Tokyo PyPy Sprint: 23rd - 29th April 2006 ============================================================ The next PyPy sprint is scheduled to take place 23rd- 29th April 2006 (Sunday-Saturday) in Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan. We will together with FSIJ (Free Software Initiative of Japan) aim to promote Python and PyPy. We therefor invite Japanese hackers knowledgeable in Python to join our sprint! We'll give newcomer-friendly introductions. To learn more about the new Python-in-Python implementation look here: http://codespeak.net/pypy For this sprint we are particularly interested in meeting and coding on PyPy together with interested Japanese Python hackers. Please register your interest at pypy-sprint@codespeak.net as soon as possible and we will help with any questions regarding getting started, pointing to relevant documentation etc. The PyPy team is curious and interested in the experience of hacking code for embedded devices and would love to discuss and get feedback on optimisation efforts and the current state of PyPy. Goals and topics of the sprint ------------------------------ Possible suggestions for topics are: - Work on gensqueak (our Squeak backend) or possibly other backends. - Implementing Python 2.5 features in PyPy. - Progress further on an 'rctypes' module aiming at letting us use a ctypes implementation of an extension module from the compiled pypy-c. - Writing ctypes implementations of modules to be used by the above tool. - Experimenting and improving performance of our garbage collectors. - Experiment with PyPy flexibility or other aspects of the implementation. - Possibly experiment with writing modules translatable for use both in PyPy and CPython. - Whatever participants want to do with PyPy or particular areas of PyPy (please send suggestions to the mailing list before to allow us to plan and give feedback) Location & Accomodation ------------------------ The sprint will be held at National Institute of AIST (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, http://www.aist.go.jp/index_en.html), Akihahabara (the technical gadget district in Tokyo). Yutaka Niibe is our contact person there, helping with arranging facilities. Niibe is the chairman of FSIJ and they have invited us to sprint in Tokyo and we are very grateful for the help and interest we have recieved so far. The facilities we are sprinting in are located here: http://www.gtrc.aist.go.jp/en/access/index.html#Akihabara The actual address is: Akihabara Dai Bldg , 1-18-13 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0021 Japan Phone: +81-3-5298-4729 Hotel areas - we are recommended to book hotels in Ueno and Asakusa (old town), from those areas there are only two metro stops to Akihabara. Please note that hotelrooms in Tokyo are often very small. http://www.wh-rsv.com/english/akihabara/index.html (nearest hotel to sprint location) http://www.greenhotel.co.jp/ochanomizu_e.html http://www.ohgai.co.jp/index-e.html (Ueno) http://www.toyoko-inn.com/e_hotel/00012/index.html (Asakusa) http://www.hotelnewkanda.com/ (second nearest, but no english page) Here is a url for booking hotels with not too unreasonable rates (see map): http://japan-hotelguide.com/hotels/Japan/Tokyo/index.htm For more general tourist information about travelling to Japan and Tokyo - please see: http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/ http://www.japantravelinfo.com/ (really useful information regarding airfares, hotels, currency, phones etc etc) Comments on the weather: In end April it is ca 20 degrees Celsius. Exact times ----------- The public PyPy sprint is held Sunday 23rd - Saturday 29th April 2006. Hours will be from 10:00 until people have had enough. It's a good idea to arrive a day before the sprint starts and leave a day later. Sometimes people cannot stay for the whole sprint - you are welcome even if you can only stay for a day or a few days. Sunday: Starting at 10:00. This day is focused on getting to know PyPy enought to start to participate. We will hold a PyPy tutorial and an architectural overview. Planning meeting for the work to be done during the week and grouping of developers (pairs or groups mixing new participants with core developers). Dinner in the evening (Yutaka will arrange a place for us to go to). Monday-Tuesday: Starting at 10:00 with status meetings. Possible regrouping depending on the interest and progress of the various teams. Wednesday: Breakday (coding is allowed although we recommend taking a break). Thursday-Saturday: Starting at 10:00 with status meetings. Possible regrouping depending on the interest and progress of the various teams. Ending on Saturday with a Closure session - summing of the work and planning work to be done until the next sprint. Network, Food, currency ------------------------ We will have access to WiFi at AIST - please make sure you have wlan capabilities. Electricity outlets: 100V (adapters needed for european standard). Currency is Japanese yen. There are Citibank cash machines that accepts cash withdrawals from the major cards such as VISA and Mastercard. But it is a good idea to bring cash. Also note that cell phones (european) are not very compatible with the Japanese network. There are possibilities for 3G phones to hire a phone and put your simcard in there. At the airport (both Kansai and Narita) there are information and places were this can be arranged (to a cost of course). Food: well - japanese food is great (wether it is sushi, sashimi, tempura, sukiyaki, teriyaki.... Eating out is not that much differently prized than any large european town. There are of course restaurants serving other food than japanese (chinese, korean, McDonalds ;-). Please also note that vegetables and fruit is quite expensive in Japan. For more information - see tourist url:s above. Registration etc.pp. -------------------- Please subscribe to the `PyPy sprint mailing list`_, introduce yourself and post a note that you want to come. Feel free to ask any questions there! There also is a separate `Tokyo people`_ page tracking who is already thought to come. If you have commit rights on codespeak then you can modify yourself a checkout of http://codespeak.net/svn/pypy/extradoc/sprintinfo/tokyo/people.txt .. _`PyPy sprint mailing list`: http://codespeak.net/mailman/listinfo/pypy-sprint .. _`Tokyo people`: http://codespeak.net/pypy/extradoc/sprintinfo/tokyo/people.html