[Zope-dev] Developer meeting 2010-07-27 at 15:00 UTC

[Charlie Clark]

Am 27.07.2010, 16:31 Uhr, schrieb Christian Theune <ct at gocept.com>:

> I'd like to see whether someone was at EuroPython and can report whether
> anything interesting for us, the Zope developers, happened.

I was there but I couldn't join in today's meeting as I was still  
airborne. My BFG presentation seemed to go down pretty well and Zope/Plone  
seemed to be pretty well represented, better than the current framework du  
jour, Django. It was great to see Zopish stuff (ZCA and ZODB) presented  
outside the web world and Matt Hamilton did a sterling job promoting the  
Plone conference in Bristol in October.

I did my best to plug the upcoming Python (and Zope) conference in Dresden  
in September but was a bit hampered at having to do this *without* any  
visual support, although my Macbook had no trouble with the main projector  
(seemed to crash lots of machines - my guess is that the VGA signal wasn't  
properly damped), as I was able to announce it between lightning talks.  
Only two slots for lightning talks but I really the one after lunch much  
better than sticking them at the end of day.

Europython was as enjoyable as ever - I find the range of talks broader  
than at PyCon - but as badly organised as ever. PyCon definitely has the  
edge on that. John Pinner, et al didn't a fantastic job as ever but the  
European and particularly British culture of "it'll be alright on the  
night" was shown badly wanting and I suspect the catering was as poor as  
last year - I went straight to the sandwich shop which had a shorter  
queue. I say this as a Brit and someone who didn't volunteer for anything.  
My Luddite heart was gladdened by the problems with the Wifi which meant  
attendees were indeed occasionally attentive but I totally sympathise with  
John Pinner who said that the wifi has continually declined since they  
installed it three years ago and it did negatively affect one or two  
presentations. Europython next year is due to be in Florence. I prefer the  
May date but as far as I know no venue has yet been found. Will be great  
especially for WAGS (leave the credit cards at home) if they get it  
sorted! 2012 is still open but I'd put money on it being in Germany with  
plans for a full Python conference in Germany in 2011 already being made.

On the positive side the beer at the Wellington was as good as last year  
and it was great to see Guido van Rossum and Steve Holden encouraging  
others to go for a post-conference pint! :-D

Highlights for me: Bruce Lawson's keynote and presentation in "earthy,  
vernacular" Brum; Hannu Krosing's thoughts on different ways of getting  
Python and Postgres to work together; and the Codility talk on testing  
programmers which, predictably, drew interest from several German  
developers keen on ways of weeding out those who just can't program very  
well, with reasonable online tests. But with four to five tracks and a  
schedule to 18:30 each day there is plenty I missed.

FWIW we've done a brewery tour as part of BeGeistert which was very  
enjoyable and popular and I think there's a natural fit between Python  
programmers and craftsmen.

Charlie
-- 
Charlie Clark
Managing Director
Clark Consulting & Research
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