Episode 65: Expanding the International Python Community With the PSF

The Real Python Podcast

Jun 18, 2021 1h

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The popularity of Python is continuing to grow Developers across the globe are embracing the language. How is Python being used in all of these different countries? How does an organization like the Python Software Foundation (PSF) work toward the goals in its mission statement for supporting and growing this international community? This week on the show, we have Marlene Mhangami, a PSF board member and part of the Diversity and Inclusion Work Group.

Episode Sponsor:

Marlene lives in Zimbabwe on the continent of Africa. She has been organizing events not only locally in Zimbabwe but across all of Africa. She is the chair of Pycon Africa and has given talks at Pycon US, Pycon UK, and Pycon India.

She has been working locally as an organizer and educator. We talk about the challenges of teaching technology and programming to a population of young people. Some of these students don’t have access to computers.

She is also currently pursuing a computer science degree with the University of London. Along with her studies, she is also interning with NVidia. She is working with them on the RAPIDS project with a focus on the cuDF library.

Spotlight: Introduction to Sorting Algorithms in Python

In this course, you’ll learn all about five different sorting algorithms in Python from both a theoretical and a practical standpoint. You’ll also learn several related and important concepts, including Big O notation and recursion.

Topics:

00:00:00 – Introduction
00:02:05 – Connecting during PyCon 2021
00:03:08 – Roles with the Python Software Foundation (PSF)
00:05:39 – Python in Africa
00:10:31 – School overseas and return to Zimbabwe to build a Python community
00:13:47 – Teaching technology and Python to students who don’t have computers
00:22:14 – Sponsor: Digital Ocean’s App Platform
00:22:50 – Work with the PSF and building geographic diversity
00:27:49 – PSF work groups
00:32:10 – Organizing PyCon Africa 2019 and bringing a continent of communities together
00:35:51 – How is Python being used in Africa?
00:38:05 – Video Course Spotlight
00:39:24 – Working with NVidia RAPIDS and cuDF
00:43:57 – What are you excited about in the world of Python?
00:46:12 – What do you want to learn next?
00:52:45 – What is something you thought you knew about Python but were wrong about it?
00:59:41 – Thanks and goodbye

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Level Up Your Python Skills With These Courses:

Pandas Project: Make a Gradebook With Pandas

Using pandas to Make a Gradebook in Python

Async IO in Python: A Complete Walkthrough

Hands-On Python 3 Concurrency With the asyncio Module

Introduction to Sorting Algorithms in Python

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