Last night was a meeting with Ann Arbor Computer Society where I got to witness some interesting demo of .NET CF 2.0 databinding. That was interesting, but the real good part about the meeting was the community and coming together and open discussion of ideas. One thing that I found the most unique right away was the openness of people regardless of their respective software systems. Windows, Linux and MacOS alike all came together to share information.
Tonight I just got back from an MichiPUG meeting. Where PUG means Python Users Group. I got to sit in on a very detailed TurboGears presentation and discussion. I know python well enough to follow anything, but I’ve never used TurboGears. This presentation didn’t start anywhere, it just dove right into “what’s new”. I get the impression that the regulars have been together for quite some time. They all tend to be familiar with TurboGears. The was the first time I’ve been to a UG meeting of any kind where it seemed like everyone in attendence was REALLY deep into the subject matter. Often times at LUG meeting, members don’t have a deep knowledge of what they are talking about and there are a few gems in the rough. This seemed to be the exact opposite at the MichiPug meeting. I was impressed with the comments of everyone who contributed to the conversation. It was very refreshing.
So I’ve been in a bit of a rut as far as developing anything outside of the workplace. I think I’ll need to try TurboGears for something. The widgets concept are a huge welcome addition to an open source web framework. I think they are much like the concept of ASP.NET controls or maybe JSP tags, but they are of course Python. I’ll try to clarify that as I learn the TurboGears framework. I welcome anyone who is learning python (whiprush) to come out to the Michipug meeting next month. Meetings are on the first Thursdays of the Month.