Re: [python-uk] forgotJS

[Andy Robinson]

On Wed, 6 Feb 2019 at 16:19, Dave C  wrote:
>
> Hi,
> Many Python developers have the need for JavaScript at some point or other so 
> I thought I'd share a link to my project. It's a series of code snippets 
> intended as a quick read when returning to JavaScript, and many of the 
> peculiarities of JS are demonstrated. Some fragments of Python are included 
> for comparison. https://github.com/ReduceRightDave/forgotJS
> Have a spiffing day,
> Dave

Very handy!  I have been forgetting Javascript at least twice a year
for the last 20 years.  Sadly, the world won't let me forget it
long-term.

- Andy
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Re: [python-uk] who wants to hire my friend Ian?

[Andy Robinson]

Sadly I fear it is a very tough time in the market for anyone looking
for work now.  Anyone else finding the same?

Half our business is consulting - writing reports for people -  and to
be honest just about every client who had a project planned found
their own businesses grinding to a halt in April and May, and put the
brakes on.  Large organisations almost uniformly started out with an
attitude of "let's use this quiet time and improve our systems", and
it morphed into "all projects on hold until normality returns".   And,
if anyone needs manpower, there's a whole year's worth of computer
science grads just come on the market, as well as furloughed IT staff
volunteering for other projects.  Hopefully it will work itself out in
a couple of months...

- Andy
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[python-uk] UK Python Conference, 20-23 April 2005 - getting started

[Andy Robinson]

Hi everyone.  It's once again time to begin planning the
Python track at the ACCU conference.  I should have started
this sooner :-)

It's the same place, Randolph in Oxford on 20-23 April 2005.
I am sending out a call for papers concurrently with this.

I would like to attempt at least a pretence at democracy
by running through what we plan now, to let anyone air
their views.  Call for papers is going out now, and we
will try to get some Python-specific web pages together
next week. I will be at an ACCU planning meeting today
and they will want to start publicising this heavily
from 2nd January.

Here are some issues I should throw out:

1. Is this the UK Conference? Are there others?
Last year some people suggested there should be a UK event
which is more community-oriented, elsewhere.  If so, that would
be great, and if they feel strongly it should take over the title
of "UK Python Conference" then I don't want to stand in their
way.  However, barring howls or concrete plans for another
event, I would like to brand this "The UK Python Conference".

2. Committee and Volunteers
Two gentlemen kindly volunteered to help at last year's event.
If they are on this list, please ping me - I lost your
details!  If not we will probably find you through a mailing
to the attendees.

The ACCU normally chooses and solicits talks in committee and
insisted on this last year.  This year we're doing a Call for
Papers for the Python tracks, as you'll see with the concurrent
emails.  Tim Couper, myself, John Lee, and (if we can find them)
the two volunteers will form a committee to look at the
talks.  If anyone else wants to join, say so.

Be warned there will be no financial perks for the committee -
if you want to get in free, you have to have a talk accepted.
ACCU committee members all follow the 'pay or speak' rule.

4. Format
This is largely set.  We have 3 days and 3 90 minute slots
on each, plus lunch and evening events.  Slots can be divided
in two.  We must therefore aim for a small number of high
quality talks of interest to most programmers.

We could add a second track if (a) we could demonstrate there
were likely to be more than 50 people and we needed to split
rooms AND (b) if there were too many great talks.  But last year
most people really wanted one track to avoid tough choices.

5. Price
Not set but expected to be similar to last year (approx
£100 per day).  This year has 'Security' as the rotating
special subject, so we won't have an Open Source track and
the corresponding massive crossover with Python.  As always
it will be cheapest if you join the ACCU.

6. Extra events
If people want to hold sprints, open days, tutorials or
anything else around the event, let us know soon.  It may be
possible to find cheaper space within the University before
or after the event.  The event is provisionally Thu-Fri-Sat
which would make sprints or tutorials on Tue-Wed feasible.
If lots of people want to show what they are doing and meet
up at lower cost, one possibility is a Python community open
day on the Tuesday,


All comments are welcome

Best Regards,



Andy Robinson
CEO/Chief Architect
ReportLab Europe Ltd

p.s. I am on holiday this week and getting email sporadically
until 8th December.

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[python-uk] UK Python Conference - 20-23 April 2005 - Call for papers

[Andy Robinson]

The UK Python Conference for 2005 will take place at
the Randolph Hotel, Oxford on 20-23 April 2005.

We hereby invite speakers to submit proposals for talks.

About the event
===
This will once again be held as a track within the ACCU
conference.  The conference site is here, and more details
on the Python track will appear shortly.
   http://www.accu.org/conference/

The ACCU event is one of the foremost conferences for programmers,
attracting the inventors and/or leading proponents of C, C++,
Java, .NET and Python over the last few years.  Past Python speakers
have included Guido van Rossum, David Ascher, Alex Martelli, Armin Rigo,
Paul Everitt, Marc-Andre Lemburg and many others, and the
ACCU now treats Python as being fully on par with Java and C++.
The event is priced midway between commercial and community
events, at approx. £100 per day, and is professionally managed.

It is located in a historic hotel in the centre of Oxford and is
ideal for anyone wanting to combine a holiday with a conference.


Conference Format
=
The Python conference will span THREE days, with ONE track.
The first slot each morning is taken by the cross-conference
keynote. This was the overwhelming preference of those we polled
last year. (There will NOT be a separate Open Source track this
year; the "rotating special subject" is Security. As a result,
Python-related security talks would be of interest)

You may propose 90 minute or 45 minute talks. The
ACCU's general preference is for a small number of high
quality, well prepared talks on subjects of broad interest
to programmers, and the Python track will follow this.
There will also be space for less formal lunchtime talks,
evening BOFs and other events.

Speakers' compensation is yet to be confirmed, but in the
past those doing 90 mimutes (or 2x45 minute talks) will be
eligible for 4 days paid accomodation and admission to
the 4 day event; 45 minute speakers will gain 1 day's admission.
Where possible, we will attempt to allocate resources to ensure
that the best speakers are able to attend irrespective of
circumstances.


Submission Procedure
===
Please send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
not later than 26th December, with the following information:
  Your Name
  Short Biography
  Talk Title
  Talk Synopsis

This is a simple mailbox; the committee will review and
acknowledge submissions a couple of times a week.
If this shows promise, you will be given a chance to refine
the details through a web based system later.


Committee
=
A small committee will be formed to scrutinize talk proposals
including those whol volunteered last year. This includes
myself, Dr. Tim Couper and Dr. John Lee.  General discussion about
the event should be directed to the python-uk list
([EMAIL PROTECTED])

ReportLab Europe Ltd. is managing parts of the event infrastructure
and will be providing some staff time to provide a guaranteed
point of contact.


---

Best Regards


Andy Robinson
CEO/Chief Architect
ReportLab Europe Ltd
tel +44-20-8544-8049

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[python-uk] Tutorial at Python UK, Oxford, 19 May

[Andy Robinson]

Michele Simionato is giving a full day tutorial
titled "The Wonders of Python" at the UK Python
Conference, Randolph Hotel, Oxford on 19 May.
(This replaces Alex Martelli, who is now working
for Google in California).

 https://www.accu.org/conference/python_tutorial.html

This is a fantastic opportunity to boost your Python
skills and catch up on the newer features of the
language, for a fraction of the price of a professional
training course.  The course costs £135 for ACCU members
and £160 for non-ACCU.

There are still a few places left; anyone wishing to
attend should directly contact the organisers,
Archer Yates Associates, whose details are on the
bottom left corner of the page.


Best Regards


Andy Robinson
UK Python Conference program chair

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Re: [python-uk] Python UK 2006

[Andy Robinson]

Simon Brunning wrote:
> Is there going to be a Python UK 2006?
> 

Yes!  Maybe two actually, since John Pinner has been talking about
an autumn one at the "Conservatoire" in Birmingham.

(I must apologize for having been in workaholic-land and am just 
emerging - it was so bad I failed to notice the Morgan Stanley thing 
last week which I'd love to have attended.  I am way behind on 
organising the event this year).

The usual ACCU thing is on Wednesday 19 April to Saturday 22 April 2006. 
Guido is flying over to be a keynote for the whole conference. There 
will be a two-day Python only track, and a day of "dynamic languages"
with talks on Ruby and Javascript.

Things are a bit different this year; it's 'winding down' as they want
to have "python talks on the programme" rather than a "Python 
conference" from 2007, which IMHO makes sense as Python is now
'mature' and part of the landscape.  Also, we all learned that the
Python world wants a cheaper, bigger event which ACCU cannot offer.

At present I have talk submissions from
  - Michael Hudson on PyPy
  - Michael Hudson again on Exception Handling
  - me on metadata frameworks (common themese across Django/Sqlobject/
  various graphics frameworks/validation issues)
  - Andrew Thompson on Python in Finance
  - Steve Holden (subject to be decided)

Also John Pinner is giving a "convert to Python" tutorial on the
tutorials day which should be a big draw.

We have 6 90-min slots and the committee would prefer a small number
of UK speakers, as they are aying to bring Guido on..

I need to get my skates on and firm it up fast.  I'd really love
to have talks on
- Django, Turbogears or a comparison.
- Eggs and setuptools
If anyone can do these or has another idea, I suggest to post this list 
or email me really quickly.  I emailed Simon Willison but haven't heard 
back.


Best Regards,

- Andy Robinson


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Re: [python-uk] Python UK 2006

[Andy Robinson]

Simon Brunning wrote:
> I'll give Simon a shout. I only just talked him out of doing live code
> in his half hour slot last week. He's mad keen. He is the most
> enthusiastic man on the planet. With 90 minutes to play with, I'm sure
> he'd come up with something spectacular.

Thanks, please do ask, and I'll email him again.  He might not have got 
my email but let's hunt him down.



- Andy


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Re: [python-uk] Web Development with Python

[Andy Robinson]

Simon Faulkner wrote:
> I often have to write small web databases - nothing too fancy, just a 
> table or 2 and a few forms/reports.  Sometimes it's just a web frontend 
> to a program othertimes more like a database for tracking items.
> 
> I have used Python and MySQL in CGI but it seems quite long winded.
> 
> I have used Zope/Plone but it is quite a heavyweight solution for a 
> small app and quite slow unless you do a lot of caching.
> 
> I have looked at Ruby/Rails but it seems a shame to loose what 
> experience I have in Python by switching to a new language.
> 
> Does anyone have any experience in this field and/or can suggest what I 
> might try or look at to continue developing in Python?
> 

CGI is only longwinded if you do it all from scratch; there
are many nice frameworks and paradigms to give you a head start.

I have been playing with Django (www.djangoproject.com) and it's
beautiful.  You essentially declare the database schema in the
Python model, and you get a very nice web interface for add/edit/delete
stuff autogenerated for you.  Be prepared to spend half a day
setting up though.

The other well-documented approach at the moment is Turbogears
which includes CherryPy for the web app and SQLObject for
database management.  Nothing 'for free' but a very clean
approach.

Hope this helps,

- Andy Robinson
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Re: [python-uk] Web Development with Python

[Andy Robinson]

> I appreciate the difference but also find that I sometimes get a more 
> measured, mature response from the UK specific groups without anyone 
> yelling "Like, d00d, use PHP man!"

As one of the respondents I maintain that this group has a superb 
signal-to-noise ratio and gives correct answers to reasonable questions 
almost instantly ;-)


> I am also hoping to get to attend a Python event or 2 and thought I 
> would like to know who's who before pitching up.
> 
> Are there any event's 'ooop north'?
John Pinner has been hinting at organising a proper community
conference in Birmingham next autumn, which is probably half way for 
some peoples' definitions of North.   John, is this still looking likely?


- Andy Robinson
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Re: [python-uk] Web Development with Python

[Andy Robinson]

Chris Withers wrote:
> It's confusing really, the people in the Plone community 
> mainly came from the original "Zope Community" and they're great people. 

It's confusing really, the people in the Zope community
mainly came from the original "Python Community" and they're
great people.

I'll stop there ;-)

- Andy
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Re: [python-uk] Python UK 2006

[Andy Robinson]

Tony Ibbs wrote:
> The ACCU conference web pages haven't released the schedule yet, but
> since I can't afford (in various ways) to go to the whole thing, I  
> thought
> someone here might know which days are being used for the PythonUK
> conference. Or, looking at it another way, when is Guido giving his  
> keynote?
> 

Python is Wednesday and Thursday at present.  I guess Guido will be one 
of those days two other keynote speakers have been changed around and I 
am not 100% sure as of today.

It's my job to write up a separate Python page and I really ought to do 
it about now, so consider me 'reminded' ;-)  I'll at least post the 
tentative schedule here on this list by tomorrow.

- Andy


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Re: [python-uk] Turbogears

[Andy Robinson]

Doug Bromley wrote:
> Oh dear.  I've been investing lots of time recently in Rails.  Now I
> find out TG is just as good and its in the language I know.

My own 2p worth is that Django is also excellent and 'does what it says 
on the tin'.  Unfortunately it was sufficiently good that my resolution 
to do the same app in both and give them equal learning time fizzled out 
halfway.  In particular Django's admin interface ROCKS - it saved weeks 
on a project already and wowed a customer.

- Andy Robinson

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[python-uk] UK Python Conference - 19-22 April 2006

[Andy Robinson]

The ACCU is once again hosting a UK Python Conference on the above dates 
at the Randolph Hotel in Oxford.  Sign up now.

   http://www.accu.org/index.php/conferences/2006/schedule

PROGRAMME
=
I am happy to announce that Guido van Rossum is once again a keynote 
speaker for the entire ACCU conference.   Following his keynote we have 
a single, 2-day Python track on Wednesday and Thursday including...

Steve Holden: The Best of PyCon
Michael Hudson: Error Handling with Recovery
Phil Thompson: PyQT 4
Michael Hudson: PyPy - a progress report
Simon Willison: Django
Remi Delon:  CherryPy and TurboGears
Chris Withers: Templating systems
Andy Robinson: Metadata and models in Python
Andrew Thompson: Financial Programming in Python

...and of course lightning talks and BOFS will be welcome


Friday will feature a Dynamic Languages track with in-depth talks on 
Javascript, Ruby and Groovy, which I am sure will be of great interest 
to Python developers.

PRE CONFERENCE PYTHON TUTORIAL:
===
John Pinner will be giving a full day "Python for Programmers" tutorial 
on Tuesday prior to the main event.  This tutorial is aimed at 
programmers who have no previous knowledge of Python but who would like 
to know more about it. If you want to convert your colleagues, this is 
where to send them


ABOUT THE ACCU CONFERENCE
=
For those not familiar with the event, the ACCU conference is one of the 
foremost gatherings of programming talent in the world, regularly 
featuring authors and major figures from the C/C++/C#/Java/Python and 
other communities.The cheapest way to attend is to join the ACCU

This will be the LAST CHANCE to attend this fantastic event; after more 
than 5 years of being nurtured by the ACCU, the UK Python community will 
hopefully be organising a standalone conference in future years.  Python 
talks will continue to be welcome (and we hope numerous) on the ACCU 
programme, but not as an advertised "mini-conference"; instead we'll be 
shifting focus to dynamic languages in general.



Best Regards,


Andy Robinson
ACCU Conference Committee





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Re: [python-uk] UK Python Conference - 19-22 April 2006

[Andy Robinson]

Matthew Webber wrote:
> Andy,
> That looks like a great programme, but I note from the website that the
> early bird registration discount is only available till 10th February. It
> would be great if that were a typo and that they in fact meant 10th March!
> Matthew

I know the organisers have extended it and I believe it was a bit later 
- I'll find out and get back to you.

- Andy
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Re: [python-uk] UK Python Conference - 19-22 April 2006

[Andy Robinson]

> Andy> I know the organisers have extended it and I believe it was
> Andy> a bit later - I'll find out and get back to you.
> 
> My understanding was that their server went down on the last day of
> the early bird registration period, so they extended it to the
> following Monday (13th).

I heard back from the organiser that it was extended again to 24th in 
the end, again because the server wasn't working; apparently they 
emailed previous attendees and ACCU members about this, but I have been 
on holiday most of February and wasn't in the loop.  I must admit that 
if I had engaged my brain about conference marketing in January we could 
probably have given people the chance.

In any event I have asked about a 'package deal' for the two Python days 
and hope to find out tomorrow if they can do anything.

Best Regards,

Andy Robinson
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Re: [python-uk] UK Python Conference - 19-22 April 2006

[Andy Robinson]

Fuzzyman wrote:
> I'd certainly be interested - but £160 a day is outside my budget. :-(
> 
> Looks like a fantastic programme.

This has always been the problem with the ACCU event and sadly not one I 
can fix.  Luckily EuroPython is cheap and not too far off, which is the 
budget alternative and will as always have a fantastic programme...

- Andy
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Re: [python-uk] Python, VB math simple problem

[Andy Robinson]

> Ideally, I'd love to be able to simply have some extremely small 
> executable that just accepts inputs
> does the calculations above and then spits out the outputs. If it were 
> possible to write some
> simple lines of math code in Python and then compile these scripts in 
> Python to a Windows
> compatible executable,that would be fantastic.

You can use py2exe (www.py2exe.org) to create an executable, but it 
won't be tiny.  If you slim down the imported modules to what you need 
which is minimal, I'd be surprised if it ended up less than 2Mb.
It is, however, effortless.


You might find it easier to expose your function as a COM server, which 
is also very easy in Python and py2exe will again let you make a slimmed 
down distribution.  This way there will be no startup overhead of 
shelling out every time. At the risk of being cheeky, let me say that 
the book Mark Hammond and I wrote in 2000, Python Programming on Win32, 
  was aimed exactly at people with a VB background and covers the 
integration possibilities you'll need in a lot of detail.  The same info 
is available more briefly in tutorials in the Pythonwin online help.
The main thing which changes since then is having py2exe and Python zip 
archives to make it all easier to deploy.

Good luck,


Andy Robinson

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Re: [python-uk] i like to come down to U.K

[Andy Robinson]

shoola mike wrote:
> Dear Tim Couper ,
> I wouldlike to request you to register me for your
> 2006: Python UK Conference 2006 (Oxford, UK)Incase
> registration fee is needed I kindly request to pay
> after getting the Visa.This is so  because my
> Country-Nigeria, is not Visa-free.
> 
> Secondly,I kindly request for an official invitation
> letter. Hope to hear from you soon.
> Kind regards,

I regret to inform you that
(a) it's too late, the conference is 100% sold out and starts next week
(b) our policy is only to grant visa letters for people with a proven 
track record of contributing to verifiable software projects, due to 
large numbers of fraudulent claims.

Best Regards,


Andy Robinson
ACCU Conference Committee


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Re: [python-uk] I'm not going to the ACCU conference

[Andy Robinson]

Michael Hudson wrote:
> Duncan Booth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> 
> 
>>I didn't get myself organised to sign up for the conference this year, 
>>but does anyone fancy an evening meet-up for a drink and/or food 
>>somewhere in Oxford outside the confines of the conference venue?
> 
> 
> Sure!  When is good for you?  Wednesday night is the "Blackwells
> reception", don't know what that is or how long it's likely to go on
> for, Thursday night has a couple of mystery sessions at the end of the
> day of unclear length and Friday has the dinner...

Blackwells' drinks budget is not infinite and I guess it will end by 
20:00 latest.  Whichever evening you want I suggest any non-delegates 
come to the hotel bar (just inside entrance) between 19:30-20:00 and 
Pythonistas gather there before going out for food...

- Andy


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Re: [python-uk] London 2.0 rc5

[Andy Robinson]

Simon Brunning wrote:
> Sam Newman has organised London 2.0 rc5 for the evening of May the 3rd
> at The Olde Bank Of England, 194 Fleet Street,  London EC4A 2LT. The
> demos at rc4 were 100% Python related, so the PSUs cunning plan to
> infiltrate and take over these events is clearly running to schedule.

Thanks for this, Simon!

After various discussions at ACCU I am hoping to start organising a few 
evening Python talks for the not-yet-converted; May 3rd would be the 
perfect timing to conspire on this.

> BTW, if you are using Google Calendar
> (), I've set up a public Calendar
> called "London Python", into which I'll put any London based Python
> related events I come across. 

No results for the search just yet.  Maybe they cache stuff, will try 
again later...

- Andy
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Re: [python-uk] London 2.0 rc5

[Andy Robinson]

> In the meantime, a workaround is to paste Simon's RSS link (below) into
> the "Public Calendar Address" tab of the "Add other calendar" function.

Yup, that works...thanks.  Google Calendar is very cool.

(he says being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century...)
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Re: [python-uk] London Python meetup on the 12th

[Andy Robinson]

Two more of us on the way, don't all go home

- Andy
-Original Message-
From: Michael Foord <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 19:00:00 
To:UK Python Users 
Subject: Re: [python-uk] London Python meetup on the 12th

Aargh... pressure of life and all that, and I can't make it. I hope you 
guys have (are having) a good time without me. :-(

Michael
http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/index.shtml

Fuzzyman wrote:
>  Original Message 
> Subject:  Re: [python-uk] London Python meetup on the 12th
> Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 10:42:04 +0100
> From: Simon Brunning <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Reply-To: UK Python Users 
> To:   UK Python Users 
> References:
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>
>
> On 7/10/06, Michael Foord <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>   
>> Simon Brunning wrote:
>> 
>>> Venue TBC, but it'll be central London somewhere.
>>>   
>> Is the venue chosen yet ?
>> 
>
> It is now.
>
> The Stage Door, 30 Webber St, Waterloo, London SE1 8QA
>
> See .
>
>   

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[python-uk] Full time developer position, London

[Andy Robinson]

ReportLab builds state-of-the-art technology for document generation
in Python, and develops solutions around this for major blue-chip 
clients. ReportLab offers a chance to work on world-beating technology 
with very high quality mentors, a first class customer base and enormous 
potential for growth.

We are now building a new generation of applications to publish PDF on 
demand for specific vertical markets using our own core products. These 
will let end users log in and manage data and templates through the web. 
They will need flexible admin interfaces to let customers enter and 
approve data, well thought out designs for business logic prior to 
publishing with our own PDF products. We aim to make use of the very 
latest and best ideas in web development to help create value for our 
customers and a scalable business model for ourselves.

We're looking for a good all-rounder to join our team and work on this, 
as well as many other projects.

The ideal candidate will either be a graduate or have up to 3 years 
experience and several of these skills:

 * Python programming - or enough evidence of skill elsewhere to
   persuade us you can learn it quickly
 * Understanding of web frameworks, databases, XML. Django
   experience is a plus
 * know CSS and HTML
 * have an eye for visual design
 * know Javascript beyond the usual form validation (Ajax a plus)
 * have the common sense to know when coding is NOT the answer
 * good analysis skills - the ability to listen to customers, figure
   out where the value lies, and help decide what to build in the
   first place

You must have native-quality written English, good aptitude for 
programming, and an ability to Get Things Done.

You will get responsibilities which are not possible in large companies 
including a chance to work with the latest and best technologies; to see 
substantial, cutting-edge projects from commencement to delivery with 
world class clients; and to help design and roll out entire software 
services with fantastic upside potential.


---
To apply, find the Careers page on our website and follow the instructions.
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Re: [python-uk] London 2.0 tomorrow

[Andy Robinson]

Very sorry I won't be able to make this one - a real pity as I have a 
bunch of questions for Mr. Huggins, but probably a relief for him ;-)

- Andy Robinson
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[python-uk] List now limited to subscribers...

[Andy Robinson]

I changed the list settings to restrict posting to members only.

Hopefully Mr. BCS Outdoor will no longer be able to mail us his new 
address a few dozen times.  We'll see in a minute or so ;-)

This is very strange as I thought I had set it this way years ago.

Would anyone else be willing to be a list admin too?  I am often away or 
too busy, and it might be a good idea if there were a couple of others.

Best Regards,


-- 

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CEO/Chief Architect
ReportLab Europe Ltd.
165 The Broadway, London SW 19 1NE, Unite Kingdom
tel +44-20-8544-8049
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Re: [python-uk] List now limited to subscribers...

[Andy Robinson]

Simon Brunning wrote:
  >
> I'm game.
> 
Thanks Simon, you're now an admin ;-)

-- 

Andy Robinson
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Re: [python-uk] Many apologies...

[Andy Robinson]

Tim Golden wrote:
> My many apologies to the denizens of the
> python-uk mailing list. I went on leave just
> as my company changed name, and I didn't
> realize they were going to send out an
> irritating reply to any incoming emails.
> 
> I've unsubscribed from that address now,
> so sorry again for blighting your New Year
> with a rash of unsightly HTML mails!
> 
No worries - at least we had double-digit traffic for a brief while ;-)

- Andy
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Re: [python-uk] PyCamp UK !

[Andy Robinson]

>> Oh is this the IronPython book? Cool :) 
>>
>>   
> Yup.  Just completed the first draft of chapter 2.  Already behind 
> schedule. :-)

No worries, IronPython itself took a while AFAIR ;-)

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Re: [python-uk] PyCamp UK !

[Andy Robinson]

> I'm not sure August is actually the best time for people in the UK either - 
> since so many people go away then. My feeling is that the best time would be 
> sometime in early September - either 1/2 Sept or 8/9th Sept.
> 

+1.  Especially after August.

- Andy
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[python-uk] Yet Another UK Python Conference

[Andy Robinson]

I just spoke to John Pinner at Clocksoft on the phone - he's been off 
email for a couple of days and hasn't seen this thread.  He and others 
in the Midlands have been planning a UK event for a long time, and have 
venues lined up at around the same time - September (!). There is a 
meeting of some West Midlands user group on 24 Feb at which it will be 
discussed.

Apparently he will see Michael Sparks at an event tomorrow so hopefully 
they can figure out how to space these things out.

My 2p worth is that it would be great to have multiple events dotted 
around the country, especially if we can space them out a bit and none 
are so big that they knacker the organisers.

John, please ack if/when you get this through the mailing list

- Andy

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[python-uk] Python evening talks in London

[Andy Robinson]

Hi all,

Yet another London-centric suggestion.  Apologies to the rest of the 
country.

I've been talking to a friend who is discovering the joys of Python, and 
is a committee member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology 
(www.theiet.org)  He believes we could get rooms in their place, which 
is next to the Savoy, to hold evening talks followed by networking over 
a drink or two.  They have a distinguished location with rooms for 
anything from 20 up to 200 and he believes it could cost little or 
nothing to the visitors.

The general idea would be a talk on some Python-related subjects, 
libraries or frameworks, about once a month, which can reach a wider 
network of developers than usually turn up for the pub sessions.  People 
would be encouraged to bring laptops (Wifi available) and try out 
whatever's being talked about, so if they discovered a few useful 
libraries for a task, they could put them to work next day; and 
experience Pythonistas could advise newbies.

A proposal is needed to their committee by end of this month.  So,
- who'd find something like this useful?
- who'd like to give talks, and on what?
- who'd like to hear talks, and on what?
- who'd bring colleagues along?
- any thoughts on format, target audience and so on

I understand the start would be a few months off.


Best Regards,


-- 
Andy Robinson
CEO/Chief Architect
ReportLab Europe Ltd.
165 the Broadway, Wimbledon, London SW19 1NE, UK
tel +44-20-8544-8049
mobile +44-7725-056175
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Re: [python-uk] Python evening talks in London

[Andy Robinson]

Michael Foord wrote:
> There are lots of banks, hedge funds and other companies that now 
> develop with Python. It would be nice to find a way of reaching them 
> (and finding out what they would like to learn about). Perhaps spamming 
> all the London companies that advertise on the Python job board ?
That's definitely one of the target audiences.  I have a talk in mind to 
do with general "numeric plumbing" - getting numbers in and out of 
Excel, from web services and so on - which I think would be appealing to 
this sector.

I cooked up this idea with Thoughtworks last April because they actually 
consult for a lot of these firms, and was hoping to do an initial one 
last summer but it never came off.  They are plugged into a lot of these 
places.  I'm pretty sure those on this list could tell half a dozen banks.

- Andy





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Re: [python-uk] Python evening talks in London

[Andy Robinson]

> I start there on Monday, so I'll see if I can make something happen. ;-)

I didn't want to ask, but congratulations!

- Andy


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Re: [python-uk] Python evening talks in London: Ten lines of code

[Andy Robinson]

Michael Grazebrook wrote:
> @Tim
> Nobody has volunteered off-line. I reckon you volunteered! Thanks. I'm 
> going to try to persuade Andy Robinson to do 10 minutes if I can, but 
> he's on holiday this week. 

Oi.  It's a BUSINESS TRIP.  Never mind that I am with the tourist board 
of an exotic tropical island, the story is that I am working ;-)

But sadly, I'm also away the week of the 11th :-(

Nevertheless I ams sure we can find a good speaker or two.  I'll help 
recruit next week if not sorted by then.

- Andy


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Re: [python-uk] Python lecture series

[Andy Robinson]

> WE Can act fast enough! A speaker cancelled for the 11th April. 

Michael, I'd love to help with a talk, but am travelling at that time.

- Andy

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Re: [python-uk] Short notice Python meetup next week, anyone?

[Andy Robinson]

On 19/04/07, Michael Foord <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Simon Brunning wrote:
> > http://announce.londonpython.org.uk/2007/04/19/snap-python-meetup/
> >
> >
> Sounds great. I *might* be able to make it, depending on book pressures...
>
Ditto (except for *book*)

- Andy Robinson
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Re: [python-uk] python training

[Andy Robinson]

On 24/04/07, Simon Brunning <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On 4/23/07, David Bole @ Neueda <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Simon
> > can you recommend any UK based Python trainers ?
>
> Sorry, no - but I'm sure someone on the UK list will...
>

John Pinner's firm runs courses regularly and I have heard very good
things about them...I think he's on this list too
  http://clocksoft.co.uk/training

- Andy Robinson
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Re: [python-uk] [Fwd: FW: [lymc] FW: IET Professional Registration Workshops]

[Andy Robinson]

On 04/05/07, Michael Grazebrook <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Green light for us giving a Python lecture - and possibly more - at the IET.

Well done Michael!

Let me know if I can help..

- Andy Robinson
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Re: [python-uk] Python Developers wanted, Troon Scotland

[Andy Robinson]

On 14/06/07, David Irvine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I hope this is not perceived as a bad thing to do in this list - if it
> is sorry in advance.

I think it's a perfect thing to do on this list.  I'm overemployed
personally, but good luck....

-- 
Andy Robinson
CEO/Chief Architect
ReportLab Europe Ltd.
165 The Broadway, Wimbledon, London SW19 1NE, UK
Tel +44-20-8544-8049
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Re: [python-uk] remove

[Andy Robinson]

On 03/07/07, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Please remove this link
>
> http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-uk/2006-December/001007.html
>

I'm sorry but I do not have the ability to modify the archives (and
the list has already been mirrored to many other servers).  I can only
regulate who posts to the list.


Regards,

-- 
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CEO/Chief Architect
ReportLab Europe Ltd.
165 The Broadway, Wimbledon, London SW19 1NE, UK
Tel +44-20-8544-8049
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Re: [python-uk] London Python meetup, Wednesday, October the 10th

[Andy Robinson]

On 18/09/2007, Tim Golden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > ThoughtWorks UK (my employer) have given us the use of a room this
> > time, so I'm looking for volunteer speakers, too.
>
> I'm in. Happy to give a talk, too. (WMI, active directory, win32 sort of
> stuff).
>
Me too, I'm around then.  I have a talk if you want - probably 30min worth.

We're building some very neat "personalised publishing" solutions for
the travel sector - build your own travel guide or personalised
brochures in real time.  These are all done on a Django platform,
which would give me an excuse to share tips/tricks/headaches on web
frameworks and content management as well as ReportLab's document
generation tools.
Fairly high "wow" factor and lots of pics of tropical beaches, could
be as technical or not as you like ;-)

Andy Robinson, ReportLab
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Re: [python-uk] [pyconuk] London Python meetup, Wednesday, October the 10th

[Andy Robinson]

On 09/10/2007, Simon Brunning <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Just a reminder - the London Python meetup is on for tomorrow evening.
> I have Tim Golden down to tell us about WMI, Andy Robinson to talk
> about "personalised publishing" using Django, plus quickies from Giles
> Thomas on Resolver and Chris Miles on PSI.
>

I'm very sorry but it looks like I will be unable to make it tomorrow
due to some unexpected but serious work deadlines that have emerged in
the last 2 days.

I'm hoping the others can talk more slowly and in more detail or
someone else can speak, but if this forces you into the pub early,  my
apologies!  I'll be ready to give this one again at some future date.



Best Regards,


-- 
Andy Robinson
CEO/Chief Architect
ReportLab Europe Ltd.
165 The Broadway, Wimbledon, London SW19 1NE, UK
Tel +44-20-8544-8049
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Re: [python-uk] Anyone alive

[Andy Robinson]

>  Well then hello both Tim & Michael. What are the toics for tomorrow's
> meeting Tim?

It was last night while this thread was going on.  Several mini talks
at Thoughtworrks office, very well attended, I skipped the pub
afterwards but at least 30 people headed that way...

- Andy
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[python-uk] Vacancies at ReportLab

[Andy Robinson]

ReportLab are the oldest Python company in the UK (we started this
mailing list!).  We maintain an open source library for PDF and chart
generation with thousands of downloads per month, sell software to
make document generation easy, and create hosted services to let
businesses publish on demand.

Due to growth in popularity for our services, we have a number of
positions available, with immediate effect.   I know this is a Python
list, but feel free to tell friends about the non-developer positions.

Junior web developer:
===
This is ideally suited to a recent graduate. You will be delivering
hosted solutions for our customers, including major blue chip clients
in travel and financial services.  You can expect to gain fantastic
experience in Python, Django, SQL, XML, HTML+CSS and generally all the
tools of modern web development.

Developer:
===
You should have general web development experience, an ability to know
the difference between a good API and a bad one, be happy to talk to
customers and work out what to build in the first place, and be able
to communicate your ideas clearly in writing.  You will get the chance
both to architect our client solutions and the underlying framework.
Skill set is same as above.  You should either be proficient in
Python, or smart enough to learn fast.

Manager - Travel Projects and Solutions  &
Manager - Financial Projects and Solutions
===
We need people to handle key customer relationships and ensure the
development and promotion of our platforms in these areas.You
should have a background in some project-related function (we'd
consider print or marketing as well as IT), attention to detail, good
writing skills, large amounts of common sense and an enthusiasm for
technology.  You will get to deliver solutions through their full life
cycle, and to define and help promote the products which will let us
scale up in these markets.


All positions are in our office in Wimbledon, South-West London.
All applications must be able to express their thoughts very clearly
in writing.
There is a possibility of some travel to client sites worldwide
(clients include luxury resorts and tropical island tourist
authorities!)

For further information see
 http://www.reportlab.com/careers.html


Best Regards,

-- 
Andy Robinson
CEO/Chief Architect
ReportLab Europe Ltd.
165 The Broadway, Wimbledon, London SW19 1NE, UK
Tel +44-20-8544-8049
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Re: [python-uk] Favourite ways of scrubbing HTML/whitelisting specific HTML tags?

[Andy Robinson]

On 07/02/2008, Alexander Harrowell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> To clarify, I use BeautifulSoup for a small project that parses frequently
> changing HTML on a number of websites (>1MB each), extracts the content of
> specific tags, filters out certain strings from the content, and serves it
> up in a consistent format. The input HTML comes from the wild, and often
> contains odd tags, funny characters, and other inconsistencies.
>
> It has so far worked near-perfectly for the last 9 months. Speed appears to
> be a conventional problem with BS, which is why I mentioned it, but when I
> analysed the code in an effort to speed it up I discovered that 90%+ of the
> time taken was accounted for by network latency in getting the data from the
> remote sites.
>


FWIW, we parse tens of thousands of pages every week to build let
people republish content into nice PDFs.  Beautiful Soup was the only
thing that made this sane, as many pages are not structured to be easy
to parse.  Like you we found the network was the limit, and simply
kicking off several scraping processes in parallel solved that (e.g.
one run of a script parses hotels from A-F, the next from G-M and so
on...). I can't imagine using anything else.

Best Regards,
-- 
Andy Robinson
CEO/Chief Architect
ReportLab Europe Ltd.
165 The Broadway, Wimbledon, London SW19 1NE, UK
Tel +44-20-8544-8049
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Re: [python-uk] Python training in London

[Andy Robinson]

2008/4/29 John Pinner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
>  We've certainly trained people like this, ie intelligent
>  non-developers, and it's never been a problem. Much easier to train
>  than non-intelligent developers.


Get that off to comp.lang.python quick, it must be a QOTW ;-)
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[python-uk] Looking for developers daahn saarf

[Andy Robinson]

Hi everyone,

Forgive me for paraphrasing Doug, he's saved me some valuable thinking
time ;-).I will assume his excellent email is under an "open
source" license.

We're also looking for some more Python developers to join our team.
We're an Agile Python shop, maintaining very widely used open source
libraries to generate PDF documents, and building solutions to publish
content in real time for major blue-chip customers.We use Django
alongside an extensive set of tools of our own.

Our website is also woefully out of date (although we hope to have a
new one out in 2-3 weeks) but http://travel.reportlab.com/ will show
you some of the kinds of apps we are delivering in just one industry
sector.

We're based in lovely Wimbledon, and right now we are 8 people.  We're
looking for 2 mid-level developers who have the common sense and
communication skills to deal with clients as well as writing code,
within an agile environment.   Some experience of a project
environment, whether work-related or open-source, is desirable.

Clearly this list is for Python folks, but we value people above
skills and we don't mind your background.

If you'd like to know more, please just call or email me.


Best Regards,


-- 
Andy Robinson
CEO/Chief Architect
ReportLab Europe Ltd.
165 The Broadway, Wimbledon, London SW19 1NE, UK
Tel +44-20-8544-8049


p.s. Ditto about agencies.  Our staff are trained to screen out agency
callers in a variety of bizarre and amusing ways.
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Re: [python-uk] python-uk Digest, Vol 69, Issue 1

[Andy Robinson]

2009/5/7 John Pinner :
> But if you are developing new software you should be using Python 3,
> ready for when it becomes the default in Linux distributions (already
> it is, in Ubuntu 9.04).

I just did a clean install of Ubuntu desktop 9.04 2 days ago, and
typing 'python' brings up 2.6.2.I have to type 'python3' to get
Python 3.0.   So I'm not sure what "the default" means.

Otherwise I fully agree (but still dread upgrading ten years worth of code...)

- Andy
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Re: [python-uk] python-uk Digest, Vol 69, Issue 1

[Andy Robinson]

2009/5/7 Shaun Laughey :
> Hi Andy didn't you start a while ago?

We've dabbled and done a private port of the open source
toolkit using 2-to-3, which sort of works except that PIL
is not yet available for 3.0 and that's a major issue for
many users.   We also build a ton of solutions on
Django.  So we're kind of waiting for those two to get
ported.

Also we can't sanely do what Guido wants and
release/maintain a library with the same APIs
across 2.3,24,2.5,2.6,2.7,3.0,3.1 etc.  I just don't see
any "ROI".

I'm much more interested in doing a backwards-incompatible
"reportlab3" where we clear out our own decade of clutter
and make proper use of the distinction between text and
bytes; we have a clear design in our heads for this.  But
Guido didn't want people doing that a year ago.

> Your codebase would become smaller and easier to maintain.

The 3.x codebase, yes.  But the total codebase would only
shrink if all the users of all the solutions we have built on 2.x
dropped dead, and we'll get the usual stream of new requirements
for the old libraries indefinitely  but that's the price of having
a software business rather than a free-time project.


- Andy
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Re: [python-uk] Python events upcoming in the south/southeast

[Andy Robinson]

2009/5/8 Alec Muffett :
> I am eagerly
> waiting for a DJUGL or similar event down in my area

The people who attend these things are probably going to be
in detox for a while after this week's EuroDjangoCon in Prague -
I dread to think how much beer went down there

In fact if you can catch a flight now, the sprints might still be
going on ;-)

 http://euro.djangocon.org/

- Andy
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[python-uk] ReportLab is hiring - Wimbledon, SouthWest London

[Andy Robinson]

We're looking for up to two Python/web developers to join our team
immediately.This is ideally suited to graduates or those with up
to 2 years experience.  Details and instructions here...

http://www.reportlab.com/about/careers/#developer


No agencies, please.   Really, don't even bother.


Best Regards,


-- 
Andy Robinson
CEO/Chief Architect
ReportLab Europe Ltd.
Media House, 3 Palmerston Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 1PG, UK
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Re: [python-uk] Google Wave

[Andy Robinson]

2009/10/19 Anand Kumria :
>> Would anybody have a spare invite then?  To h.due...@gmail if possible.
>  Likewise if anyone else has a spare invite.

Me too please!andy at rep*rtlab d*t c*m

Thanks,

-- 
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CEO/Chief Architect
ReportLab Europe Ltd.
Media House, 3 Palmerston Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 1PG, UK
Tel +44-20-8545-1570
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[python-uk] ReportLab is hiring - Wimbledon

[Andy Robinson]

Hi everyone,

ReportLab, one of the oldest Python shops in the UK, is looking for
people in up to three different roles - typically graduates or those
with up to 3 years commercial experience.

* Software Development
* Business Development / Marketing
* Design / Information Architecture

For more info and how to apply, see...

 http://www.reportlab.com/about/careers/

We'll also happily consider people who bridge the above job descriptions...


Best Regards,

-- 
Andy Robinson
Managing Director
ReportLab Europe Ltd.
Media House, 3 Palmerston Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 1PG, UK
Tel +44-20-8545-1570
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Re: [python-uk] London Python Roles

[Andy Robinson]

> Report Lab does a fair bit of work in the financial sector in a rather 
> different field.
Sorry, the light took a while to reach the batcave tonight...

I was pushing Python in finance back in 1997/8, and there have been
many, many people using it (usually under the radar at first) in the
City for a long time.  In the old days it excelled at gluing systems
together, scripting other peoples' C code, and prototyping algorithms.
 There were many times when people needed a solution faster than "IT"
could organise it, and being freely available and able to work with
Excel, it helped a lot of quants.

Now, of course, Python is mainstream, and other languages have got a
lot better at the 'glue' and web stuff and caught up to some degree.


On 15 December 2010 14:02, Jonathan Hartley  wrote:
> On the other hand, if you're running across the
> internet, then any slowdown due to using Python verses another language
> would be vastly swamped by network and other IO delays. Am I very much
> mistaken?

There are no general answers to that question.  There are indeed many
cases where people needlessly worry about the language when network
and IO dominate.  There are also lots of cases where you want to do
some kind of "atomic job" on one machine, and find it's an order of
magnitude too slow in a high level language.  There are some "Monte
Carlo" approaches to pricing securities which have no analytic
solution; and in the retail sector it's fashionable now to show
'clouds of outcomes' about where your pension might end up, needing
1 random walks to plot a chart and spit out a 2-3 page PDF
including it.

Two of the beauties of Python in this area are that (a) you can afford
to rewrite your algorithm several times and be sure it's the best
approach, and (b) if you really need to, it's easy to shift the 'inner
loops' into C.

Putting it in perspective, I even know some people in the City who
find hand-coded C too slow for their simulations, and who are
basically writing microcode for chips in order to put a supercomputer
under their desk!

The bigger question is whether all this horsepower ultimately leads to
better investment performance.  I will stay out of that one ;-)


-- 
Andy Robinson
ReportLab
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Re: [python-uk] London Python Roles

[Andy Robinson]

I used to be the original list moderator.  Many years back, I think we
agreed that recruiters in moderation were OK, and I accept that some
firms have reasons not to advertise directly.

I have always felt that if people wanted to discuss technical stuff,
they would tend to use comp.lang.python, StackOverflow or whatever to
get the widest input.  A UK list is pretty much here for meetups,
local (including City) news and jobs, and maybe chitchat about 'who is
using what'.

The only possible worry might be that a Python employer might want to
stop his employees seeing ads for other Python jobs nearby.  On the
other hand, if you're that paranoid or your developers are too dumb to
find the Python Job Board, you're probably doomed anyway ;-)

I would suggest that if any future recruiter were to start 'trawling
for CVs' or overposting (and nothing I have seen here has worried me
on that front), people reply with a '-1'; and if we get more than half
a dozen the moderators can contact that recruiter and ask them nicely
to stop, then ban if they persist.

-- 
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ReportLab
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Re: [python-uk] OT: Looking for an iPhone dev

[Andy Robinson]

On 20 December 2010 08:05, Simon Brunning  wrote:
> On 20 December 2010 01:19, Patrick Dempster  
> wrote:
>> Perhaps its time for the list admin's, start blocking those who post these
>> "job" adverts? python jobs I can sort of understand but this is getting
>> silly.

Or, we could take another tack: why don't the list members start a few
more "on-topic" discussions to restore the balance?  Hopefully things
are a bit quieter in the office for the next few days...

- Andy
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[python-uk] Tell us what you did with Python this year....

[Andy Robinson]

As an attempt to generate some content and balance out the "jobs" discussion

Why don't a few people here tell us what they got up to this year?
Neat projects at work, things you learned about Python in 2010, things
you've been playing with

I'm having a mad day but will try to post mine tonight or tomorrow...

- Andy
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Re: [python-uk] Tell us what you did with Python this year....

[Andy Robinson]

On 20 December 2010 14:43,   wrote:
> Sadly I only got paid for some of it. The invoices are generated in Python
> though.

PDFs from ReportLab, I hope and trust? ;-)

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Managing Director
ReportLab Europe Ltd.
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Re: [python-uk] Dojo / workshop on "TDD Django with Selenium" - any interest?

[Andy Robinson]

On 13 October 2011 17:26, Harry Percival  wrote:
> Hi-ho python peeps,
>
> Would anyone be interested in a dojo / worksop on the topic of test-driven
> Django development, with Selenium?
>
> So, trying to get an idea of numbers - would anyone be interested?  London
> area, venue suggestions also gratefully accepted...


This could be highly relevant for us and of my clients.  Possibly 5
people from us if the timing is right.

Regrettably we don't have physical space for it right now (and are way
outside the centre of London)



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Re: [python-uk] Dojo / workshop on "TDD Django with Selenium" - any interest?

[Andy Robinson]

We've been using Selenium for several years and have two fairly
substantial test suites used for web applications, as well as Django's
test client.  I don't think we're doing anything particularly
advanced, clever or 'Django-integrated', but we can certainly show
some of this if needed and would be keen to compare notes on best
practices, if the venue and dates work out.

We've also just started to play with BrowserMob, which is a hosted
testing service that can import selenium scripts, run tests for you
regularly, run realistic load tests, and even send you screenshots of
what went wrong if tests fail.  It's pretty neat and you can play with
it at modest levels at no charge.  I should know a bit more by
whenever the talk rolls around!


-- 
Andy Robinson
ReportLab
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[python-uk] ReportLab is hiring - Wimbledon

[Andy Robinson]

Hi everyone,

We're hiring.

 http://www.reportlab.com/about/careers/

Best Regards,

-- 
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Managing Director
ReportLab Europe Ltd.
Media House, 3 Palmerston Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 1PG, UK
Tel +44-20-8545-1570
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[python-uk] Jobs at ReportLab, South West London

[Andy Robinson]

We're looking for up to two good all-rounders to join our team in
Wimbledon, South West London.
ReportLab is one of the oldest and best known Python companies in the
UK. We maintain a very widely used open source library; sell
commercial Python products on top of this; build web-based,
content-backed systems to publish personalised literature; and do a
full range of web development work for clients, many of whom are
household names.
We're interested both in people with years of experience and in
talented beginners willing to learn fast.  Ideallly you will have a
good understanding of web technologies and some knowledge of several
of the following skills:
* Python programming - or evidence of ability to learn multiple
languages* Good analysis skills - the ability to listen to customers,
figure out where the value lies, and help decide what to build in the
first place* Understanding of web frameworks, databases, XML* Know
CSS, HTML and Javascript (an eye for visual design is a plus)* Have
the common sense to know when coding is NOT the answer and the ability
to communicate clearly with non-programmers* Common practices in
agile, open-source-style development
Our work covers the full stack from front-end through toserver-side
development, in a modern open source environment. We usePython, Django
and MySQL on all common platforms, jQuery and similarlibraries for
rich interfaces, as well as our own products for PDFgeneration.  We
follow Agile processes where possible.
We are very happy to mentor talented and committed peoole at the start
of their programming career, and can offer an oustanding programming
education, working alongside developers with decades of experience.

We look for people who are smart, get things done and are good
teamplayers, and strive to create an enjoyable working environment.

All applicants must be able to communicate their ideas clearlyin
written English, and to deal with customers from time to time.Salary
range is between £21k and £30k depending on experience.Theposition is
based in Wimbledon, London, UK.  No remote working and noagencies,
please.
For more information see http://www.reportlab.com/

--
Please email your CV to vacanc...@reportlab.com

Best Regards,


Andy Robinson
Managing Director, ReportLab Europe Ltd.
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Re: [python-uk] hexagonal Django

[Andy Robinson]

On 5 December 2012 07:33, Chris Withers  wrote:
> The closest thing I can think of is the move to the component architecture
> that Zope did from v2 to v3; architecturally brilliant but actually killed
> off the platform...

ROTFL!

I have to admit my first thought on reading that page and diagram was
"architecture astronauts"...

If you're building a system which will last many years and tie
together a core business, AND it really needs a rich internal object
model embodying "business rules", yes, maybe this approach is valid.
A core ERP system or some kinds of financial modelling systems spring
to mind.  Basically, a project which can justify a core team of 3-6
people working on it long term.

But if you really need a company database, and a variety of web front
ends and interfaces to it including CRUD, and budgets/timescales are
limited, then there are huge efficiency savings all round for trying
to do things "by the book" in Django, and using models as your
business objects.  New developers know where to look for things, and a
lot of so-called business rules are easily implemented by save methods
and signals.   And there are established best practices for testing.

This week we had to help an overseas firm add a reporting capability
to their Django app.  They sent over a copy of the code, and their
development practices were amazingly similar to ours, and we had it
running in an hour or so.   Everything was where you expected to find
it.  If we had needed to trace through 3-4 layers to understand where
one factoid came from, life would be a lot harder.

I do fully agree with having an agreed dependency graph.   We will
often centralize the 'non-Django' parts of an application as helper
functions inside a python module, inputting and returning just
primitive Python tests, and write unit tests for those.   But that's
more a matter of having a well written "utils.py" in an app than of
reimplementing everything outside of your framework.

Cooperating web services have also helped deal with the interfaces
problem.  Big hairy corporate systems are often broken down now into
reasonable sized chunks that POST and GET to each other, so you don't
need quite so many layers and adapters in the code of any one of them.


Just my grumpy-old-man 2p worth.
-- 
Andy Robinson
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[python-uk] Python Developers - ReportLab, Wimbledon, London

[Andy Robinson]

ReportLab are one of oldest Python firms in the UK.  We are looking
for high-calibre individuals to join us in Wimbledon (South-West
London), UK, for immediate start.

Reportlab offers a chance to work on world-beating technology with
very high quality mentors, a first class customer base and enormous
potential for growth.   We are looking for people who are smart, get
things done and are good team players.  We will consider people with
extensive experience, as well as those at the start of their careers.

All of the following skills are of interest - although we don't expect
anyone to have all of them:

* Python programming - or evidence of ability to learn multiple languages
* Good analysis skills - the ability to listen to customers, figure
out where the value lies, and help decide what to build in the first
place
* Understanding of web frameworks, databases, XML
* CSS and HTML
* Javascript programming
* Have the common sense to know when coding is NOT the answer and the
ability to communicate clearly with non-programmers
* Common practices in agile, open-source-style development
* Ubuntu or similar sysadmin experience
* Design skills (web and/or print)
* Mobile development (HTML5/tablet/handheld)

Our work covers the full stack from front-end through to server-side
development, in a modern open source environment. We use Python,
Django and MySQL on all common platforms, jquery and similar libraries
for rich interfaces, as well as our own products for PDF generation.
In 2013 we expect to be working on..
* hosted systems to generate personalised documents and data graphics
for clients
* an exciting SAAS offering
* our open source and commercial PDF libraries, used by thousands worldwide
* major web applications for financial clients, including mobile development

We are based in Wimbledon Village, in one of the nicest corners of
London, with beautiful views and just 200m from Wimbledon Common.  If
you want to avoid the London commute, there are numerous options
nearby.  We also have showers and changing facilities on site and are
just 200m from the common, for those who seek a healthy lifestyle.


Salary range is £20k-£35k depending on experience.

Please email a CV to vacanc...@reportlab.com.  If you email me
directly, you have failed in our trademarked "can this person follow
simple instructions?" rapid screening process.

If you don't have a CV up to date but are interested, please drop a
note anyway as we will be interviewing before Christmas.

Strictly no agencies, please.  We will only talk to direct applicants.


Best Regards,


-- 
Andy Robinson
Managing Director
ReportLab Europe Ltd.
Thornton House, Thornton Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 4NG, UK
Tel +44-20-8405-6420
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Re: [python-uk] Python Developers - ReportLab, Wimbledon, London

[Andy Robinson]

On 11 December 2012 10:51, Andy Robinson  wrote:
> We are looking for people who are smart, get
> things done and are good team players.


For all employers out there  my HR guru goes to all the seminars
on employment law, and is very current on what we can and cannot do.
She has told me that our latest round of ads are wrong because
explicitly asking for SMART people is discriminatory against THICK
people.   You can ask about skills, but not about innate
characteristics like age or sex (which we all know), and apparently,
now, brains.

Anyone else heard this kind of total bollocks lately?  ;-)

- Andy
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Re: [python-uk] Python Developers - ReportLab, Wimbledon, London

[Andy Robinson]

On 11 December 2012 11:45, Matt Hamilton  wrote:
> We just submitted a job ad to a University placement scheme site and there 
> was a whole load of info there about what you can and can't say. e.g. you 
> couldn't ask for someone 'energetic' as it implied ageism. *facepalm* I 
> remember a while back someone from aUniversity IT dept looking at me in 
> horror at our job advert. They said they had to ask *exactly* the same 
> questions of each candidate regardless of how the candidate answered or 
> whether relevant or not. Seemed to me impossible to actually assess someone's 
> ability or suitability if they were that strict.
>

Brilliant.  I wonder if the same rules apply to students and academics
they interview?
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Re: [python-uk] Python Developers - ReportLab, Wimbledon, London

[Andy Robinson]

As the original poster, this has prompted me to check and I was quite
surprised to see that average salaries have risen by 13% in the last
year alone.

However, to be clear
1. The salaries in these surveys are presumably averaged across all
stages of peoples' 40 year careers
2. We are a fairly small business, we have enough 'old hands' already,
and we are mostly looking for people earlier in their careers
3. We are not looking for any one person with all of those skills,
just saying that those are all skills of interest.
4. Everything is negotiable

Best Regards,

-- 
Andy Robinson
Managing Director
ReportLab Europe Ltd.
Thornton House, Thornton Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 4NG, UK
Tel +44-20-8405-6420
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Re: [python-uk] Python Developers - ReportLab, Wimbledon, London

[Andy Robinson]

Russel, I actually had a read of the Equality and Diversity Act 2010.

It defines seven "protected characteristics": age, disability, gender
reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation,
marriage and civil partnership and pregnancy and maternity.

I cannot find anything in it to say that we can't try to hire smart,
capable people.



- Andy
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[python-uk] The perils of reply-to

[Andy Robinson]

As a list admin I supposed I ought to ask this again.

Currently the emails are set to 'reply to the list' by default.   It
used to be 'reply to sender' but too many people found they were doing
just that and cutting off conversations, so a few years ago there was
a general vote to change it.

In the light of this morning's, er, entertainment, are the Python
developers on this list (well, all but one of them...) happy with the
way it currently works?

Best Regards,

-- 
Andy Robinson
Managing Director
ReportLab Europe Ltd.

(I think I am still a list admin...)
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Re: [python-uk] The perils of reply-to

[Andy Robinson]

On 3 January 2013 11:57, Jonathan Lange  wrote:
>
> http://www.unicom.com/pw/reply-to-harmful.html makes a compelling case
> for choosing 'reply to sender' over 'reply to the list'.
>

Yes, I think the mailman user interface points to this article as well
and recommends the default of 'reply to sender'.

But we had this discussion a few years ago and a clear majority of
people asked for it to be kept the current way.  It still seems this
way.

- Andy
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Re: [python-uk] The perils of reply-to

[Andy Robinson]

On 3 January 2013 17:07, Jon Ribbens  wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 03, 2013 at 04:41:27PM +, Antonio Cavallo wrote:
>> like this?
>>
>> http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=50e5b456e4b04de5024a
>
> I don't want either of those options, I want the proper, standard
> list behaviour, which is "Reply-To unchanged from the sender's email".
> ___

For your info here are the relevant options from the mailman screen

Reply-To: header munging
--
Should any existing Reply-To: header found in the original message be
stripped? If so, this will be done regardless of whether an explict
Reply-To: header is added by Mailman or not.

Options:  Yes or No (currently 'No')


Where are replies to list messages directed? Poster is strongly
recommended for most mailing lists.

Options:   Poster | This list | Explicit address  (currently "This list")

Explicit Reply-To: header.
[box to fill in if used, currently empty]

--


- Andy
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Re: [python-uk] Python Trademark at Risk in Europe

[Andy Robinson]

G!!

I'll attempt to muster all my righteous indignation and write a letter
this weekend - also happy to contribute some money for lawyers.  If
anyone needs a 'Mr. Angry' to go and testify anywhere I would be happy
to.

Just a thought - surely the long track record of EuroPython
conferences must count for a lot within the EU?

I can probably work in the following...
- first person organising Python community technical meetings in
London, back to 1996
- (co) author of a book with Python in the title in 2000 - OK, it was
published by O'Reilly but it was promoted and on sale here
- first company based entirely on Python software, 2000 onwards,
evangelising the use of the language in UK etc etc
- 'chaired' UK Python Conference (albeit as a track somewhat under the
radar within the ACCU, but I can downplay) for about 5 years from 2002
onwards

Andy Robinson
ReportLab
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[python-uk] Posting is for members - please remember which email you use!

[Andy Robinson]

I have approved quite a lot of emails today and yesterday from
well-known UK Pythonauts, which were blocked for "posting by
non-members to members-only lists".Luckily, I have been around and
not manic.   If you have multiple email addresses, can you try to
either remember which one is registered with the list and use that, or
sign up again with your new one?

Thanks,

--
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Re: [python-uk] Suggestions / best practices for deployment

[Andy Robinson]

Harry, are you anywhere near London?  If so, you would be welcome to
pop into ReportLab some time and we could tell you endless war stories
about deployment.  I remember giving a talk on the subject at
EuroPython in 2003 and basically scaring the hell out of all the small
startups present about how much of their time would be wasted on this
in coming years.

Each team evolves their own practices, and a lot depends on whether
you have one team working on one project or (like us) you have
anywhere from 10-20 systems and are battling to keep them all deployed
in a consistent way, as all the other tools around you (Python, pip,
Django, wsgi etc) all insist on continuing to evolve around you.  One
big headache is that pip almost-works but can't handle a few packages
(numpy).

We have four key and separate areas:
1. How do you set up a server?
2. How should a developer / tester set up their new machine?
3. How to install a new project on a server?
4. How to set up a local development environment for a project?
(which often involves automatically copying down recent snapshots of
live data and files, to reproduce the live environment).


Probably worth a look at the recent "Two Scoops of Django" book which
has some good points on best practices.



On 15 May 2013 10:57, Harry Percival  wrote:
> Dear UK Python chums,
>
> some of you probably know I'm writing a book about TDD for O'Reilly.  I'm
> looking for some help with the (first) chapter on deployment.
>
> http://www.obeythetestinggoat.com/what-to-say-about-deployment.html
>
> What do you use for deployment?  Do you have any kind of automated scripts?
> How do you manage virtualenvs, the database, apache/uwsgi config... What do
> you think might work as a sort of "best practice lite" for a simple site for
> beginners?  (django, sqlite database, static files)
>
> --
> --
> Harry J.W. Percival
> --
> Twitter: @hjwp
> Mobile:  +44 (0) 78877 02511
> Skype: harry.percival
>
> ___
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>



-- 
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Re: [python-uk] Suggestions / best practices for deployment

[Andy Robinson]

Speaking as a relatively obsolete dinosaur, I would suggest that if
you are going to discuss specific deployment practices, you start with
the most fundamental ones:  SSH, the unix shell and so on.

We have had issues over the years with people coming in and
introducing sexy new deployment tools, but ultimately they all just
run unix commands.  Anyone managing a web application in the
non-microsoft world is ultimately depending on this.  Some key skills
(assuming a Linux/Mac/Unix-ish environment):
- know about SSH keys and logging into remote machines
- know the basics of at least one command line editor (e.g. vi)
- basic shell knowledge:  environment variables, testing for existence
of files and directories etc
- how to interact with your database from the command line, if you use
one (including dump and restore)
- how your web server works: starting, stopping, configuration files,
where log files live and how it talks to Python

Fabric may be useful if you want to control half a dozen machines from
your desktop, and it might add a lot of value if you want to control a
hundred of them.  But to update one server, you deploy by logging into
it and then running commands or short scripts.

For example, we have a 'demo site' we rebuild pretty often that uses
Django, MYSQL, Celery and a few other things.  It runs on plain
vanilla Ubuntu machines we build ourselves.  The sequence is...

1. Log in via SSH
2. CD to correct directory
3. activate virtual environment
4. stop any celery worker processes
5. stop web server processes (* in our setup, we leave Apache running)
6. pull latest code from mercurial - both the app, and 3-4 libraries
it depends on
7. run a management command to rebuild the database
8. run a smallish in-place test suite
9. restart celery workers
10.restart web server
11. log out

All of this after the login and CD can be handled by a shell script on
the path of the server, so you can just run a command called something
like
  ./update_server

More realistically, we tend to end up with a management shell script
called 'server' with a bunch of commands/arguments like 'stop / start
/ restart / update-code-in-staging / copy-live-data-to-staging /
run-health-checks / swap-live-and-staging' and so on.  SSH can execute
remote commands like this just fine with the right arguments, if
actually logging in is too tedious.

Production sites are complex and all different.  You might want to do
instantaneous swaps from live to staging (and be able to back out fast
if stuff goes wrong); to switch DNS so the world is looking at another
server while you update one; you might have large databases to copy or
migrate that need significant time; it may or may not be acceptable to
lose sessions and have downtime; and so on.


It takes less time to learn the fundamentals than you will spend
debugging why your fancy new deployment tool stopped working after
some Python dependency upgrade somewhere.   And it is less likely that
your new hires will disagree if you stick with the lowest common
denominator.

If you already know the fundamentals and make an informed decision to
use a popular deployment tool, that's fine.  Just take the time to
write down why you use it in your docs so people will know if its no
longer appropriate one day.

---

So, my 2p worth is that in the book you might want to show a
Linux/Apache setup, discuss what kind of scripts ought to exist on the
box for managing it, discuss concerns you MIGHT need to address during
deployment, and tell people to automate it.   Then point out that
there are many popular higher-level tools.

- Andy
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Re: [python-uk] Suggestions / best practices for deployment

[Andy Robinson]

Daniel, who are you disagreeing with?   Everyone here agrees on
automation, I think.

- Andy



On 18 May 2013 12:24, Daniel Pope  wrote:
> I thoroughly disagree with those who are saying that for small
> installations, it's less time-consuming to do things manually. A
> deployment/provisioning system gives you reproducibility - an executable
> record of how to re-create a server configuration or re-run a deployment
> without missing anything. The number of times I've spent 20 minutes
> wondering what I've missed all add up - that is why it automation breaks
> even so rapidly.
>
> Of course, you (or your employers) might have other reasons to want
> automation:
>
> - so that your deployment/provisioning is subject to automated testing,
> version control, code review, etc
> - so that you can build replicas of production servers for development,
> testing or disaster recovery
> - so that you can smash and rebuild a compromised or faulty machine without
> wasting time
> - so that you can deploy a dozen times a day and get features or fixes into
> the hands of your users
>
>
> On 17 May 2013 15:39, M.-A. Lemburg  wrote:
>>
>> On 16.05.2013 17:46, Andy Robinson wrote:
>> > Speaking as a relatively obsolete dinosaur, I would suggest that if
>> > you are going to discuss specific deployment practices, you start with
>> > the most fundamental ones:  SSH, the unix shell and so on.
>> >
>> > We have had issues over the years with people coming in and
>> > introducing sexy new deployment tools, but ultimately they all just
>> > run unix commands.  Anyone managing a web application in the
>> > non-microsoft world is ultimately depending on this.  Some key skills
>> > (assuming a Linux/Mac/Unix-ish environment):
>> > - know about SSH keys and logging into remote machines
>> > - know the basics of at least one command line editor (e.g. vi)
>> > - basic shell knowledge:  environment variables, testing for existence
>> > of files and directories etc
>> > - how to interact with your database from the command line, if you use
>> > one (including dump and restore)
>> > - how your web server works: starting, stopping, configuration files,
>> > where log files live and how it talks to Python
>> >
>> > Fabric may be useful if you want to control half a dozen machines from
>> > your desktop, and it might add a lot of value if you want to control a
>> > hundred of them.  But to update one server, you deploy by logging into
>> > it and then running commands or short scripts.
>> >
>> > For example, we have a 'demo site' we rebuild pretty often that uses
>> > Django, MYSQL, Celery and a few other things.  It runs on plain
>> > vanilla Ubuntu machines we build ourselves.  The sequence is...
>> >
>> > 1. Log in via SSH
>> > 2. CD to correct directory
>> > 3. activate virtual environment
>> > 4. stop any celery worker processes
>> > 5. stop web server processes (* in our setup, we leave Apache running)
>> > 6. pull latest code from mercurial - both the app, and 3-4 libraries
>> > it depends on
>> > 7. run a management command to rebuild the database
>> > 8. run a smallish in-place test suite
>> > 9. restart celery workers
>> > 10.restart web server
>> > 11. log out
>> >
>> > All of this after the login and CD can be handled by a shell script on
>> > the path of the server, so you can just run a command called something
>> > like
>> >   ./update_server
>> >
>> > More realistically, we tend to end up with a management shell script
>> > called 'server' with a bunch of commands/arguments like 'stop / start
>> > / restart / update-code-in-staging / copy-live-data-to-staging /
>> > run-health-checks / swap-live-and-staging' and so on.  SSH can execute
>> > remote commands like this just fine with the right arguments, if
>> > actually logging in is too tedious.
>> >
>> > Production sites are complex and all different.  You might want to do
>> > instantaneous swaps from live to staging (and be able to back out fast
>> > if stuff goes wrong); to switch DNS so the world is looking at another
>> > server while you update one; you might have large databases to copy or
>> > migrate that need significant time; it may or may not be acceptable to
>> > lose sessions and have downtime; and so on.
>> >
>> >
>> > It takes less time to learn the fundamentals than you will spend
>> > d

Re: [python-uk] Suggestions / best practices for deployment

[Andy Robinson]

On 20 May 2013 15:40, MikedePlume  wrote:
> Interesting that the subject veers towards system design. I use FCGI
> myself and the restart can be entirely non-root.  Provisioning then
> includes adding the FCGI reference into the server config.
>

I'm glad we're not the only ones.   We have been very happy with FCGI
for 6 years now for exactly these reasons.

--
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Re: [python-uk] Suggestions / best practices for deployment

[Andy Robinson]

On 20 May 2013 14:51, Harry Percival  wrote:
> Also, question for django people:  static files, as collected by "manage.py
> collectstatic":  in the repo, or not?

No.  It's a deployment step.

It's REALLY useful to have a small set of "functional tests" which can
be run in a live web app.  For example, for an online purchase
process, you might have a selenium test which steps right through a
purchase using a known "only for tests" account or credit card number.
 And it's an absolute lifesaver to have a bunch of CSS/JS URLs you hit
to verify a 200, so you don't go live with half your javascript
missing due to some static/media mixup in a settings file.

Once you have something like this, you can quickly check that your
deployment (whether to UAT, staging or live) actually worked.

I don't know what this kind of testing is called though ;-)

- Andy
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Re: [python-uk] Reading list

[Andy Robinson]

I have learned a surprising amount on the beach over the years.
Usually I muddle through some technology during the rest of the year
picking up bits and pieces, then read a book end to end on the beach
and actually have time to grasp the fundamentals and a lot of best
practices, and I think "why didn't I do that sooner?".

I would suggest
1. Read the official Python tutorial.   It's as good as many books, and free.
2. Google's Python class.  A few hours of structured exercises, gets
you doing something.
3. Set yourself a problem or project using a popular library.If
you're interested in web development, you might want to work through
the Django tutorial.   If you deal with servers, write something to
parse log files and do some interesting stats.  If you just want
Python on your CV, use ReportLab's library to generate a CV in PDF.

You will probably be over the hump in a very small number of evenings.


On 26 June 2013 13:34, Tim Diggins  wrote:
>>
>> However, is fancy book learning the best method to learn?
>>
> only recommended method if learning in the bath / on the beach ;-)
>
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Re: [python-uk] copyright info in source

[Andy Robinson]

On 9 September 2013 14:18, Jonathan Hartley  wrote:
> They'd like me to include a license and copyright info in every source file
> (including empty __init__.py files).

I have had this with big companies before, long ago.  It may actually
be sufficient to have one line saying something like...

"Copyright Jonathan Hartley 2013.  MIT-style license; see
mypackage/LICENSE.TXT for details"

- Andy
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Re: [python-uk] copyright info in source

[Andy Robinson]

On 9 September 2013 19:53, Russel Winder  wrote:
> The licence statement has to be in each and every individual file since
> in UK and USA law each file is deemed a separate work.
>

Russel, thanks.  That's interesting.

The practical issue is "how not to forget over time".  A test in a
test suite, or a hook in a setup /release script which walks the files
and warns you would be very useful for anyone who has to do this.   We
used to have a subversion commit hook once upon a time, but DVCS made
it trickier.




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Re: [python-uk] Posting about seeking work?

[Andy Robinson]

Absolutely OK.   Just describe your abilities/experience or link to a
CV, and I imagine you will be mobbed by eager Python firms and
recruiters within minutes ;-)

On 3 March 2014 12:41,   wrote:
>
> Is it considered appropriate to post about seeking work? The about
> page for the list suggests it is
>
> This list is to help UK Python users to form a community, arrange
> events, advertise help or jobs wanted or sought and generally
> chat.
>
> but it always seems a bit awkward busting out with "hey, I'm looking
> for work" when most of the postings are about other things.
>
> I am, in fact, looking for work but will refrain from posting details
> unless people say something along the lines of "yeah, that's okay".
>
> Thanks.
>
> --
> Chris Dent   http://burningchrome.com/
> [...]
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[python-uk] Announcing classics.reportlab.com

[Andy Robinson]

Good afternoon, everyone,

We have just built a free site to do some fun things with the complete
works of Shakespeare in PDF (and maybe other sources soon).  I hope
this will be genuinely useful to lots of people (as well as dropping
the hint about what we do...).

 http://classics.reportlab.com/

If anyone here knows people in the English teaching or drama worlds
who might actually find this useful, I would be most grateful if you
could ...
   * pass the link on
   * like it on facebook
   * tweet about it


Best Regards,




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Re: [python-uk] Announcing the 5th anniversary London Python Code Dojo

[Andy Robinson]

On 28 August 2014 12:15, Harry Percival  wrote:
> Totally over being embarrassed about book signings now.  Nope, not
> embarrassing at all.  Book signings, I'm a real author, I do 'em, sure.
> N problem.

The champagne lifestyle and all the groupies take some getting used
to, don't they?
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Re: [python-uk] [EuroPython-Improve] [pyconuk] [EuroPython-Members] EuroPython Reboot

[Andy Robinson]

Hi all,

As a list admin for the python-uk mailing list, I just approved a few
blocked messages.   If cross-posting from another list, please be
aware that you normally have to join python-uk@python.org to post.

I am sorry I can't be there, nor have I been at any recent EuroPython,
but as a general rule I'll go with John on anything he says.  Nobody
has done more for Python in this country.

- Andy
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Re: [python-uk] Job Ad: Senior Python Engineers -Skimlinks - London

[Andy Robinson]

I'm one of the list admins.  There are a couple of others.  Happy to
make a change if a significant majority feel that way.

However, sometimes accidental replies are the only thing keeping the
list alive ;-)

On 4 February 2015 at 14:12, Sven Marnach  wrote:
> Maybe we could just get rid of the pointless "Reply-To" header?  It can be
> disabled by a list admin on the Mailman admin page.
>
> I get the impression that at least one person per month falls victim to it.
> The reverse, people accidentally answering just to the sender instead of the
> whole list, seems better than people accidentally sending private emails to
> everyone.
>
> Cheers,
> Sven
>
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Re: [python-uk] PyconUK website!

[Andy Robinson]

I have never seen sites built, managed and hosted this way before.  It's
brilliant!  But where's the Python going to go? ;-)

I have to teach a bunch of schoolkids some basic web design this Easter
(front end only).  We started off with concepts of version control, and I
was going to have to bamboozle them with FTP/SCP onto low end hosting
sites.   This totally removes the need and will force them to use version
control properly from day one.  The idea that merging into a master branch
IS deployment is wonderful.

- Andy
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Re: [python-uk] Travelling to EuroPython 2015 by boat?

[Andy Robinson]

> Are you motivated by cost, adventure, or something else?

Maybe 20 uninterrupted hours to sort out some slides?  ;-)
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Re: [python-uk] Python in education

[Andy Robinson]

Does anyone know what textbooks are being used for the new computing
GCSE, which apparently uses Python?

This must be the best opportunity ever for a few good Python authors
and for O'Reilly - or another publisher who beats them to it ;-)

- Andy





On 17 April 2015 at 12:56, SW  wrote:
> It has certainly started off well, but now I need to get back to doing the
> stuff that gets me paid for the afternoon so I'll have to read more later.
>
> Perhaps the people at O'Reilly have decided that they'll be out of business
> in 10 years? If not, their higher ups should really understand that trying
> to promote better technical education in schools will increase the
> attractiveness of their offerings over time.
>
> There I go bringing this 'logic' thing in again. I'll stop!
>
> S
>>
>> Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2015 16:09:02 +0100
>> From: "Nicholas H.Tollervey" 
>> To: python-uk@python.org
>> Subject: [python-uk] Python in Education - now available
>> Message-ID: <552fd08e.70...@ntoll.org>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>>
>> Hi Folks,
>>
>> Apologies for the shameless plug, but I just realised I've not mentioned
>> this to anyone in the UK!
>>
>> My FREE short report for O'Reilly on Python in Education is available
>> here:
>>
>> http://www.oreilly.com/programming/free/python-in-education.csp
>>
>> If lots of people download it then O'Reilly might finally get the
>> message that tech-education is an important sub-category (my editor is
>> trying to push this but seems to hit blank faces from higher-ups,
>> apparently number of unique downloads matters). ;-)
>>
>> Many many thanks to UK based Pythonistas: Carrie Anne Philbin, Naomi
>> Ceder and Tim Golden for their proof reading of an early version.
>>
>> All feedback most welcome!
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> Nicholas.
>>
>>
>
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Re: [python-uk] UK based Pythonistas as candidates for the PSF board

[Andy Robinson]

I think Marc-Andre Lemburg he has really earned his place over the
decades.  He has always been polite and constructive and desires a
Eurovision-style block vote!

BTW I was once asked to be on the PSF board, when it was first set up,
and turned it down.  ReportLab was one of the earliest UK python shops
and I know all the old-timers (Guido, David Ascher etc) from the
earliest days.Main reason was family commitments which prevented
attending events, and I have done bugger all for the community since
about 2006.  The good news is that kid #1 finishes exams forever in 2
weeks, and kid #2 finishes GCSEs in six weeks, at which point life
gets more manageable, and I hope to get out to a lot more community
events and conferences and start contributing again.So if you are
really keen to have an extra nomination I wouldn't mind, but I am not
going to press for it either.


Andy Robinson
ReportLab.

On 4 May 2015 at 12:55, Zeth  wrote:
> Yep those two and Marc-Andre Lemburg who has done a lot for PyConUK
> over the years, are there any other UK/nearby candidates? I for one
> want to use my vote to balance the board geographically (i.e. a board
> compromised of not just US West Coast people, as beautiful as they all
> are).
>
> On 2 May 2015 at 10:33, Nicholas H.Tollervey  wrote:
>> Hey there!
>>
>> In case you hadn't noticed, the upcoming PSF board election has both
>> Carrie Anne Philbin and Naomi Ceder (both UK based Pythonistas who put a
>> lot of work into our community) as candidates.
>>
>> Yay and best of luck to both Carrie Anne and Naomi.
>>
>> If you have PSF voting rights, please remember to vote (I've just
>> submitted mine - no prizes for guessing who I voted for)..!
>>
>> :-)
>>
>> All the best,
>>
>> Nicholas.
>>
>>
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[python-uk] Social auth, polling and surveys

[Andy Robinson]

Hi all,

Does anyone here having experience recently of building systems which
used python-social-auth?

We're looking at a "good cause" project to help recruit a lot of
participants to a survey, ask them to ask their friends, to do a
certain amount of "votey-uppey-votey-downey-likey" quickly, and
analyse the data.  My team has 8 years experience with Django but more
usually building in-house and corporate apps.   If anyone in the UK
has experience of crowdsourcing, polling and so on, and could spare a
little time to discuss pitfalls and lessons learned, what apps worked
and what weren't worth touching etc, it would be most gratefully
received.  The best thing would be to email me directly (andy at
reportlab dot com) and perhaps I could phone for a chat.   I'm
regrettably working for a chunk of today.

I can't disclose the project details on an open mailing list at this
time, but if it goes ahead, I will

Many thanks,.

Andy Robinson
ReportLab
+44-7725-056175 (today)
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Re: [python-uk] UK based Pythonistas as candidates for the PSF board

[Andy Robinson]

You're right, a quick google says it has all changed since my fuzzy
memories of circa 2003...:

https://www.python.org/psf/membership/

Not sure I want to stump up $2000 now and get on the campaign trail,
I'd probably have to become an advocate for a move to Python 3, which
would involve fending off bankruptcy while we try to upgrade 15 years
worth of corporate apps without our clients' agreement ;-)
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Re: [python-uk] Congratulations Carrie Anne and Naomi

[Andy Robinson]

Congratulations!

- Andy
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Re: [python-uk] Nicholas Tollervey winner of PSF Community Service Award

[Andy Robinson]

Congratulations, Nicholas!

- Andy
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Re: [python-uk] Reminder: The *other* python job board

[Andy Robinson]

Salim, Hyde looks very impressive.

I've been helping a few small communities build sites with Jekyll and
GitHub Pages, where the page generation is done by GitHub after you
commit.  Do you mind me asking what does this for Hyde?  Is some agent
running somewhere else which updates all the pages and commits the lot
after each job is committed?

- Andy
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Re: [python-uk] Reminder: The *other* python job board

[Andy Robinson]

Aha!  Having used Github pages, I had just peeked at the
'pythonjobs.github.io' repo - the output - and not the 'jobs' one
which I now realise is the source.   So under travis, GitHub repos can
access parallel repos - they are just in the directory next door - and
even push to them?  Cool.

Some very nice patterns here.  I love the ContextLog.

I just hope nobody abuses this to use GitHub for large scale batch
processing, as I could imagine them clamping down.


- Andy

On 4 October 2015 at 22:49, Stestagg  wrote:
> Hi Andy
>
> The code's all in the repository! :)
>
> We hook into the travis build system to do this, with some simple scripts.
> On the post-merge-to-main branch travis run, if the tests pass, then it
> pushes the built site files to a separate github repository which is hosted
> as a github pages site.  This uses the travis secret key functionality,
> meaning that anyone can merge-request to the jobs site, but control of the
> templates, build logic, etc, is held in a more restricted repo.
>
> I was meaning to write up our repo/code structure at some point, so may do
> this when I'm back from holidays.
>
> Steve
>
> On Sun, Oct 4, 2015 at 10:39 PM Andy Robinson  wrote:
>>
>> Salim, Hyde looks very impressive.
>>
>> I've been helping a few small communities build sites with Jekyll and
>> GitHub Pages, where the page generation is done by GitHub after you
>> commit.  Do you mind me asking what does this for Hyde?  Is some agent
>> running somewhere else which updates all the pages and commits the lot
>> after each job is committed?
>>
>> - Andy
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Re: [python-uk] Data Wrangling with Python Course

[Andy Robinson]

On 18 April 2016 at 14:00, Tom Wright  wrote:
> Also perhaps some
> of the universities: UCL and London Imperial are probably the big ones, and
> I imagine they have somewhere you can post. If you had issues posting I
> might be able to dig up some contacts for you: I have a friend who did a PhD
> at UCL, and we regularly higher people from imperial.

I'm in touch with some people at UCL building bridges between their
data science department and the outside world.  I'll ping my contact
there and ask...

Andy Robinson
Managing Director
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Re: [python-uk] Coding "Bootcamps"

[Andy Robinson]

I'm a philosophy graduate.  We need summer interns urgently for a
social-venture project, who can write and think clearly right now, and
learn to program on the job, sitting in the room with experienced
devs.  So feel free to put him in touch with us and I'll see if our
project is a good match.


Andy Robinson
Managing Director
ReportLab Europe Ltd.
Thornton House, Thornton Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 4NG, UK
Tel +44-20-8405-6420


On 18 May 2016 at 10:59, John via python-uk  wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> A philosopher friend of mine wants to transition into working as a software
> developer (paying work in philosophy being a bit rare). He lives in London,
> and is considering signing up for one of the Coding "Bootcamps" that various
> organisations run. I wondered if any of you have any recommendations you
> could make, and indeed whether any of these bootcamps teach Python?
>
> Thanks,
>
> John
>
>
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Re: [python-uk] Coding "Bootcamps"

[Andy Robinson]

On 18 May 2016 at 14:18, Andy Robinson  wrote:
> We need summer interns urgently..
In London too...
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Re: [python-uk] Coding "Bootcamps"

[Andy Robinson]

On 18 May 2016 at 15:52, Zeth  wrote:
> My degrees are in econometrics and theology, and I also somehow found
> myself making a living from writing code. I know theology is much more
> practical than philosophy but I am sure the same logic applies*

There was a great Tim Ferriss podcast where he interviewed Alain de
Boton about what philosophy is and whether it's useful.  From memory,
Alain said something like  "If you can ONLY do it in a university and
there are no jobs in the outside world, that's a sign that your
profession has gone off the rails somewhere...".

Although Google did recently hire a philosopher, I believe...
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