Mailman 3 June 1999 - Python-announce-list

Russian Python Message Board
by Sultanbek Tezadov June 23, 1999

June 23, 1999

Greetings! A trial message board for Russian-speaking Pythoneers is available now at http://sultan.virtualave.net/cgi-bin/forum/forum.cgi _____ _____[russian:] ðÒÉ×ÅÔÓÔ×ÉÑ! ðÒÏÂÎÙÊ ÆÏÒÕÍ (ÄÏÓËÁ ÓÏÏÂÝÅÎÉÊ) ÄÌÑ ÒÕÓÓËÏ-ÇÏ×ÏÒÑÝÉÈ ÐÒÏÇÒÁÍÍÉÓÔÏ× Python ÄÏÓÔÕÐÅÎ ÐÏ ÁÄÒÅÓÕ http://sultan.virtualave.net/cgi-bin/forum/forum.cgi _____ Best regards, Sultanbek Tezadov (http://sultan.da.ru), Nalchik, Russia. <A HREF="http://sultan.virtualave.net/cgi-bin/forum/forum.cgi"> Russian Python Message Board</A> - [æÏÒÕÍ ÄÌÑ ÐÒÏÇÒÁÍÍÉÓÔÏ× Python]. (19-Jun-99) -- ----------- comp.lang.python.announce (moderated) ---------- Article Submission Address: python-announce(a)python.org Python Language Home Page: http://www.python.org/ Python Quick Help Index: http://www.python.org/Help.html ------------------------------------------------------------

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JPython 1.1 beta 2
by Barry A. Warsaw June 23, 1999

June 23, 1999

I'm happy to announce the release of the second beta in the JPython 1.1 series. JPython is the 100% Pure Java implementation of the Python language, which provides seamless integration with the Java platform. JPython 1.1beta2 is compatible with most Java 1.1 and 1.2 JDKs. JPython 1.1beta2 is essentially a bug fix release to 1.1beta1, fixing reported problems in the jpythonc tool, other reported bugs and improving compatibility with CPython. See below for a summary. You can download JPython 1.1beta2 from the JPython home page. Please visit http://www.jpython.org/ Here's a summary of what's changed since 1.1beta1: - Updates and bug fixes to jpythonc tool. New registry entries python.jpythonc.compiler, python.jpythonc.classpath, and python.jpythonc.compileropts. getopt style long/short option names (old options are deprecated). New -J/--compileropts option. - syncing string object methods with experimental CPython 1.6 string methods. This includes new optional arguments on startswith() and endswith() and the moving of join() to a method of the separator string. - Many other bug fixes and CPython syncs Enjoy, -Barry Barry A. Warsaw Corp. for Nat'l Research Initiatives (CNRI) bwarsaw(a)cnri.reston.va.us 1895 Preston White Drive, Suite 100 bwarsaw(a)python.org Reston, VA USA 20191-5434 http://www.python.org/~bwarsaw 703.620.8990 / (fax) 703.620.0913 -- ----------- comp.lang.python.announce (moderated) ---------- Article Submission Address: python-announce(a)python.org Python Language Home Page: http://www.python.org/ Python Quick Help Index: http://www.python.org/Help.html ------------------------------------------------------------

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New Multipack release (0.7)
by Travis Oliphant June 23, 1999

June 23, 1999

I'm announcing the release of Multipack-0.7 at http://oliphant.netpedia.net/ Multipack is a collection of Python extension modules which use the Numeric extension module API to provide a number of FORTRAN routines to the Numeric Python user. Included in this release are routines to numerically: - solve N nonlinear equations in N unknowns. - minimize m nonlinear equations in n unknowns (Levenberg-Marquardt) - integrate an ordinary differential equation (stiff or nonstiff) - integrate a function of 1, 2, or 3 variables. - fit a set of points to a 1 or 2-D spline and find derivatives, integrals, interpolations, etc. of those splines. (thanks Pearu Peterson!) Documentation has been updated and improved for this release and the way to contribute a module has been streamlined and detailed. It is now quite easy to add your own interfaces to the package. A FORTRAN compiler (or f2c) is required to compile the source. Comments and contributions are welcome. Travis Oliphant Oliphant.Travis(a)altavista.net <A HREF="http://oliphant.netpedia.net/">Multipack 0.7</A> - provides FORTRAN equation routines for NumPy. (14-Jun-99) -- ----------- comp.lang.python.announce (moderated) ---------- Article Submission Address: python-announce(a)python.org Python Language Home Page: http://www.python.org/ Python Quick Help Index: http://www.python.org/Help.html ------------------------------------------------------------

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PyDaylight 0.5
by eugene.leitl＠lrz.uni-muenchen.de June 23, 1999

June 23, 1999

From: Andrew Dalke <dalke(a)bioreason.com> PyDaylight 0.5 Bioreason <www.bioreason.com>, a leading provider of chemoinformatics knowledge discovery services. has developed an interface between the Daylight toolkit and the Python programming language and is making this package freely available under the LGPL license. Additional information is available from: http://starship.python.net/crew/dalke/PyDaylight/ and from my MUG'99 presentation at: http://www.daylight.com/meetings/mug99/ The end result is that new chemical analysis algorithms can be developed in a much shorter time and with fewer programming errors. Python is an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming language with modules, classes, exceptions, very high level dynamic data types, and dynamic typing. It is a superb tool for rapid application prototyping and development. For more information, see http://www.python.org/ . The Daylight toolkit is sold by Daylight Information Systems (see http://www.daylight.com/). The toolkit includes C/FORTRAN libraries for manipulating molecular topologies, depicting the results, conducting subgraph searches, and more. (We don't get any money from them for promoting their software :) The PyDaylight interface builds on Roger E. Critchlow Jr.'s DaySWIG package but adds a true object-oriented interface layer above the underlying C libraries as well as iterators, automatic garbage collection, and exception handling. We develop all of our applications using PyDaylight and it has been very stable and useful. Since it has been an in-house project there is very little end-user documentation or tutorials, which is why it is labeled 0.5 instead of 1.0. Thus, this release shouldn't be used by someone who doesn't like reading source code to figure out what's going on. However, I would like to know who might be interested in introductory material, so if you plan on using the Daylight toolkit and would like to try out the PyDaylight interface, please drop me a message so I can better gauge what to work on next. Andrew Dalke dalke(a)bioreason.com -= This is automatically added to each message by mailing script =- CHEMISTRY(a)ccl.net -- To Everybody | CHEMISTRY-REQUEST(a)ccl.net -- To Admins MAILSERV(a)ccl.net -- HELP CHEMISTRY or HELP SEARCH CHEMISTRY-SEARCH(a)ccl.net -- archive search | Gopher: gopher.ccl.net 70 Ftp: ftp.ccl.net | WWW: http://www.ccl.net/chemistry/ | Jan: jkl(a)osc.edu <A HREF="http://starship.python.net/crew/dalke/PyDaylight/">PyDaylight 0.5</A> - Python interface to the Daylight toolkit used for chemical analysis. (11-Jun-99) -- ----------- comp.lang.python.announce (moderated) ---------- Article Submission Address: python-announce(a)python.org Python Language Home Page: http://www.python.org/ Python Quick Help Index: http://www.python.org/Help.html ------------------------------------------------------------

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Stackless Python 0.2
by Christian Tismer June 23, 1999

June 23, 1999

ANNOUNCING: Stackless Python 0.2 A Python Implementation Which Does Not Ese The C Stack What is it? A plugin-replacement for core Python. It should run any program which runs under Python 1.5.2 . But it does not need space on the C stack. Why did I write it? Stackless Python was never written before (afaik), since it was said to be impossible without major rewrites of core Python. I am proving the controverse: It is easy to write, just hard to think. Who needs it? At the moment, this is only useful for C programmers who want to try certain new ideas. Hardcore stuff. It allows to modify the current execution state by changing the frame stack chain without restictions, and it allows for pluggable interpreters on a per-frame-basis. The possibilities are for instance: Coroutines, Continuations, Generators Restartable exceptions and Persistent execution state might be possible. Stackless extension modules can be built. The new builtin stackless "map" function is a small example for this. Coroutines will be able to run at the speed of a single C function call, which makes them a considerable alternative in certain algorithms. Status of the project: Stackless-ness has been implemented and tested with pystone. pystone works correctly and is about 4-5 % slower than with standard Python. What I need at the moment is - time to build a sample coroutine extension - your input, your testing, critics and hints. Some still rough documentation is available at http://www.pns.cc/stackless/stackless.htm Source code and a VC++6.0 build for Windows can be found from the document or directly from ftp://ftp.pns.cc/pub/stackless_990611.zip cheers - chris == Christian Tismer :^) <mailto:tismer@appliedbiometrics.com> Applied Biometrics GmbH : Have a break! Take a ride on Python's Kaiserin-Augusta-Allee 101 : *Starship* http://starship.python.net 10553 Berlin : PGP key -> http://wwwkeys.pgp.net PGP Fingerprint E182 71C7 1A9D 66E9 9D15 D3CC D4D7 93E2 1FAE F6DF we're tired of banana software - shipped green, ripens at home <A HREF="http://www.pns.cc/stackless/stackless.htm">Stackless Python 0.2</A> - a version of Python 1.5.2 that does not need space on the C stack. (12-Jun-99) -- ----------- comp.lang.python.announce (moderated) ---------- Article Submission Address: python-announce(a)python.org Python Language Home Page: http://www.python.org/ Python Quick Help Index: http://www.python.org/Help.html ------------------------------------------------------------

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mxODBC Package - Version 1.1.1
by M.-A. Lemburg June 23, 1999

June 23, 1999

ANNOUNCING: mxODBC Version 1.1.1 A Python Extension Package providing a generic Interface to ODBC 2.x API compliant Database Drivers or Managers WHAT IT IS: mxODBC is an extension package that provides a Python Database API compliant interface to ODBC 2.x capable database drivers and managers. In addition to the capabilities provided through the standard API it also provides a rich set of catalog methods that allow you to scan the database for tables, procedures, etc. Furthermore, it uses the mxDateTime package for date/time value interfacing eliminating most of the problems these types normally introduce. mxODBC is known to work with Adabas, MySQL, iODBC Unix ODBC Manager, Solid, Sybase, OpenLink and Intersolv/Merant ODBC drivers, Oracle/NT, EasySofts ODBC-ODBC bridge and the Windows ODBC Manager. This covers pretty much the whole range of well known relational database engines and gives you all the connectivity you'll need for doing great database work in Python. WHAT'S NEW ? The 1.1.1 version fixes a few small bugs with Solid and Access and includes an improved test script that allows checking the database connection as well as the database's capabilities. The subpackages for EasySoft, MySQL and iODBC were updated to the latest available versions of the drivers/managers. Some helper functions for pretty printing result sets have also made their way into the package. WHERE CAN I GET IT ? The full documentation and instructions for downloading and installing can be found at: http://starship.skyport.net/~lemburg/mxODBC.html The mxDateTime package needed for mxODBC can be found at: http://starship.skyport.net/~lemburg/mxDateTime.html WHAT DOES IT COST ? mxODBC comes with a slightly modified Python-style license: Usage is free for non-commercial and commercial internal use. Redistribution of the package in commercial products requires a separate license and will only be free if the product itself is free. Detailed license information is available at: http://starship.skyport.net/~lemburg/mxODBC-License.html WHERE CAN I GET SUPPORT ? I am offering commercial support for this package through Python Professional Services Inc. (http://www.pythonpros.com). Look on their support pages for details or contact me directly. REFERENCE: <A HREF="http://starship.skyport.net/~lemburg/mxODBC.html"> mxODBC 1.1.1</A> - ODBC Interface. (11-Jun-99) == Marc-Andre Lemburg ______________________________________________________________________ Y2000: 203 days left Business: http://www.lemburg.com/ Python Pages: http://www.lemburg.com/python/ -- ----------- comp.lang.python.announce (moderated) ---------- Article Submission Address: python-announce(a)python.org Python Language Home Page: http://www.python.org/ Python Quick Help Index: http://www.python.org/Help.html ------------------------------------------------------------

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Python: Computer programming for everybody
by Markus Fleck June 23, 1999

June 23, 1999

Computer programming for everybody. Guido van Rossum, along with a few other collaborators, sent in a proposal [1] to DARPA (the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) entitled "Computer Programming for Everybody." The purpose is to make programming accessible to a much larger portion of the population through the creation of an appropriate set of tools and training materials. "We compare mass ability to write and modify software with mass literacy, and expect that equally fundamental changes to society may ensue." The language of choice, of course, will be Python. This looks to be an interesting project. -- http://lwn.net/1999/0610/devel.phtml [1] http://www.python.org/doc/essays/everybody.html -- ----------- comp.lang.python.announce (moderated) ---------- Article Submission Address: python-announce(a)python.org Python Language Home Page: http://www.python.org/ Python Quick Help Index: http://www.python.org/Help.html ------------------------------------------------------------

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PyKstat 0.01 - Solaris kstat(3k) access
by William Annis June 10, 1999

June 10, 1999

I have finally decided to release PyKstat, a Python interface to the Solaris kstat(3k) API. The package can be found at http://www.biostat.wisc.edu/~annis/creations/pykstat.html Here is the README file which comes with the package... This is the initial release of a Python interface to the Solaris kstat API. I recommend checking out the man pages for information on the C API. This will only work for Solaris, and has been tested on Solaris 2.5, 2.5.1, and 2.6 for SPARC Solaris, and 2.6 for the Intel version of Solaris, using Python 1.5.1 and 1.5.2. * Why did I do this? I am currently re-implementing a machine monitoring system. The original version, written in Perl, has to fork off and parse the output from various system data tools, such as iostat, vmstat, uptime, etc. As it turns out, the vast majority of this data -- and a whole lot more -- is available via the kstat(3k) interface. I wanted to be able to get all this data without forking. * How did I do this? The PyKstat package has several parts, starting with a helper library in C wrapping kstat into something more friendly. The next layer is the lowest Python layer, and is generated by SWIG. I distribute the SWIG generated wrappers, so you do not need SWIG installed to use this package... unless you want to. The SWIG layer is little more than a Python version of my wrappers. The next layer is in kstat.py. This provides an object oriented interface, and nicely hides the chain-following you have to do if you use the simplest interface. kstat.py provides a single class, Kstat, which does all the interesting work. This interface does however assume some familiarity with the kstat(3k) API. The final layer of PyKstat, and the interface I suspect most people will want to use, is in kstats.py. This interface is *not* OOPy, but it does use the Kstat class as its engine. I strongly recommend looking at the doc strings in kstats.py and playing with the many functions provided to get a feel for the API. For the perversely curious, the dependencies are: kstat API <- wkstat.c (my helpers) <- wkstatmodule.so (SWIG generated interface to wkstat.c) <- kstat.py (OOPy interface to wkstatmodule.so) <- kstats.py (the most friendly interface). * What about bugs? There are doubtless some bugs. However, I don't believe there are any major ones. I have been using this software to check machine statistics for a few months now, and in fact some single Python programs have been running *continuously* for a month and reporting on machine statistics. If you discover any bugs, certainly let me know, but try to include as much information as possible, and a snippet of code which causes the problem. The install process could be more elegant. * Cool! How do I install this. Take a look at the Makefile. It's pretty simple. You should only need to change your CC, though I recommend using gcc, and the two lines saying where your Python is installed. Then run 'make', then 'make install'. The install process is crude in the extreme, and simply copies a few files into your Python library area. Check out the few examples in the examples directory to get an idea of how this package can be used. I've included the program netd as an example. It will *not* work for you, since it requires libraries I've not made public yet. It does, however, provide an interesting example. William S. Annis 99jun09 == William Annis - System Administrator - Biomedical Computing Group annis(a)biostat.wisc.edu PGP ID:1024/FBF64031 Mi parolas Esperanton - La Internacia Lingvo www.esperanto.org <A HREF="http://www.biostat.wisc.edu/~annis/creations/pykstat.html"> PyKstat 0.01</A> - directly access Solaris kernel statistics facility, kstat(3k), from within Python. (09-Jun-99) -- ----------- comp.lang.python.announce (moderated) ---------- Article Submission Address: python-announce(a)python.org Python Language Home Page: http://www.python.org/ Python Quick Help Index: http://www.python.org/Help.html ------------------------------------------------------------

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mxCGIPython project update
by M.-A. Lemburg June 10, 1999

June 10, 1999

Hi everybody, I just give you an update of the current list of available one-file easy-to-install Python 1.5.2 interpreters. There are many more versions and even one for Windows NT4 thanks to Florent Heyworth (*). cgipython-1.5.2-AIX-2-000771064C00-.gz cgipython-1.5.2-FreeBSD-2.2.8-RELEASE-i386-i386.gz cgipython-1.5.2-FreeBSD-3.0-RELEASE-i386-i386.gz cgipython-1.5.2-FreeBSD-3.1-19990426-STABLE-i386-i386.gz cgipython-1.5.2-HP-UX-A.09.03-9000_715-unknown.gz cgipython-1.5.2-HP-UX-B.10.20-9000_782-unknown.gz cgipython-1.5.2-IRIX-5.3-IP19-mips.gz cgipython-1.5.2-IRIX-6.5-IP32-mips.gz cgipython-1.5.2-IRIX64-6.5-IP30-mips.gz cgipython-1.5.2-Linux-2.0.34-i586-RedHat-5.1.gz cgipython-1.5.2-Linux-2.0.35-i586-unknown.gz cgipython-1.5.2-Linux-2.0.35-i686-unknown.gz cgipython-1.5.2-Linux-2.0.36-i586-Debian-2.1.gz cgipython-1.5.2-Linux-2.0.36-i586-unknown.gz cgipython-1.5.2-Linux-2.2.7-i586-SuSE60.gz cgipython-1.5.2-NetBSD-1.3.2-alpha.gz cgipython-1.5.2-NetBSD-1.3.3-i386.gz cgipython-1.5.2-OpenBSD-2.4-i386-Intel_Pentium_II.gz cgipython-1.5.2-SunOS-4.1.4-sun4m.gz cgipython-1.5.2-SunOS-5.5.1-sun4u-sparc-alternate.gz cgipython-1.5.2-SunOS-5.5.1-sun4u-sparc.gz cgipython-1.5.2-Winnt-4.0.zip The current place to look for contributed binaries is ftp://starship.skyport.net/pub/cgipython/ This will probably change to starship.python.net in the near future. The above binaries contain the Python 1.5.2 interpreter plus the whole standard lib (except for Tkinter) in one single file: this reduces installation time/problems and startup time as well. More information about the project and how to contribute can be found here: http://starship.skyport.net/~lemburg/mxCGIPython.html (*) I'm curious if the cgipython EXE works out of the box for MS IIS. Would be really cool, IMHO, and yet another argument for using Python for CGI scripting. Cheers and thanks to everyone who contributed, == Marc-Andre Lemburg ______________________________________________________________________ Y2000: 206 days left Business: http://www.lemburg.com/ Python Pages: http://www.lemburg.com/python/ <A HREF="http://starship.skyport.net/~lemburg/mxCGIPython.html"> mxCGIPython 1.5.2</A> - one-file Python interpreters, to simplify running of CGI scripts; now for even more platforms, e.g. Windows NT 4. (08-Jun-99) -- ----------- comp.lang.python.announce (moderated) ---------- Article Submission Address: python-announce(a)python.org Python Language Home Page: http://www.python.org/ Python Quick Help Index: http://www.python.org/Help.html ------------------------------------------------------------

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pyCA-0.5.1 - tools for setting up a certificate authority
by michael.stroeder＠inka.de June 10, 1999

June 10, 1999

HI! I would like to announce a new beta release of my package pyCA, a set of scripts and CGI-BIN programs written in Python for setting up and running a certificate authority using OpenSSL. See http://sites.inka.de/ms/python/pyca/ for more details. I would like to ask for feedback of people using this package. Any hints for improving this package are appreciated. I do not have the possibility to test this software under other Unix environments than Linux, OpenLDAP and ApacheSSL. Changes since 0.4.5: - you have to upgrade to Python 1.5.2 - some bugfixes and code cleaning - better documentation - some changes to configuration (might be incompatible to 0.4.5!!!) - allow defining the request form depending on specific certificate type - configuration of preferred certificate format - automatic publishing of certificates with informing user by e-mail Ciao, Michael. ______________________________________________________________________ OpenSSL Project http://www.openssl.org User Support Mailing List openssl-users(a)openssl.org Automated List Manager majordomo(a)openssl.org

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