Python Success Stories: Guide for Contributors
Contributing a Python Success Story to this effort is a great way to help
Python assert its credibility as a mainstream programming language, and to
ensure its future support and continued development.
Articles will be posted on python.org and are available for content franchising to other websites.
Some stories may also be published in printed form. In the past,
O'Reilly Associates has offered to
publish booklets containing Python Success Stories. These are distributed
to book stores for use as a promotional item (it includes lists of O'Reilly
Python books) and given away at trade shows where O'Reilly Associates has
a bookstore. The PDF of the booklets are also be posted on python.oreilly.com (see for example the
previously published Python
Success Stories, Volume I: Eight True Tales of Flexibility, Speed, and
Improved Productivity and
Python Success Stories, Volume II: 12 More True Tales.
Contributing a Story
If you wish to contribute a story, please write the story yourself based on
this guide. The story may be edited for length and content prior to being
published. In all cases, you will be given drafts and final copy for fact
checking and approval before the article is printed or otherwise posted publically.
Stories should answer the following questions as completely as possible, although
the article may present them in any order, as appropriate to the case:
- What is the name of the project or software being described?
- What is the purpose of the project? What problem does the software
solve? How did the project come into being?
- Briefly describe the architecture of the software and how Python is
used. Please include major sub-systems and how they interact, what
platform(s) it runs on, and other general technical background.
- What led you to choose Python over other solutions? What other
solutions did you look at before choosing Python, if any? How did
Python compare?
- What other technologies are used along with Python in the project(s)?
What modules other than Python and its standard libraries are used? Any
other programming languages? What development tools are used?
- Was Python used from the start or added to the project later? If
added after the project was started, how did it change things? How
did it affect development in general?
- How large is the project, in terms of number of developers, years of
effort put into the project, size of the source code, number of machines
to which the software is deployed, or other metrics that apply?
- Would you describe this project/software as "mission critical"?
- How well did the project succeed? What was good about using Python?
What problems did you encounter with Python, if any? What could be
improved in Python?
- Is there any other information that should be included in the story?
This might include additional technical information, links to related web
material, quotes from project members, images with captions, and other
material that will help to turn the above-provided answers into a
coherent, interesting, and convincing story.
In writing up your story, please cover the story in chronological
order. Begin by describing the background and the need that was filled by
Python. Then cover the process of how Python was chosen (and why). Next,
include experiences using Python with some useful/interesting technical detail
about the project. Finally, summarize the results of having used Python on the
project. Be sure to include sub-headings for the 2nd+ section of your story.
If writing in the first person, or in a style that identifies you as the
author, please submit a short (2-3 sentance) biography to include at the end
of the story.
Stories typically range from 800 to 2500 words in length.
Images
We accept and encourage the use of images, figures, and tables in stories.
Please keep in mind that the book will only be 5 by 8 inches in size (12.7 x
20.3 cm). All images for the printed book must be print-quality (not screen
quality), preferably 300 dpi, in EPS or TIFF format.
Stories will also be posted on the web. For this, images are limited to 650
pixels in width. In most cases, we can produce an appropriate reduction from
your print images, but better results may be obtained if you use the software
that was used to create your images or figures to do the reduction yourself.
Deadline
This is an ongoing effort. Stories are accepted continuously and will be
posted to O'Reilly's website and other websites as soon as they are ready.
Contact Information
Please email questions, comments, or your answers or draft article to success-story at pythonology.org.
If you prefer to respond by phone, please arrange an interview by email to the
same address.
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