[portland] python bridge talk questions / advice

[Michael Schurter]

On Wed, Mar 11, 2009 at 7:34 AM, mgross <markgross at thegnar.org> wrote:
> Last nights pdxpython meeting was pretty much the best I've ever been
> too.  I woke up thinking about some stuff related to python and a
> possible bridge talk I'm starting to consider doing.

I've been trying to think of a talk as well... I might be posting some
ideas to the list for feedback as well.  :)

> One of the many things that stuck in my head from last meeting
> (besides Machine learning--which was uber cool) was the pytyrant and
> friends talk hitting on the performance of the database.
>
> What struck me is the performance delta in database throughput on
> Michael's simple sample losing 2 orders of magnitude int run time by
> using a loop-back network over direct to the file access.
>
> It got me thinking, hmm, I know a little about how to drill down on performance
> and scaling problems and, I know some experts in the performance area
> I can ask questions of, and I have a few questions on what exactly are
> the performance issues with python and django workloads?
> (like, does my cheap-oh ISP have a legitimate point regarding its
> refusal to support Django sites?)

How to identify bottlenecks is something I'd love to hear a talk on.
While putting "scaling" in the title will probably double your
audience, I care more about the step before you scale: figuring out
whats running slowly.

I think focusing on the bottlenecks between your application and
backend data storage would be *really* interesting as the Internet is
already full of people comparing mostly meaningless HTTP benchmarks
against their frontend servers.

Also, focusing on that area might appeal more to non-web people such
as DBAs and sysadmins.

Just a thought.  :)