Development Sprints

Sunday, March 29 to Thursday, April 2, 2009.

Development sprints are a key part of PyCon, a chance for the contributors to open-source projects to get together face-to-face for up to four days of intensive learning and development. Newbies sit at the same table as the gurus, go out for lunch and dinner together, and have a great time while advancing their project.

What's a sprint?

Basically, a sprint is a time set aside for developers to come together and focus their undivided attention on improving an open source projects. The PyCon Development Sprints are four days of intensive learning and development; a focused, sustained time to test, fix bugs, add new features, and improve documentation.

PyCon provides the space and infrastructure (network, power, tables & chairs); you provide the enthusiasm and brainpower.

In 2008, there were sprints for Python, Jython, Zope, Django, TurboGears, Bazaar, Trac, Mailman, and several more projects.

Who can participate?

Anyone! All experience levels are welcome; sprints are a great opportunity to start contributing to your favorite Python project.

Participation in the sprints is free!

Who's sprinting in 2009?

See the sprint projects page for the full list, which includes sprints on Bazaar, Django, Jython, Python Core, Open Government, SQLAlchemy, Trac, Windmill, WSGI, Zope, and many more.

Can I join a sprint at PyCon?

Yes! Sign up over at the sprint sign-up page

Can I host a sprint at PyCon?

Yes! Look at the call for project participation for details.

What's the schedule?

Intro sessions

There will be two pre-sprint sessions on Sunday, March 29, 2009 after the end of the conference talks:

Intro to Sprinting (3pm - 4pm): A plenary session which will begin with a talk explaining the basics of sprints and how they work at PyCon. That will be followed by a panel discussion where sprint leaders will answer detailed questions.
Sprint Tutorials (4pm - whenever): Sprint leaders will gather sprinters and head to their sprint rooms for introductory sessions. Sprint leaders will explain their project, walk through code, help with repository access, etc. This way, come Monday morning you'll be able to get started coding right away.

Sprints

Sprints themselves will run Monday, March 30 to Thursday, April 2 from early morning until people leave. Realistically, sprints typically start up around 9am and run until dinner, but late-nighters and all-nighters are okay (and common).

During the sprints, people often hang out in the #pycon IRC channel on irc.freenode.net to chat, coordinate tasks, and arrange meals.