PEP Talk

If you use Python, chances are you've heard of PEP 8, the Python style guide.

But do you know what PEPs really are? PEPs are more than just a style guide. A PEP stands for Python Enhancement Proposal. It's a proposal documentation for when you want to change the Python programming language in a big way, for example when you want to change the syntax of Python. Think of the addition of f-strings, the walrus operator, or the ExceptionGroup, those changes all started with a PEP.

Let's have a PEP talk, where you can learn about the PEP process, what needs a PEP and what doesn't, and how you as community members can take part.

Transcript

1. PEP Talk b y M a r i a t t a North Bay Python 2023 https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
2. PEP 8: Style Guide for Python Code North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
3. PEP 8: Style Guide for Python Code North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
4. PEP 8: Style Guide for Python Code “This document gives coding conventions for the Python code comprising the standard library in the main Python distribution.” North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
5. PEP != Style Guide Documentation North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
6. PEP != Style Guide Documentation So … what’s a PEP? North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
7. PEP 1: PEP Purpose and Guidelines “PEP stands for Python Enhancement Proposal. A PEP is a design document providing information to the Python community, or describing a new feature or its processes or environment. The PEP should provide a concise technical specification of the feature and a rationale for the feature.” North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
8. What needs a PEP? What doesn’t need a PEP? North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
9. Making Changes to Python Bugs, crashes, docs issues, feature requests, etc File them on GitHub: https://github.com/python/cpython North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
10. Making Changes to Python Changes to the language itself, grammar, syntax, adding a new module, new keyword, new operator: PEP required North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
11. Example PEPs PEP 498: Literal String Interpolation (f-strings) PEP 572: Assignment Expressions (the “walrus” operator) PEP 654: Exception Group and excepts PEP 492: Coroutines with async and await Typing PEPs: PEP 482, 483, 484, 526, 561, etc Packaging PEPs North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
12. Governance PEPs PEP 13: Python Language Governance PEP 609: PyPA Governance PEP 8000: Python Language Governance Proposal Overview PEP 8016: The Steering Council Model PEP 810x: Steering Council elections North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
13. Core Workflow and Infrastructure PEPs PEP 512: Migrating from hg.python.org to GitHub PEP 581: Using GitHub Issues for Python PEP 545: Python Documentation Translations PEP 676: PEP Infrastructure Process North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
14. Release PEPs PEP 719: Python 3.13 Release Schedule PEP 693: Python 3.12 Release Schedule PEP 664: Python 3.11 Release Schedule … Also at https://devguide.python.org/versions/#versions North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
15. PEP Lifecycle Start with an idea for Python North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
16. PEP Lifecycle Start with an idea for Python North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
17. problem PEP Lifecycle Start with an idea for Python North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
18. PEP Lifecycle Discuss your idea problem with core devs and contributors - open an issue on GitHub1 - start a thread on Python Discourse2 - discuss at Python Language Summit at PyCon US North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta 1: https://github.com/python/cpython 2: https://discuss.python.org/c/core-dev/23 https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
19. PEP Lifecycle If it can’t be solved by third party library on PyPI, If it requires changes to the language itself You’ll need a PEP (and a PEP sponsor) North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
20. PEP Lifecycle Write the PEP Champion your idea solution to your problem Document discussions, questions, pushbacks, reasonings, etc North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
21. PEP Lifecycle Submit the PEP for Steering Council’s review North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
22. PEP Lifecycle PEP accepted? Congrats!!! 🎉 It can be included in Python North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
23. PEP Lifecycle PEP is a proposal doc, not feature documentation The feature should be documented at docs.python.org North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
24. PEP Lifecycle Could take months, and in some cases: years PEP 525 (async generator): 2 months PEP 557 (data classes): 9 months PEP 572 (the walrus): 18 months PEP 517 (build system/Packaging): 2 years Most time are spent in discussions and consensus building North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
25. Your Role PEPs will affect how you use Python (things could break) Python core devs have blind spots: Your input matters Bring up your concerns during PEP discussion period North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
26. Case study: PEP 563 (2017) vs PEP 649, Pydantic, FastAPI (2021) North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
27. Case study: PEP 563 (2017) vs PEP 649, Pydantic, FastAPI (2021) North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta P.S. PEP 649 was accepted May 2023 https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
28. Your Role Keep up to date with PEPs! New PEPs are announced on Discourse: discuss.python.org/c/peps Test your code against Python pre-releases: (alpha, beta, release candidate): check the Release Schedule North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
29. “The steering council shall work to: … Seek consensus among contributors and the core team…”, PEP 8016 North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
30. “A PEP is a design document providing information to the Python community”, PEP 1 North Bay Python 2023 PEP Talk by Mariatta https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta
31. Thank You North Bay Python 2023 P E P Ta l k b y M a r i a t t a https://fosstodon.org/@mariatta