Expand your Python knowledge by adding these resources to your own private learning network.
I’ve been using and teaching Python for a long time, but I’m always happy to add to my knowledge of the practical language. That’s why I’ve been trying to expand my Python Personal Learning Network (PLN), a concept that describes an informal, mutually beneficial network for sharing information.
Educators Kelly Paredes and Sean Tibor recently talked about building Python PLN in their podcast Teaching Python. I subscribed to the channel (and added them to my Python PLN) after meeting them at PyCon 2019 in Cleveland. This podcast got me thinking about the people in Python PLN, including those I recently met at PyCon.
I will share some of the places WHERE I found PLN members; Perhaps they can also become part of your Python PLN.
Young Coders mentor
Betsy Waliszewski, event coordinator at the Python Foundation, is a member of my Python PLN. When we met at PyCon2019, because I’m a teacher, she recommended that I check out the Young Coders studio for children 12 and older. There I met Katie Cunningham, who is running the project, which teaches participants how to build and configure raspberry PI and use Python projects. Young students will also receive two books, Python for Kids by Jason Briggs and Learn to Program with Minecraft by Craig Richardson. I’m always looking for new ways to improve my teaching, so I snapped up two Minecraft books at the NoStarch Press booth at the conference. Katie is an excellent teacher and prolific author with a wonderful YouTube channel full of Python training videos.
I added Kattie to my PLN along with two other people I met at Young Coders: Nat Dunn and Sean Valentine. Like Katie, they volunteer their time to introduce Python to young programmers. Nat is president of Webucator, an IT training company that has been a Python Software Foundation sponsor for many years and sponsored PyCon 2018 Education Summit. After teaching Python to his 13-year-old son and 14-year-old nephew, he decided to teach at Young Coders. Sean is the director of strategic planning for Hidden Genius, a technology and leadership coaching program for young black men. Sean says that many of the Hidden Genius participants “build projects in Python, so we thought [Young Coders] would be a great opportunity to collaborate.” Learning about the Hidden Genius project inspired me to think deeply about the future of programming and its life-changing power.
The Open Spaces party
I found PyCon’s Open Spaces — a self-organized impromptu gathering of an hour or so — to be just as useful as formal project events. One of my favorites is the Circuit Playground Express device, which is part of our conference theme package. I love this device, and Open Space offers a way to learn it. The organizers provided worksheets and a Github repository that contained all the tools we needed to succeed, as well as a hands-on opportunity and direction to explore this unique hardware.
The meeting piqued my interest in learning about Circuit Playground Express updates, so after PyCon I caught up on Twitter with Nina Zakharenko, who was the keynote speaker at the conference on programming the device. Nina has been on my Python PLN since I heard her talk at All Things Open last fall. I recently enrolled in her Basic Python course to further my learning. Nina recommended that I add Kattni Rembor to my Python PLN. His sample code is helping me learn to program in CircuitPython.
Other resources in my PLN
I also met Opensource.com community moderator Moshe Zadka at PyCon 2019 and had a long talk with him. He shares several new Python resources, including how to think like a computer scientist. Community moderator Seth Kenlon is another member of my PLN; He has published many excellent Python articles, and I recommend you follow him.
My Python PLN continues to grow every day. In addition to what I’ve already mentioned, I also recommend you follow the great content shared by Al Sweigart, Eric Matthes, and Adafruit. I also recommend the books Making: Starting with The Adafruit Circuit Playground Express and Podcast.__init__, a Podcast about the Python community. These are both things I know from my PLN.
Who is in your Python PLN? Please share your favorites in the comments section.
Via: opensource.com/article/19/…
By Don Watkins, lujun9972
This article is originally compiled by LCTT and released in Linux China