Dr. Dobb's Python-URL! - weekly Python news and links (Jun 8)

[Peter Otten]

QOTW: "With so many languages being written these days, someone [is] bound
to name [his] language 'Right' simply because all the other words are
taken." -- Tor Iver Wilhelmsen

QOTW: "Why did no one invent Python before?" -- Jonathon McKitrick


    If you are new to Python and would rather write a few more statements
    than bite the bullet and build your own class, then relax, Robert
    Brewer shows how to create a dictionary with a default value for
    missing keys - Chris demanded "Perlish behaviour" - in no more than
    three lines.
        http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=mailman.563.1086294655.6949.python-list%40python.org
    
    David Stockwell stumbles over a line of code designed for sharing
    version information between a Python module and the revision control
    system.
        http://groups.google.com/groups?th=eb1c3fc8589f6023
    
    David Goodger anounces a cheat sheet for reStructuredText for those
    who already have some knowledge of the format.
        http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/user/rst/cheatsheet.txt
    
    Duncan Booth motivates class methods using the classic OO example, a
    hierarchy of shapes.
        http://groups.google.com/groups?&selm=Xns94FB6E2B335A3duncanrcpcouk%40127.0.0.1
    
    Axel Scheepers has converted a Perl script to Python and now wants a
    speed boost. The more concrete proposals show the tendency to make the
    code both shorter and more elegant.  Let's hope it will be fast enough,
    too.
        http://groups.google.com/groups?th=4c7acd0fdcb2190d
    
    Speaking of speed, some recipes appear in the newsgroup time and again,
    and Irmen de Jong has set up a Wiki page to collect common wisdom. You
    are invited to participate.
        http://www.razorvine.net/python/PythonSpeed
    
    Atul Varma has written a minimal C compiler in Python - the news is
    brought to our attention by Tim Freeman. The extension of the tool
    chain fosters plans of world domination in an otherwise humble
    community. Read the full thread here
        http://groups.google.com/groups?th=acc961b08f1cb88a
    or go directly to the source at
        http://people.cs.uchicago.edu/~varmaa/mini_c/
    
    So why did no one invent Python before? The question spawns an
    interesting thread and is not as silly as the questioner fears, as
    Erik Max Francis proves with his profound answer.
        http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=40BE621C.97EEC2AA%40alcyone.com


========================================================================
Everything Python-related you want is probably one or two clicks away in
these pages:

    Python.org's Python Language Website is the traditional
    center of Pythonia
        http://www.python.org
    Notice especially the master FAQ
        http://www.python.org/doc/FAQ.html

    PythonWare complements the digest you're reading with the
    marvelous daily python url
         http://www.pythonware.com/daily  
    Mygale is a news-gathering webcrawler that specializes in (new)
    World-Wide Web articles related to Python.
         http://www.awaretek.com/nowak/mygale.html 
    While cosmetically similar, Mygale and the Daily Python-URL
    are utterly different in their technologies and generally in
    their results.

    comp.lang.python.announce announces new Python software.  Be
    sure to scan this newsgroup weekly.
        http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_ugroup=comp.lang.python.announce

    Brett Cannon continues the marvelous tradition established by 
    Andrew Kuchling and Michael Hudson of intelligently summarizing
    action on the python-dev mailing list once every other week.
	http://www.python.org/dev/summary/

    The Python Package Index catalogues packages.
        http://www.python.org/pypi/

    The somewhat older Vaults of Parnassus ambitiously collects references
    to all sorts of Python resources.
        http://www.vex.net/~x/parnassus/   

    Much of Python's real work takes place on Special-Interest Group
    mailing lists
        http://www.python.org/sigs/

    The Python Business Forum "further[s] the interests of companies
    that base their business on ... Python."
	http://www.python-in-business.org

    The Python Software Foundation (PSF) has replaced the Python
    Consortium as an independent nexus of activity.  It has official
    responsibility for Python's development and maintenance. 
        http://www.python.org/psf/
    Among the ways you can support PSF is with a donation.
        http://www.python.org/psf/donate.html

    Cetus collects Python hyperlinks.
        http://www.cetus-links.org/oo_python.html

    Python FAQTS
        http://python.faqts.com/

    The Cookbook is a collaborative effort to capture useful and
    interesting recipes.
	http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python

    Among several Python-oriented RSS/RDF feeds available are
	http://www.python.org/channews.rdf
	http://bootleg-rss.g-blog.net/pythonware_com_daily.pcgi
	http://python.de/backend.php
    For more, see
	http://www.syndic8.com/feedlist.php?ShowMatch=python&ShowStatus=all
    The old Python "To-Do List" now lives principally in a
    SourceForge reincarnation.
        http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=355470&group_id=5470&func=browse
        http://python.sourceforge.net/peps/pep-0042.html
     
    The online Python Journal is posted at pythonjournal.cognizor.com.
    editor at pythonjournal.com and editor at pythonjournal.cognizor.com
    welcome submission of material that helps people's understanding
    of Python use, and offer Web presentation of your work.

    *Py: the Journal of the Python Language*
        http://www.pyzine.com

    Archive probing tricks of the trade:
        http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_ugroup=comp.lang.python&num=100
        http://groups.google.com/groups?meta=site%3Dgroups%26group%3Dcomp.lang.python.*

Previous - (U)se the (R)esource, (L)uke! - messages are listed here:
  http://www.ddj.com/topics/pythonurl/         
  http://purl.org/thecliff/python/url.html (dormant)
or
  http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_q=+Python-URL!&as_ugroup=comp.lang.python


Suggestions/corrections for next week's posting are always welcome.
E-mail to <Python-URL at phaseit.net> should get through.

To receive a new issue of this posting in e-mail each Monday morning
(approximately), ask <claird at phaseit.net> to subscribe.  Mention
"Python-URL!".


-- The Python-URL! Team--

Dr. Dobb's Journal (http://www.ddj.com) is pleased to participate in and
sponsor the "Python-URL!" project.