Djangonaut Lunch in Crystal City

Django and Python developers from NASA and PBS will be gathering along with various Django/Python friends for lunch this Friday (October 2, 2009) in Crystal City, Virginia. We should also have representation from the Python Software Foundation. Join us for an afternoon meal to discuss Django, Python, local collaboration, and various other community activities.

Details are as follows:

Time:
Friday, October 2, 2009 at 1:00 PM

Restaurant:
Kora restaurant | bar | lounge
571-431-7090
2250-B Crystal Drive
Arlington, VA 22202

Reservations were made in the name of Katie Cunningham.

If you intend to come, please let us know in the comments.

Something I learned at DjangoCon

That is me in the blue shirt doing Capoeira! The other videos aren't as good as this one. Of course, in general I look pretty sloppy - something I will have to fix!

I found what might be a pretty good place in DC for doing Capoeira, the aptly named Capoeira DC. I'm really thinking of getting into this, at least on Saturday afternoons.

Django brought me to Capoeira. Another reason for the world to use Django!

Looking for work?

Looks like we are hiring again! Who are we? We are contractors for NASA's Science Mission Directorate! We are looking for Django developers or experienced Python developers who want to learn Django to come and help us do awesome stuff for NASA. Experience with CSS, JavaScript, Subversion, Linux, and experience with contributing to open source projects are definite pluses.

Before you apply you need to pass this little test of mine. If you fail any portion of this test we won't consider hiring you.

1. Are you a U.S Citizen? Yes, there are brilliant non-U.S. Citizens we really want to hire but according to the unchangeable rules we can't hire them. No exceptions. You need to be a U.S. Citizen.
2. Can you get to the office? You need to be able to get into Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia every day of the work week. No telecommuters!
3. Do you know Python? Sorry, but we aren't looking for Foxpro developers.
   
4. Are you a developer? I will throw away anything from a recruiter.
5. Can you send your resume to my email address?

The email address you need to send it to can be generated by running these two lines of code:

numbers = [100, 97, 110, 105, 101, 108, 46, 103, 114, 101, 101, 110, 102, 101, 108, 100, 45, 49, 64, 110, 97, 115, 97, 46, 103, 111, 118]

''.join([chr(x) for x in numbers])

Pycon talk thoughts

Back at the start of this month I posted my thoughts about sessions I was considering giving at Pycon 2010. They ones I've killed are:

• How to suffer through SOAP web services using Python even though REST is so much better (I might be too bitter for this one).

The general response to this one has been that SOAP is icky. I think SOAP is icky. Why should I present on a topic I loathe and I'm mildly bitter about? So I'm not going to do this presentation.

• Why I like stupid template languages (expanding on a tangent of this article).

I think this might make for a good NOVA-DUG talk or a blog rant but I don't think it would work for a pycon talk. So we'll consider it nixed.

• Lets move widgets into HTML templates and out of python code! Modern JavaScript libraries makes this easy!

I think this design pattern makes for a good NOVA-DUG talk or a blog post. Not enough for a pycon talk.

The one I submitted to Pycon:

• A reprise of the Pinax tutorial at DjangoCon

I've already submitted this to Pycon. It went well enough at DjangoCon and we've already made changes to things so its just plain better.

The one I'm considering:

• Why and how to make accessible508 compliant AJAXified python applications.

Actually, this one is interesting. The focus would be on things and focus on 508/accessibility issues and degradable AJAX. I would explain why 508/accessibility is important. I would demonstrate how to construct an examples using several python frameworks (Django, TurboGears, and repoze.BFG come to mind) and maybe more than one JavaScript framework (JQuery, YUI, et al).

I could certainly give that talk in 30 or 45 minutes. My concern though is just plain getting ready for the talk. It would be a lot of work in research of unfamiliar frameworks and just plain coming up with working material. Add to that selling of the house, work on a professional side project, running NOVA-DUG, working a full time job, my normal teaching schedule, leading the Django Education Foundation forward, maybe starting up Capoeira, and maybe doing some things for the Django Software Foundation, and I'm not seeing it in my schedule.

One more thing: at Pycon I want to learn! I'm not sure I want to be involved in giving too many talks since those will eat precious listening time.

I think what I will do for now cook this up as a Django + JQuery + 508 presentation for NOVA-DUG and see where it takes me.

Slides from DjangoCon 2009

James Tauber and I presented a tutorial at DjangoCon. The presentation well until a gaff near the end. We are changing things a bit and presenting this again at Pycon (if we are accepted). My slides are up!

http://www.slideshare.net/pydanny/pinax-tutorial-090909

Bonus points to anyone who identifies the mistakes in the slides.

Pycon talk proposal reminder

If you want to present a talk at Pycon 2010, you've got a mere fourteen days to make a proposal. Hurry up and get cracking on what you want to present before its too late. And remember, the more proposals we get the better Pycon will be!

More importantly, if you get your proposal accepted then you earn major Python community street creditability. Recruiters will smash down your door in the middle of the night in the hopes of interviewing you. You'll be followed by groupies and a posse of yes-men (and women). And Alex Gaynor will be your friend.

Show me your open source Django CMS

Want your open source CMS to be tried out by NASA SMD?

Django comes from the CMS world, and rolling your own isn't that hard. Nevertheless, we don't want to reinvent the wheel, so this is a solicitation for open source Django CMS efforts with active communities.

Our requirements:

• Must be powered by Django.
• Most be open source.
  
• Follows Django/Python best practices.
• Must be extensible.
  
• Elegant user interface.
  
• Renders humanely in FF, Safari, and IE 7, and 8. IE6 is a definite plus.
• Section 508 compliant or at least pretty close.
  
• No patching of Django to make things work.
• Must be able to run with PostgreSQL and MySQL.
• Must have an active community. Which means that commits to the CMS need to have happened within the last two months.
• You must provide a featured sites list to be even considered as an option.
  

Make your entries in the comments to this blog. If we pick your tool we'll give you full credit for your hard work.