In the past few months I’ve talked a bit about contribution, sprints, and my own form of freedom of expression: Open Source Software. I think it’s great to find something that works for you, something that you can latch onto and become a part of. I’m not talking about becoming a parasite or a sink on a piece of software, but an actually joining forces with like minds and producing something new, interesting, unique. Sharing your knowledge benefits your own community, friends, family, and yourself. Doing so freely is extremely liberating.
One of my goals for 2010 is to liberate TurboGears from the bonds of our technical-biased development strategy.  In 2009 we needed to focus on the technology and build a stable platform with which to build upon. We are there. TG 2.1b1 is released tonight, and it has the required speed, ease of use, and a heck of a lot more docs than last year. We do realize that more documentation is needed and have asked numerous times for help.
The problem with asking for help is that first of all people want to be part of something successful, something well known in their own community. They also want to give back to something they use, or someone who has helped them. This is where I come in. I can offer the descriptions of technical supremacy of the components TurboGears brings together, like SQAlchemy, Mako, Abstract Dispatch, until I’m blue in the face, but if no one tries it on their own, or there is an insufficient killer app to use something, it will not garner the attention, nor the following to be a successful product. I’ve been explaining the technical bits of TG for a while, and have seen modest results.
Deciding to take action is one of the hardest things in life to do. The thing is, once you have made a decision to take action, taking actual action becomes easier. I choose to bring TG to you, the developers, hackers, engineers. I am putting myself out there to help you make web applications more quickly, easily, and without hitting the proverbial wall that so many developers using other frameworks hit.
On Saturday I will visit Dallas Texas, where my good friend Jason Galyon will be hosting my workshop. The goal of the workshop is to work with people interested in TurboGears, to work at their level to bring forth a web application that is applicable to them. Bring a database, we’ll see how it works with the new TG admin. Bring nothing and walk home with a wiki. Bring an existing app and spruce it up with a widget or two. Providing a self-driven workshop is the goal. Company Dallas is the location, we are starting around 8:30am, cost: $0. 8 people are already signed up.
On Sunday you have the opportunity to give-back by sprinting. We’ll start at 8:30 again, same place as the workshop. The goal of the sprint is to breath some life into c5t a cms I started with a few others to bridge mongodb, mako, and TurboGears into a blazing-fast, useful way of storing documents. We need: Someone to finish up the calendaring, a search, someone artistic to create an eye-pleasing theme, and lots and lots of testing. I plan to work entirely on testing, you guys can do the fun stuff. We could also use someone to help start some documentation. I’m hoping to release a beta of c5t before Pycon.
I plan on doing the first half of my workshop at Pycon. The difference is that here it will cost between $100 and $150 to take the tutorial depending on the total number of tutorials you are taking, but it is well worth the money if you need to get up and going with a TurboGears app. The tutorial cost is free for me, as I have waived my honoraria. My tutorial is actually in danger of being axed because I need 10 members to sign up and currently have 6. Please register today if you have not already done so!
Also at pycon, I will be participating in a discussion panel for form generation hosted by Brandon Rhodes. I will be expressing my knowledge of Sprox, my own personal foray into the arena. Other experts such as Jacob Kaplan Moss and Chris McDonnough will sit in on the panel as well.
Pycon is such an awesome conference because they build a 4-day sprint into every event. What’s even more awesome is the number of people that show up and contribute. You can bet i’ll be there all 4 days.
A week after I return to Denver, I will leave for Montreal for my first visit outside of the country. It’s amazing I have made it this long without leaving my beloved States. Whatfor would I leave you ask? A developer conference called Confoo.ca.  Here I will be giving my workshop again, this time it will be a full-day workshop with lunch provided. The cost is $300, which includes lunch. I waived my honoraria to bring the cost down by $300.
At Confoo.ca I will also give a general talk on TurboGears, to spread the good word about how we have evolved over our lifetime, and where we fit into the future of WSGI and the greater web ecosphere.
Again, I am working to organize a 1 day sprint in Montreal following the conference. Stay tuned for details.
It’s going to be a busy few months. I’m looking forward to it professionally, but it’s going to definitely be a challenge to be away from my family for all that time. What helps me get through that is knowing that people out there benefit from my work and I help make their development lives better. So, if you see me in the hall say hello and tell me what you are up to, or drop me an email if something I contributed has helped you out. Better yet, show up to a sprint and give back and see how your contributions can make a difference while also liberating you.
Awesome! let 2010 be it!