Python-URL! - weekly Python news and links (Aug 27)

Mon Aug 27 06:36:49 EDT 2007

QOTW:  "There is something to be said for Python's 'elitism' ;)" - Carsten
Haese

"While the discipline of TDD is good and useful, there's a time and place
for unstructured and informal experimentation too." - Steven D'Aprano

    Issue tracker migration is complete - now at
        http://bugs.python.org and based on Roundup.
        http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/7cc2fc8f85b9e5cf/c582a66d35a03e7c

    How to properly cleanup resources (don't rely on __del__ for this)
        http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/6f5784070d7b6b64/fee0c252b4311c1f

    How to open a file using its associated application (multi-platform)
        http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/4913652c4cce31a4/42c670204411f000

    For number-crunching lawyers: does shuffle() produce a uniform
    distribution()?
        http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/48931f2f7ca7b49e/22fa264d9706d2d6

    Replacing a method with another depending on the instance.

    Bonus for language lawyers: the difference between functions and
    methods, and how the descriptor protocol works in short.
        http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/47cec38e789032be/832f0f648e6893a4#a1b7360e83905033

    Sometimes -e.g. for benchmarking- one wants to purge the disk cache
        http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/1273b79934a3e3e9/0b4e52a7bfa4e922

    Do some foolish things when creating a class, and you'll need
    a Python guru to understand what really happened
        http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/4373307ef75d1278/a8610ba4e2f9d9ef

    Learning Python using a book based on version 1.5: some people
    say "OK", other say "No"
        http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/ffcccbdcae177ff/75b819d9c362b4ca

    A small trick: how to generate short exception names
        http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/54c9b0f626b6a8fe/562c3a6eace389fd

    A proposal for a new document markup language (a LaTeX competitor)
        http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/6b72f25206aacf7/7242c98c672a21e6

========================================================================
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.

    Just beginning with Python?  This page is a great place to start:
	http://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide/Programmers

    The Python Papers aims to publish "the efforts of Python enthusiats":
	http://pythonpapers.org/
    The Python Magazine is a technical monthly devoted to Python:
	http://pythonmagazine.com

    Readers have recommended the "Planet" sites:
	http://planetpython.org
	http://planet.python.org

    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/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

    Many Python conferences around the world are in preparation.
    Watch this space for links to them.

    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.*

Previous - (U)se the (R)esource, (L)uke! - messages are listed here:
  http://www.ddj.com/topic/python/ (requires subscription)
  http://groups-beta.google.com/groups?q=python-url+group:comp.lang.python*&start=0&scoring=d&
  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
There is *not* an RSS for "Python-URL!"--at least not yet.  Arguments
for and against are occasionally entertained.

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!".  Write to the same address to unsubscribe.

-- The Python-URL! Team--

Phaseit, Inc. (http://phaseit.net) is pleased to participate in and
sponsor the "Python-URL!" project.  Watch this space for upcoming
news about posting archives.