The Dragon sprint 2016 was focused on improving the Pyramid framework by debugging, upgrading existing, and implementing new features. The sprint was held between 5-9 December 2016 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

At the Poligon Creative Center sprinting venue, the sprinters (there was 23 of us) were given a comfortable place to work, with all the needed infrastructure, including a table tennis and football for relaxation. Delicious coffee and tea were available together with snacks. The lunch was daily organised in a nearby canteen Marjetice.

The work and results

Immediately after the sprint kick off, several groups were formed.

Make Pyramid more visible and approachable CSRF protection Websauna SQLAlchemy Chameleon

The biggest team was trying to figure out how to make Pyramid framework easier to pick up by newbies as well as other Pythonista. The group created a list of issues considered to be necessary to be implemented for the Pyramid to become more approachable. The group focused on the Quick start tutorial and opinionated example based on the Pyramid framework, with a goal to help newcomers learn the Pyramid ecosystem. The new Pyramid tutorial was created with several tests. The results were that the Pylons community will be getting a new website https://pylonsproject.org/, which will make Pyramid more approachable for newcomers so be sure to check it out once it’s published. 

The second group was working on a better CSRF protection support, focusing on cleaning up the CSRF implementation by removing the dependency on sessions. Testing was performed, and documentation was updated.

We didn't forget about Websauna, actually, quite a lot has been done on the Websauna project. One team was working on replacing pcreate with cookiecutter, which was finalised including documentation and testing. Additionally, several bugs were fixed, pyramid_notebook was updated and documentation improved.

We were also working on SQLAlchemy debugging and profiling tool. SQLAlchemy debugging toolbar has been developed up to the alfa stage, improving the UI, creating tests, and cleaning the code. Demo was presented and it looks very promising.

A lot of issues were fixed for Chameleon template engine and a few new features added. And for all of you who like Chameleon we have good news. Chameleon 3.0 is out.

Python meetup

December Python meetup in Ljubljana was held on the last day of the Dragon sprint 2016. The sprinters shared the results of the sprint among the local Python community, as well as experiences on how to built software on top of Pyramid. 

There was one talk held by Mikko Ohtamaa titled Websauna: faster, harder, hotter. Websauna is a new Pyramid and SQLAlchemy-based high level web framework with a lot of Plone influence. It is aimed at building customer-facing web applications. Think of it as Django without too much Django in it. Core features include automatic admin interface, Bootstrap theming, sign in and sign up, social media integration, Deform-based forms, Jinja templating, traversing and ACL. Plus of course all the Pyramid goodness. We have web applications 80% figured out. Websauna takes it up to 95%.

After the main talk, there were several lightning talks held.

Evening activities

After hours of hard work, it was time for some relaxation activities. We organised evening socialising events with visits of the Ljubljana old city center with mulled wine and other Christmas market stands. We had an opportunity to try and enjoy tasting some of the traditional Slovenian cuisine in a form of a tapas in Tabar restaurant, which offers spectacular food and wine made purely from all Slovenian ingredients.

We have also visited Ljubljana Castle offering spectacular views over Ljubljana city, as well as the Castle restaurant with amazing foods, wines, and beers. In addition, we have taken the sprinters to the alternative culture center Metelkova City, where mostly alternative minded youths and seniors gather to share ideas, art, music, and more.

Sprinters and Sponsors

The efforts of a team of 23 sprinters from the US (remotely), UK, Ukraine, Denmark, Finland, and Slovenia, have without doubt contributed to the Pyramid and the community. The event was sponsored by 10 sponsors to whom we are truly grateful.

• Igor Kolar
• Jernej Urankar    
• Rok Arih
• Sandi Šemrov  
• Martin Frlin
• Stanko Levičar
• Maksym Shalenyi
• Mikko Ohtamaa
• Gabrijel Persin
• Jure Cerjak
• Tadej Justin
• Steve Piercy (Remotely)
• Chris McDonough (Remotely)
• Malthe Borsch
• Jan Likar
• Janez Troha
• Gasper Vozel
• Livia Dobai
• Tom Lazar
• Mikko Ohtamma
• Matthew Wilkes
• Domen Kožar
• Nejc Zupan

Thank you all and see you at the next Dragonsprint 2017!