Python-URL! - weekly Python news and links (Jun 19)

Tue Jun 19 12:06:28 EDT 2007

QOTW:  "Regarding a Java programmer moving to Python, a lot of the mindset
change is about the abundant use of built in data types of Python. So a Java
programmer, when confronted with a problem, should think 'how can I solve
this using lists, dicts and tuples?' (and perhaps also my new favourite,
sets).  Class-based solution should be chosen only after seeing that the
problem can't be trivially solved with built-in types." - Ville Vainio 

"The remainder of the unittest docs are somewhat obtuse and
uninspiring." - Raymond Hettinger

    How to generate HTML page thumbnails: John J Lee enumerates
    several alternatives, using MSIE, Firefox, Konqueror and others.
        http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/2185ad4e31c9320b/

    Concatenating strings may be painfully slow in some
    circumstances if not done the right way:
        http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/3999b83838787fa1/

    Initializing class members only when needed, using a
    LazyClassAttribute decorator:
        http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/18f8b54cb15f922f/

    Postpone attribute creation: similar to thread above,
    but more from a design perspective:
        http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/393d2ac620716d90/

    Simple Programs: the search for small, complete,
    useful examples of Python code still continues:
        http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/ec8184ca4ed7e3e6/
    See the resulting programs at
        http://wiki.python.org/moin/SimplePrograms

    A simple question: "How many list items comply with
    this condition?", and many answers:
        http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/6d488fb624fbb6a7/

    Continuing from last week: "only one way to do it", now discussing
    tail call optimization, generic programming, Scheme and macros...
        http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/e587471d08dbfcbb/

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

    The Python Papers aims to publish "the efforts of Python enthusiats".
	http://pythonpapers.org/

    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.*

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