Hello,

As part of the MHRD funded open source mission at IITB, Asokan P and Prabhu Ramachandran are planning a 2 day Python workshop, along with Bhaskaracharya Pratishthan:

Topic: Programming with Python Date : Oct 10th and 11th, 2009 Time : 10 am to 5 pm Venue : Bhaskaracharya Pratishthan Instructors: Prabhu Ramachandran and Asokan P. Website : http://www.bprim.org/mathsoftwk/python/pythonwk09.php

Intended audience: College and University Teachers/Professors/Lecturers from any Engineering or Science domain, and Engineering students who would like to use Python for their basic computing and plotting needs.

Prerequisites: Participants should be comfortable computer users and be familiar with programming constructs such as loops, conditionals. Familiarity with programming editors-- scite, notepad++, vi, emacs- will be a plus. Familiarity with using the commandline will be another plus.

Objectives: At the end of the program the participants will have a good understanding of the Python language, and selected libraries. They will be able to write good modular procedural code and use objects. They will get a overview of the other major topics, features and libraries and be able to learn these on their own if required.

Coverage: * Motivation, background and design philosophy. * Basic data types: int, float and string * Core data structures: lists, tuples and dictionaries * Functions * Tool chain * Overview of the standard library * Matplotlib * NumPy and Scipy * 3D plotting * Debugging and testing

Methodology: Completely hands on, exploratory mode with minimal lectures introducing essential concepts and techniques. Typically we will have short 10-15 minute lectures, followed by series of graduated problems. The participants will solve them exploring the documentation to do so and the solutions will be discussed.

Laptops can be brought by participants, and additional laptops/computers can be provided for use for those required. Charging points will be available.

As far as installations go, you would require the following:

-- For Debian/ Ubuntu and the like: (a) IPython (b) Python doc (c) the Python Profiler (d) Scipy/Numpy (e) Matplotlib (f) Mayavi2 (optional)

-- For Windows XP (x86), Windows Vista (x86), Mac OS X 10.4+ (x86), RedHat 3 (x86, amd64), RedHat 4 (x86, amd64), RedHat 5 (x86, amd64), and Solaris 10 (x86, amd64) : (a) get the EPD (http://www.enthought.com/products/epd.php) bundle and you'll have everything you need! This is available for free for those in academia and others can utilize the free 30 day trial version for now.

In any case, we will be providing live DVDs containing all the required installations and some additional tools on site.

Registration : You are requested to fill up the form on the website with signature and a stamp from your college. Alternatively you can mail the form by email and submit the hard copy at the time of the workshop. There is no registration fee. Admission will be on first come first serve basis. The number of seats is limited.

Travel and Accommodation : Travel support will also be provided for second class train fare/bus for outstation participants who are college teachers. Accommodation will be provided at the venue. Lodging and boarding will be provided free of charge for outstation participants. Arrangement of lunch for all participants will be taken care of by the organisers. All participants will get a DVD containing Python and other Open Source software. Details of the workshop will be updated on the website periodically. The number of seats is limited.

Contact: Those who intend to participate should send an e-mail to bhaskara_p@vsnl.com, or call Mrs. Manjusha Joshi, Coordinator, Ph. No. 9822 319328 (4 pm - 7 pm) or the Bhaskaracharya Pratishthana Office (020- 25434547,25410724) between (12-6).

Thank you.

Regards, Kadambari Devarajan.