From stuart at swilliams.ca Tue Sep 22 21:48:29 2009 From: stuart at swilliams.ca (Stuart Williams) Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:48:29 -0500 Subject: [Python Wpg] Winnipeg Python Users Group September meeting Message-ID: <db6e78040909221848p703adf3bnb38265189a5e1c30@mail.gmail.com> Fall is here and it's time for the Winnipeg Python Users Group to start up again, but we won't meet tomorrow night, September 23rd. The organizers didn't get organized in time, we don't have a room or a presentation, and some of us aren't able to attend due to conflicts. However, I also think it's time to step back and reflect on the group. The catch 22 is it's hard to reflect when meeting attendance is fairly low. We have 53 members on the mailing list and I estimate that 20 to 30 people have attended from 1 and 5 times in the past 3.5 years, but usual attendance rarely tops half a dozen. This is not necessarily a problem. The nature of and demand for local technical user groups has changed quite a bit in the last 15 years. I think having 53 people in Winnipeg who identify themselves as being somewhat interested in Python and who can be reached with relevant announcements that they would like to receive is a good thing. I suggest try answering the following questions, starting with an introduction or re-introduction of yourself and your interest in Python. Are you interested in meetings? Is the time or location bad? Would a noon-hour meeting downtown work better? Do you want to hear presentations, work on projects, or something else? Here are my answers: I'm a Software Developer in the financial services industry. I use Python at work. I have taught Python to high school students, to university students, and to other software developers at PyCon. I'm one of the organizers of the Winnipeg Python Users Group. I enjoy the meetings and usually attend. The time and location are OK, although daytime downtown would be better for me. I enjoy hearing presentations on new topics, preparing presentations, and working on projects - no strong preference in any particular direction. Stuart. From dtlussier at gmail.com Thu Sep 24 10:40:55 2009 From: dtlussier at gmail.com (Dan Lussier) Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:40:55 -0500 Subject: [Python Wpg] Winnipeg Python Users Group September meeting In-Reply-To: <db6e78040909221848p703adf3bnb38265189a5e1c30@mail.gmail.com> References: <db6e78040909221848p703adf3bnb38265189a5e1c30@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <22A29647-77CC-407B-86AD-C90999B4AEBE@gmail.com> Hi all, I'm a first time poster here but thought I would try to get the ball rolling here by sending my info out to the list... I'm a graduate student in Mechanical Engineering working on molecular simulation for fluid mechanics. I came to Python a few years ago and use it for post-processing my data as well as various shell script replacement duties. I'm also interested more generally in the use of Python in education as well as the growth/development of the Python community in general. I would be interested in attending meetings of the PythonWinnipeg group. Downtown in the evening is ok for me, but might also suggest that could do at the U of Manitoba as well as this might help capture other interested people who find it difficult to attend downtown. Cheers, Dan On 22-Sep-09, at 8:48 PM, Stuart Williams wrote: > Fall is here and it's time for the Winnipeg Python Users Group to > start up again, but we won't meet tomorrow night, September 23rd. The > organizers didn't get organized in time, we don't have a room or a > presentation, and some of us aren't able to attend due to conflicts. > > However, I also think it's time to step back and reflect on the group. > The catch 22 is it's hard to reflect when meeting attendance is > fairly low. > > We have 53 members on the mailing list and I estimate that 20 to 30 > people have attended from 1 and 5 times in the past 3.5 years, but > usual attendance rarely tops half a dozen. > > This is not necessarily a problem. The nature of and demand for local > technical user groups has changed quite a bit in the last 15 years. I > think having 53 people in Winnipeg who identify themselves as being > somewhat interested in Python and who can be reached with relevant > announcements that they would like to receive is a good thing. > > I suggest try answering the following questions, starting with an > introduction or re-introduction of yourself and your interest in > Python. > > Are you interested in meetings? Is the time or location bad? Would a > noon-hour meeting downtown work better? Do you want to hear > presentations, work on projects, or something else? > > > Here are my answers: > > I'm a Software Developer in the financial services industry. I use > Python at work. I have taught Python to high school students, to > university students, and to other software developers at PyCon. I'm > one of the organizers of the Winnipeg Python Users Group. > > I enjoy the meetings and usually attend. The time and location are > OK, although daytime downtown would be better for me. I enjoy hearing > presentations on new topics, preparing presentations, and working on > projects - no strong preference in any particular direction. > > Stuart. > _______________________________________________ > Winnipeg Python Users Group mailing list > http://WinniPUG.ca > Winnipeg at python.org > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/winnipeg From high.res.mike at gmail.com Thu Sep 24 13:46:41 2009 From: high.res.mike at gmail.com (Mike Pfaiffer) Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:46:41 -0500 Subject: [Python Wpg] Winnipeg Python Users Group September meeting In-Reply-To: <db6e78040909221848p703adf3bnb38265189a5e1c30@mail.gmail.com> References: <db6e78040909221848p703adf3bnb38265189a5e1c30@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <4ABBB081.6010706@gmail.com> Stuart Williams wrote: > I suggest try answering the following questions, starting with an > introduction or re-introduction of yourself and your interest in > Python. > > Are you interested in meetings? Is the time or location bad? Would a > noon-hour meeting downtown work better? Do you want to hear > presentations, work on projects, or something else? I'M Mike Pfaiffer. I have a B.A. in Psychology/Geography and a B.Sc. in Computer Science. I'm one of the regulars. I'm currently an un-paid writer for Call-A.P.P.L.E. magazine. In the past I have been paid to be a database guy, tech support, government hacker, programmer, and instructor. Many of those jobs have been repeats. My daily life involves running from one crisis to another and I don't have much time for programming any more. As a result I describe myself as a real lightweight trying to upgrade my skills. I'm not as involved with the language as the other regulars but things are *slowly* sinking in. As to the meetings... I'm OK with most times. The only caveat being I also attend the MWCS and MUUG. When it comes to the location my needs are it has to be accessible by bus. Otherwise I would have to get a ride there and back with someone. Topic wise... I'm willing to go with the flow since my skills aren't very good yet and I don't have time to practise. If there are a lot of lightweights like me who are interested in attending meetings to learn the language, might I suggest we consider something like rewriting some of the old 8 bit text based software and bring it up to date using Python. This way we can achieve the following... 1) Learn the language. 2) Update skills. 3) Provide meeting topics. 4) Learn the modules. 5) Possibly release a CD of Public Domain software. 6) Possibly learn about Python graphics... Later Mike From sbalneav at legalaid.mb.ca Thu Sep 24 15:45:52 2009 From: sbalneav at legalaid.mb.ca (Scott Balneaves) Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:45:52 -0500 Subject: [Python Wpg] Winnipeg Python Users Group September meeting In-Reply-To: <db6e78040909221848p703adf3bnb38265189a5e1c30@mail.gmail.com> References: <db6e78040909221848p703adf3bnb38265189a5e1c30@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <20090924194551.GB25489@legalaid.mb.ca> On Tue, Sep 22, 2009 at 08:48:29PM -0500, Stuart Williams wrote: Personally, I'm finding evenings to be increasingly onerous, as evidenced by my lack of attendence for the last year..mumble. I'd vote for at least a couple of downtown lunch hour meetings. If facilities would be hard to arrange, I'd be willing to find accomodations. Cheers! Scott -- Scott L. Balneaves | It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things Systems Department | are infinitely the most important. Legal Aid Manitoba | -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "A Case of Identity"