Kitware Presents Python Tutorial at CVPR

At the recent CVPR conference, Kitware, in collaboration with Google Research, presented the “Python for MATLAB Users” tutorial. The tutorial was taught by Matt Leotta, Eran Swears, and Patrick Reynolds, from Kitware, and Yong Zhao and Varun Ganapathi from Google Research.

The course was a hands-on introduction to using Python for rapid prototyping and computer vision research. Python was presented from a Matlab user’s point of view, showing how to directly map the familiar Matlab syntax and workflow to a very similar syntax and workflow in Python.  The team demonstrated a free and open-source alternative to Matlab for promoting open science and to better preparing students for careers outside of academia.

Attendees received a virtual appliance (VirtualBox) with the full scientific Python environment pre-configured, and executed programming exercises ranging from the introductory level to the intermediate level. The material, including the virtual appliance, was distributed in pre-configured USB memory sticks and DVDs. Participants spent the day working on exercises, asking questions, and collaborating.

Based on the positive feedback from participants and CVPR attendees who wanted to, but could not, join the tutorial, the material has been made available on Kitware’s website. The tutorial home page provides an overview, as well as a link to the course material including the slides, code examples and virtual machine.