[ANN] 2 new articles in The Python Papers

[mauriceling@acm.org]

Hi all

I'm pleased to announce 2 newly published articles in The Python Papers (ojs.pythonpapers.org).

FUSE’ing Python for Development of Storage Efficient Filesystem
(http://ojs.pythonpapers.org/index.php/tpp/article/view/244)

Abstract: Filesystem is a core component of a functional operating system. Traditional Filesystem development has been confined to the kernel space. A customized, purpose-built, and user-driven Filesystem development involves extensive knowledge of kernel internals, tools and processes. Alternatively, user-space Filesystems are preferred over the kernel space Filesystem, for ease of development, portability and developing prototypes Filesystems, particularly for intuitive abstraction of “non-file” objects.

This paper proposes usage of FUSE kernel module to develop a functional Filesystem in user-space, titled “seFS”. Apart from offering convenience of user-space development, FUSE allows on-par features and functionality of a kernel space Filesystem. We demonstrate development of a Filesystem in Python on Ubuntu 11.04 system with Python-Fuse bindings.

seFS Filesystem abstracts a SQLite database to store files data and metadata. By developing a Filesystem with Python-FUSE, we quickly solved the problem of efficient data management with online de-duplication and data compression. We discuss the internals of FUSE, its operation and implementation in this paper.


An Artificial Life Simulation Library Based on Genetic Algorithm, 3-Character Genetic Code and Biological Hierarchy
(http://ojs.pythonpapers.org/index.php/tpp/article/view/245)

Abstract: Genetic algorithm (GA) is inspired by biological evolution of genetic organisms by optimizing the genotypic combinations encoded within each individual with the help of evolutionary operators, suggesting that GA may be a suitable model for studying real-life evolutionary processes. This paper describes the design of a Python library for artificial life simulation, Digital Organism Simulation Environment (DOSE), based on GA and biological hierarchy starting from genetic sequence to population. A 3-character instruction set that does not take any operand is introduced as genetic code for digital organism. This mimics the 3-nucleotide codon structure in naturally occurring DNA. In addition, the context of a 3-dimensional world composing of ecological cells is introduced to simulate a physical ecosystem. Using DOSE, an experiment to examine the changes in genetic sequences with respect to mutation rates is presented.

Maurice Ling
Co-EIC, The Python Papers