montrealPython

Hacking Health is on February 24 and 25 in Montreal. Our goal is to pair health and technological entrepreneurs so that they can develop solutions to front-line healthcare problems.

By emphasizing hands-on work on small projects which can be tackled in a short period of time, participants can quickly test assumptions, build teams, and generate momentum for promising ideas in healthcare.

There’s a limited number of places and they are leaving very quickly: http://physiqa.wufoo.com/forms/hackers-form/

For more information or to sign up, visit http://www.hackinghealth.ca.

Check it out!
The Introduction to Python Workshop is next Wednesday!

• Date : Wednesday, 2012 January 25th at 6:00 PM
• Place : McGill, Arts building, room 260

Bring your laptop and try to have Python and iPython installed before the workshop.
Installation procedures and all the information on this workshop are on the workshop’s wiki page :
Workshop 2012-01-25 : Introduction to Python.
If you have problems with the installation, Montréal-Python team will be able to help you at the very beginning of the workshop.

A workshop in French with similar content will be held at UQAM the previous Monday.
All the information on the workshop in French at UQAM:
Atelier 2012-01-23 : Introduction à Python.

Be there or be square!

Pythonistas, grab your pants firmly! We’re really happy to announce the first Montréal-Python monthly event of 2012 : Knickers Khaki.

After the flaws of the stock market these recent years, we’re in right to ask :

• What’s Python place in this maelstrom?
• Does our favourite language can change the world and help us keep our AAA rating?
• Into wich company or startup invest?

We’ll may not answer all these questions but we’re proud to invite you on January 30th, at Montréal-Python 27, Finance special edition.

The meeting will be held at UQAM, room SH-R810, Sherbrooke building on 200 Sherbrooke West.

Here’s the program of the evening :

• 6:00 PM : Opening
• 6:20 PM : Annoucements
• 6:30 PM : First salvo (Flash presentations)
• 6:50 PM : Pause
• 7:00 PM : Main presentations
• 9:00 PM : End of evening at Bénélux

Our presenters will be :

Flash (5 mins)

• Greg Whiteside (Betabrokers), « Email as an API for simulated stock trading »
• Josh Nursing, « Le web sémantique en finance avec Python »

Short (10mins)

• Marc Boucher (Caisse de dépot et de placements), « Gestion d’actifs avec Python »

Normal (20 mins)

• Hugues Demers (BullBear), « Un outil d’analyse des nouvelles de matières premières »
• Alok Mohindra, « A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Big Data & Finance for Pythonistas »

Long (45mins)

• Taavi Burns (Freshbooks), « Evolving an Internal Web Service »

The event is free and open to all. Snacks will be provided and yes, there will be again some free beer…

As always, we are really proud to have the support of our sponsors, willing to get involved in the Python community. Thanks to all of them:

• Ludia
• iWeb
• Benelux
• UQAM
• Le Site
• Savoir-Faire Linux

You’re dreaming to feel Python leather on your keyboard?
You already know its legendary softness and now want to feel the gentle power of its grasp?

Pythonista in the egg, moulting or already moving :
the Winter 2012 series of Python workshops has arrived!

This semester, Montréal-Python is offering one workshop a month :

• January : Introduction Workshop to Python
• February : Python Workshop : more advanced notions and use of Twitter API
• March : Django Workshop : building a Python web app
• April : Advanced Workshop : integration of libraries and a guest star!

The content of these workshops has been forged collaboratively by professional trainers, practionners and academics from the community. Animated by our champions, they are offered in French at UQAM and English at McGill. They’re open to all : only minimal knowledge of programming is required (e.g.: to know what a variable is). You also need to bring a laptop to follow the exercises.

These workshops are independent : to attend one, no need to attend the formers. But to progress on the Pythonic Way, to follow them all is better than following one. When to start? “Now is better than never.” — Zen of Python

INTRODUCTION WORKSHOP TO PYTHON

• language : English
• when : Wednesday, January 25th, 6:00 PM
• where : McGill, Arts building, room 260
• trainer : Mathieu Perreault

The programme :

• Running Python
• Variables and Arithmetic Expressions
• Conditionals
• File Input and Output
• Strings
• Lists
• Tuples
• Sets
• Dictionaries
• Iteration and Looping
• Functions
• Objects and Classes
• Modules

The room of this workshop is sponsored by : the Network Dynamics lab.

To follow this workshop in French, read the French version of this post in order to know the exact place and date:
Lire cette annonce en français

OH! OH! OH! Monday, December 19th, 6 days before christmas, Montreal-Python is inviting you to their last 2011 meeting, at UQAM, Sherbrooke building, room SH-R810, 200 sherbrooke west.

The event is free and even though we can’t serve a four course meal, snacks will be provided. Once again, there is some rumor about a free beer…

Schedule of the evening:

• 6:00pm Opening
• 6:20pm Announcements
• 6:30pm First salvo (flash presentations)
• 6:50pm Break
• 7:00pm: Second salvo
• 7:30pm: Christmas party at Benelux!

Our jolly presenters will be:

Flash Presentations (5 mins):

• Gabriel Tremblay “Tachyon, sloppiness is bliss”
• Putra Manggala “NetworkX, a package for the creation, manipulation, and study of the structure, dynamics, and functions of complex networks”
• Heri Rakotomalala “#MTLStartupTalent Join a startup: it might not be easy, but it’s worth it!”

Presentations (20mins)

• Alexander Kress “We use Python throughout our projects to run BDDs using Freshen, both for the APIs and UI.”
• Sophie Leroy “Par-delà l’Invisible, un projet de la SAT, une exposition artistique en réalité augmentée sur un iPhone avec un backend Django, ainsi qu’un site web interactif.”
• Andy Frances “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Santa Claus: Prototyping Join Patterns with Stackless.py” (example video)

As always, we are really thankful to have such motivated an amazing sponsors. Thanks to all of them:

• Ludia
• iWeb
• Benelux
• UQAM
• Le Site
• Savoir-Faire Linux

Python Jobs: Free Software enthusiasts are hiring in Montreal!

Savoir-faire Linux team is looking for two Python Web developers.

Conditions:

• Ready to program in Python full-time, in agile mode
• Want to join a team with more than 30 experienced developers
• Can identify Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds on a photo

You can apply online via this address:

http://www.savoirfairelinux.com/en/careers/2011060701-web-python

Montreal-Python and the UQAM Computer Science Student Association (AGEEI) are proud to present their very first French open attendance Django Workshop.

Last week, we introduced Python through a dynamic workshop and we will now dive head first in web development using the Django Python framework.

You only need to have a basic knowledge of the Python language in order to participate (if you have assisted to our first workshop, you’re good to go).

The evening will be animated by Davin Baragiotta of Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) and will be split up in two parts:
* Web development with Python and Django: an overview of a typical project architecture
* Street Hockey League: we will be working on a little sample Django project

The workshop will be next Thursday, on December 1st at the Sherbrooke building of UQAM, room SH-R810 from 6h30pm to 9pm.

More info can be found about the event at:

http://montrealpython.org/r/projects/workshop-uqam-2011-12-01/wiki

Pizza, coffee and soft drinks will be provided.

We would like to thank our sponsors: Ludia and Savoir-faire Linux for helping us organize this event.

Please bring yourself, a laptop and your sense of humor!

Please have Python 2.7 (or >= 2.5) and Django 1.3.1 installed.
For installation instructions : http://montrealpython.org/r/projects/workshop-uqam-2011-12-01/wiki

If you bump into any issue during the installation, don’t panic, we will be in room SH-R810 starting at 5:30pm to help you setup your laptop for the workshop, whatever OS you are running.

To register, please confirm your presence on our guest list:

http://guestli.st/79653

Tomorrow is the Montréal-Ouvert Hackathon and we will play with plenty of open data. Don’t forget to register on the eventbrite page, there are still some places available:

http://montrealouvert.eventbrite.com/

At our last meeting, we came up with 3 different projects. Feel free to join us on these projects or to start your own one. In the mean time, here is a brief description of what we would like to do:

Air and Water Quality

Create an automated twitter feed that will publish alerts on bad
environmental conditions on the island of Montreal in real-time by
monitoring air and water quality information published by the city.

Montréal Photos 2.0

Improve Montrealphotos.org with semantics information by crowd sourcing.
Those information include more accurate geotags and datetags, links to
relevant websites (wikipedia?) and tags. And then make it social!

Recreation Montreal

Centralized all the informations about the different recreation activies available in Montreal and then, allowing the citizens to enjoy their pools, their ski trails and all what they need to have fun in their city in a pythonic way.

For Hacks and glory

How does a developer change the world? One function at a time. This December the Notman House gives you a chance to join likeminded others and hack for a greater good.

The event is Random Hacks of Kindness and it will be hosted this December 3rd and 4th.

On the first day, Montreal participants will be presented real-life problems by representatives of Médecins Sans Frontières and the LIRNEasia think tank. Once a problem chosen, your team will then have two days to create a solution.

In this feat you will not be alone. Thousands of people world wide will be participating in 30 sister events along with you. Participants in other cities will work on solutions to the problems of their community or their organization.

Here in Montreal, I (Dimitry Zolotaryov) am looking for team-mates to represent Montreal-Python. Developers, designers, engineers and social media people are all welcome. Send me a message if you’re interested in being part of an enthusiastic team: dimitry@webit.ca.

This is your chance to hack for good. Won’t you accept the challenge?

Register Here: http://mtlrhok.eventbrite.com/?srnk=1
Event Page: http://www.rhok.org/event/montr%C3%A9al-canada

Past Problems: http://www.rhok.org/problems

Let me tell you a story… Two years ago, I embarked on this great adventure starting a company, raising high my Python sword and slashing all the challenges that I would face during my journey.

This feeling that warms you up when someone finds your code so useful that they will pay money for it is amazing.

Starting a company is much more than that though; it’s the opportunity to talk to people and to use your empathy to figure out what they really want; it’s the opportunity to decide all by yourself what kind of crazy new software development methodologies you’re going to use; it’s the opportunity to write code that is 100% tested — or not waste anytime on those stinking tests that only slow you down; it’s the opportunity to take the the phone and to learn the hard way how to close a sale (a skill that will serve you well for years to come in many aspects of your life, from negotiating a business deal to dating).

Starting a company is stressful, yes, but it’s a lot of fun.
Founder Fuel is an exciting local initiative that gives an average of $20k to new startups and helps them grow by nurturing them with skilled mentoring and a very influential network of contacts.

In the four months of the program, the companies are are expected to grow from essentially nothing into usable and marketable products.

The first round of startups presented their products last Tuesday during the demo day, and it was very exciting to see how far many of those went during such a short time.

The second round is now open to applications, and you have until January 7th to submityour startup idea. In the first round, not a single startup had a strong Python presence.

Will we see more Python companies this time?

Let’s try to make it happen!

We are here today with solomn hearts, dear friends. As many of you may know, our previous president Yannick “What these glasses?!” Gingras will be leaving Montréal for the warmer pastures of San Francisco to work for none other than the one… Facebook.

It is indeed a great loss for Montréal Python, our city itself and all of us who call Yannick a friend. It’s also a pretty severe loss for all the brew-pubs in Montréal Québec Canada. And yet, it is an exceptionally exciting move for Yannick; he has the opportunity to bring Python to something that millions of people use every day.

And so, with Yannick leaving and the winter just starting, what better time to celebrate – a sort of melancholy celebration – but a celebration nonetheless. The plan:

Wednesday, November 16th from 17h to “19h” at our staple, Benelux.

Join your fellow Pythonistas to wish Yannick a fantastic adventure and solidify his belief that Montréal Python is an amazing usergroup capable of amazing things.
See you there !

Python is a powerful agile language that surprises us by its suppleness and the ease with which we can use it to solve complex problems in just a few lines of code.

This month, we are exploring unexpected and unconventional uses of Python across many domains. We are inviting you all to Inadvertent Indentation, Monday Movember 21st at UQAM, in room SH-R810 of the Sherbrooke Pavillion.

The even is free and even thought we will not serve a four course meal, snacks will be provided. Rumor has it that there could also be some free beer.

Here is our schedule for the night:

• 18h00: Opening
• 18h20: Announcements
• 18h30: First salvo
• 19h10: Pause
• 19h25: Second salvo
• 20h30: Discussions and refreshments at Benelux

Our ingenious presenters will be:

• Dominic Savoie, “Functional Python Programming with Moka”
• Geoff Salmon, “Python in a Stereo – Handling Music and its metadata in a plug computer”

• Angelique Mannella and Antoine Reversat, “Building a mobile application using pyside on Meego”
• Alastair Porter, “Audio fingerprinting and metadata correction with Python”
• Andrew Hankinson, “Optical Music Recognition”
• Marc Tardif, “The Design and Implementation of a Launchpad microservice”
• Jean-Lou Dupont, “Message Switch” pour une architecture “Design by Actor”

Finally, a big thanks to our generous Sponsors:

• Ludia
• iWeb
• Benelux
• UQAM
• Le Site
• Savoir-Faire Linux

We invite you to participate to the hackathon with Montréal-Python, even if you have not already registered or not.

We are hosting a preliminary meeting next Monday, the 14th of November, at L’Escalier near metro Berri-Uqam (http://g.co/maps/t792h), from 7pm to 9pm.

Will will organise teams and find common subjects everyone wants to work on. A few interesting ideas have already been proposed for Montréal-Ouvert here: https://mtlouvert.uservoice.com/forums/137103-hackathon-donn-es-ouvertes-montr-al-19-novembre

Also, if you plan on going to the hackathon, please make sure you have registered yourself with Montreal-Ouvert on eventbright here: http://montrealouvert.eventbrite.com/

See you guys on Monday,

Montréal-Python and UQAM’s Association générale des étudiants et étudiantes en informatique  (AGEEI, the student union of CS students) are proud to announce their very first French open attendance Python workshop.

You do not need to know any Python since this is going to be an Introduction to Python session.

Our MC for the evening is going to be Davin Baragiotta, vice-president of Montréal-Python and coordonator of information systems at Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF).

The event is going to feature two parts:

• The first part is going to bring us up to speed with the syntax, core data types, main modules of the standard library, and the intractive shell.
• In the second part Davin will dive deep with a practical application of Python: building a Jabber bot.

The workshop is going to take place in room SH-R810 of the Shebrooke building of UQAM on November 17 from 6h30 PM to 9h PM.

AGEEI will provide pizza and refreshments.

Thank you to our sponsors Ludia and Savoir-faire Linux to help us creating this event!

All you have to bring is your curious brain, your sense of humour, and your laptop computer.

If you have some spare time, you can also get your system ready by installing Python 2.7 from the following site: http://www.python.org/download/

Ubuntu users are lucky here because all what they have to do is: sudo apt-get install python (if it’s not installed already).

If  you don’t have time to do the setup of if get lost,  DON’T PANIC.  We’ll be there starting at 5h30 PM, and we’ll help you get everything up and running.

To register, you simply have to sign up for free on the guestlist: http://guestli.st/76584

We live in Montréal and we hack Python code; this is who we are. Right now, it just got event more exciting to be a hacker in this city. We hack code, but when our code interacts with cool data, the dance is a lot spicier. On Wednesday, the city of Montréal made us proud by releasing a lot of it’s data under a very permissive license. This is a first in the province of Québec.

Montréal-Ouvert has already been planing on hacking on Saturday November 19th.
Now that it has become exciting with real data, we want to make sure that there’s going to be a lot of Python code written there.

We don’t know yet where the hackothon will take place, but we trust that it’s going to be near downtown, somewhere within walking distance from a metro station. We will be there, and if you like to write Python code and plan on being there, write you name in the comments below; we’re going to assemble a corrosive Python strike team.

Here’s some ideas for cool projects we could undertake during this one day event:

• A site where people could suggest and vote on what dataset the city should release next. Think of something like Reddit or Ubuntu BrainStorm where someone could say “hey, I’d love to make a Patiner-Montreal clone for ski” or “let’s make homebrewing more fun by indexing the water hardness data by burough.”
• A cross-correlation of the datasets already published; can we use the demographics data to visualize how many firemen there are per resident in all of our burrows? How about policemen per resident? What if we bring an extra dimension, like average revenue per burough?
• An aggregator of existing and upcoming applications: a site where it’s easy to see what everyone is doing with the open data of Montréal and with all sorts of metadata like the GitHub repo and the contribution process. Voting on the best applications would make it event more fun.
• A flexible and intuitive calendar of the festivals and cultural events that makes is easy to browse by date, location and genre.
• An integration of all this new smoking hot data with Open Street Maps. Mapify all the things!

So, we’re going to be there. Who else is in?

Last week, Mathieu Perreault and Derek Ruths gave the second McGill Python Workshop. With around 40 attendees, the event was definitely a success and you should expect another workshop soon.

Derek lets us know:

We showcased a number of libraries that ship with Python including support for working with SQLite databases, pickling objects, reading and writing CSV files, building well-formed command-line tools, and constructing applications with a full graphical user interface!

That’s a nice series of events to keep an eye on.

Next week #MTLStartupTalent will be held on monday and aims to connect companies that are hiring with talent looking for employment. Montreal-Python invite you to assist and participate and to demonstrate how dynamic and energetic are the Pythonistas of Montreal-Python.

Here’s what you can expect:

• Access to great job opportunities at great companies
• A chance to converse with an employee or founder and start to build a relationship
• A casual (yet serious) environment to network with others in your field of interest

If you are interested, don’t forget to register your place at

http://mtlstartuptalent.eventbrite.com/

See you on Thursday !

The second instalment of the McGill Python Workshop will be taking place on October 20th, 2011 at McGill University. The first, highly successful workshop focused on teaching the basics of the Python language. This time, instructors Prof. Derek Ruths and myself (Mathieu Perreault) will focus on teaching attendees how to write simple yet very powerful programs while only using the standard Python libraries.

Where: Room 0060, Trottier Building (3630 University)
When: 6PM
How: People are invited to register at http://www.networkdynamics.org/mpw2