PyCon 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio

Sunday 1:50 p.m.–2:20 p.m. in Room 26A/B/C

Python on Windows is Okay, Actually

Steve Dower

Description

Packages that won't install, encodings that don't work, installers that ask too many questions, and having to own a PC are all great reasons to just ignore Windows. Or they would be, if they were true. Despite community perception, more than half of Python usage is on Windows, including web development, system administration, and data science, just like on Linux and Mac. And for the most part, Python works the same regardless of what operating system you happen to be using. Still, many library developers will unnecessarily exclude half of their potential audience by not even attempting to be compatible. This session will walk through the things to be aware of when creating cross-platform libraries. From simple things like using `pathlib` rather than `bytes`, through to all the ways you can get builds and tests running on Windows for free, by the end of this session you will have a checklist of easy tasks for your project that will really enable the whole Python world to benefit from your work.