A deep dive into the mind of a PHD Student.

Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.I'm finishing up my PhD here at the University of Regina.Whoo Boy, that's a big question.Um, let's just say it's asystems theory, I guess would be theone word or two words. Yeah, so systems theory.On systems theory is applied to interactive hardware, specifically stuff to do with, like Arduino and DIY hobbyist electronics.How's that being evaluated? Well, it's a sort of theoretical field. So essentially, I'm taking some really really old math from the 1940s.And trying to bring it up to speed with other contemporary ideas, especially pertaining to the maker movement was actuallyYeah, no worries. Um, well, back in the 1940s, there was this movement to take all of the different disciplines and unite them under one banner, and they were calling that general systems theory. And so the idea is that you can takethe grand unified, yeah, the grand unified theory.A kind of in a way yeah, that well, the grand unified theory in physics, I actually have a bachelor's degree in physics. The grand unified theory of physics was trying to unite quantum mechanics in general relativity. Now, General systems theory was actually founded by a biologist by the name of Ludwig von Berg handling fee andHis idea was thatyou could potentially describe biological, physical, chemical electronic systems all using the same type of language. And so back in the 90s Yeah, well, so back in the 1940s and 1950s they started fiddling around that this ideait's exactly that.Yeah, it's uh, it's uhhuh, yeah, well in its kind of, so you have in computer science, which my PhD work is, that's the what will be my PhD here in a few months. But in computer science, you have kind of like two disparate sorts of fields, looking at how people and non computer systems interact with computers and those two are cybernetics and human computer interaction.And human computer interaction that looks at interactions with machines as almost human conversations. But cybernetics takes the other approach and it says, Okay, well let's look at humans as if they work computers and systems theory kind of bridges. Systems Theory kind of bridges the gap between the two by saying no, let's look at everything like it's a system.I am trying toyou yeah, essentially take that third stance that if we look at everything as if it's a system,meet in the middle, somewhere between machine and man, then we can potentiallybreak through with all sorts of, well, essentially new philosophies and new ways of looking and designing things.Mmhmm.Yeah, that's no that's, that's exactly it.Exactly. And I've never been one to, like just take a very specific problem and say, I'm going to learn more about this very specific problem and then come up with a superficial answer. I've always been someone who has to drill down to the very core of what makes a discipline tick and then work from there, which is a huge pain in the ass for me, butI'm not quite sure exactly what do you mean by that?No, that's okay. That's okay.No worries. I know I think I think I understand what you're saying. The way that we look at things. Yeah, I think well, that's the most important thing or not the most important thing but that isn't an important thing isThat first you get your definition straight. And one of the problems with systems theory is you have sort of two different areas of systems. There you have the early systems theorists which their work was in trying to define systems using mathematical models like using set theory, and then the later system, and then the later systems theorists are more like experimentalists, and the experimentalists, they take a look at inputs and outputs, and then reverse engineer the system, kind of the black box method of engineering. And so my work fits in sort of in between them, trying to bridge the gap. And that involves being very careful about definitions, because there's a misunderstanding between what we meant by systems and what we know mean by systems, at least in my estimation.Nope, this is a this isThis is all just set theory. So it's not even. There's like no programming involved in that.And, yep.How does this relate to that? Well, my actual PhD, has very little programming in it. So the PhD thesisother than the demonstrator here in there, doesn't use a whole lot of Python. However, I use Python a lot in what I do mostly, which is teaching. I spend most of my time as a session, a lecturer and teaching three, three different classes this semester. And then I have to over this. Yeah, and I use Python a lot for that.Currently.Yeah, why? Yeah, why don'tteaching a it's all CS classes currently and teaching an 800 level class let's graduate students, some teaching a grad level course currently on,on what is it interactive hardware, which doesn't really involve much Python, I'm teaching to undergraduate courses as well. One of those is interactive simulation methods, which is all done in Python.And then I'm teaching another course on Unity game development, which of course is done in C sharp butBut currently, I'm working on developing a couple of new courses, one on information theory and another one on data acquisition and analysis from the internet. And both of those areboth of those are using Python. Those are both grad classes that I'm teaching over the summer.Information about information. I like it. That's meta.Yeah, information theory. Well, information theory is kind of this old branch of science that originated with Claude Shannon, back in the 1940s 1950s,when they were starting to think about, rather than the universe as an analog place. They're certainly think about the universe as a digital place as opposed to the way that we've traditionally thought of it. And so the idea behind information theory is that pretty much everything can be described in terms of yes or no questions. So, for example, you can ask the question.Yeah, well, every question. So the definition of information is the resolution of uncertainty. And the way that we resolve uncertainty is by asking yes or no question andYou can ask question like, Is it warm out today? And the answer would be yes or no. But of course, implicit within that you have to define Well, what do you mean by warm? And so you'd have to get specific. Is it greater than 30 degrees Celsius today?And then yeah, and then the question the answer that question would be today, no, here in Canada, or here in Regina know, so it wouldn't be warm today. So that's the answer of yes or no question. And of course, when you have a yesMmhmm.I'm drawing a blank thereIknow I'm I'm mostlymost of my programming is done in Python so i i think i think you're right though I think you're I think you're on the right track though.I physics background Yeah. Oh well in Math Math was my minorYeah, you can see thathuh? Yeah, math isyeahmental math is math is the language by which themath is the language by which the universe is governed. And physics is the result of that governments I suppose you could say.Mmhmm yeah, that would beyou probably thinking ofGosh, what's his name?throughout Ragnar rum which means calculating space, trying to think of his nameThat sounds kind of likehmmwellwell the concept of information sorry the concept of information actually in, ininLike Shannon's Shannon, Shannon systems that aren't sorry Stratton's information theoryis almost a physical rather than in a subjective thing, you can measure it.Well, no, I don't necessarily say that. I mean,there are certain things thatyou want to get metaphysical about things. There are certain conclusions that you can draw, I suppose, from thinking about the universe in terms of both information and systems. And if you want to take that extrapolate that and apply that towards

Trevor Tomesh on Computer/Human Interaction, Jung, &c.!

hello everyone welcome to import this a podcaster…

hello everyone welcome to import this a podcaster humans My name is Kenneth Reitz and today I am joined by the wonderful. Ew Durban the third, which is a wonderful name of the Python Software Foundation fame. And also hailing from Cleveland, Ohio, I believe. At the moment I'm in Pensacola, Florida, but I do reside in Cleveland, Ohio. Most of your mailing addresses right. That's correct. That's what your legal addresses
that was a joke. Oh, well, yeah. I mean, that is where my Google dresses though. There's no joke.
How you doing? I'm doing very well. I'm sort of currently on a little bit of a road trip. But I'm static in Pensacola and have a nice, relaxing place to be for a little bit for head the pie, Texas next week. I'm going to be there. I'll be there. Oh, excellent. I will see you there. Awesome. I'm going to try to hallway track which is difficult at a single tracks.
conference. Maybe we can grab coffee or something. That would be great. I would love that. coffees on me.
Even better, even better. Yeah. Okay, so yeah, so we thought we get to get together and talk a little bit. I heard that the Python Software Foundation just made this really cool migration to this really cool tech stack on this really cool infrastructure provider. I thought you could tell us a little bit about it. I'm sure. So a quick intro for myself. I'm Ernest. I'm the director of infrastructure for the Python Software Foundation. So a lot of people don't quite know exactly what the Python Software Foundation is what we do. But we're a nonprofit. And we sort of pulled the legal rights and and manage the legal parts effectively around the Python programming language, protecting the trademarks and the intellectual property. Exactly. And also we manage, you know, the contribute, contribute contributor license agreements and such to make sure that everything's aboveboard, so that Python can remember
You know, fully open source. And you know,
we're a nonprofit. And so our mission is that, but outside of that, we also do a lot of community work. We put on the Python us conference every year.
And we send grants out to, you know,
people who are using are teaching Python all around the world. I think a big part of that, too, that when you say infrastructure, it's not always just software. I mean, it's not always just like hardware infrastructure is also because there's like pipe di, you know, the Python package index, obviously, is a huge piece of infrastructure. But there's also things like voting, that's a piece of infrastructure that needs to be thought of thought through and maintained and decided upon by volunteers, but at the same time, it also needs to be executed by a group that's trusted and the CSF is that trusted group? Certainly. So yeah, I mean, you bring up a great point. We also provide infrastructure for effectively, you know, software infrastructure, if you will.

Ernest W. Durbin III on the PSF's Migration to DigitalOcean

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Hello everyone and welcome to import this a podcast for humans. This is episode I'm not actually sure we're not keeping track anymore. But today I am joined by my wonderful friend Aaron x O'Connell, who have been really good friends with since 2007. Actually, we went to college together. Yeah. George Mason University. Right, Aaron? Yeah, it's true. We went to college together and drop down together. Well, actually, yeah, around the same time. And we're both successful now. So doesn't matter.
E
Erin X. O'Connell 
0:30
Well, success can be measured in adult, various number of ways. I was talking to someone about that the other day, actually. And they told me that success is it wasn't happiness, it was a fulfillment. They had a really good way of putting it I have to remember.

0:47
Also think about that one actually. There's many ways to measure success and I think that's something that that is worth dwelling on.

0:57
Yeah, but But anyway,

1:00
Aaron is known for many things, including helping organize pi Colorado at the moment. She's also working for occipital, which is an excellent company, which I'm sure she can tell us a little bit about.

1:15
Yeah, definitely. So

1:18
yeah, I am working with PI Colorado right now. We're trying to organize our conferences in September. I'm currently I am working on Code of Conduct stuff, response stuff, and also swag. So I'm trying to get some cool, cool stuff there. We have a lot of cool companies in Colorado that are local to Boulder


2:00
Remember the exact wording but was basically treat others with respectfulness and professionalism. And if anyone does otherwise contact us immediately.

2:11
Basically, the code of conduct,

2:14
conduct

2:16
is intended to provide a safe space and make people feel comfortable. And that's why it's there. It's not there to police people, it's there to enable people who would otherwise not feel comfortable coming to feel comfortable coming. Is that a correct understanding?

2:33
Well, the Code of Conduct is a little more than that. It is a set of rules. You know, we don't want to be policing people. But we do need to do that, to an extent. The Code of Conduct is also a response guideline. So it's a set of, yes, it's a set of incident response that we have to take. So you know, if you make a code of conduct violation, then I'm also on the team that responds to that.

3:00
Those types of things and so, you know, the Code of Conduct violation does based I mean if you boil it down it does basically say, you know, be nice to each other and and you know, be respectful and things like that. But the whole the whole other part documents the whole process right and that's the important part is that there's transparency and the process. Yeah, so the process you know,

3:21
we do say what we're going to do the PSS actually put us through a training to do this. So we went through a training where we you know, were paired off and we actually were incident responders and incident reporters and we went through the whole process and you know, documented it and you know, made sure that we felt comfortable doing that so itself, Natalie was one of the SF it's wonderful that the PSS provides that that's not a cheap training, I'm sure. No, I don't think so. And it was actually it was really cool. We got to meet a lot of people from other conferences. People from

4:00
pie a new or pie Australia where there and pie cascades pie Colorado. Me to chris chris number?

4:13
I don't know. I'm not sure I'll have to get her on the show these people from each thing could do it. He's the traditional organizer in my mind of Python a I've been there twice and Keynote at once or maybe twice author on it wasn't it was

Erin X. O'Connell on PyCon 2019 and PyColorado!

Hello, welcome to import this a podcast for human…

Hello, welcome to import this a podcast for humans. I'm here today with Stephen, Shanda. He is my favorite stylist and my personal stylist. And he is here at bells in Winchester, Virginia. And he's not a software engineer, like the other people that I interview. But I think that there's something that we can learn from him because he has absolutely excellent taste.

Stephen of Bell's in Winchester, VA on Brand Image

CC BY-NC-SA 3.0, DigitalOcean.
Sign-up for Digita…

CC BY-NC-SA 3.0, DigitalOcean.
Sign-up for DigitalOcean ($100 credit!): do.co/42

Beautiful is better than ugly.
Explicit is better than implicit.
Simple is better than complex.
Complex is better than complicated.
Flat is better than nested.
Sparse is better than dense.
Readability counts.
Special cases aren't special enough to break the rules.
Although practicality beats purity.
Errors should never pass silently.
Unless explicitly silenced.
In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess.
There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it.
Although that way may not be obvious at first unless you're Dutch.
Now is better than never.
Although never is often better than *right* now.
If the implementation is hard to explain, it's a bad idea.
If the implementation is easy to explain, it may be a good idea.
Namespaces are one honking great idea -- let's do more of those!

The Western Zen of Python

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Welcome to import this a podcast for humans. I am sitting here and a beautiful park in the middle of Winchester, Virginia with the beautiful view of this church and this beautiful sky and I just got done skateboarding with a great pilot. Nice to that I've known since high school. Josh Crim, Joshua and cram\n\nfor right. Yes, sir. Speak up. We can't hear you.\n\nSay dude,\n\nuse an authoritative sick Durrell voice when your podcasts here.\n\nPeter voice\n\nYou're\n\nYou're good. You're talking to me? Yeah, you're just speaking a little louder so the microphone can hear you. For audio clarity, right? Look at me. Hey, look, it's fine. I can edit this out. Already. Yeah, I'll try again.\n\nPick it\n\ncaters. To do\n\nthis. Let me wait. You don't have to\n\ndo this.\n\nI'm not putting you on the spot.\n\nI know. I helped me.\n\nHello, everyone. Welcome to import this podcast for humans. My name is Kenneth Reitz. And I'm sitting here today with Joshua krim. Excellent friend of mine who we are we're skateboarding at the moment, we're taking a break here in the park. And we are surrounded by beautiful environment. The wind isn't too bad. I apologize for the field recording, but podcasts or podcasts and they are what they are. So Josh plays the guitar. He sings.\n\nHe does. He does the guitar. He does escape board. He\n\ndoes apply thoughts.\n\nWhat else you\n\ndo? Tell me about the technologies that you like just\n\nthrow some buzzwords that recently I've been unfortunately supposed to be as six. Yes, sir.\n\nJavaScript?\n\nYes. Yeah. What do you think of it? Yeah. You know, are using strict mode?\n\nNo, I'm
not. Oh, I know. I didn't bother. Yeah, we we this app used to me coffee script. And so it was built like, okay, seven or eight years ago.\n\nWe were thinking about TypeScript. We're actually looking at converting to using React Native. Yeah, be throwing in TypeScript, possibly Vue. js and thought that that? No, it's think I was kind of worried going into it. I think a lot of Python development maybe would feel the same way. learning JavaScript doesn't seem like a fun time. Look into it wasn't too excited about the project.\n\nJavaScript is a great language for just kind of developing
things in a rapid prototyping fashion, especially if you're working in a purely a synchronous environment. Python is technically capable of this, it provides the primitives for you to build things this way. However, the software has not been built by the community at to do that, for example, those are a failure by the requests library to do so. I'm working on that actively.\n\nYou can't do a thing going away with requests\n\nand the new promises stuffed with Jonathan JavaScript. It's wonderful. absolutely wonderful.\n\nIs there an equivalent of that and Python?\n\nNot that I'm running, the new facing stuff is out.\n\nTell us about promises. What is the promise?\n\nIt's kind of For me it was a huge replacement for callbacks. Like the whole I've never experienced callback hell is that what a simple way it is? Yeah. So what is that? Oh,\n\nwait, I'm actually genuinely asking the question. Problem\n\nis like, I don't know what it promises. It is. It's an asynchronous cool. And so you call a promise, you have reject the result?

Josh Crim on Homelab and DigitalOcean

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Transcribed by https://otter.ai: https://gist.github.com/kenneth-reitz/cf83b31e9ce42ae89f5aabc81c9dfe5b

John Mangino on Fear in Your Career

Lukasz Langa joins the show to discuss the black …

Lukasz Langa joins the show to discuss the black code formatter, the Responder web framework, and music!