PEP 683: Immortal Objects — Presenting at PyCon US & PyCon Italia

TL;DR: PEP 683 is about a simple (yet complicated) change made in the reference count field under the memory management system on CPython implementation that was added on Python 3.12 release.

If you want the 'Snyder cut' version of that explanation, you can check out this YouTube 30-minute presentation that goes into all the tech details such as memory from the basics, why this PEP was created, hard parts, and what’s next after it is done.

This post will actually be about 2 important conferences where this talk was presented: PyCon US and PyCon Italia

PyCon US

PyCon US is the Mecca for the Python Language. It’s where all the new features, performance improvements, and big changes in the language are usually first displayed in the year. It’s also composed of many small events put together such as summits (Maintainers summit, WebAssembly summit, …), Open Spaces, PyLadies events, Workshops, Talks, Sprints, among others including lunches, dinners, and (unofficial) social events.

It’s the largest Python event in the year, both in size and revenue for the Python Software Foundation (or PSF). This year the event had a little over 2700 participants on site for talks and workshops (plus a few hundred watching remotely) and was sponsored by companies from tiny startups to large-sized big techs. Going from the keynotes auditorium to the furthest room where talks were taking place easily took longer than 5 minutes (it could take more than 10 depending on who you meet on your way if you stop to grab a coffee, or sightsee the river and bridges just outside the David Lawrence Convention Center). It’s also a great opportunity for networking and getting your (first or maybe a new) job — companies that sponsor PyCon are always looking out for potential candidates and doing business. Worth checking out the company booths, even if you are not interested. You’ll also take on with you A LOT of free gifts from the sponsors.

But the event size isn’t the most important part of it all, it is the community that engages in it. A few weeks before going to the conference, another fellow pythonista recognized my name on the schedule and added me to a telegram group of Brazilians speaking at PyCon US 2024. Even before getting there, I already got a chance to see old friends and make new ones (in my native language). At the event it was no different: many friends from all over the world had their talks or tutorials accepted and joined the conference. I even got a chance to meet Guido himself during lunch on the last conference day.

They had a waiting room for speakers to wait around 30 minutes before their presentation, and review/test slides any time to see how they would look on the projector. This was the first year I submitted an advanced topic, also, it was my 1st time on PyCon US, so I must admit I was a bit more nervous than usual. It didn’t help at all when a volunteer told me about 300+ people were waiting to see my presentation (panic mode: on). I arrived at the room to discover it was a really, really long room! You could barely see the stage when sitting on the last row, and on the stage, there were bright lights that didn’t let you see past 1/3 of the sitting rows.

The worst part: the big red clock that looks like a bomb and counts down to show you how much time you have left. It’s pretty much impossible to ignore that thing looking right back at you.

I finished the talk about 2/3 minutes earlier than expected and got some awesome questions from the audience to answer. People did seem to like the talk! After I removed the weight from my shoulders, I just relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the conference, and I even got a chance to do 1 day of tourism in Pittsburg before flying off to PyCon Italy in Florence.

PyCon Italia

I arrived in Milan/Italy one day before the conference talks started, and immediately took a train to Florence (or Firenze as the Italians refer to it). Those trains are fast! That one reached 267 Km/h to catch up because it was a few minutes late, but the “slow” trains operate close between 80 to 120 Km/h. I registered at the hotel where the conference would take place and met my 2 roommates who would also speak at the conference (more about that in the “Financial aid” part of this article).

The next morning, right at the hotel breakfast already found some friends from EuroPython community and took a photo with them. That’s something I did very often at both conferences and I recommend whoever reading this article also does: conferences go by really quickly, but good times recorded on camera last forever. Don’t miss a chance to photograph anything you find awesome, or call out friends and conference organizers/volunteers: “Let’s get a picture together”

One common mistake people may think: I don’t speak Italian, so I can’t participate at PyCon Italia. Actually, most talks and workshops (I’d say around 70% or more) happen in English at PyCon Italia. So I’d suggest to check online videos and websites to know more about any conference before attending. From what I saw online, I noticed PyCon Italia does present some interesting academic ←→ market research. Not all the time, but that do caught my eye, even though the focus of the conference is not 100% scientific research.

PyCon Italia felt a lot like EuroPython: a very diverse set of participants, many different countries and languages from around the world represented there, and an amazing team of people and volunteers that contribute with their time and make the conference happen (receiving absolutely nothing more than knowing they are making the world a better place). The conference sold out the on-site tickets around 2 weeks before starting, and late ticket buyers were begging on Discord to anyone who would not make it to the conference: “Let me buy the ticket from your hand!”. There were around 800 people on site, and more people watching online.

After the big red clock counting down at PyCon US, I practiced a few extra times, and this time with the timer on my cellphone counting down the remaining time. That helped me a lot into overcoming the nervousness I had the 1st time I presented and I had a great time during the talk.

Some pieces of advice I’d give about things I never tried before and worked great:

If possible, try to interact with the audience about 2, 3 or 4 times during your presentation. That will make sure they don’t fall asleep and keep their attention.

If you raffle any gifts at the end of your presentation, you will create engagement. I gave away a physical copy of a good Python book and got lots of amazing questions.

Once the presentation was over, I was still able to do a lightning talk — talks about anything, that doesn’t pass over 5 minutes — about impostor syndrome. It’s not usually my thing, but must admit I had a great time doing so while sharing a bit about the hard parts I faced when putting everything together for the talk at these conferences. The conferences ended, and so my vacations officially started.

But before wrapping up, let’s talk about money…

Financial aid

Lots of people say or think “I can’t afford to go to a conference like this”. They also don’t know the PSF gives away thousands of dollars every year to help people that engage with the PSF mission into participating on conferences and making a difference. Keep an eye on the conference’s website as they usually have financial aid or travel grants to help out participants (and especially speakers), but do it early: at least 4 months before the conference starts. Some numbers:

• PyCon US helps out with USD 2.000,00 + free ticket to the conference for attendees who travel from outside the US
• PyCon Italia helps out with EUR 400,00 + a shared room on a hotel + free ticket to the conference (may vary)
• Lunches, breakfast, and coffee breaks are usually included in the ticket, so that reduce your expenses a bit

And that’s a wrap.

Feel like speaking at a conference? Reach out to me if you’d like some help with that!