touch.
To help other people find the show you can leave a review on iTunes, or Google Play Music, and tell your friends and co-workers
Join our community! Visit discourse.pythonpodcast.com for your opportunity to find out about upcoming guests, suggest questions, and propose show ideas.
Your hosts as usual are Tobias Macey and Chris Patti
Today we’re interviewing David Fisher and Greg Price about Mypy, a library for adding optional static types to your Python code.
es
Interview with David Fisher and Greg Price
Introductions
How did you get introduced to Python? – Chris
Can you explain a bit about what Mypy is and its origin story? – Tobias
What are the benefits of using Mypy for both new and existing projects? – Tobias
How does the Mypy compilation step work? – Tobias
What are the biggest technical challenges in implementing Mypy? – Chris
Are there any limitations imposed by the syntax of Python that prevented you from implementing any features or syntax that you would have liked to include in Mypy? – Tobias
In Guido’s keynote from this year’s PyCon he mentioned some tentative plans for adding variable type declarations to the Python syntax in one of the next major releases. How much of that idea was inspired by Mypy? – Tobias
Type theory is a large and complex problem domain. Can you explain where Mypy falls in this space? – Tobias
Which language(s) had the biggest influence on the particular syntax and semantics used in Mypy? – Tobias
What kinds of type definitions and guarantees can be encoded using Mypy? – Tobias
Can you talk a bit about user defined types as implemented in Mypy? – Chris
How has the inclusion of the typing module in the Python standard libary influenced the evolution of Mypy? – Tobias
Did the inclusion of multiple inheritance add any implementation complexity to Mypy? – Chris
Do you know of any formal studies that have been performed to research the ergonomics or efficiency gains of static or gradual type systems? – Tobias
What does the future roadmap for Mypy look like? – Tobias
Keep In Touch
David
GitHub

Greg
web page
GitHub

$ pip3 install mypy-lang
Bug reports, feature requests, questions welcome on issue tracker: github.com/python/mypy
Picks
Tobias
Functional Geekery – Andreas Stefik episode about studies performed on the human factors of development
Soft Skills Engineering Podcast

Chris
Grimm Artisenal Ales Lucky Cloud
jq – json swiss army knife

David
fzf – a fuzzy finder
Thinking, Fast And Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Ringworld

Greg
On Proof and Progress in Mathematics, essay by Bill Thurston
Axiomatic by Greg Egan

Links
GitHub repo, and CONTRIBUTING file
PEP 484
PyCon 2016 workshop slides
Typeshed shared repo for stubs
Other tools (PyCharm, pylint, pytype, …) using PEP 484 types
The intro and outro music is from Requiem for a Fish The Freak Fandango Orchestra / CC BY-SA
1 hr 1 min
July 02, 2016 BeeWare with Russell Keith-Magee
When you have good tools it makes the work you do even more enjoyable. Russel Keith-Magee has been building up a set of tools that are aiming to let you write graphical interfaces in Python and run them across all of your target platforms. Most recently he has been working on a capstone project called Toga that targets the Android and iOS platforms with the same set of code. In this episode we explored his journey through programming and how he has built and designed the Beeware suite. Give it a listen and then try out some or all of his excellent projects!
1 hr 11 min