[Texas] help on wording of PyTexas 2010 announcement for profs/students

[Brad Allen]

We're working on an announcement to attract students to PyTexas 2010,
and I would like to get some feedback on the wording before the
announcement goes out. The goal here is to help professors and
students understand why Python might be interesting and worth learning
about.

An editable version is available on the PyTexas wiki

http://pytexas.org/AnnouncementForProfs2010

Here is the current version of the text:
====================================

Hello professors,

I'm writing on behalf of the organizers of PyTexas 2010, a one-day
conference organized by the Python programming community in the Texas
region. It will be held at Baylor University in Waco on Saturday,
Augst 28, and we'd like to invite you and your students to join us.

Python is a general purpose, open source programming language popular
for its elegant, high level, cross-platform design. It's fundamentally
object oriented, but allows programming in a procedural style, which
provides a smooth learning curve for those new to object-oriented
concepts. It also supports many functional programming concepts such
as iterators, generators, and list comprehensions.

More importantly, Python has a wide range of practical uses, from
simple shell scripts to large scale enterprise applications. It's used
for system administration, web development, building GUI applications,
scientific computing, game development, and as a "glue" language for
systems integration, among other things. Python developers have many
choices of runtime environments, including CPython, JVM(Jython), and
.Net(IronPython). It's also used at some universities as an
introductory language for computer science.

At PyTexas this year we're planning a beginner's track, to help those
new to Python get comfortable with the language and the most popular
libraries. We'll also have a track for experienced Python developers
interested in more advanced topics.

We'd like to gauge interest among university level students and
others.  To do so we've developed a very brief survey that takes less
than 5 minutes to complete.

We could use your assistance disseminating the survey to students,
other professors, or anyone else you think might be interested.
Please forward the below introduction and link to students' emails or
to an appropriate UT listserv. Also, you yourself should feel free to
fill out the survey if you have any personal interest in attending.

Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Brad Allen
Member of the DFW Python User Group

*******************************************************************************

Hello,

The PyTexas group invites you to take a very brief survey.  We are
organizing PyTexas 2010, a conference to share Python-related
knowledge and enthusiasm, in the form of presentations, coding
sprints, "teach me" sessions, and general socializing.

Python is an excellent programming language with a thriving open
source community.  You can use it for system administration, web
development, building GUI applications, scientific computing, game
development, and as a "glue" language for systems integration, among
other things. With its elegant, clear syntax, it's easy to learn; many
Python developers like to say "Python fits my brain."

We encourage you to get involved!  To do so, please take a few moments
to answer the questions in our survey.  The link is available here or
you may copy and paste the link below into your browser.

Sincerely,
PyTexas
http://pytexas.org/

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=9fj1H0BQlQsbWG4LT55DcXz7hhnvgzTQ8MjnmiuHh38%3d&