Python Exchange

Helping Python Thrive within the National Labs & Department of Energy

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Recent Events

#49 Bridging the conda and PyPI Ecosystems

Dan Yeaw — July 29, 2026

Recording Coming Soon!

If you've ever wondered why pip install numpy and conda install numpy aren't the same thing, you've bumped into one of Python packaging's oldest fault lines. Conda and PyPI evolved to solve different problems: one for compiled scientific libraries, one for pure-Python packages. The gap between them has caused headaches ever since. In this talk, we'll explore why the split happened, what's fundamentally different under the hood, and how the two ecosystems are finally starting to come together.

Coming Soon

#48 Great Docs: Building the Documentation Site Generator I Always Wanted

Rich Iannone — June 24, 2026

Documentation generators have for me been a thing where there are so many trade-offs. They might make beautiful sites but be shallow feature-wise. Or full of features but really hard to configure. After some years of working across R, Python, and the broader open-source ecosystem, I started Great Docs with a simple end goal: your docs should look really great, be easy to discover, and be ready for the AI era.

In this presentation I will walk through the various places I drew inspiration for Great Docs (pkgdown, MATLAB, Elixir, and the Vue.js docs). I'll show how Great Docs makes documentation consumable by both humans and AI agents through Skills and MCP server documentation. I'll share some of the features I obsessively built because I wanted them in my own package docs. Finally, I'll discuss where this project is headed beyond Python (toward documenting CLIs, TUIs, and more).

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#47 Pixi: Package management that doesn't stop at Python packages.

Ruben Arts — May 27, 2026

Pixi is a cross-platfrom cross-language package manager that is build on top of the conda-ecosystem and integrates well with PyPI. It provides a workflow similar to other modern packages managers like uv, yarn, cargo but for every language on every OS. In this presentation you'll learn the basic usage of Pixi and where it really shines. More info can be found on https://pixi.sh

If you’re interested in learning more about packaging, Ruben has recommended watching:

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About Us

At Don’t Use This Code, we want to create a unique opportunity to see Python succeed and thrive within the National Labs! We propose creating a new resource for scientists, researchers, and technical staff to support their use of Python and to build a strong, lasting community for Python users within the Department of Energy National Labs. Disclaimer: The Python Exchange is an independent group of Python enthusiasts who wish to see the use of Python and open-source computing thrive within the National Lab system. This group is not sponsored by or affiliated with the Department of Energy.