Peter Wang — Anaconda, Python, and Scientific Computing

Gradient Dissent: Conversations on AI

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.pdf Topics covered: 0:00​ (intro) Technology is not value neutral; Don't punt on ethics 1:30​ What is Conda? 2:57​ Peter's Story and Anaconda's beginning 6:45​ Do you ever regret choosing Python? 9:39​ On other programming languages 17:13​ Scientific Data Management in the Coming Decade 21:48​ Who are your customers? 26:24​ The ML hierarchy of needs 30:02​ The cybernetic era and Conway's Law 34:31​ R vs python 42:19​ Most underrated: Ethics - Don't Punt 46:50​ biggest bottlenecks: open-source, python Visit our podcasts homepage for transcripts and more episodes! www.wandb.com/podcast Get our podcast on these other platforms: YouTube: http://wandb.me/youtube Soundcloud: http://wandb.me/soundcloud Apple Podcasts: http://wandb.me/apple-podcasts Spotify: http://wandb.me/spotify Google: http://wandb.me/google-podcasts Join our bi-weekly virtual salon and listen to industry leaders and researchers in machine learning share their work: http://wandb.me/salon Join our community of ML practitioners where we host AMA's, share interesting projects and meet other people working in Deep Learning: http://wandb.me/slack Our 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