Just back after attending PyCon India ‘10. It was not as exciting as I hoped it would be. That’s generally the case with any conference I attend. (I guess, I expect too much from them. :P)

The keynote by David Goodger (pronounced like Badger :) was “Good”. It was a very simple one talking of how to get Python into the workplace. His simple recommendation was to use Python if we saw any opportunity where it could be used, without bothering about permissions, convincing people etc. “It’s better to ask for forgiveness, than for permission.” He spoke of myths around Python – scripting language, dynamic language, too much white space, toy language, nobody uses it. He concluded the talk, by saying mentioning Indian driving to be an indication of some quick reflexes that we Indians have. ;) On the whole it was an enlightening, humorous and enjoyable talk.

I didn’t attend too many of other talks. Amongst the ones that I did attend, I particularly liked the one by Asim Mittal on using the Nintendo Wii with Python.

On some thought about my experiences at conferences, I think conferences shouldn’t have any talks at all. Or atleast, I shouldn’t be attending conferences for talks. They are an excuse to catch-up with people. Conferences should have only lightning talks of 10 mins and sprints. Talks, with an extensive explanation of stuff that can be easily found on the web, are a waste of time.