PyCon US 2013 Roundup

I went to PyCon US 2013. It was awesome.

Highlights:

• Tutorial on Python 3 Metaprogramming: good thing we were given written notes as I was slightly overwhelmed near the end
• The lightning talks: I hope they put up the videos as Paul
• Tagliamonte's talk on Hy and Ka-Ping Yee's talk on q went off

Talk highlights (from what I've seen):

• How the Internet works
• So you want to write an interpreter?
• Transforming code into beautiful, idiomatic Python
• The TiP BoF was fantastic. Gary Bernhardt's talk (basically on RSpec if I recall correctly), an unexpectedly hilarious Vim plugin called Keyboard Cat, 'Wat' for VimScript and general banter.

Slides and video are available for most talks! If you can't find something which appears in the Program Guide, Lanyrd's collection might have some of what's missing. ^

It was also cool to:

• Meet Alex Gaynor at the New Relic party
• Sit next to Guido van Rossum (Python creator) during a talk
• Sit two rows behind Gary Bernhardt during the TiP BoF.

I stayed for the sprints but found their 'self-organised' nature to be unhelpful. The introductions could have been more structured for newbies like myself (can elaborate if requested).

A+++++ would go again (though if I do, I'll bring a friend).

^ Note the Windows 8 and 'light and sound' talks, and Jessica McKellar's keynote, were cancelled. The light and sound talk was replaced by David Beazley's Python: A 'Toy' Language.