Highlights from EPC 2006

Highlights from EPC 2006Vincenzo InnocenteOn behalf of theLocal Organizing Committee

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EuroPython at CERNEuroPython conference organized by SFT this year!Three daysParallel sessions in Bld 40 Keynotes and Lightning in main auditoriumDinner in the Globe280 participants100 presentations (w/o lightning)5 by CERN

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Schedule4 parallel sessions (in bld 40)All synchronized5 minutes pause between talksEasy for people to move from one session to another

Plenary Lightning & key notes (in Main Amphi)

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Scientific Program7 tracksPython in SciencePython Language & LibrariesAgile DevelopmentWeb FrameworksBusiness and ApplicationsTeachingGames and Entertainment

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Statisticsby Sebastian Lopienski~ 100 abstractswords:~13.6kunique words:~2.7k

some chosen wordsplugin*18secur*2embedd*4performance13improve*11interoperability3distribut*22

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CommunityWhoWide age spectrumMany in post-doc age-range All 5 continentsVery few women (1-2%, all managers?)WhereCompany developing Software SolutionsRevenue from Selling custom products or servicesFind business advantages In using open source software (contribute to its development)Develop components reusable beyond a specific project Research LabsDomain specific applicationsReuse in the community (adapting to pre-existing habits)

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CommunityWhat:Core language developmentWeb framework, web applicationsSoftware development tools (web based)Scientific data processing, visualizationNo sys-admin, net-admin, embedded-software, office automation

Why:Hear news about Language, Libraries, key products (Zope,)Discuss, propose, complainPresent their productsIn many cases just a spin-off componentWork (in Sprint sessions)

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MessagesPython asTHE integration frameworkTHE Business Domain LanguageTHE embedded scripting languageLanguage for rapid-prototyping, extreme-programming, just-in-time deployment

Python is faster than Assembler

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KeynotesAlan KayXerox PARC, etcChildren First!

Guido van RossumPython BDFL (Benevolent Dictator For Life)Python 3000

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MGL Tools

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The Indico TechnologyMain programming language: PythonRuns on Apache using the Python module mod_pythonPersistence based in ZODB (Zope Object Database)Transparency: no need for explicit read/writes of the objectsFits very well with Indico complex object modelProven performance and scalabilityTimetable generation: libXML, libXSLt + python bindingsPortable technologies: runs on Windows, linuxExport gateways:iCalendar ; XML ; PDF outputsOAI (Open Archive Initiatives) for ensuring integration with other servicesStandard protocol for information exchange between digital librariesAllows to expose conference dataAllows other systems to fetch conference data and build services over itSimple mechanism XML over HTTP

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The Invenio Technology Main programming language: PythonRuns on Apache using the Python module mod_python Uses MySQL RDBMSTake advantage of fully featured query languageInvenio home made Indexes Internal representation with XML-MARCExport gateways:Multiple output formats: HTML, XML, MARC, OAI, DC, etc.Some modules:Still in PHP (slowly moved to Python)Some in Common Lisp (BibCheck)

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Index Space Design (II)Two important speed factors to consider:speed of set intersections (Web App Server)speed of set marshalling (Web App DB Server)Data structures tested:sorted (lists, Patricia trees)unsorted (hashed sets, binary vectors)fast prototyping: (Python)throw-away coding, organic-growth softwaredevelopment modeltypical search time gain: 4.0 sec 0.2 sectypical indexing time loss: 7 hours 4 daysbinary vectors found the best compromise (for all types of sets)

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Performance Benchmarks (2002)Testing marshalling/intersection/union/unmarshallingBytecode interpreted language study: (Python, Java)Python faster than Java (mainly due to marshalling)Machine code compiled language study: (ML, Lisp)OCaml, CMU CL: 3+ times faster than Python C libsCMU CL best scalable: intersecting 6M records in 0.01 sec, 30M records in 0.04 secData structure study:OCaml, 3,000,000 records: bit vectors 0.43 sec, hashed sets 1.71 sec, lists 3.76 sec, Patricia trees do not scale well for dense setsPython fast enough for production (1M records)fast C modules: Numeric (byte/bit), Marshal, Psyco

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The + of PythonClean aesthetical language

Easy to learn, important for many internship students and temporary members working on the project

Very good for rapid prototyping & organic-growth development

Plenty of ready-to-be-used modules

Bytecode-compiled only, speed okay for our needs

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Lightning5 minute talks about anythingStrict timing, no one took longer

Advertising/promotingDemosFollow-up/Summary of parallel talksWild Ideas

In most cases the message passesPeople Google for keywords in the talk

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What I learnedEasy to organize a conference if Nathalie is the bossIt is possible to have meetingsWith a friendly, cooperative, tolerant atmosphereWhere speakers keep their timing and the audience is not asleepThere are Communities which valueSharing informationBuilding reusable software componentsCooperating in developing the basic building blocksBecome a community around such a common ground

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More?Wait for the talk at AA meetingVisithttp://vanrees.org/weblog/topics/europythonhttp://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=44http://www.europython.org/http://www.google.com/search?q=europython

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Now, I want YOU to guess which of these words appeared least in the abstracts?

Who thinks its the word plugin

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Highlights from EPC 2006