AUA to Host Inaugural PyData Yerevan Open Source pandas Sprint 

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YEREVAN, Armenia — On June 25, the American University of Armenia (AUA) Zaven P. and Sonia Akian College of Science and Engineering (CSE), in collaboration with PyData Yerevan, Datamotus, and PMI Science R&D Center in Armenia, will host the first-ever Open Source Sprint aimed at contributing to pandas, a community-driven open source project. The Sprint will feature Patrick Hoefler, a member of the pandas core team and a Dask maintainer, as the session’s facilitator.

This two-hour intensive newcomer Sprint session aims to attract tech enthusiasts and guide them on how to make their own contributions to the open source library. Participants will have the opportunity to set up a development environment, learn the specifics of contributing, and gain practical contributing experience, with the possibility of submitting the first pull request: proposed changes pushed to a branch in a GitHub repository for review and further integration into the main codebase. AUA Bachelor of Science in Data Science Program Chair and PyData Yerevan Chapter Co-Founder Dr. Habet Madoyan emphasized the importance of the event, noting: “This Sprint represents a unique opportunity for our community to actively contribute to a pivotal tool in data science. It’s time for our data science community to not only use open source tools, but also contribute to their development, sharing skills and knowledge with the world. This event fosters collaboration, skill development, and a deeper understanding of open source contributions. Thus, we encourage data scientists with all levels of Python knowledge to register and ask companies to share this information with their employees.”

The session will be mentored by Hoefler, who is currently working at Coiled, focusing on Dask development and the integration of a logical query planning layer into Dask to make it more competitive with Spark. Since early 2021, Hoefler has been a member of the pandas core team, focusing his development time on pandas internals, such as implementing Copy-on-write and better Apache Arrow support. He has held numerous sprints for different PyLadies chapters, together with organizers from the PyLadies ecosystem. Highlighting the great opportunity the Yerevan Sprint will present, Hoefler remarks: “Open source sprints are a fantastic opportunity to get in touch with the community and take your first few steps on your way to becoming  a contributor to an open source library like pandas.”

Participation is encouraged for individuals with no prior experience in open-source software contribution, as well as those who have experience and wish to solve more challenging contributions or mentor other attendees. The session only expects attendees to possess a working knowledge of Python, have a GitHub account, bring a personal laptop, and have Git installed on their laptop.  

Follow the link and register by June 20, as space is limited. To learn more and for further information about the session agenda, click here. 

Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia, affiliated with the University of California, and accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission in the United States. AUA provides local and international students with Western-style education through top-quality undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs, promotes research and innovation, encourages civic engagement and community service, and fosters democratic values.