Past Meetings • Recent Topics

XOR many ways: an whirwind tour of python deep learning libraries
(20 Minutes)
By: Rick Galbo
Experience Level: Novice

We will be preparing the famous XOR example or one of the staples of non-linearly separable feature spaces. We will use the classic techniques like tensorflow and keras. We will also check out some of the newer examples like caffe, mxnet, pytorch, deeplearning4j, and many others. Aprons will be provided. No prior experience cooking necessary.

How to help out with python.
(10 Minutes)
By: Joshua Herman
Experience Level: Novice

Here we will go through my own personal saga of adding documentation to the Python Man pages.

Follow your Python Path: Learning the Right Way (for you)
(20 Minutes)
By: Ray Berg
Experience Level: Novice

We are all on a Python learning path somewhere. For some, finding the right path to set out on is hard; others have been on the trail so long we forget to look around at our surroundings. In all cases, we should be mindful about how and what we learn In this talk we'll cover tips and tools for each stage in your development as a Python programmer including some live examples. How to set goals, how to find mentorship experiences, how to grow technically and how to grow interpersonally. Something for everyone!

The Philosopher's Groan: How I Finally Fell In Love With SQLAlchemy
(25 Minutes)
By: Ainsley McGrath
Experience Level: Intermediate

I first encountered SQLAlchemy several years ago. I didn't get it. It seemed every line I attempted to write would drop me into 50 tabs of labarynthine documentation. Why do we have the ORM *and* Core? Should I build my tables as `Table` instances or should I be extending `Base`? How is `Base` more declarative than a function that returns `Table`s?? Can I please just write SQL??? :sob: I'm still hesitant to peek too far behind the curtain, but I do think I've finally wrapped my head around the philosophical underpinnings of the library and the different problems SQLAlchemy allows us to solve. After all, who among us works with databases that aren't problems in and of themselves?

Scaling out Airflow
(10 Minutes)
By: Katie Simmons
Experience Level: Intermediate

Katie Simmons, a data engineer at ActiveCampaign, will speak about the challenges and benefits of using Airflow for ETL at a rapidly growing company. ActiveCampaign has many thousands of databases - some including tables with up to a trillion rows - several APIs and new source requests coming in every week. This lightning talk will be an overview of using Airflow to extract, load and transform that data into our data lake so that it can be used for Business Intelligence and Data Science.

Throw away your shell scripts
(30 Minutes)
By: Nick Timkovich
Experience Level: Intermediate

One of the most common languages used by Python developers is some shell script (sh, bash, cmd.exe, or PowerShell), but why torture yourself with poor design decisions from the 70s when you know Python?

Python @ Strata
(30 Minutes)
By: Steven Lefar
Experience Level: Novice

An overview of Strata Data Science and python use cases inside the company.

Lowering the Stakes of Failure with Pre-mortems and Post-mortems
(25 Minutes)
By: Elizabeth Sander
Experience Level: Novice

Failure can be scary. There are real costs to a company and its users when software crashes, models are inaccurate, or when systems go down. The emotional stakes feel high-- no one wants to be responsible for a failure. We can lower the stakes by creating spaces to learn from failures, and minimize their impact. This talk introduces two ways to address failure: blameless post-mortems, to learn from an incident; and pre-mortems, to identify modes of failure upfront.

Limit the Guesswork in Fantasy Baseball by Using Python for Data Analysis
(15 Minutes)
By: Nicholas Marey
Experience Level: Intermediate

Daily fantasy sports has become a booming industry. One leader in the space is Fanduel who after raising $275 million in their series E funding, brought their valuation to over $1 billion. As the popularity of daily fantasy sports has taken off, critics have argued that success is the result of luck; yet the consistent success of a select group of players would suggest that success can be driven by skill. This talk, will go over how one could use Python to level the playing field.

Web Scraping for Fun and Profit (Profit not Included)
(20 Minutes)
By: Matt Inwood
Experience Level: Intermediate

Not all data is easily accessible. Taking info from a website that requires authentication, interaction, or even just to load a fancy script. This talk will discuss using Selenium to level up your web scraping skills, with examples and suggested practices.

Python Software Foundation Annual Impact Report
(10 Minutes)
By: Ewa Jodlowska
Experience Level: Novice

In 2019, the PSF released its first Annual Impact Report. This report details the financial standing of the PSF. Additionally, the report describes how funds we receive support various PSF programs. During this talk we will go through the data and discuss upcoming programs the PSF will be funding.

Shaping Chicago PyLadies: An organizer’s perspective
(10 Minutes)
By: Sand Ip
Experience Level: Novice

From its founding by Lorena Mesa in 2015 until now, the Chicago PyLadies chapter has evolved into a strong presence by the help of many passionate organizers and fellow tech community partners. In this talk, we will take a look at Chicago PyLadies history, partnerships, and how our future is actively being shaped by our global PyLadies.

Come for the language, stay for the community
(20 Minutes)
By: Naomi Ceder
Experience Level: Novice
Slides Link
In 2014 Brett Cannon summed it up when he said of Python, "I came for the language, but I stayed for the community." These are some reflections on what makes Python communities so special, the challenges they face, and how to take part in them and help them (and ourselves) grow and thrive.

Past, Present, and Future of the Python Software Foundation's Community Infrastructure
(25 Minutes)
By: Ernest W. Durbin III
Experience Level: Novice

In fulfilling the mission of the Python Software Foundation, infrastructure to support the development, use, and promotion of the language has seen steady investment. We'll take a stroll through the services that the PSF currently supports, the history and current state, as well as a brief introduction to future initiatives. No experience or prior knowledge is needed!

Chicago-river-checkup: Creating a web app for community-collected water quality data
By: Sarah Buchhorn

Learning the Zen of Python: How learning Flask made me into a better programmer
By: Ola Giwa

Applying Natural Language Processing to the Employee Hiring Process
By: Kamil Mysiak

Introduction to Full Stack Development: Creating a Sports Web App
By: Pedro Lopez IV

Lobules and beyond: a Flask app for community science data processing
By: Victoria Reese

Reddit Word Usage and Using Python in the Real World
By: Fazal Abbas

Melody Maker: simple music making for everyone
By: Ramon Cardenas

Exploring Space with Python: Predicting planets and visualizing the invisible
By: Steven Bruno

Machine Learning Project Flow for PetFinder.my Adoption Prediction Rate
By: Richa Vala

Anything Excel can do Python can do better: How learning to turn math in excel into code launched a new product line
By: Doug Dotts