PyCon 2004 - Second Annual Python Developers Conference
Keynote Speech by Mitchell Kapor, founder of Lotus

FREDERICKSBURG, Va., February 9, 2004 -- PyCon 2004, the second annual Python developers conference, will be held at George Washington University's Cafritz Conference Center in Washington DC on March 24-26, 2004. Mitchell Kapor, founder of Lotus Development Corporation and the Open Source Applications Foundation, will be the keynote speaker.

PyCon is a community-oriented conference targeting developers interested in Python, a powerful open source programming language. PyCon provides opportunities to learn about significant advances in the Python development community, and to meet fellow developers from around the world. The conference program includes peer-reviewed presentations, the annual Python state of the union address, and open space for informal talks and meetings.

"PyCon brings together Python users of all types, from newbies to veterans, to exchange ideas, work on code, discuss future directions for the language, and in general to foster the continued success and growth of the Python technology base. This is a community-oriented conference and the Python community includes everyone, from grade schoolers just learning about computer science, to renowned scientists interested in using the best tools, to business people looking for a secret weapon," said Guido van Rossum, creator of Python.

PyCon 2004 is organized by members of the Python community, and made possible by the Python Software Foundation and the conference sponsors Hostway, ActiveState, White Oak Technologies Inc, Tummy.com, ZeOmega, and Wing IDE for Python.

Early bird conference registration costs $175 US ($125 for students) through February 22nd. Regular per-registration after that date will cost $250 ($175 for students), and $300 ($225 for students) at the conference.

For more information or to register, please visit the PyCon 2004 website: http://pycon.org/

Coding Sprints

The conference will be preceded by 4 days of coding sprints, March 20-23, which offers developers an XP-style environment to advance the Python code base and popular Python-based modules such as the Zope application server, Plone content management system, Twisted framework for asynchronous programming, Docutils structured text processing system, and the Chandler personal information manager.

Participation in sprints is free of charge and open to all.

Planning for the sprints is taking place on the Python wiki at http://www.python.org/cgi-bin/moinmoin/SprintPlan2004.

About Python

Python is a powerful object-oriented programming language that is developed and maintained by a global community of open source developers, under the oversight of the Python Software Foundation.

Python is very easy to learn for programmers of other languages such as C, C++, Java, and Visual Basic, and can significantly increase programmer productivity. It is often characterized as an agile language that promotes speedy development and includes a unit-testing framework for building more robust applications. Python is often used in large system development to decrease software costs, mitigate risk, and meet aggressive schedules. The language is the basis of applications used by tens of thousands of companies and organizations worldwide, and its user base is growing rapidly.

Key features of Python include:

• Object orientation, modular name spaces, exceptions, and multi-threading
• High-level dynamic data typing and very late binding
• Tight integration with C, C++, and Java modules
• May be compiled to Java byte code for use in any JVM
• String and regular expression processing
• Extensive XML and web services support
• HTTP, FTP, SMTP, POP, IMAP, NNTP, telnet, and other IP protocols
• HTML, MIME, base64, binhex, uuencode, and other internet data handling
• GUI development and multimedia services
• Unit testing, profiling, and documentation generation
• Available third party modules for database access, scientific computation, visualization, 3D modeling, image processing, LDAP, WebDAV, jabber, MIDI, game development, and much more.

Additional information and downloads are available at www.python.org.

About the PSF

The Python Software Foundation (PSF) is a non-profit organization devoted to advancing Open Source technology related to the Python programming language. The PSF holds the intellectual property rights to Python and plans to fund portions of future development of the language. Additional information on the PSF is available at http://www.python.org/psf. To make a tax-deductible donation, please visit http://www.python.org/psf/donations.html. Company sponsorships are also being accepted.

Press Contact

Stephan Deibel
Archaeopteryx Software, Inc.
PO Box 1937
Brookline, MA 02446
617-232-0059
sdeibel@wingide.com
www.wingide.com