Expanding the International Python Community With the PSF

The Real Python Podcast

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.

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

Show Links:

• Marlene Mhangami: Personal Website
• Python Software Foundation
• PSF Membership
• PyCon US 2021: YouTube Playlist
• Real Python Interview With Marlene Mhangami
• PyCon Africa Conference 2019 Highlights & Interviews: YouTube
• Django Girls
• RAPIDS: Open GPU Data Science
• 10 Minutes to Data Science: Transitioning Between RAPIDS cuDF and CuPy Libraries

Level up your Python skills with our expert-led courses:

• Using pandas to Make a Gradebook in Python
• Hands-On Python 3 Concurrency With the asyncio Module
• Introduction to Sorting Algorithms in Python

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