bodner058

As we all know, one of the PSF’s main purposes is to educate and advocate for the use of Python. What makes us so successful in this area is the enthusiasm with which the community is willing to share its time and knowledge. For me, hearing these stories is the best part of working with the PSF. We have recently heard from an educator in Texas who is seriously changing students' lives by teaching them to code with Python. She is Fifth Grade Science Teacher, Melissa Dylag, of Coulson Tough Elementary School, a K - 6th school in South East Texas. Melissa’s adventure started in 2013 when she was approached by a parent who urged her to introduce her students to the world of coding and computer science.  Using the non-profit Code.org   tutorial,  "Hour of Code,"     Melissa taught each of her fifth grade classes for three days. Melissa inspired Technology teachers Noreen Reid and Shelley Moya, who in turn taught other students; by last year, almost every student in t...

Last month PyCon Japan took place from October 9 - 12th at the Tokyo International Exchange Center Plaza Heisei. The PSF has recently received a report from the Chair, Takanori Suzuki, and it appears that the conference was a great success.  As a bit of background, the first PyCon Japan was held in 2011. The conference was a one-day affair with talks comprising three tracks. 247 people attended. Each year since then, PyCon Japan has grown in size and complexity. Last month’s sold-out conference had 602 attendees, with 80 people attending tutorials, and more than 50 staying for a fourth day to participate in Sprints.  There were 43 sponsors. Sponsoring at the  Diamond  level was the Japanese firm MonotaRo . Other sponsors included PayPal, O'Reilly, CodeIQ, JetBrains, Nikkei, and the Japanese online marketplace, Curama. The PSF was happy to contribute as a  Gold  level sponsor. There were 32 talks–11 given in English and 21 in Japanese–covering a va...

At the October 28th meeting of the Board of Directors of the PSF, the following resolution was passed:   "RESOLVED, that the Python Software Foundation sponsor PyCaribbean on February 20-21, 2016 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in the amount of $3000 USD." This will be the first-ever PyCaribbean, and the PSF is proud to be a Platinum-level sponsor. The venue will be the headquarters of the Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE) located at Calle Capitán Eugenio de Marchena 26, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. According to organizer, Leonardo Jiminez, they are expecting approximately 300 - 350 people from all over the Americas and the Caribbean. This is a great size for a conference, allowing for both intimacy and breadth of content. As Leornardo puts it: "I think we have the spirit you can find in PyCon but in a more concentrated way and with better weather." Better weather and gorgeous beaches! Photo Credit: CC License Based on proposals receive...

Once again, the PSF is proud to underwrite and produce the largest gathering of the international Python community at PyCon 2016! The 2016 conference will be held in Portland, Oregon, and will take place from May 28th to June 5th -- a little later in the spring than previous PyCons. Those of you who have attended previous PyCons know what a fantastic event these are. Education, advocacy, community building. . . all take place at a PyCon. If you've never been, you can check out these talks from last year's PyCon 2015 in Montreal . But nothing can fully give the full experience, the excitement and flavor, the connections forged and strengthened, the sheer intensity of spending several days with a large community of bright, energetic, and engaged Pythonistas, sharing their knowledge and skills and teaching and learning with each other, as attending a PyCon itself. The conference schedule will begin on the weekend with tutorials, then there will be five full tracks of talks, over 1...