Peter Wang — Anaconda, Python, and Scientific Computing

Peter Wang talks about his journey of being the CEO of and co-founding Anaconda, his perspective on the Python programming language, and its use for scientific computing.Peter Wang has been developing commercial scientific computing and visualization software for over 15 years. He has extensive experience in software design and development across a broad range of areas, including 3D graphics, geophysics, large data simulation and visualization, financial risk modeling, and medical imaging.Peter’s interests in the fundamentals of vector computing and interactive visualization led him to co-found Anaconda (formerly Continuum Analytics). Peter leads the open source and community innovation group.As a creator of the PyData community and conferences, he devotes time and energy to growing the Python data science community and advocating and teaching Python at conferences around the world. Peter holds a BA in Physics from Cornell University.Follow peter on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pwang​https://www.anaconda.com/​Intake: https://www.anaconda.com/blog/intake-...​https://pydata.org/​Scientific Data Management in the Coming Decade paper: https://arxiv.org/pdf/cs/0502008.pdfTopics covered:0:00​ (intro) Technology is not value neutral; Don't punt on ethics1:30​ What is Conda?2:57​ Peter's Story and Anaconda's beginning6:45​ Do you ever regret choosing Python?9:39​ On other programming languages17:13​ Scientific Data Management in the Coming Decade21:48​ Who are your customers?26:24​ The ML hierarchy of needs30:02​ The cybernetic era and Conway's Law34:31​ R vs python42:19​ Most underrated: Ethics - Don't Punt46:50​ biggest bottlenecks: open-source, pythonVisit our podcasts homepage for transcripts and more episodes!www.wandb.com/podcastGet our podcast on these other platforms:YouTube: http://wandb.me/youtubeSoundcloud: http://wandb.me/soundcloudApple Podcasts: http://wandb.me/apple-podcastsSpotify: http://wandb.me/spotifyGoogle: http://wandb.me/google-podcastsJoin our bi-weekly virtual salon and listen to industry leaders and researchers in machine learning share their work:http://wandb.me/salonJoin our community of ML practitioners where we host AMA's, share interesting projects and meet other people working in Deep Learning:http://wandb.me/slackOur gallery features curated machine learning reports by researchers exploring deep learning techniques, Kagglers showcasing winning models, and industry leaders sharing best practices.https://wandb.ai/gallery