[PyAR2] Wishes for pyArkansas 2009

[W W]

Well, my #1 wish is more for timing. I have an annual conflict on the
first weekend of October, so if we could move it forward or back one
week that would be ideal.

One thing I would really enjoy (at least I think so at the moment) is
a presentation about hardware interfacing with python, such as
interacting with keyboard, sound, video, etc.

I think one idea for a drawing point could be some sort of
collaborative group project that any/all comers are welcome to
contribute to. I'm not sure what project we would want to work on or
how we would decide. I'll throw out my ideas on how it would work and
feel free to contribute/gainsay.

I figure for this next time we may want to keep it simple so folks can
just get an idea and feel for what's happening. So perhaps we could
come up with some fairly simple project that has parts that all comers
could contribute to, from the most basic where some beginners are able
to simply write a function or two, up to the more advanced
contributers who may write a few classes/modules (if they so desire).

Then for the next year, un-con-goers will be able to submit some ideas
for projects, and then the organizers can vote for the project they
think is best suited (or perhaps open a poll for all con-goers). The
neat thing about having a project is it will be easy to see what sort
of talks we should have. If people are interested in building an email
client, we can have talks revolving around sockets/SMTP/POP, etc. If
people want to make a game, we can have talks on PyGame, pyglet, etc.

Of course that would only be one track of talks. But I think it would
be pretty cool (especially if we're thinking of a most of the day and
then some type conference like I seem to recall discussing last year)
to have a community project, ya know?

Anyhoo, that's just a rough idea. Anyone like/dislike the idea? Have a
better one? Let's get those creative juices flowing! :)

-Wayne

On Sun, Mar 8, 2009 at 4:13 PM,  <paul.hermeneutic at gmail.com> wrote:
> I would like to see a session on choosing an IDE.  A skilled user of
> each IDE discussed should present the strengths and weaknesses of the
> tool.  The skilled user should have used the IDE on a non-trivial
> (1000+ lines of code) project.
>
>    Capabilities during debugging
>    Integration with version control packages
>    Using the tool with 3+ developers on the same project
>
> I see that Wingware was a 2008 sponsor.  Would a session like this be a problem?
>
> Choosing a GUI framework is a similar opportunity.  Skilled users of
> each package should provide a review of the framework capabilities.
>
> A fundamental session on database access should provide attendees a
> ground-up look at building a simple application from scratch.  Perhaps
> an address book or calendar.  While it would be nice to have a GUI
> interface, the emphasis needs to be focused on database operations.
> The package should be able to be reconfigured for any database
> interface the user has on their Python installation.
>
> Finally, a session on setuptools and cooking up eggs.  The
> presentation should include the installation and at least two upgrades
> of a package.  Limiting the package to a single .py file would keep
> the focus on installation and handling versions during upgrade.
>
> If we do not have presenters who can cover these, is it possible that
> we could import some?
>
> Is there any kind of niche could pyar establish for the conference
> that would be a drawing point for those outside of Arkansas?
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