Unigroup's March 2003 Meeting Announcement


NOTICE: All attendees who have successfully RSVP'd by 19-MAR-2003 16:00 should have already received an "RSVP-ACK" EMail. If you did NOT receive this email, you are probably NOT registered and you won't be able to get past security (unless your email is bouncing). The final list has been sent to Chase Security.

20-MAR-2003 16:00 - GIVEN WORLD EVENTS, ALWAYS CHECK THIS PAGE BEFORE HEADING TO OUR MEETING THURSDAY EVENING! So far, we are ok for our meeting tonight. Be prepared for ID and Property checks. Do NOT misplace the security badge, you will need it to exit the facility!


Topic:
Python and Twisted

Speaker:
Itamar Shtull-Trauring, Chief Technical Architect,
Zoteca, Inc.

Date:
Thursday, March 20, 2003

Location:
The Chase Manhattan Bank
One Chase Manhattan Plaza (1CMP)     **This is our new meeting location!
Conference Center, 28th Floor
Downtown, NYC
** RSVP AND PHOTO ID WILL BE REQUIRED FOR ENTRY **

Time:
6:15 - 6:30 PM Registration
6:30 - 6:40 PM Ask the Wizard - Questions, Answers and Current Events
6:40 - 6:50 PM Unigroup Business
6:50 - 9:00 PM Main Presentation


Introduction

If you take a look at Python.org, you'll learn that a Python is "an enormous non-poisonous serpent"... which speaks a "totally awesome language that will someday crush the $'s out of certain other so-called VHLL's". Python (the software) is a freely usable and freely distributable, interpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming language, which is often compared to TCL, Perl, Scheme and Java.

Unigroup has addressed Java and Perl topics at previous meetings, and now the time has finally arrived to present Python!


   SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS:
   ---------------------

   * IN ORDER TO PASS THROUGH SECURITY AT CHASE, WE NEED YOU TO RSVP
   * PRIOR TO THURSDAY, SO WE CAN GET YOUR NAME ON THE ATTENDEE LIST.
   * ADVANCE REGISTRATION AND PHOTO ID ARE REQUIRED!

   -- RSVP DEADLINE IS 19-MAR-2003 16:00 --
   -- YOU WILL RECEIVE AN RSVP ACK MESSAGE WHEN YOU ARE REGISTERED --

   Please RSVP if you know you are attending or if you think you may
   be attending.  This will help us arrange for a letter to security
   for all of Unigroup.  It will also help us to determine the correct
   amount of food and refreshments.

   To REGISTER for this event, please RSVP by:

   a) If at all possible, please use the Unigroup Registration Page.
      This will allow us to have some automation in the registration process.

   b) If you have no web access and you really must EMail us, send an
      EMail containing the FIRST and LAST NAMEs of the persons attending
      to the Unigroup RSVP Address:
         unigroup-rsvp@unigroup.org
      The EMail subject should start with "RSVP".
      You may optionally include your contact phone number (that day)
      or other current information.
      Sample EMail:
        RSVP LastName FirstName your_email@domain.dom 000-000-0000

      ALSO: Do NOT give us an email address which is over quota
      and cannot receive any new email.  This causes us to receive
      bounces from your address when we send out the RSVP-ACKs.
      You must have a working and valid email address in order
      to get on the Unigroup Meeting Attendee List which will
      grant you access to our meetings.  Be sure to proof-read
      your email address before submitting the RSVP request.

   Please continue to check the Unigroup web site:
        http://www.unigroup.org
   for any last minute updates concerning this meeting.  Please
   check your email for any last minute announcements prior to the
   meeting.  Note that only the Attendee First and Last Names will
   be provided to Chase Security.


Directions

The 1CMP building is situated: South of Liberty Street, North of Pine Street, East of Broad/Nassau Street and West of William Street. The building is one block east of Broadway, right behind 140 Broadway.

The closest entrance to the conference center is from Nassau Street, first elevator bank from the Nassau Street entrance.

The building is on a raised platform. Walk up the outside stairs at Nassau Street and head for the guard's station at the south-west corner of the building. Tell the guards you are heading for Unigroup. They will inspect your ID and carry-ins and direct you to the meeting facility, assuming you are on the Unigroup RSVP list.

Once you get upstairs, enter the conference facility through its main doors. There is a bank of large monitors to the left of the entrance which should direct you to the Unigroup meeting room (the room may vary from month to month). To the right of the main entrance is the concierge's desk, ask for help there if you need anything. The conference facility has two levels, keep in mind that the Unigroup meeting may be up the staircase on its upper level.

As always, also look out for Unigroup signs marking the path to the meeting room. Also note, if you come early, we may not have our own signs in place yet (we have to commute there too).

Transit By Train: Take the J/M/Z to Broad Street and walk 1 block North to Pine St. Take the 4/5 to Wall Street and walk North to Pine St., then East to Broad St. Take the 2/3 to Wall Street, the North West exit is inside the Chase complex, else you will need to walk a block North and West. See MTA Downtown NYC Map (pdf) for detailed mass transit information.


Description of Talk

This talk will be a quick overview of the Python programming language, it's uses, and the motivation for using it. Twisted will then be presented, as an example of the power and flexibility of Python, and as a useful framework for a wide range of network programs.

The Python-in-Business site tells us this about Python: ``Python is a very high level programming language that excels in clarity and simplicity of expression. Python allows programmers to build their computing solutions using human modes of thought and logic. While Python is relatively simple to learn and use, its extensive standard library, portability, and ability to integrate tightly with other languages make it a real power tool for many types of software development.'' Python is used by many organizations and companies, including Google, Industrial Light & Magic, Redhat, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories and others. For information see http://www.python.org and http://www.python-in-business.org.

The Twisted event-driven networking framework is a powerful, cross-platform tookit for creating networked applications. It is being used to create server applications, GUI clients and peer-to-peer systems, both open source and in large organizations such as NASA. Twisted's support for multiple protocols (TCP, UDP, SSL/TLS, Multicast, Sockets, HTTP, SSH, FTP, etc), multiple platforms (Unix, Win32) and integrated services make it a great choice for the next generation of networked applications. Twisted is written in Python, and is licenced under the LGPL. For more information see http://www.twistedmatrix.com.

Web Resources:

   Python              http://www.python.org
   Python Newsgroup    news://comp.lang.python
   Python-in-Business  http://www.python-in-business.org
   Twisted             http://www.twistedmatrix.com

Giveaways:

O'Reilly has been kind enough to provide us with some of their books, which we will raffle off as giveaways at our meetings.


Speaker Biography

Itamar Shtull-Trauring has been programming since 1994. He has worked on projects ranging from multimedia applications, to web sites, distributed servers and remote object protocols. He has contributed to Python, Zope and is one of the main developers of Twisted. Currently he is Chief Technical Architect at Zoteca. For a full resume see http://itamarst.org/resume.html.


Company Biography

Zoteca (http://www.zoteca.com) provides open source / open standards software solutions and consulting services. Their technology solutions and expertise address a broad range of IT challenges including Enterprise Application Integration, complex web site back-ends and distributed network applications. Zoteca's key technology platform is a software workbench for the rapid development of efficient, safe, robust and scalable applications used in distributed, networked environments.


Fee Schedule

         Yearly Membership (includes all meetings):      $ 50.00
       * Non-Member Single Meeting:                      $ 20.00
         Student Yearly Membership:                      $ 20.00
         Non-Member Student Single Meeting (with ID):    $  5.00
         Cash, Check, American Express.

       * Employees of JPM/Chase (with ID) can attend general meetings
         at NO CHARGE.

    ==>  Unigroup is the Greater NYC Regional Area Affiliate
         of UniForum - an International Unix Users Group.
         Our Joint Membership Program with UniForum is currently
         on hold due to circumstances at UniForum.
         For information about UniForum visit http://www.uniforum.org.


Food and Refreshments

Complimentary Food and Refreshments will be served. This includes sandwiches such as turkey, roast beef, chicken, tuna and grilled eggplant. Assorted beverages (sodas and bottled water) and snaks (brownies, cookies) will be available.


Please join us for this meeting, you won't want to miss it!

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