The PEP Talk

Visit our site to listen to past episodes, support the show, and sign up for our mailing list. Summary The Python language is built by and for its community. In order to add a new feature, change the specification, or create a new policy the first step is to submit a proposal for consideration. Those proposals are called PEPs, or Python Enhancement Proposals. In this episode we had the great pleasure of speaking with three of the people who act as stewards for this process to learn more about how it got started, how it works, and what impacts it has had. Brief Introduction Hello and welcome to Podcast.__init__, the podcast about Python and the people who make it great. Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn or RSS Follow us on Twitter or Google+ Give us feedback! Leave a review on iTunes, Tweet to us, send us an email or leave us a message on Google+ I would like to thank everyone who has donated to the show. Your contributions help us make the show sustainable. For details on how to support the show you can visit our site at pythonpodcast.com This episode is sponsored by Zato – Microservices, ESB, SOA, REST, API, and Cloud Integrations in Python. Visitzato.io to learn more about how to integrate smarter in the modern world. I would also like to thank Hired, a job marketplace for developers, for sponsoring this episode of Podcast.__init__. Use the link hired.com/podcastinit to double your signing bonus. Searching for Pythonistas with Disabilities We are recording today on December 7th, 2015 and your hosts as usual are Tobias Macey and Chris Patti Today we are interviewing some of the PEP editors Interview with PEP editors Introductions How did you get introduced to Python? – Chris For anyone who isn’t familiar with them, can you explain what a PEP is and how they influence the Python language? – Tobias What are the requirements for a PEP to be considered for approval and what does the overall process look like to get it finalized? – Tobias How has the PEP process evolved to meet challenges posed by changes in the Python community? – Chris How many reviewers are there and how did each of you end up in that role? Is there a set number of editors that must be maintained and if so how did you arrive at that number? – Tobias What mistakes have other communities made when creating similar processes, and how has PEP learned from those mistakes? – Chris There are different categories for PEPs. Can you describe what those are and how you arrived at that ontology? – Tobias Is there any significance to the numbering system used for identifying different PEPs? – Tobias How does the PEP process maintain its sense of humor (e.g. PEP 20) while being sure to be taken seriously where it really counts? – Chris Along the lines of humorous PEPs, can you share the story of PEP 401? – Tobias How does the PEP process strive to prevent an undesirable level of control by any one company or other special interest group? – Chris How much control does Guido have over the PEP process? Has a PEP ever directly countered Guido’s wishes? How did it turn out? – Chris What is your favorite PEP and why? – Tobias Barry: PEP 20 Chris: PEP 479 David: PEP 20 What, in your opinion, has been the most important or far-reaching PEP, whether it was approved or not? – Tobias David: PEP 20 Chris: PEP 466 Barry: PEP 8 What was the strangest / most extreme PEP proposal you’ve ever seen? – Chris Chris: PEP 501 Barry: PEP 507 David: PEP 666 Picks Tobias Wagtail CMS Inside Out Spark Podcast Hymn for Atheists Chris Trumbo Kivy Crash Course Jihadology Podcast Barry Tox Nose2 Jessica Jones The Joy of Science Chris The Git Manpage Generator Daily MTG David Tim’s Vermeer Ready Player One The Aristocrats Scientific Songs of Praise Hollywood Babble On Keep In Touch Barry Blog Chris Blog GitHub David Website Blog Links Monty Python – All the Words Monty Python – On YouTube PEP 404 PEP 666 Raymond Hettinger PyCon 2015 PEP8 talk Python Dev Mailing List Python Ideas Mailing List Python Bug Mailing List The intro and outro music is from Requiem for a Fish The Freak Fandango Orchestra / CC BY-SA