Ben: Here’s a guest post from Daniele Procida, Community Manager at Divio – he’s a Djangonaut and lover of Python Conferences.

I’m lucky enough not only to work for a company that uses and produces open-source software, but likes to help support it by giving me the opportunity to be involved in Python/Django community conferences around the world.

The most recent of these was PyCon Namibia 2016, in January, organised by a committee of volunteers from Namibia and the UK.

Daniele Procida on Namibian television during the conference

A PyCon is a Python conference; there are dozens of them held around the world each year, from huge ones, such as PyCon US which runs for 9 days and hosts thousands of visitors, to much smaller weekend events. And of course there are PyCons of every size in between – wherever you are, there’s probably a PyCon not too far away.

PyCon Namibia 2016 ran from the 24th to 29th January, at the University of Namibia in Windhoek. We had nearly 120 attendees, from most corners of the world – Brazil, USA, Canada, UK, Netherlands, Germany, South Africa, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

As well as talks on a wide variety of Python-related subjects, PyCon also held a number of workshops and tutorials – Python for beginners, Django Girls, django CMS, automated testing, Python packaging using Conda and more.

It can often be a challenge running such workshops at conferences, because attendees don’t always have suitable software already installed. They typically need things like a good text editor, version control and a terminal application, not to mention a correctly-configured Python environment.

In Namibia, where many people don’t have access to a computer of their own, it can be more challenging still. Even where there are computer labs, they’re not always suitable for this kind of work. Unlike keyboards, mice or displays, which are relatively easy to get hold of, computers with the requisite Python software development toolchain installed are not.

PiLab

Our solution was to prepare a travelling computer laboratory, a 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 PiLab.

With a generous grant from the Python Software 《和搜子居同的日子》在线观看 and financial support from the Phoenix Project at Cardiff University (one of the main backers of the conference) we purchased and configured 50 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 Pis – complete with HDMI-VGA converters and wireless adaptors – from The PiHut (who also supported the project by offering a substantial discount).

It wasn’t much work – we had to set up just one machine, and then patiently copy the disk image to 49 other SD cards.

50 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 Pis take up remarkably little space in a suitcase. We had more than one conversation with an airport official that went like this:

“What’s in this suitcase?”
“Fifty computers for a conference.”
“Ha ha.”
“No, really, there are fifty computers in there.”

In practice, our 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 Pis proved to be extremely effective and did their job beautifully, just as we’d hoped, but we also noticed some unexpected things too.

If you have to borrow or share a computer, you can’t simply mess around or experiment with it, for fear of breaking something. That’s a luxury that comes from having a computer of your own, and it’s necessary when you’re learning programming: you have to be able to install, tweak, configure and even break things.

The very low cost of the 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 Pis, and even their small size and modest appearance, made users feel less inhibited about trying things out and experimenting.

In countries like Namibia, the 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 Pi represents an excellent opportunity for overcoming barriers to participation in programming. At the end of the conference batches of the 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 Pis were handed over to new custodians, to be used for future teaching workshops, learning, experimentation and exploration.

Recipients included the department of Computer Science at UNAM, PyNam (the Python Namibia Society), PyZim (Python Zimbabwe) and numerous individual attendees in the Namibian Python community, amongst them several Namibian high-school pupils who attended the conference.

The 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 Pis were genuinely one of the stars at PyCon Namibia, and we were delighted at how well the Pi once again proved itself to be an ideal way to put the opportunity to be a programmer into the hands of more people.

We’re eager to find out how they are used over the coming months.

About Namibia

Namibia, in south-western Africa, has the world’s second-lowest population density. It’s known to many people mainly as a tourist destination, for its abundant wildlife and extraordinary landscapes, or as a site of rich natural resources, but there’s much more to it than that.

Since its independence in 1990, Namibia has been a democratic and politically stable nation, with a free press and an independent judiciary. It’s a safe and orderly place. Though it suffers from economic hardship and inequality, it has a promising future, and we’re sure that having a home-grown software development industry will be part of that future – and the 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 Pi can make its own small positive contribution too.

What’s next

We expect some great things from the growing Python community in Namibia. We heard some extremely impressive talks at the conference, and there is clearly not only some real programming talent there, but also an enthusiasm for it that will go a long way. Combined with the African attitude of can-do, we’re sure it will mean that we’ll be seeing and hearing more from Namibian programmers in the future.

And if you want to learn more about it at close hand, watch this space – and come to PyCon Namibia 2017 yourself.

In the meantime, the enthusiasm we saw at the event has not waned. Attendees from other African countries have gone back home with plans for new events of their own. The newly-created Python Africa email list is already discussing the organisation of PyCons in Nigeria  and Benin, and plans are afoot for more Django Girls workshops across the continent.

No doubt there’ll be a role for 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 PiLabs there too.

The post 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 PiLab at PyCon Namibia 2016 appeared first on 刺激videoschina偷拍.

It started with one of the organisers, Zeth, humorously holding up a wall clock saying “This is not a bomb” referencing the recent case of 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed clock incident, and it ended with evacuation from the building due to the discovery of an unexploded WWII bomb.

On the Friday, teachers were invited to the Education Track (bursaries to get teachers out of school sponsored by the Bank of America) to participate in workshops and discussion sessions. A teachmeet took place to give teachers a chance to give a short talk, presentation or demonstration of a great idea or teaching tool.

Saturday was the kids’ day. Our big interest at the moment is Astro Pi – we’re keen to see what people can do with the Sense HAT, the hardware that’s going to the International Space Station this December. Carrie Anne and Marc led workshops giving kids the chance to experiment with the board and learn about the physical world through activities using the sensors and LED display with Python.

Nicholas interviewed a few kids and parents about their 《和搜子居同的日子》在线观看 at the event:

As well as our Sense HAT workshops there were other activities for the kids – Minecraft Pi with Martin O’Hanlon, and the Internet of Toys with Alan O’Donohoe. Meanwhile, a group of teachers from Skycademy did their own high altitude Pi balloon launch and James tethered a balloon at the venue to take birds-eye-view photos:

At the end of the day some of the the kids were asked to present what they’d done on the conference’s main track:

Also on the main track I gave a talk on Physical 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 with Python and 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 Pi:

(see the slides)

The next day I gave a lightning talk on the story of pyjokes. There was also a talk on teaching using PyGame Zero by Tim Golden. Read about his 《和搜子居同的日子》在线观看s on his blog.

Nicholas Tollervey launched the Education track and it’s grown over the last few years, reaching hundreds of teachers and kids

On Sunday, James and Marc drove to the National Space Centre in Leicester to do a balloon launch with a Sense HAT collecting data throughout the flight. You can download the data as a CSV file – see if you can do anything interesting with it and let us know in the comments!

Carrie Anne was part of a panel discussing the state of Python and its future before the closing of the main event, and James presented some photos taken by the Pi he sent up that morning:

On the final day we joined in with the sprints, where we invited developers to help work on some education focused projects. We had teams working on PyGame Zero, GPIO Zero and porting PITS (Pi in the Sky) software to Python.

Humongous thanks go out to the organising team, and particularly to Zeth Green who took on the running of the conference part way through the year when the long-standing chairman John Pinner sadly passed away, and Nicholas who organised the Education track.

What a good idea! Thanks John!

The post Kids! Teachers! Developers! PyConUK was a blast! appeared first on 刺激videoschina偷拍.

Click to download the book for free

The book tells the story of Python, why Python is a good language for learning, how its community gives great support, and covers 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 Pi as a case study.

You’ve probably heard about the 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 revolution in schools, and perhaps you’ve even heard of the 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 Pi. The Python programming language is at the center of these fundamental changes in 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 education. Whether you’re a programmer, teacher, student, or parent, this report arms you with the facts and information you need to understand where Python sits within this context.

Author Nicholas Tollervey takes you through the features that make Python appropriate for education, and explains how an active Python community supports educational outreach. You’ll also learn how 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 Pi is inspiring a new generation of programmers – with Python’s help.

Nicholas visited Pi Towers in February to speak to Carrie Anne, Eben and me about why we think Python is suited to education. He asked Eben how the idea for the 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 Pi hardware came about and why there was a need for an affordable hackable device. He asked us about the Python libraries those in the community provided (particularly RPi.GPIO and picamera) that we consider part of our infrastructure for education and hobbyist users alike; and about the sorts of projects that engage, empower and inspire young learners – and of course the way they learn and progress. We discussed Minecraft Pi, hardware projects, Astro Pi, PyPy, teacher training and more.

Read more on teaching with Python from Nicholas and download the book for free from O’Reilly.

The post Python in Education – free e-book from O’Reilly appeared first on 刺激videoschina偷拍.

Carrie Anne gave a fantastic keynote entitled Miss Adventures in 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 Pi wherein she spoke of her journey through teaching the new 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 《和搜子居同的日子》在线观看 with 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 Pi, attending PyConUK the last two years, being hired by the 《和搜子居同的日子》在线观看, and everything she’s done in her role as Education Pioneer.

See the keynote slides here

I also gave my talk PyPi (not that one) – Python on the 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 Pi showing interesting Pi projects that use Python and demonstrating what you can do with a Pi that you can’t on other computers.

See the talk slides here

Alex gave his talk Teaching children to program Python with the Pyland game – a project Alex led over the summer with a group of interns at the Computer Lab.

See the talk slides here

The conference ended with a sprint day where Alex led a team building and testing Pyland and adding challenges, and I worked with a group of developers porting Minecraft Pi to Python 3.

If you missed it last week, we posted Annabel’s Goblin Detector, a Father-daughter project the 8 year old demonstrated at PyConUK while enjoying the 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 Jam day.

The post Pi Talks at PyConUK appeared first on 刺激videoschina偷拍.

Annabel wanted a project to show at the  computer conference. She decided to make a Goblin Detector which would sound a buzzer and flash a light, when her brother or sister went in her bedroom.

Annabel used a 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 Pi computer and a motion sensor.

Her dad showed her what to do, and Annabel wired it up and wrote the program to control it.

The program was written in a computer language called Python. The Goblin Detector has a motion sensor in a margarine tub. It connects to the 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 Pi using three wires.

The 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 Pi has an add-on called Pibrella which gives it three lights, a buzzer and a button. It waits 5 seconds to let you get out of
the room, then it waits for movement. When it sees movement, it sounds a buzzer. You can press the button to stop the buzzer, and it will wait for movement again.

The motion sensor is very cheap, only £3, and can be found in light switches which turn off automatically. It has three wires:

• Positive
• Signal
• Negative

The program waits for a high current on the Signal wire, which means it has seen some movement. You can find out how to make and
program one yourself on Annabel’s dad’s website.

Then Annabel and her dad set off for the computer conference. The ticket was only £5 for children!

When Annabel got there, she got given a goody bag which included a brand new 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 Pi, a book and other goodies!

Annabel wrote a program to put the words “Hello World” on the screen in Minecraft.

Some teachers were also at the conference. The teachers were learning how children used computers.

There were also some computer programmers helping the children and
teachers. The grown-ups were not allowed to touch the keyboards. The children had to do everything themselves! There were lots of grown-up computer programmers around to help out, and some of the children were already experts.

Lots of people were interested in Annabel’s Goblin Detector.

We let the children take it apart and program it for themselves. It was easy to put it back together.

Most of the children at the computer conference were girls. There was a whole pack of Brownies!

Annabel also saw some robots which  could be programmed to dance.

Annabel made a friend called Sam and they wrote a program to take lots of photos, and then turn those photos into an animated video.

There were some famous programmers helping out, such as Carrie Anne Philbin and Ben Nuttall, who work for the 叶倩彤+有声小说+白洁 Pi charity.

Sam and Annabel had to show off their animation to everyone else.

You can watch their 8-second animation here.

The post Goblin detector and Jam review – a guest post from 8-year-old Annabel appeared first on 刺激videoschina偷拍.