[PyAR2] Getting to know you

[Sagar Mysorekar]

Hi Friends:
 
I am Sagar Mysorekar. I work as a GIS Specialist for the Nature
Conservancy's Little Rock office. I am a beginner in programming. I came
across Python while working with ArcGIS software. I played with it
little bit to modify the existing code cater to my needs. I really liked
what I did with Python. 
 
I am interested in using Python for GIS. But after looking at several
e-mails from fellow PYAR group, I realized that there is a lot that
Python can do. So I am also interested in learning the other stuff that
one can do using Python, especially integrating it with .Net and web
technologies.
 
Thank you for the opportunity.
 
Enthusiastically,
 
Sagar R. Mysorekar
 
Sagar R Mysorekar
GIS Specialist                          
smysorekar at tnc.org <mailto:lsmysorekar at tnc.org> 
(501) 614-5099 (Phone) 
(501) 663-8332 (Fax) 

nature.org <http://nature.org/>
<http://nature.org/images/emailsig_pixel.gif>   	 The Nature
Conservancy
Arkansas Field Office 
601 N. University Ave.
Little Rock, AR 72205
	     	  <http://nature.org/images/emailsig_logo.gif> 	
 

________________________________

From: pyar2-bounces at python.org [mailto:pyar2-bounces at python.org] On
Behalf Of Derek Horton
Sent: Friday, November 16, 2007 3:16 PM
To: pyar2 at python.org
Subject: Re: [PyAR2] Getting to know you


Howdy!  My name is Derek and I'm a recovering Perl programmer.  :)  I've
been using Python on pretty much everything I can (which hasn't been
just a whole lot unfortunately) for the past year and a half or so.  So,
I still consider myself a Python newbie. 
 
I have to admit though that the first time I looked at Python I walked
away unimpressed due to the whitespace delimiting and the lack of curly
brackets.  Then I used another scripting language for a while and came
running back for the cleanliness of the whitespaces.  
 
I also like the "batteries included" thing about python.  Need to
download something from the web...import urllib, need to write some unit
tests...import unittest.  Nice!!
 
Oh, yeah, I'm also an "object oriented puke weenie", so I like Python's
support for OO.
 
I work for Acxiom and have for the past 8 years or so.  I mostly code in
C++ and some Perl, but I'm trying to use Python anyway and anywhere I
can.  I'm mainly interested in backend processing and middleware, but
here lately I've been trying to get back into some web development. 
 
Later,
Derek
 
On 11/15/07, Greg Lindstrom <gslindstrom at gmail.com> wrote: 

	At the end of today we have 26 members of our humble mailing
list.  To say I'm pleased would be quite an understatement. 
	
	About a week ago, Chad Cooper wrote me asking what had become of
previous efforts to create a Python Users Group in Arkansas.  I have
attempted to create one on two separate occasions and both fizzled
pretty quickly.  With Chad's encouragement -- and he is quite
enthusiastic as I'm sure you will discover -- we decided to try again,
still believing there were other Pythonistas in Arkansas.  Seeing the
list grow today really has me excited. 
	
	There are a lot of things I like about Python, and many of them
have nothing to do with the language!  I have always liked the sense of
community Python has fostered.  Alas, with the growth of the community I
think we are losing the 'unconditional friendliness' and heading towards
more traditional mailing lists with flame wars and more hostile
responses; especially to newbies.  While this is *our* list (not
belonging to Chad or me), I would like us to strive for a spirit closer
to the original comp.lang.python, where the most outrageous flame I ever
received was "really, Greg, Google is your friend" and the most simple
question was greeted with a gentle response.
	
	I used to work with a good friend who felt is was not only his
right, but obligation (!) to humiliate users asking what he deemed to be
simple questions because it would encourage them to look up the answer
on their own next time.  It's a plausible theory, but I used to teach
high school mathematics and physics and can not imagine making fun of a
student asking for help. 
	
	Another thing I like is because Python is so simple, you meet
all sorts of personalities.  PyCon, the annual Python convention (
www.pycon.org <http://www.pycon.org/> ) sports uber-geeks, sure, but
there are also musicians, newspaper workers, and teachers.
Conversations are about real topics, not just Python.  One thing I've
noticed is with most languages you will here "I am a [C|C++|Perl|Java]
programmer where most Pythonistas will say "I use Python to....".  I
like that. 
	
	For the past 3 1/2 years I have been the senior programmer at
Novasys Health in Little Rock where we have written a fairly large
(about 80,000 lines of code) application to help us process health care
claims.  Our web developer -- who is a member of this list as well --
choose PHP for our web presence, but virtually all of the back end work
is done in Python connecting to a Postgres database (as well as Oracle,
SQL Server, and IMAGE databases).  We have come up with a number of
innovative techniques to handle data and I look forward to sharing them
with you.  I also look forward to seeing what you're doing. 
	
	About a month ago I was promoted to the Manager of the IT
department at Novasys.  Please don't hold that against me; I still code
over 75% of my day.
	
	As for where the list will go, I don't know.  I have things I
want to accomplish and will pursue them while helping others.  If you
want to get involved, this is the place for you; get to work!!  Perhaps
you just want to know how to do something (connect to an Oracle
database, work with objects, process images, make a web page); ask
away!!  If you want to sit back and watch for a while, that's OK, too. 
	
	If you would, take a few minutes and let us know a little about
you, what you do with Python (maybe you just want to learn it), and what
you want out of the group. At this point, all ideas are good ideas.
	
	--greg 
	
	
	
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