Twisted Trial Ported to Python 3!

Twisted, as many of you know, is an asynchronous, or event driven networking framework written in Python (https://twistedmatrix.com/trac/wiki). Twisted has been around for about a decade, offers many features, including low-level primitives and high-level interfaces, and works with many protocols (including HTTP, XMPP, NNTP, IMAP, SSH, IRC, FTP). 

Twisted Logo

Due to its maturity and complexity, Twisted requires a lot of time and effort to be completely ported to Python 3. Fortunately, the PSF was able to help fund some of this work; one recent result is the release of Twisted 15.4, which includes Twisted’s standard test-runner, Trial (codenamed "Trial by Fire").

The PSF Grant allowed core developer and Twisted release manager,

Amber (HawkOwl) Brown, to port Trial to Python 3. She recently sent the PSF this announcement:

“Just wanting to let you all know that a Twisted with the PSF-funded Trial Py3 port is now released. And a little example of it in action:

https://asciinema.org/a/cthr9xezlt8mxg5dp0n73fzc9. Again, many thanks for accepting the grant proposal – the ability to dedicate a significant chunk of time to this work has meant it was completed well sooner than if the grant had not been accepted.”

Due to certain differences between Python 3 and Python 2 (e.g., removal of ClassType and unbound methods), Amber tells us that the porting of Trial required a rewriting and retesting of the test suite loader. The work is mostly done and the current port duplicates most of Trial’s previous functionality with the exception of its distributed test runner (DistTrialRunner).

Specifically, the PSF grant allowed Amber to perform the following steps:

- Complete and test the Trial unittest loader 

- Fix the remaining failing Trial tests  

- Create a tool which runs only the portions of Twisted that have been ported to Python 3 for use in Twisted development  

- Break up the port into smaller pieces, put them up for review, and address the review comments  

- Merge the reviewed portions

Trial’s features–a front-end, the ability to handle Deferreds and asynchronous tests, and the capacity to build testcase-duration reactors, make testing much easier. The Twisted team will now be able to use Trial for continued Python 3 porting, while users of Twisted will be able to test their codebases more easily as they port them to Python 3. Because of Trial, we can look forward to Twisted 15.5 in the near future (and hope to see more users' code ported to Python 3, as well). As Amber tells us,

"15.5, coming soon, will come with another handful of ported modules, and the twistd application (a daemoniser + plugin runner, the recommended way of spawning long-running Twisted services)."

The PSF sends its gratitude and congratulations to Amber Brown and the Twisted team on this important accomplishment.

To learn more about Twisted, the following websites, video talks, and tutorials are available:

http://labs.twistedmatrix.com/

http://krondo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/twisted-intro.html

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-twist1/

http://pyvideo.org/video/2597/twisted-mixing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HZR7_ZBkYY

I would love to hear from readers. Please send feedback, comments, or blog ideas to me at msushi@gnosis.cx.

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PyOhio Young Coders to receive PSF Funding

The PSF is always thrilled to be able to help introduce young people to the world of programming. As such, Young Coders' Workshops (also see O'Reilly) are especially close to our hearts. Young Coders, for those of you who don’t know, was started in 2013 at PyCon in Santa Clara by Katie Cunningham and Barbara Shaurette (see My Dinner with Katie). Kids ages 12-17 learn to code using Raspberry Pis, which they then get to keep. 

Recently, the PSF has granted funding for PyOhio and for its Young Coders' Workshop. The conference will be held August 1st - 2nd on the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus, Oh, while the YC workshop will take place on Sat August 1 (see PyOhio). 

PyOhio serves as a regional conference for the Midwest with many attendees from surrounding states. Attendance at PyOhio has grown from 150 in 2010 to 400 in 2014. There will be 4 tracks of talks over 2 days and three days of sprints. This year’s schedule include a keynote by Catherine Devlin and talks by Brandon Rhodes and Brian Curtin among others. Registration is free (see PyOhio)!

Brian Costlow, Chair of PyOhio, explains that the Young Coders Workshop targets kids who wouldn’t otherwise get the opportunity. PyOhio organizers reach out to partners to get the word out to those beyond tech circles. They reserve 40% of workshop slots for their partner organizations' for kids from disadvantaged neighborhoods. Last year in 2014, the kids came from one of the most economically distressed neighborhoods in Columbus (see Demographic Info).

This year, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Columbus, OH is helping to recruit kids from poorer neighborhoods. 

According to Brian, 

We’ll pull kids from more than one neighborhood this year, but the highest median household income is $32,000 and all of the neighborhoods have at least 15% of households below the poverty line. By way of contrast, the median income for the Greater Columbus Statistical Metropolitan area is $44,000, but if you exclude the distressed neighborhoods, the household median income is around $80,000 and only 2% are below the poverty line.

The PSF is happy to be able to help with funding for such a worthwhile event. Not only do the kids get to keep the Raspberry Pis, but they also go home with the keyboard, mouse, and cable. This is especially important for underprivileged kids who may not have access to computers outside of school. 

Other sponsors of PyOhio and Young Coders include Level 12, Safari, and Caktus Group, to name a few (see Sponsors). But sponsors are still needed, so there is still an opportunity to help! Please visit Sponsor Prospectus.

I would love to hear from readers. Please send feedback, comments, or blog ideas to me at msushi@gnosis.cx.

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