PyLadies at PyCon 2014: tutorial spotlight

Jessica McKellar

January 30, 2014 | Tag: » Conferences, Events, PyCon

PyCon 2014 has a record-setting percentage of women speakers, at 33%, up from last year’s record-setting 20%. The talk schedule has been announced, and tutorial signups are open.

Take a peek at the tutorials offered by PyLadies this year:

Python for Social Scientists — Renee Chu

Many provocative social questions can be answered with data, and datasets are more available than ever. Start working with it here. First we’ll download and visualize one data set from the World Bank Indicators page together, using Matplotlib. Then you’ll have time on your own to pick another data set from any online source and plot that. At the end every person/pair will share what they found.

A hands-on introduction to Python for beginning programmers — Jessica McKellar

Beginning programmers: welcome to PyCon! Jumpstart your Python and programming careers with this 3-hour interactive tutorial. By the end, you’ll have hands-on exposure to many core programming concepts, be able to write useful Python programs, and have a roadmap for continuing to learn and practice programming in Python. This class assumes no prior programming experience.

Django for Web Designers and Front End Developers — Tracy Osborn and Andrey Petrov

Traditional tutorials for Django usually assume some programming experience, but what if someone is learning Python and Django with a HTML/CSS background? This tutorial focuses on the web-based features of Django – templates and the admin – and goes over the basic building blocks of Django programming to get web designers excited and interested in learning more.

Build your own PiDoorbell ! - Learn Home Automation with Python — Rupa Dachere and Akkana Peck

Rupa and Akkana will walk you through the setup/code to build your own super-cool PiDoorbell project to monitor/notify you about visitors at your house. Learn about the RaspberryPi, PiDoorbell software/hardware and build your own PiDoorbell to take home with you! Bring a RaspberryPi, power cord, USB cable (USB camera optional). We will provide the rest of the hardware (wifi, prox. sensor etc.).

Beyond Defaults: Creating Polished Visualizations Using Matplotlib — Hannah Aizenman

When people hear of matplotlib, they think rudimentary graphs that will need to be touched up in photoshop. This tutorial aims to teach attendees how to exploit the functionality provided by various matplotlib libraries to create professional looking data visualizations.

Search 101: An Introduction to Information Retrieval — Christine Spang

Data is everywhere! And most of the time, the best way to find what you want in a pile of data is to search it. In this project-based tutorial, you’ll get an introduction to the basic theory of search and write a program to index and search a collection of Wikipedia documents using the Whoosh library. You’ll leave with the ability to add search functionality to all of your own projects.

Let’s Learn Twisted Python — Aurynn Shaw

Let’s Learn Twisted is a short 3-hour tutorial covering the basics of writing a Twisted Python client-server application using Twisted Python’s Factory and Endpoint APIs to construct a peer-to-peer chat and RPC network.

Contribute with me! Getting started with open source development — Jessica McKellar

Want to contribute to a Python project or the core language, but not sure where to start? Join us for 3 hours learning the nuts and bolts of open source contribution. By the end of this tutorial, you’ll have the tools and practice to confidently contribute to your favorite projects. Beginning programmers are welcome and encouraged!

Tutorials will fill up, so sign up today: https://us.pycon.org/2014/schedule/tutorials/