Python Coding Sprint

From xkcd http://xkcd.com/353/

On Friday, May 13 Joshua Smith along with members of the Python PGH group will be hosting a Python code sprint at HackPGH. If you’ve ever wanted to contribute to an open source project but didn’t know where to start, now is your chance. Don’t worry if your python skills are shaky or non-existent, you will have a chance to interact with real live python developers.

We will be working on a brand new project to create a tool to determine the difference between two scalable vector graphics (SVG) files. This tool will be useful for people collaborating on creating images: it will allow the collaborators to easily see what changes have been made to the image over time. Similar tools for text are used extensively during the normal course of software development so that developers can see the difference between source code files.

SVG is an open XML format for describing vector graphics. The advantage of vector graphics over bitmap graphics (e.g. jpg, png, tiff) is that lines and curves are perfectly smooth; zoom in too much in a bitmap and the image appears pixelated. Inkscape is a popular open source SVG editor that is also used to make graphics for the egg-bot.

This event is the first of its kind at HackPGH, part of the motivation for this event is to learn how to host successful code sprints. The doors will open at 7pm for this free event. The shop is located at 1936 5th Ave in the garage around back on Watson.