Dr. Dobb's Python-URL! - weekly Python news and links (Nov 20)
Paul Boddie
python-url at phaseit.net
Mon Nov 20 18:22:51 EST 2006
QOTW: "I think you've got the wrong intuition about the balance between the
amount of bandwidth and the amount of computation a given numer [sic] of
dollars would buy. You've hundreds of CPU cycles available per bit
transmitted; space enough to stick in even Python." - Thomas Womack
(on comp.lang.lisp, earlier this year, so it's not a true QOTW)
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.lisp/msg/453239d7b8e0ef72
"I'm a recent, belated convert from Perl. I work in a physics lab and
have been using Python to automate a lot of measurement equipment lately.
It works fabulously for this purpose." - Dan Lenski
On the subject of Python and large volumes of data, it would seem
that maps and data visualisation are a natural combination for the
pydap treatment:
http://taoetc.org/27
"MIT to try Python ...":
http://www.amk.ca/diary/2006/11/mit_to_try_python_for_introduc.html
A treatment of many different domains can be found in the itools
package (and the 21 subpackages of the 0.14.5 release!):
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python.announce/browse_frm/thread/4f0480456bfac121/
http://www.ikaaro.org/itools
Problems with Python 2.5 portability? Or, more precisely, with
extension modules not working with the new release?
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-November/069967.html
BaseHTTPRequestHandler accesses POST data through rfile:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/c928f2ab0f5c1e63/
pyparsing and itertools: wise coders ready to move past RE know 'em both:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/85646f5cbd7e0718/
Is comparing Python and PHP a "fair comparison"? The debate focuses
on many things that make languages popular for Web applications:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_frm/thread/4156e7f6d5a90c84/
The big news outside the Python community last week was the surprising
GPL-licensing of many of Sun's Java technologies. So, will GPL-licensed
Java eat into Python's market share?
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_frm/thread/e52bf7ac89325485/
All these comparisons whet the appetite for some real advocacy,
coordinated by the Python Software Foundation's own man:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python.announce/browse_frm/thread/c71513d3fbed25ef/
Advocacy applies at all levels, of course, backed up by
comparisons, tests, benchmarks... In the Web opinions shootout
it's TurboGears vs. Django:
http://groups.google.com/group/turbogears/browse_frm/thread/a37037677b067872
And Django vs. Rails:
http://groups.google.com/group/django-users/msg/328151a262c00eb0
The conflict (good natured, of course) extends to literature as
the TurboGears book hits the shelves:
http://groups.google.com/group/turbogears/msg/318bfff14bcf0ef3
Whilst the Django book - still a work in progress - is readable in its
evolving form:
http://www.djangobook.com
Decide between the Web programming options yourself, but without
really installing anything. Be prepared for quite a choice, as
noted by a Django lead developer on the TurboGears discussion group!
http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/directory/289
And even if you're a disinterested observer, the battle of these big
frameworks still provides benefits to those just looking for decent Web
hosting (and bringing us full circle to that PHP vs. Python discussion):
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_frm/thread/17718e04ab4a6e25/
Secure Python: is running untrusted code a good idea, and is it
Python or the operating system who can offer the most help?
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_frm/thread/fb27c42ee21afcaf/
And what about "untrusted" contributors to your blog's comments.
There's SpamBayes for e-mail, but can one filter blog comments in
the same way?
http://www.larsen-b.com/Article/244.html
As people continually note, as CPython motors onward with many
new features, Jython struggles to keep up. Could the biggest
motivational force behind its revival really be the principal
developer of JRuby?
http://headius.blogspot.com/2006/11/jython-alive-and-well-and-looking-for.html
But don't start to think that old releases of Python don't see
any action. Here, Python 1.5.2 makes an appearance on Telit's
GSM/GPRS telecoms/networking modules:
http://www.telit.co.it/modules.asp?lang=1
========================================================================
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.
For far, FAR more Python reading than any one mind should
absorb, much of it quite interesting, several pages index
much of the universe of Pybloggers.
http://lowlife.jp/cgi-bin/moin.cgi/PythonProgrammersWeblog
http://www.planetpython.org/
http://mechanicalcat.net/pyblagg.html
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
Python411 indexes "podcasts ... to help people learn Python ..."
Updates appear more-than-weekly:
http://www.awaretek.com/python/index.html
Steve Bethard continues the marvelous tradition early borne by
Andrew Kuchling, Michael Hudson, Brett Cannon, Tony Meyer, and Tim
Lesher 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/
Python Success Stories--from air-traffic control to on-line
match-making--can inspire you or decision-makers to whom you're
subject with a vision of what the language makes practical.
http://www.pythonology.com/python/success
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
Kurt B. Kaiser publishes a weekly report on faults and patches.
http://www.google.com/groups?as_usubject=weekly%20python%20patch
Although unmaintained since 2002, the Cetus collection of Python
hyperlinks retains a few gems.
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://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0042/
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.
del.icio.us presents an intriguing approach to reference commentary.
It already aggregates quite a bit of Python intelligence.
http://del.icio.us/tag/python
*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.*
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