Contributing to Core Python

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Contributing to Core Python An Opinionated Guide for Scientists and Data Scientists 1 Carol Willing Twitter: @WillingCarol GitHub: @willingc Data Umbrella Meetup November 10, 2020

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Core Python = CPython

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Data and Science • Primary Audience • Data scientists • Scientists • Data Engineers • Folks who may get value but are not the focus of this talk • Computer scientists • Compiler engineers • Operating system experts Contributing to CPython Climate Change ECMWF

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Contributing to Core Python An opinionated approach for scientists and data scientists Core Python Today Comparing Core Python to Data / Science Projects Getting Started

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Beyond BDFL

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Steering Council Barry Warsaw Brett Cannon Carol Willing Thomas Wouters Victor Stinner

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PEP 13: Python Language Governance ‣ Quality and Stability ‣ Contributing accessible, inclusive, sustainable ‣ Core team and PSF relationship ‣ Decision making processes for PEPs ‣ Seek consensus

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Which contributions are needed

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Python Software Foundation (python.org) The mission of the Python Software Foundation is to promote, protect, and advance the Python programming language, and to support and facilitate the growth of a diverse and international community of Python programmers.

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Ways to Contribute More ways than writing new code • Add new code with backward compatibility • Maintain security and improve core development workﬂow • Writing and running tests • Writing and editing documentation • Triaging bugs for reproducibility • Reviewing PRs • Share your knowledge with the community (talks, blog posts, and meetups)

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Comparing Projects

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CPython and Data/Scientiﬁc Projects • GitHub workﬂow • Pull requests • Code Review • Automated Testing / CI What's similar

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CPython and Data/Scientiﬁc Projects • New feature velocity • Use beyond data / science • Project Age and Lifecycle (30 years vs <10 years) • Stability and backward compatibility • Context of use: CPython is a foundation for projects to be built upon What differs

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Getting Started and continuing to contribute

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First time contributors to open source Consider Python projects in the Scientiﬁc / Data community

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Mindset Getting set for success • Check your intent or why you want to contribute • Set a goal • Limit scope of your initial impact • Practice patience • Be persistent

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Common reasons for contributing These are just a few of the many reasons. • Fix a possible bug • Improve the documentation for the next person • Thought it would be cool • Wanted to understand more about how things work • Strengthen development skills

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Dev Guide devguide.python.org devguide.python.org

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Helpful prerequisites This will improve your contribution experience. • Take time to understand CPython's culture • Understand diﬀerence between core language and standard library • Remember most core developers are volunteers • Understand Git and GitHub workﬂow • Familiarity with Python (C is not necessary)

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Build CPython Dev Guide Quick Reference Steps 1 - 3 • Fork and clone source code from https://github.com/python/cpython • Use the C compiler to conﬁgure and build Python • Unix/Linux/macOS • Windows https://devguide.python.org/#quick-reference ./configure --with-pydebug && make -j PCbuild\build.bat -e -d

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Run the tests Dev Guide Quick Reference Step 4 • From the command line, run the tests • Unix/Linux • Mac • Windows https://devguide.python.org/#quick-reference python.exe -m test python.bat -m test python -m test

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Congrats on building and testing Dev Guide will help answer additional questions on contributing • Changes are submitted as GitHub pull requests • CI will run the automated tests • Wait for review • Address feedback • Core dev review and hopefully merge

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Learn about CPython Internals 23

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Resources • Anthony Shaw's blog post and/ or book on CPython internals • Core developer websites • Guido • Victor Stinner • Brett Cannon • CPython sprints • PyCon talks by core developers • My PyCon 2015 talk • Mariatta • Victor • AsyncIO: Lukasz on YouTube

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Our time is limited so... 25

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Community is key 26 Python Brasil official photo. The sign represents Python in BSL (Brazilian Sign Language), made by Amanda and Sávio at Python Sul 2018 https://pyfound.blogspot.com/2019/02/python-brasil-people-technology.html PyLadiesBRConf official photo PyLadiesBRConf official photo