Talks

The development process of Python

Python is an open source language, where everyone can contribute, and thanks to Mercurial now it’s even easier. With this talk I want to unveil what happens “behind the scenes” of CPython and how you can get involved and be part of the open source community that allows Python to be one of the most popular programming languages.

I will explain:

Presented at the Helsinki Python Sprint 2014, EuroPython 2011/2010, PyCon 4 IT.

The source of the talk is available on Bitbucket.

The old slides used at EuroPython/PyCon IT are also available.

Video (from EuroPython 2011): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuH4ZpoZBYM

Generators and Decorators

A short introduction on two of the most useful Python features: generators and decorators.

The presentation includes several examples and definitions that will help you understand both the behavior and the concepts.

The source of the talk is available on Bitbucket.

Understanding encodings

Working with Unicode and encodings might be confusing, but every developer must know how they work. Even if the full Unicode standard is actually quite complex, only a few basic concepts are really necessary to work with Python and Unicode:

This talk aims to explain these concepts. Best practices for using Unicode, the current status of Unicode in Python 2 and 3, and latest Unicode-related updates (e.g. PEP393 - Flexible string representation) will also be discussed. The talk is suitable for both new developers that are not yet familiar with Unicode and for experienced developers that want to understand better what’s going on under the hood.

Presented at EuroPython 2013 and PyCon Finland 2011.

The source of the talk is available on Bitbucket.

The old slides used at PyCon FI are also available.

Video from EuroPython 2013: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdVypb05VOI

Video from PyCon FI 2011: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-m0dP_anUY

What's new in Python 3.3

Python 3.3 is the latest release of Python 3, and it introduces several improvements over 3.2. The list ranges from new syntax features, new modules, and the implementation of over a dozen of PEPs (Python Enhancement Proposals). Hundred of bugs have been fixed since the release of Python 3.2, and new features have been added to over 30 modules.

The goal of this talk is to summarize and present these changes.

Presented at PyCon Finland 2012.

Unicode and Python 3

With Python 3 "everything you thought you knew about binary data and Unicode has changed".

Now that the strings are Unicode by default and it is no longer possible to mix them with byte strings, knowing and being able to use Unicode has became fundamental in order to work with Python. Therefore, this year, the talk will focus on the changes introduced in Python 3 regarding Unicode.

A theoretical section widely supported by examples (in Python) will provide a solid background that will allow everyone — even those who are not familiar with Unicode — to follow and understand the talk. The most common problems (encoding and decoding, avoiding and handling UnicodeErrors, knowing and using the different encodings) will then be analysed, along with the differences between Python 2 and Python 3. Several examples of interaction with the real world (terminal, web pages, sockets, filesystems) and techniques to use while porting the code from Python 2 and Python 3 will also be exposed.

By the end of the talk you will be able to use Unicode correctly, taking advantage of all its potential, with both Python 2 and Python 3.

Presented at PyCon 3 IT.

Video (in Italian): http://www.viddler.com/v/c53b08f1