From kirby.urner at gmail.com Sat Nov 1 18:51:35 2008 From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner) Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 10:51:35 -0700 Subject: [portland] Fwd: Open Source Bridge Conference town hall meeting - Thursday, October 30th, 7:30pm, CubeSpace In-Reply-To: References: <490907B9.1000004@pragmaticraft.com> <9e00fd550810291917s35d3dd6erba72ff3602bb98ed@mail.gmail.com> <5409c990810292152k15d8e088o5e1992f7edb80d75@mail.gmail.com> <490940A3.2030609@pragmaticraft.com> Message-ID: As a follow-up in case anyone tried to scrutinize my shot from the breakout session on content... http://www.flickr.com/photos/17157315 at N00/2988630040/sizes/l/ ... you'll notice "Fail Camp" up top, which I hadn't heard of before, but is the delightful notion of a retreat for weary geeks ready to face the failures and fiascos with an eye towards comparing notes, learning lessons, avoiding future pitfalls of this or that kind. Given "failure" is the premise, there's no defensive energy wasted on putting a positive spin on some FUBAR situation, sharing war stories. One of mine (war stories) has to do with trying to spread the gospel of open source (just to sound evangelistic) among non-profits in Portland, which does include churches, in Free Geek's brief venture into the consultancy business. Jeff S. was a co-worker. Rather than survey the field and promote greater fluency among NGO executives, we drove our jeep straight down a vertical silo (aka well), never to be heard from again. Ah failure, live and learn... Not really a Python project though -- I should save this for Bridges. Kirby On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 9:03 AM, kirby urner wrote: > So hey, this was a fun meetup, all news to me, did my usual quirky > write-up in me blog, yar!: > > http://controlroom.blogspot.com/2008/10/looking-ahead.html > > In the group go-round I introduced myself as "a spy for O'Reilly" [ > laughter ] but that was more just an icebreaker to forestall any > future conflict of interest charges, as in yes, I've benefited > financially from my OSCON experiences, subscribe to Safari, have > received past payment from that company (example in Photostream **)). > > Had I known yet that Allison was in the crowd I'd have been more shy, > as she was program track co-chair at OSCON 10 this year, way more of > an insider than I'll ever be. > > Missed ya'll at the beers after, still practicing my EuroPython skills > a little (more into vodka since Vilnius). > > Kirby > > ** http://www.flickr.com/photos/17157315 at N00/2943807612/ From gods_bud666 at hotmail.com Sun Nov 2 09:09:47 2008 From: gods_bud666 at hotmail.com (Anthony Smith) Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 00:09:47 -0800 Subject: [portland] newcomer introduction Message-ID: Hello from Everett Washington (an hour north of Seattle). I was a programmer of Apple IIs from 1982 to 1985. Good old BASIC (not visual or Q, just BASIC). It was a worthwhile occupation : just writing code for stuff I thought up - - - and I learned debugging, writing out longer programs, etc. When I came across problems (the speed of the interpreter), instead of using a compiler (which was available, but I didn't learn to use) or making use of an assembler, - I just gave up writing. Over the years I kept learning - a few books (assembly language; microprocessors; IC - level wiring schematics) but I still have not done any serious writing, until recently. I figured out how to download Python 2.5 (or 2.6, don't remember now) and started writing again. I got past save/load/run - that part was easy ... and I made it through 16 lines of code successfully - I mean I checked it out - everything worked. But then I hit a snag - the interpreter gave me syntax errors and highlighted a field of whitespace a few lines BELOW the last line of code I wrote. I assume that whitespace would not be interpreted as a syntax error - particularly in a place where nothing was yet written. So I assumed that my version of Python was corrupted by something I downloaded off the internet (you know the garbage: spam; viruses; spyware; trojans) so I erased Python and have not continued. Would you suggest that I get another computer to write code with - I mean a computer that is new and not connected to the internet? The computer I use now is old: a DELL Dimension L733r with a pentium chip and Windows 2000. I cannot make use of my speedy (COMCAST connection) internet server because of this slow machine. The sorts of programs I write are varied: Originally, I played around with graphics and a random generator to display blocks of symmetrical (multicoloured) demonstrations. I would copy programs from magazines for high-resolution graphics. I wrote a program that, when run, looked like the computer was scrawling a map of the United States. Later, I programmed it to play games. Little stuff at first, then a program to play PONG against the computer and blackjack. Future projects would involve string manipulation - breaking words down into component letters and transferring them to a digital number based on position in word. Also, taking a number (base ten) and making it into a word by use of a base 26 number system. Then later, crunching numbers and (yes) crunching words (English words). This is discovery. All a person has to do is begin to multiply numbers - whatever numbers interest you - and learn the beauty of numbers. I found an interesting number this way: 299997. After repeatedly adding this number to itself, I found MANY MANY instances of products that had all ten digits used - and - only once each (example: 299997 x 4117 yields 1235087649; 299997 x 6551 = 1965280347). I found hundreds of other products using 299997 that also were non-repeating ten-digit products using all ten digits. Have you ever typed in 71077345 into a portable calculator and turned it upside down? Yeah, it reads SHELLOIL. I have used this technique as well to identify - well - FUNCTIONS. To seek these things out is to discover years, phone numbers, addresses, times of the day, and the more you do it, the more - TOTALLY - the system works. You just keep on. Did you know that Artificial Intelligence is a possibility? Not writing a program that will think private thoughts, but writing one that will be a - very good - SIMULATION of a real person. Like the computer that Matthew Broderick had a powwow with in the movie 'WarGames'. THAT type of system is a possibility (and likely a reality as well) - not a system that will make independant decisions such as deciding to play a game on a lark, but one that you can interact with as though another person (as with text) and this sort of system would be a paragon of a useful tool to any programmer or simple user - the only hurdle is someone has to write it. My, I am long-winded! Anyway, language translation should be utilized, and upgraded too. As well as teaching computer language students about central processing, some kind of 'ease' and the natural power of computers. I blew through a couple of books about computer languages (one about JAVA and one about Python) and it seems to me that modern languages ought to be streamlined by the companies that come up with the new prototypes - there are simply too many new 'features' and 'alternatives' and absolutely way too many reserved words in the language. Complicating a good computer system (like the original BASIC I once used) with umpteen terms and alternatives and such is not an advancement - it is a headache. A similar system with as great a potential and far easier to learn and use is quite possible, once you learn to write a system that mimics the actual processor and memory access and I/O devices and (BASIC) screens, speakers, heart of gold. I'm out. Tony. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kirby.urner at gmail.com Sun Nov 2 15:15:36 2008 From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner) Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 06:15:36 -0800 Subject: [portland] newcomer introduction In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Sun, Nov 2, 2008 at 12:09 AM, Anthony Smith wrote: << SNIP >> > But then I hit a snag - the interpreter gave me > syntax errors and highlighted a field of whitespace > a few lines BELOW the last line of code I wrote. > I assume that whitespace would not be interpreted > as a syntax error - particularly in a place where > nothing was yet written. Yeah I seem to recall encountering this glitch a long while back, maybe you checked Google already. My advice would be to move to 2.6 and 3.0, both installed, start playing with migrating from one to the next, focusing on what's different, a good way to explore the language while developing skills people are looking for in this chapter (not exclusively, but there's some inertia here you might want to leverage). > So I assumed that my version of Python was corrupted > by something I downloaded off the internet (you know > the garbage: spam; viruses; spyware; trojans) so I > erased Python and have not continued. Also you need to check whether this is just a problem in IDLE, which I think is what's probably the case. Try a different shell like Wing IDE 101 (free). Looking forward to meeting you at Green Dragon sometime Tony (a favorite watering hole for PPUGers). Kirby From python at dylanreinhardt.com Sun Nov 2 18:02:07 2008 From: python at dylanreinhardt.com (Dylan Reinhardt) Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 10:02:07 -0700 Subject: [portland] newcomer introduction In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4c645a720811020902u43c0678bq945c23dd59ff8c0f@mail.gmail.com> On Sun, Nov 2, 2008 at 1:09 AM, Anthony Smith wrote: > I blew through a couple of books about computer > languages (one about JAVA and one about Python) > and it seems to me that modern languages ought > to be streamlined by the companies that come up > with the new prototypes - there are simply too many > new 'features' and 'alternatives' and absolutely way > too many reserved words in the language. Well... you are, of course, welcome to write your own modern programming language to prove that theory. :-) In the meantime, it sounds like you are interested in learning how Python works. I would encourage you to pick a domain you're interested in and look how Python is being used by experienced practitioners. A lot of the best code written is freely available for you to read and learn from. You may even find extensive discussion and documentation indicating exactly how and why particular choices were made. Complexity can be painful to learn, but it often exists for a purpose. BASIC might be perfectly good for some tasks, but I'd love to see it used to create something like Django. FWIW, Dylan From gods_bud666 at hotmail.com Wed Nov 5 10:32:45 2008 From: gods_bud666 at hotmail.com (Anthony Smith) Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 01:32:45 -0800 Subject: [portland] response to Kirby Message-ID: Hey Kirby - this is Tony. You invited me to come to the Green Dragon pub in Portland...that would be awesome, but I live a mile north of Seattle... HowEVer...I do intend to attend the ANA convention and coin show in Portland 13-15 of March...maybe I'll stop by then. My friend and I were planning on seeing the city as well as attend the shows....I remember driving through Portland a few years back, and I recall that Portland is just about the prettiest city by night. So maybe I'll catch you there later! Tony of Everett, Washinton. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jd at commandprompt.com Wed Nov 5 17:53:27 2008 From: jd at commandprompt.com (Joshua D. Drake) Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:53:27 -0800 Subject: [portland] You are not good enough (for Open Source) Message-ID: <1225904007.22001.5.camel@jd-laptop.pragmaticzealot.org> Hey guys, I recently gave a talk on Open Source over at NAU. Any of you who attended West will likely remember Matt Trouts, "You aren't good enough" talk. This is my version of it. http://www.commandprompt.com/blogs/joshua_drake/ Sincerely, Joshua D. Drake -- From jek at discorporate.us Tue Nov 11 02:31:09 2008 From: jek at discorporate.us (jason kirtland) Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:31:09 -0800 Subject: [portland] TOMORROW: Meeting 7pm @ CubeSpace! Message-ID: <4918E05D.5000609@discorporate.us> Hi all, It's that time again. We're meeting tomorrow (Tuesday, November 10th) at CubeSpace, 7pm. Two great topics this month: - Coroutines in Python! - HTTP Form Handling Lightning Showcase! - formencode - wtforms - flatland It would be great to have Django forms represented too. Any takers? (Short format, 10-15 minutes.) And, of course, beers after. Maybe returning to our old winter haunt, Produce Row? See you all there! Cheers, Jason From jek at discorporate.us Tue Nov 11 02:55:00 2008 From: jek at discorporate.us (jason kirtland) Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:55:00 -0800 Subject: [portland] TOMORROW: Meeting 7pm @ CubeSpace! In-Reply-To: <4918E05D.5000609@discorporate.us> References: <4918E05D.5000609@discorporate.us> Message-ID: <4918E5F4.4040200@discorporate.us> Oops. Tuesday is November the 11th. Sorry! See everyone tomorrow, Tuesday, November 11th! jason kirtland wrote: > Hi all, > > It's that time again. We're meeting tomorrow (Tuesday, November 10th) > at CubeSpace, 7pm. Two great topics this month: > > - Coroutines in Python! > > - HTTP Form Handling Lightning Showcase! > - formencode > - wtforms > - flatland > > It would be great to have Django forms represented too. Any takers? > (Short format, 10-15 minutes.) > > And, of course, beers after. Maybe returning to our old winter haunt, > Produce Row? > > See you all there! > > Cheers, > Jason > _______________________________________________ > Portland mailing list > Portland at python.org > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/portland > From RWagoner at volt.com Wed Nov 12 20:00:22 2008 From: RWagoner at volt.com (Wagoner, Roger) Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:00:22 -0800 Subject: [portland] Contract Python Web Dev Message-ID: Hi, We have a 4+ month contract opening for our client in Hillsboro, OR. It is for a senior level web developer working in Python and shell scripting in a Unix/Linux environment. The project will be on high and low level aspects, from API through implementation on web 2.0 and 3.0 technologies. Daily responsibilities include development, debug, integration, test creation and documentation. The back end is on PostgreSQL and SQLite; experience with Turbogears and/or Pylons is preferred. Please give me a call or send me your resume and I'll be happy to give you all the details on this contract. Thanks, Roger Wagoner Technical Recruiter Six Sigma Yellow Belt Volt Technical Resources 1300 SW 5th Ave, Suite 2625 | Portland, OR 97201 rwagoner at volt.com | t: 503.221.8797. | f: 503.221.6992 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From beau at open-source-staffing.com Sat Nov 22 19:30:22 2008 From: beau at open-source-staffing.com (Beau Gould) Date: Sat, 22 Nov 2008 13:30:22 -0500 Subject: [portland] [JOB] Sr. Backend Developer | Eugene or Portland, OR Message-ID: <23C0B09BD6654705AD9A006C9370983E@EMACHINE> Responsibilities: * Work in a team building scalable web applications * Use test-driven development practices to ensure code correctness * Document code, track and fix bugs, respond rapidly to emergencies in production environment * Work with product group throughout development cycle to ensure quality of end product * Networking protocols such as TCP, UDP, HTTP, DNS, NAT, etc * Clustering and load balancing solutions for redundancy, high availability, scalability * Network programming (event-driven, asynchronous) * Experience analyzing large and complex systems for performance bottlenecks * Python, AJAX, PHP, C/C++ * LAMP * Scalable MySQL schema designs * Jabber/XMPP * Twisted Python * Spread Toolkit Requirements for this position: * Bachelors in Computer Science or related work experience. Masters degree is a plus * Ability to work on-site in Eugene, Oregon (preferred) or Portland, Oregon * 5+ years experience developing large scale software systems (10K+ concurrent users) To be considered, please submit your resume along with your salary requirements to bg @ capitalmarketsp.com Beau Gould Executive Advisor Capital Markets Placement www.cmp.jobs bg @ capitalmarketsp.com