DEV Community: Dawn Wages

Anaconda at PyCon US 2025: Powering Python Innovation in Pittsburgh

Dawn Wages — Fri, 02 May 2025 13:39:00 +0000

Get ready, Python enthusiasts! Anaconda is gearing up for an exciting presence at PyCon US 2025 in Pittsburgh, with cutting-edge demos, interactive workshops, and exclusive giveaways that showcase our commitment to the Python community.

Mark Your Calendars: May 14-22, 2025

We're thrilled to announce Anaconda's participation in PyCon US 2025, taking place at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from May 14-22, 2025. As the premier event for the Python community, PyCon brings together developers, data scientists, and enthusiasts from around the world for an unforgettable celebration of all things Python.

Exclusive Anaconda Happy Hour

Thursday, May 15 | 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Social House 7

23 7th St, Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Join us for an unforgettable evening of networking, refreshments, and Python-powered fun at our exclusive Anaconda Happy Hour! We're reserving tickets for the first 100 people who engage with our team at the booth during the opening reception. This is your chance to connect with Anaconda developers, data science experts, and fellow Python enthusiasts in a relaxed setting. Don't miss this opportunity to continue conversations started at the conference, forge new connections, and enjoy premium refreshments at one of Pittsburgh's finest venues. Be sure to stop by our booth and meaningfully engage with our team to secure your ticket to this must-attend event!

What to Expect at the Anaconda Booth

Our team is preparing an interactive experience at the Anaconda booth in the Expo Hall. When you visit us, you'll have the opportunity to:

Get hands-on demos of our latest innovations in data science and AI tooling
Meet Anaconda experts and developers to discuss your Python projects and challenges
Participate in mini-challenges focused on our core technologies
Take home Anaconda swag and gift cards (while supplies last!)

Exclusive First Look: Introducing the Anaconda AI Platform

We're thrilled to announce that PyCon US 2025 attendees will get an exclusive first look at our groundbreaking Anaconda AI Platform! This revolutionary new offering represents the convergence of our expertise in Python package management, data science tooling, and enterprise-grade security.

Spotlight on PyScript and BeeWare: "Python Everywhere"

This year, we're highlighting PyScript and BeeWare, our groundbreaking technologies that transforms how Python runs on the web and on devices by bringing the complete language directly to browsers and first party applications. Our booth will feature interactive demonstrations showing how PyScript and BeeWare democratizes Python by making it accessible anywhere a browser or your applications run.

Our experts will showcase:

Building reactive front-ends with upcoming Python features
Creating powerful data science applications that run entirely in the browser
Deploy Python apps across iOS, Android, Windows, MacOS, and Linux with native user interfaces, eliminating the need to rewrite apps in different programming languages

Lunch Brown Bag Sessions at the Booth #601

Throughout PyCon US 2025, we'll be hosting several workshop sessions at our booth, covering topics including:

Anaconda AI Platform Launch: Learn about the integrated remote kernel, curated environments, command line AI assistant and more! Friday, May 16, 2025 12:30PM - 1:00 PM
Anaconda Community: We have the latest on Anaconda and how we interact with our community, announcing changes and led by our lead of Developer Relations. Saturday, May 17, 12:30 PM - 1:00 PM
Mobile Python Development: Build and deploy cross-platform applications with Python, BeeWare and Positron. Sunday, May 18, 2025 12:45 PM - 1:00 PM
The State of Open Source at Anaconda: Announcement time! We have things to share with our community. Don’t miss our booth. Sunday, May 18, 2025 12:30 PM - 12:45 PM

The Future of Open Source Python

For 2025, Anaconda is focusing on enabling access to large datasets for web-based data science applications, collaborating with teams to develop data streaming capabilities to web browsers, and creating dynamic visualizations of streamed data. Stop by our booth to learn how these innovations are shaping the future of Python development.

Connect With the Anaconda Team

PyCon is all about community, and we're eager to connect with you! Our team of experts will be available throughout the event to discuss:

Being a part of our Beta Program, testing our latest tools and getting a $40 gift card for your contribution.
How Anaconda can support your organization's data science and AI needs.
Contribute a testimonial about your experience with Anaconda.
Enter for the chance to win dinner vouchers and time to hang out with Anacondiacs over a meal.

Stay Updated

Can't wait for PyCon? Follow us on social media and subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on our Anaconda activities, including:

Product Announcements
Ways we're shaping the Python ecosystem
Anaconda resources for the decision-maker in your organization

We look forward to seeing you in Pittsburgh as we celebrate the vibrant Python community together!

Anaconda: Powering the future of data science and AI with Python.

Python Software Foundation: Working Groups / Work Groups / Workgroups

Dawn Wages — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 13:18:07 +0000

In this post I'll call them "Work Groups" but in many instances outside of this post, I've been known to say "Working Groups" and you'll also see it referred to as a "Workgroup."

Contents:

How the Work Groups fit in with the PSF Board and PSF Staff?
What are Work Groups?
Active Work Groups
Work Groups that are needed (your call to action!)
Inactive Work Groups
How to create a Work Group

Many of the PSF staff and PSF board sit on some of the Work Groups ourselves.

The Python Software Foundation runs with the help of staff, led by our Executive Director Deb Nicholson, and volunteers. Those of you who have been keeping up with recent news from The PSF may know that we recently hired a Packaging Project Manager, Infrastructure Engineer and a CPython Developer in Residence. Those really in the know, have heard that we have a few positions open and opening: Community Communications Manager (open), PyPI Safety and Security Engineer (closed) and Security Developer in Residence.

Even with the growing staff, the work never stops supporting the community around one of the fastest growing programming languages. The Board of Directors sits alongside the staff by providing voice of the community, elected by the community (elections are happening now! re-affirm your membership so you're ready to vote June 20th), tasked to do the extra research, push initiatives and listen to the community.

The Board of Directors meet every other month to discuss a proposed agenda, hear from work groups, review pressing items. To keep up with the Board minutes all the way back to 2001, you can check them out here: PSF Meeting Minutes | Python.org. There's only so much we can accomplish in this time and although we have great ideas, the work groups are invaluable in acting on community needs.

Work Groups are initiative driven efforts by Python Software Foundation members to address a need in the community.

Work Groups do not have to exist into perpetuity. If and when there is a spike in work needed, a work group could be spun up to address the need; however, I have not seen or heard work groups gain enough traction and popularity to be as agile as this. There is nothing stopping the community from using it as flexible, responsive tool.

Current Active Work Groups:

Code of Conduct Work Group - conduct-wg at python.org
- Formed in 2018, this work group has remained very active in my first year on the board. They take their presence and responsibility to the community very seriously through addressing formal Code of Conduct complaints with recommendations for the PSF Board.
Diversity and Inclusion Work Group
- The D&I WG has started live streams and "Friendly Chats" > D&I Friendly Chat (hubilo.com)!
- Iqbal Abdullah - PSF Fellow and D&I work group leader - advised the work group in person at our PyCon 2023 PSF meeting. We had what I feel was an enlightening chat about the future of addressing the global representation in Python, which is currently skewed White, Male, middle-aged, European and North American. We gathered ideas and thought about resources needed to accomplish what everyone agrees is a top priority for growing membership.
Grants Work Group - psf-grants at python.org
- The PSF Board hears from the Grants Work Group a lot. Any time a grants application exceeds $10,000 USD it is kicked up to the Board along with a recommendation and context from the application and the Grants Work Group.
- On average, we see about an application per meeting, with it getting more during conference season (Spring and Fall).
- To learn more about the PSF Grant process and requirements, read our Community page PSF Grants Program | Python Software Foundation
- Notes from a Board member:
  - Grants applications should come in 3+ months in advance especially if it is over $10,000 USD request. The official request is 6 weeks, but three months is an opinion gathered from my first year on the Board. The Grants Work Group is very diligent, but they deserve at least a month to review -- probably more -- and if the application is over $9,999 USD the PSF Board meets every other month, it may take maximum two months for the PSF Board to see the application. There are other ways around this, but in a practical approach, I recommend 3+ months.
  - Grants do not cover "swag".
  - Detailed budgets, invoices and quotes are important to the full application. The review process is handled by groups of people experienced in organizing conferences in some form or fashion so at least a dozen people look at the budget for every application.
  - You may be approved for less than what you have requested, so ask for what you want and not what you need. Each item must be associated with a specific cost in the budget and must be related directly to the event. Essential expenses should be highlighted.
  - It is good to see there are other grant sources beyond the PSF. The PSF is here to supplement and help fund events that otherwise would have to cancel close to the finish line. Our metric for the amount to grant is heavily weighted by the number of attendees and would not typically be enough to sustain an entire event. It is helpful to see in the application the other sources that are providing sponsorship.
Infrastructure Work Group
- The Infrastructure WG exists to coordinate volunteers undertaking large projects on the PSF infrastructure, or committing to long term volunteer support and improvement of the systems that support the global Python community.
Python Job Board Work Group
Marketing Work Group
Packaging Work Group
Scientific Python Work Group
Trademarks Work Group
Fellows Work Group

What Work Groups are needed?

I've been keeping a running list of the Work Groups that I think could address some of the persistent and sticky issues coming up in 2022-2023:

Elections and Membership Work Group
- Membership drives, education and advocacy
- Language on the Membership page of Python.org
- Language on the Elections page of Python.org
- Track membership numbers and engagement along with
- our excellent membership admin staff, who wear many different hats for the PSF.
- Election timeline
- Election communications: social, email, newsletter, blog
- Be aware, govern and advocate for the PSF Membership Bylaws
Website Work Group
- We have a great, highly active website that needs maintenance and information organization like any other. The staff does a great job responding to needs, but a Work group could help with efficiency, batching issues/requests and Quality Assurance.
Python Users Group + Events Work Group
- Could eventually split in two if necessary, because I could imagine this group could get big enough to separate activities.
- Create a Python User Group in a Box repository
- Create a PyCon in a Box repository
- Work with teams who apply to the Grants group to help with logistics for events.
- Work with Fiscal Sponsorees to support their events.
- Work with the Code of Conduct Work Group to facilitate responses to CoC violations for events and UGs.
- Work with the new Communications position (to be filled at the time of this blog post) to publicize the events on pycon.org
- Organize the many, many calendars that exist for Python events.
- Support the work of PyVideo.org
- Provide help and mentorship for a common problem in Python events: Who has the bank account? Who writes the checks? Is this event "for profit" and how to run a "for profit" Python event ethically and transparently.
- Share and add to the list of Resources for virtual events | Python.org

Additional Thoughts

I feel strongly that the existence and success of a Python User Group / PUG Work Group will have many downstream effects that would help the community. The knowledge and interest exist in the community for this WG.

A PUG Work Group could:

increase membership. If organized well (like with a PUG-in-a-box, an idea done well with Django Girls), we have a forkable repo that can pull PSF updates, PyPI updates, WG update, Jet Brains survey, other events and advocate for PSF membership: basic, supporting, contributing, managing or fellow.
increase the number of Python programmers. I learned to program and attended my first Django Girls because Philly PUG.
increase the quantity and quality of venue proposals for regional PyCons and other Python events like DjangoCon, FlaskCon, SciPy, PyData.
increase the global reach of the Python User Groups. There are many self-organized Python groups all over the world that could provide insight on how to improve PUG processes and give ideas into new types of events.
support safe spaces by giving resources for how to handle Code of Conduct violations and what even is the PSF Code of Conduct.
get funding for local PUGs

Inactive Work Groups

If any of these work groups seem interesting to you and you'd like to dust off the cobwebs and revive them, you should! It's a great opportunity to shine a light on an initiative that already has the scaffolding but lost the momentum.

Outreach & Education Work Group
Sprint Work Group
Public Support Committee (PSC)
Public Relations Committee (PRC)
Python Conference Committee (PCC)* similar to the idea I had for an event WG, perhaps no need to reinvent the wheel?
Cuban Pythonistas Work Group

If you would like to begin a new PSF Work Group, follow these steps:

Source: Example PSF Workgroup Page - PSF Wiki (python.org)

Make sure the PSF Workgroup topic pertains to the PSF mission. You can read the PSF mission here.
Get a group of WG members together. If you are looking for members to recruit to your WG, you can try the psf-community@python.org mailing list.
Draft a charter up. Here is an example charter to get you started: PSF Example WG Charter. It is also a good idea to check out the WG charters for inspiration
Send the charter to the PSF Board and let them know of any resources you are requesting for your group
Send monthly reports of your progress to psf@python.org or to psf-staff@python.org

Example WG Charter: Example PSF Workgroup Charter - PSF Wiki (python.org)

I'm hoping this blog post encourages people to get more involved in the PSF through Work Groups. Let me know if you do or if you have any questions!

@BajoranEngineer@Mastodon.online or find me on Discord bajoran_engineer#3554

Linting Python in VS Code [Video]

Dawn Wages — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 23:50:18 +0000

One of the most important parts of writing code is making sure your code is readable. There are so many positive downstream effects of clean code from its ease to maintain and add features, debug subtle programming errors or find uninitialized variables. Some people call this code hygiene. VS Code has linter extension support that enables you develop faster, produce cleaner code and is tweaked to your set up.

How VS Code handles Python linters

The linter development experience can live entirely within VS Code if you'd like. This means you do not need to pip install pylint for example. However in most collaborative programming projects, and old habits die hard, I install my linter in my virtual environment so if I want to use local terminal features of Pylint, I can.

🔥PRO-TIP: Set your default importStrategy
importStrategy is a field on any of the Python linter extensions for automatically setting the linter version in your IDE. I like to set mine to fromEnvironment in my User level settings so that it automatically checks the version in any project I'm working on with a team, but also allow VS Code to default to any Workspace level settings my team is sharing.

settings.json
// use the pylint version with extension
"pylint.importStrategy": "useBundled"

// use the pylint version found in requirements
"pylint.importStrategy": "fromEnvironment"

When you start your project, the first thing you will likely do is activate your virtual environment or open up a container to develop in (like Dev Containers). Linters are the development tool that is used to make sure your code is formatted consistently across your team. Then add your linter to your requirements-dev.txt-- or otherwise named file to store your development only requirements -- and pip install -r requirements-dev.txt. In VS Code, you'll select your Python interpreter by using shortcut key Ctrl+P to open up the Command Pallette, and select from the dropdown menu which environment you'd like to use for your project. I select the interpreter associated with my project environment.

There are many packages for code quality. At the time of this post, VS Code and its active extension-contributing community supports flake8, ruff, pylint and the newly released mypy. The Ruff linter was created from the Python Extension template by Charlie R. Marsh. The VS Code team encourages community contributed packages and you can learn more in the VS Code documentation.

🔥PRO-TIP: VS Code extension works as soon as its installed
VS Code linting is automatically enabled once the extension is installed. You no longer need python.linting.enabled set to true under settings.json.

Enable what you want and disable what you don't

Navigate to the activity bar to the far left and search for "Pylint." I often like to enable pre-release so I can get the latest features and report bugs if I come across them, doing my part for the community.

GIF: Enable Pylint

🔥PRO-TIP: Install isort
Install an import sorting extension like isort then use the shortcut key Shift+Alt+Oin order to sort your imports quickly.

🔥PRO-TIP: Toggle Problems tab
Use Ctrl+Shift+M to toggle open and close the Problems tab in VS Code.

GIF: Solving my first problems in VS Code for a Wagtail project

You can specify problems to consistently ignore in your projects by adding disable flags to your settings. You can do this either in your settings panel Ctrl+, or with your settings.json Ctrl+P then typing "Settings JSON" in the text bar.

Here's what it looks like to disable a few doc string problems among other arguments in Pylint. "Args" are always lists in brackets:
settings.json

"pylint.arg": [
    "--reports",
    "12",
    "--disable=C0114",
    "--disable=C0115",
    "--disable=C0116",
]

You can also add these same arguments via your User or Workspace settings panel. The same settings work for other linter extensions:
settings.json

"flake8.arg": ["--ignore=E24,W504", "--verbose"],
"ruff.args": ["--config=/path/to/pyproject.toml"]

🔥PRO-TIP: Enable lintOnSave
When enabling lintOnSave, you might also want to enable generic files.autoSave option. The combination provides frequent linting feedback in your code as you type.

Want to dig more into the VS Code Linting documentation? https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/python/linting

Keep in touch!

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