Differences between revisions 8 and 9
Revision 8 as of 2007-11-02 20:15:17
Size: 4118
Editor: BrettCannon
Comment: Add PSF info.
Revision 9 as of 2007-11-04 22:49:39
Size: 4314
Editor: pool-70-106-163-80
Comment:
Deletions are marked like this. Additions are marked like this.
Line 29: Line 29:
CD: Wow. Meanwhile, I'm a complete rookie - I'm planning to attend a sprint for the very first time at PyCon 2008. Help me understand what to expect - what will it look like, what will I do?

This will be an article demystifying Python Sprints. We hope to publish it in a major journal in time to contribute to the PyCon 2008 publicity effort and to encourage first-time sprinters to take part.

Interview participants:

CD: Catherine Devlin : never sprinted; interviewer

BC: Brett Cannon : Python core sprint coach/participant

JB: Jim Baker : Jython sprint co-coach/participant and first-time PyCon sprinter

Begin interview


*Development sprints gather small groups of people for bursts of face-to-face cooperation to advance software projects. They're increasing in popularity in the open-source world, but many developers still don't know whether or how they could take part. We speak with experienced and rookie sprinters to get a better feel for the phenomenon.*

CD: Brett and Jim, can you start by telling us a little about your backgrounds?

JB: I've been all over the place: academia (I'm an ABD in CS), IT consulting, software development, software startups, and recently open source as a community - and not just a place to get generously licensed quality software. As a result of asking some questions, I found myself leading the Boulder Python Users Group (FrontRangePythoneers), which lead into sprinting. What prompted that was the Arlington Python User Group was sprinting, that looked quite interesting, and that eventually lead to our first sprint on Django. We have had several since then (BoulderSprint). The last was participating in the world-wide Django sprint. Our goal remains the same: everyone who walks in learns the project, and we get some usable contribution out of that day.

Finally, 12 years ago a friend suggested I use Python. About 4 years ago, I finally heeded his advice. It became increasingly clear to me that writing software is many things. It includes not only communicating to the computer, it's also about communicating that intent to other developers. Python excels in combining code clarity with code conciseness. If you think about that, these are virtues especially valuable in a peer activity like sprinting.

BC: Currently, I am attending the University of British Columbia where I am working towards my Ph.D. in computer science (hopefully only two or so years left). I am researching some Java-related security stuff after trying for over a year to come up with a thesis topic that could involve Python. Previously I got my masters in computer science at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly SLO for short). And before that I got my bachelors in philosophy at UC Berkeley. Basically I have been in school for a long time. =)

My involvement in Python started with me getting a pure Python implementation of time.strptime() accepted into the standard library in the summer of 2002 after I graduated with my bachelors. I enjoyed learning about Python and being on the python-dev mailing list so much that I started writing the Python-Dev Summaries that August and continued to do so until PyCon 2005. Got my commit privileges for Python the month after PyCon 2003 when Guido got tired of checking in patches for me. And as of PyCon 2006 I have been on the board of directors for the Python Software Foundation. Python is basically what I do with my free time.

In terms of PyCon and sprinting, I have attended every PyCon since its inception. I have also sprinted on Python's core at every PyCon and been the coach for the core sprint in some capacity at every PyCon since 2004.

CD: Wow. Meanwhile, I'm a complete rookie - I'm planning to attend a sprint for the very first time at PyCon 2008. Help me understand what to expect - what will it look like, what will I do?


end interview

Possible questions (depending on how the "flow" actually goes:

What is sprinting?

What sort of tasks are accomplished at a sprint? How do sprints benefit the project? The community? The participants?

Where do sprints take place?

What does a sprint in action look like?

What is required of a sprinter?

First-time sprinters, how did you decide to sprint? Were you nervous about sprinting? What surprised you about the experience? How has sprinting effected you as a programmer? What would you say to others who've never sprinted?

AdvocacyWritingTasks/Sprinting (last edited 2008-11-15 13:59:51 by localhost)

Unable to edit the page? See the FrontPage for instructions.