stephendicato.comhttp://stephendicato.com/2020-07-02T00:00:00-04:00Vintage Porsche, Modern Safety2020-07-02T00:00:00-04:002020-07-02T00:00:00-04:00Stephen DiCatotag:stephendicato.com,2020-07-02:/posts/2020/07/02/vintage-porsche-modern-safety/<p><em>...the slippery slope...</em></p>
<p>I wrote an article titled <strong>Vintage Porsche, Modern Safety</strong> for the July 2020 issue of The NOR'EASTER, a magazine written, edited, and published by the Northeast Region of the Porsche Club of America. You can read this article in the <a href="https://porschenet.com/the-online-noreaster/">digital edition of the July 2020 issue …</a></p><p><em>...the slippery slope...</em></p>
<p>I wrote an article titled <strong>Vintage Porsche, Modern Safety</strong> for the July 2020 issue of The NOR'EASTER, a magazine written, edited, and published by the Northeast Region of the Porsche Club of America. You can read this article in the <a href="https://porschenet.com/the-online-noreaster/">digital edition of the July 2020 issue here</a> or <a href="https://porschenet.com/noreaster/2007/pca-ner-noreaster-2007.pdf">download the July 2020 issue as a PDF</a>.</p>
<p><img src="/images/seat-comp.jpeg" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Comparing Seats">
<img src="/images/chassis.jpeg" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Empty Interior">
<img src="/images/mocked.jpeg" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Mocked Up Seats"></p>Weber Carburetor - Repairing a Leaking Accelerator Pump2020-06-24T00:00:00-04:002020-06-24T00:00:00-04:00Stephen DiCatotag:stephendicato.com,2020-06-24:/posts/2020/06/24/accelerator-pump-repair/<p>Early Porsche 911 were equipped with Weber triple throat carburetors, specifically 40IDA3C. Many owners choose to remove the electronic fuel injection systems found on cars manufactured after 1973 in favor of installing carburetors.</p>
<p>The accelerator pump covers on these carbs are cast zinc and over time warp, often due to …</p><p>Early Porsche 911 were equipped with Weber triple throat carburetors, specifically 40IDA3C. Many owners choose to remove the electronic fuel injection systems found on cars manufactured after 1973 in favor of installing carburetors.</p>
<p>The accelerator pump covers on these carbs are cast zinc and over time warp, often due to being overtightened. This causes fuel leaks between the pump body and cover. Replacing the covers is not necessary. Instead, the mating surface between the pump body and cover can be flattened using sandpaper and a surface known to be flat.</p>
<p><img src="/images/accelerator_pump/carb.jpg" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Accelerator Pump Removed"></p>
<p>Removing the accelerator pump cover and body is straightforward, as they are secured by four nuts. You may need to remove the accelerator linkage bracket, or at least loosen it, in order to gain the clearance necessary to remove the cover. Carefully remove the cover in order to avoid tearing the accelerator pump diaphragm. Once at the workbench, you can check the mating surfaces of the pump body and cover against a known flat surface. For this, I used a piece of granite left over from renovating our kitchen. A piece of glass also works well.</p>
<p><img src="/images/accelerator_pump/before.jpg" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Warped Pump Cover"></p>
<p>In the picture above, you can clearly see light passing under the pump cover showing it is warped. Use permanent market to "paint" the surface to be sanded. This helps mark your progress, clearly indicating high spots. I used 400 grit sandpaper because it's what I had on hand. The grit used is not critical; anything 80 grit or higher should do. Repeat the process of examining and flattening the mating surface as necessary for the accelerator pump body. In my case, the body had a slight bow compared to the pump.</p>
<p><img src="/images/accelerator_pump/during.jpg" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Sanding the pump parts"></p>
<p><img src="/images/accelerator_pump/after.jpg" class="img-thumbnail" alt="After sanding"></p>
<p>After flattening the mating surfaces of the pump body and cover, you should not be able to see any light passing between the parts and your flat surface. Reassemble the accelerator pump, carefully tightening the nuts. They do not need to be very tight. Check for leaks by manually working the throttle and actuating the accelerator pump. If you do this many times, don't be surprised if you experience white smoke when you start your car for the first time as you've dumped a bunch of fuel into the cylinders.</p>Attending Your First HPDE2020-06-01T00:00:00-04:002020-06-01T00:00:00-04:00Stephen DiCatotag:stephendicato.com,2020-06-01:/posts/2020/06/01/attending-your-first-hpde/<p><em>And so it begins...</em></p>
<p>I wrote an article titled <strong>Attending Your First HPDE (And so it begins...)</strong> for the June 2020 issue of The NOR'EASTER, a magazine written, edited, and published by the Northeast Region of the Porsche Club of America. You can read this article in the <a href="https://porschenet.com/the-online-noreaster/">digital edition …</a></p><p><em>And so it begins...</em></p>
<p>I wrote an article titled <strong>Attending Your First HPDE (And so it begins...)</strong> for the June 2020 issue of The NOR'EASTER, a magazine written, edited, and published by the Northeast Region of the Porsche Club of America. You can read this article in the <a href="https://porschenet.com/the-online-noreaster/">digital edition of the June 2020 issue here</a> or <a href="https://porschenet.com/noreaster/2006/pca-ner-noreaster-2006.pdf">download the June 2020 issue as a PDF</a>.</p>
<p><img src="/images/hpde1.jpg" class="img-thumbnail" alt="HPDE 1">
<img src="/images/hpde2.jpg" class="img-thumbnail" alt="HPDE 2"></p>User Training: A Low-Tech Solution to Phishing2017-09-08T00:00:00-04:002017-09-08T00:00:00-04:00Stephen DiCatotag:stephendicato.com,2017-09-08:/posts/2017/09/08/a-low-tech-solution-to-phishing/<blockquote>
<p>This article was originally posted to the Strongarm blog in 2017 and has been reposted here on my personal site. Many of the links and resources are broken, but the content is still valid.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><img src="/images/phishing.png" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Phishing Logo"></p>
<p>Early in my career, I was an active naysayer against “security awareness training.” The idea that …</p><blockquote>
<p>This article was originally posted to the Strongarm blog in 2017 and has been reposted here on my personal site. Many of the links and resources are broken, but the content is still valid.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><img src="/images/phishing.png" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Phishing Logo"></p>
<p>Early in my career, I was an active naysayer against “security awareness training.” The idea that we could train every employee in the company to actively identify phishing emails and never fall victim didn’t just seem improbable; I thought it was impossible.</p>
<p>Why? Well, the attacker only needs one person to fall victim and click that suspicious link or open that sketchy word document, and they gain access to our network. Meanwhile, we, as security defenders, need to be perfect! We can’t make any mistakes... and neither can our employees!</p>
<p>It didn’t seem realistic to me.</p>
<p>Instead of investing in education and training, I wanted to build technical solutions to security problems. I thought investing resources in technically enforcing security policy would take the human error out of the equation.</p>
<p>Fortunately, I wasn’t in charge. At my previous workplaces, we invested heavily in security training and user education over the years, in spite of my point of view. We trained employees to identify phishing emails and other threats and report them to our internal security team. Sure enough, the emails and reports flowed in.</p>
<p>And I realized I was wrong. The results of employee education and training were overwhelmingly strong. On more than one occasion, an employee-reported email led to the detection and prevention of a targeted attack. That same attack had bypassed all of our email filtering solutions and intrusion detection systems, which included capabilities to “detonate” and inspect URLs and file attachments. The humans beat the machines handily.</p>
<p>In addition, we used trends in reporting to help understand who (human resources, finance, engineering, etc) was being targeted and when. With this information, we were able to improve our security training and phishing prevention.</p>
<p>This experience taught me that there is deep value in treating your users as your front-line defense. You should, of course, have technology that can facilitate the detection and remediation of any threats that make it through your human and machine barriers, but there is no substitute for strong user education, and especially for training your users to spot and report suspicious emails.</p>
<h1>Getting Started with User training</h1>
<p>Okay, so all that sounds good in theory. But getting started with security awareness training is often the hardest part. We suggest leveraging free training materials, including our <a href="https://strongarm.io/blog/tips-to-spot-phishing/">own short guide to spotting phishing emails</a>. In addition, the Government of Canada has compiled <a href="https://www.getcybersafe.gc.ca/index-eng.aspx">free security training resources</a> including a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TRR6lHviQc">three-minute video</a> to introduce the skills needed to thwart phishing.</p>
<p>Part of this training includes instructing your employees to forward suspicious emails to your IT and security team. We suggest creating an email distribution list, security@<your-company-domain> specifically for this purpose.</p>
<h1>Analyzing Employee-Reported Emails</h1>
<p>Once you are in a place where employees are forwarding suspicious emails to your IT and security team, you need to work on a process to analyze them and provide feedback to the employees.</p>
<p>The analysis process can be very complicated, but again, starting with a simple approach is best. Check our guide for <a href="https://strongarm.io/blog/tips-to-spot-phishing/">spotting phishing emails</a>, and pay attention to unexpected email senders and mismatched links. If you have a dedicated analysis environment where you can safely visit the suspicious URLs, do so; the intent of the email often reveals itself in the form of <a href="https://strongarm.io/blog/docusign-phishes/">credential theft</a> or other attack.</p>
<p>Once you have determined if the email is indeed malicious, it’s time to respond to the employee who reported it. Thank them and provide them with enough information to reinforce the value of their diligence.</p>
<h1>Taking Training and Education to the Next Level</h1>
<p>Lastly, you need a strategy to prevent your employees, specifically those “happy clickers” inside your company who will click on just about anything, from falling victim to threats. You can do this by blocking access to bad domains used in suspicious emails. This can often be done in your firewalls and web proxies, but the best way to do it is via your DNS. If you are a Strongarm customer, we have you covered.</p>
<p>Over time, you will start to see trends in both the type and intent of suspicious emails being sent to your business, as well as your employees’ increasing ability to spot and report them. This information helps inform where and how to improve security. For example, if you are often targeted with credential theft attacks, it may be worthwhile to invest in improving password strategies and implementing <a href="https://strongarm.io/blog/password-best-practices/">password management solutions</a>.</p>
<p>Alternatively, if you find only a certain team, like those pesky folks in sales, are routinely falling victim to phishing, it may be worth creating some training specifically for them.</p>
<h1>How Strongarm Can Help</h1>
<p>When you sign up for a <a href="https://app.strongarm.io/accounts/signup/">Strongarm account</a> and protect your business, our team is here to help proactively block any malicious domains found. This way, if in spite of user training and education, any of your employees fall victim to a phish or other scam, there will be no damage to your business. The user will simply be presented with a Strongarm block page, which includes on-demand security education to help make sure they don’t click on a bad link again.</p>Password Best Practices from the Security Professionals2017-07-31T00:00:00-04:002017-07-31T00:00:00-04:00Stephen DiCatotag:stephendicato.com,2017-07-31:/posts/2017/07/31/password-best-practices/<blockquote>
<p>This article was originally posted to the Strongarm blog in 2017 and has been reposted here on my personal site. Many of the links and resources are broken, but the content is still valid.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><img src="/images/passwords.png" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Passwords Image"></p>
<p>As we’ve explained before, attackers generally want one of two things when they attack you …</p><blockquote>
<p>This article was originally posted to the Strongarm blog in 2017 and has been reposted here on my personal site. Many of the links and resources are broken, but the content is still valid.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><img src="/images/passwords.png" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Passwords Image"></p>
<p>As we’ve explained before, attackers generally want one of two things when they attack you online: money or information. To get to either of those goals, they often want to steal your usernames and passwords, also known as credentials. Once an attacker has your credentials, they have an all-access pass. This is why you want to understand and use password best practices.</p>
<h2>Why Attackers Target Credentials</h2>
<p>Attackers want to steal credentials so that they can get money or information. They steal your username and password, with the goal of:</p>
<ul>
<li>Using your email to impersonate you and trick your peers and colleagues into doing something the attacker benefits from (i.e. authorizing a wire transfer to the attacker’s bank)</li>
<li>Using your credentials to gain access to your business’ network remotely</li>
<li>Using your credentials to access and steal your company’s data</li>
</ul>
<p>Obviously, you don’t want any of that to happen. So how can you make it as hard as possible for attackers to access your coveted credentials?</p>
<h2>Password Best Practices</h2>
<p>Here are six recommendations to keep your passwords safe and protected from attackers with bad intentions.</p>
<h3>1. Use Strong Passwords</h3>
<p>You’ve probably heard this advice before, but you might not know this helpful hack for creating strong passwords you can remember. Long phrases and sentences that are easy for you to remember, but hard for computers and attackers to guess, make great passwords, as <a href="https://xkcd.com/936/">this comic</a> illustrates. For example, the passphrase “wherever leather frame biggest” is easy for you to remember, but challenging for a computer or adversary to guess, because it’s long and nonsensical. Conversely, the password “S3cretS@uc3” might look like a good, complex password, but it’s hard for you to remember and much easier for a computer to guess, since it’s short and uses obvious patterns to replace vowels with symbols. When it comes to password strength, the length of the password is always better than using complex characters.</p>
<h3>2. Never Reuse Passwords</h3>
<p>It can be tempting to use the same password across multiple services since that makes them easier to remember, but attackers are constantly targeting popular websites and services in order to gain access to user accounts and personal information. If an attacker gains access to your Facebook account, they shouldn’t be able to use those credentials to log in to your work email or personal banking site. Use a unique password for each account you have. And keep in mind that just changing the number at the end of the password or making other tiny tweaks does not equal a unique password.</p>
<h3>3. Use a Password Manager</h3>
<p>If you read recommendations one and two and thought, “Yeah, yeah, but how do I remember all those complex, unique passwords?”, here’s a tip. Use a password manager. <a href="https://www.lastpass.com/">LastPass</a> and <a href="https://1password.com/">1Password</a> are two great options. LastPass is free for personal use and 1Password is very affordable. Both make using long, unique passphrases easy, but the benefits don’t stop there. You can sync passwords across your devices, audit your passwords for reuse, and set policies to ensure you are following the best practices we recommend. Additionally, when using a password manager, we recommend that you:</p>
<ul>
<li>Use a good master password that you can remember! This password is extremely important because it allows access to all your credentials.</li>
<li>Set up two-factor authentication.</li>
<li>Configure the password manager to use long phrases.</li>
</ul>
<h3>4. Audit Your Accounts</h3>
<p>So now you have an awesome password strategy, but what about those pre-existing accounts that might be using weak passwords or that have already been compromised in one of the many data breaches over the years? You can audit your accounts with <a href="https://haveibeenpwned.com/">Have I Been Pwned?</a>, which allows you to search across data breaches to see if your email address has been compromised. This way, if any of your accounts have been compromised as part of breach, you’ll know and can change the password immediately.</p>
<h3>5. Use Two-Factor</h3>
<p>We will talk in depth about why it’s so important in the future, but always enable two-factor authentication for all accounts that support it. Popular services such as Gmail, Office365, Facebook, Twitter all have two-factor support. This is a great way to ensure that attackers can’t easily access your account, even if they somehow swipe your password. As an IT manager, requiring two-factor authentication will help prevent unauthorized access to the services your business depends on if your employee’s accounts are compromised.</p>
<h3>6. Educate Your Employees</h3>
<p>Businesses must remember that employees are the first line of defense against credential theft. Take the time to educate and train people to recognize phishing and attempts to steal their credentials. One easy way to do so? Share this article about managing your credentials like a security professional.</p>
<p>So there you have it. You don’t have to be a security professional to protect your usernames and passwords like one. Follow these six simple steps and you’ll be well on your way to preventing the next credential phishing attack.</p>Learning to Weld2017-02-05T00:00:00-05:002017-02-05T00:00:00-05:00Stephen DiCatotag:stephendicato.com,2017-02-05:/posts/2017/02/05/learned-to-weld/<p>I've always had an interest in welding and metal fabrication, especially as tools used to restore and customize
cars. I took a 10 week introductory welding class last fall. Below are my unedited notes and pictures from each week.</p>
<p>I'm taking a beginner welding class at the local vocational school …</p><p>I've always had an interest in welding and metal fabrication, especially as tools used to restore and customize
cars. I took a 10 week introductory welding class last fall. Below are my unedited notes and pictures from each week.</p>
<p>I'm taking a beginner welding class at the local vocational school and thought others might find it interesting.
I'll make an update each week. Feedback is very welcome.</p>
<p>It's a 3 hour class once a week and runs for 10 weeks.</p>
<p><strong>Week 1</strong></p>
<p>The first week was all about safety and demonstration. We ran out of time before getting to weld.</p>
<p><strong>Week 2</strong></p>
<p>The second week was focused on SMAW/stick welding and the majority of the three hours was hands on.
We were given three mild steel plates, instructed to tack weld them together, then repeatedly lay welds
to develop a consistent "pad".</p>
<p><img src="/images/welding/week-2.1.jpg" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Week 2 SMAW weld pad"></p>
<p>I had trouble with speed at first. I was clearly moving too fast.
Slowed down and started to focus on getting the welds to overlap without creating deep "V" valleys.</p>
<p><strong>Week 3</strong></p>
<p>More SMAW welding this week. Again, we were given mild steel plates to tack together and then focus
on overlapping welds in order to create a smooth/strong "pad". However, the difference this week was the electrodes.
We used "deep penetrating" E6010 electrodes and were aptly warned that they suck.</p>
<p>They are messy, splatter like hell, are much hotter, and are in general harder to work with.
I certainly struggled compared to week 2.</p>
<p><img src="/images/welding/week-3.1.png" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Week 3 SMAW weld pad">
<img src="/images/welding/week-3.2.png" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Week 3 SMAW weld pad 2"></p>
<p><strong>Week 4</strong></p>
<p>This is the last week of SMAW welding. We were given a couple mild steel plates to tack together to
form a T, then focus on proper fillet welds uses three overlapping welds. First, you weld directly in the corner
made by the T, joining the plates fully. Then you weld on either side of the first weld, overlapping it by a third
or so. It was interesting to manage angles and heat. We were used (IIRC) E7013 electrodes which are much cleaner,
shallow penetrating electrodes.</p>
<p>I messed around quite a bit varying the current from 80-100A to help understand the overall effect.
If you examine the color of the slag on these welds, you would notice colors varying from a deep brown to burnt
to a crisp black; you want that brown color.</p>
<p><img src="/images/welding/week-4.1.png" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Week 4 SMAW fillet 1">
<img src="/images/welding/week-4.2.png" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Week 4 SMAW fillet 2">
<img src="/images/welding/week-4.3.png" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Week 4 SMAW fillet 3"></p>
<p>You can see the result of three overlapping welds in this picture.</p>
<p><img src="/images/welding/week-4.4.png" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Week 4 SMAW fillet 4"></p>
<p><strong>Week 5</strong></p>
<p>No pictures this week as we had about 10 minutes of actual welding time.</p>
<p>The class was dedicated to understanding the fundamentals of GMAW/MIG welding.
We spent about half that time discussing various safety concerns specific to gas cylinders, line pressure,
and general etiquette with trimming wire, etc.</p>
<p>I'm excited for next week, that's for sure. In the last half hour I setup an older Miller machine
and experimented with wire speed and voltage on some scrap. I had a burn back almost immediately,
but recognized it before I caused a bird's nest. The teacher's assistant was very pleased.</p>
<p><strong>Week 6</strong></p>
<p>After all the videos and safety prep of last week, we spent the entire 3 hours MIG welding.
Just like with SMAW, the first exercise was making a pad weld. Obviously MIG is cleaner than SMAW. I had fun.
Three hours of making a pad weld gets repetitive, so I started tacking more plates together, practiced a bunch
with my non-dominant hand, did a couple T-fillet welds, and tried a few vertical (messy) beads.</p>
<p><img src="/images/welding/week-6.1.png" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Week 6 MIG pad 1">
<img src="/images/welding/week-6.2.png" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Week 6 MIG pad 2"></p>
<p><strong>Week 7 Update</strong></p>
<p>More GMAW (MIG) this week! We watched a couple videos and received some instruction to help us
focus on keeping the weld puddle moving by focusing on the leading edge. We spent the majority of the
class welding 16 gauge sheet metal, which was a ton of fun. I felt like I was getting the hang of it for sure.</p>
<p><img src="/images/welding/week-7.1.png" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Week 7 MIG sheet 1">
<img src="/images/welding/week-7.2.png" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Week 7 MIG sheet 2">
<img src="/images/welding/week-7.3.png" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Week 7 MIG sheet 3"></p>
<p><strong>Week 8 Update</strong></p>
<p>This week was introduction, with emphasis on safety, to oxyacetylene welding and cutting.
The majority of the class was spent on background, gas safety, torch safety, and startup and shutdown procedures.
I didn't mind since I have quite a bit of respect for gas, especially at high pressures.</p>
<p>Our torch was running like shit and it took us awhile to figure out the nozzle was dirty and causing backfires.
This is a bit unsettling as a beginner. We got everything cleaned and had a bit of time to experiment on some
sheet metal, both with and without filler metal. It was not enough time to really get a feel for the process.</p>
<p><img src="/images/welding/week-8.1.png" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Week 8 Oxy 1">
<img src="/images/welding/week-8.2.png" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Week 8 Oxy 2"></p>
<p><strong>Week 9 Update</strong></p>
<p>All GTAW (TIG) this week. I've been excited about this from the start.
I knew it was going to be a challenge but TIG has always been the welding process that has interested
me the most due to its use in high end cars, motorcycles, planes, bikes, etc.</p>
<p>Setting up the machine was straightforward. Of course I dipped the tungsten electrode into the weld
puddle more than once and spent ample time at the grinder cleaning it up. By the end of the two hour practice,
I was able to make reasonable autogenous welds (where you weld without the use of filler metal),
but was very uncomfortable adding filler metal. I couldn't find the right overall pace.
That's what next week is for.</p>
<p>Here is the best autogenous weld from the night. I lost the consistency near the end,
which you can obviously see. Pretty sure I increased the distance of the electrode from the base metal
and backed off the current a little bit as well.</p>
<p><img src="/images/welding/week-9.1.png" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Week 9 TIG 1">
<img src="/images/welding/week-9.2.png" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Week 9 TIG 2"></p>
<p><strong>Week 10 Update - Last class</strong></p>
<p>I'm a few weeks delayed on the update, but we had our final class.
We spent the entire three hours TIG welding aluminum. It was very enjoyable and quite a challenge.
I laid a couple reasonable beads by the end of the night. I was running way too hot at the start.
Dealing with the aluminum oxide is a pain in the ass.</p>
<p><img src="/images/welding/week-10.1.png" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Week 10 TIG 1">
<img src="/images/welding/week-10.2.png" class="img-thumbnail" alt="Week 10 TIG 2"></p>
<p>That's it. I assume I'll take the advanced class at some point, but would like to get a welding setup
at home first and work on some of my planned projects.</p>Onboarding Engineers2015-09-11T00:00:00-04:002015-09-11T00:00:00-04:00Stephen DiCatotag:stephendicato.com,2015-09-11:/posts/2015/09/11/onboarding-engineers-2015/<p><a href="http://strongarm.io">Percipient Networks</a> sponsored
<a href="https://2015.djangocon.us/">DjangoCon 2015</a>. While there, I proposed a
lightning talk on onboarding engineers. Due to time I was not able to actually
present. However, the content is <a href="https://github.com/percipient/talks/tree/master/djangocon_09_09_2015">available on GitHub</a>
including a <a href="https://github.com/percipient/talks/blob/master/djangocon_09_09_2015/onboarding_engineers.pdf">rendered PDF</a> of the slides.</p><p><a href="http://strongarm.io">Percipient Networks</a> sponsored
<a href="https://2015.djangocon.us/">DjangoCon 2015</a>. While there, I proposed a
lightning talk on onboarding engineers. Due to time I was not able to actually
present. However, the content is <a href="https://github.com/percipient/talks/tree/master/djangocon_09_09_2015">available on GitHub</a>
including a <a href="https://github.com/percipient/talks/blob/master/djangocon_09_09_2015/onboarding_engineers.pdf">rendered PDF</a> of the slides.</p>Boston Python - Twisted Concepts & Patterns2015-08-28T00:00:00-04:002015-08-28T00:00:00-04:00Stephen DiCatotag:stephendicato.com,2015-08-28:/posts/2015/08/28/boston-python-twisted-talk/<p><a href="http://patrick.cloke.us/">Patrick Cloke</a> and I recently gave a talk at
<a href="http://www.meetup.com/bostonpython/">Boston Python</a> meetup
about the <a href="https://twistedmatrix.com/">Twisted Networking Framework</a>.
It was an introductory to intermediate level talk based on our experiences
using Twisted at <a href="http://strongarm.io">Percipient Networks</a>.</p>
<p>The slides and example code are available on
<a href="https://github.com/percipient/talks">GitHub</a>. There is a
<a href="https://github.com/percipient/talks/blob/master/boston_python_08_27_2015/boston_python_08_27_2015.pdf">rendered PDF</a>
for convenience …</p><p><a href="http://patrick.cloke.us/">Patrick Cloke</a> and I recently gave a talk at
<a href="http://www.meetup.com/bostonpython/">Boston Python</a> meetup
about the <a href="https://twistedmatrix.com/">Twisted Networking Framework</a>.
It was an introductory to intermediate level talk based on our experiences
using Twisted at <a href="http://strongarm.io">Percipient Networks</a>.</p>
<p>The slides and example code are available on
<a href="https://github.com/percipient/talks">GitHub</a>. There is a
<a href="https://github.com/percipient/talks/blob/master/boston_python_08_27_2015/boston_python_08_27_2015.pdf">rendered PDF</a>
for convenience. The talk covered:</p>
<ol>
<li>What is asynchronous programming?</li>
<li>What is Twisted?</li>
<li>When/why to use Twisted?</li>
<li>What is the event loop (<code>reactor</code>)?</li>
<li>What are <code>Deferreds</code> and how do you use them?</li>
<li>What are protocols, protocol factories, and transports?</li>
</ol>
<p>Additionally, there was a "bonus" section on using Twisted to build systems
and services. We used an example of a simple chat server with an admin
dashboard to demonstrate integrating Twisted in the larger Python ecosystem.</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone who attended, the sponsors for the night, and the
organizers of <a href="http://www.meetup.com/bostonpython/">Boston Python</a>.
An additional thank you goes out to Patrick for co-presenting and my very
supportive wife for attending.</p>