Python-announce-list August 1999

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35 participants
51 discussions

MkWrap - another MetaKit database extension
by Jean-Claude Wippler 09 Aug '99

09 Aug '99

MetaKit is an embedded database engine, which can be used from Python (sort of), Tcl (solid), and C++ (the native interface: rock solid). MkWrap is a new "thin" interface from Python, which stays closer to the core MetaKit API than the previous "Mk4py" interface. It exposes far more of the core funtionality, including selection, sorting, projection, join, groupby, set operations, fast sequential searching, and regexp- based matching on any string field. As with the first Mk4py release, this is a proof-of-concept release, intended to explore the effectiveness of such an interface in Python. Caveat: MetaKit doesn't support SQL, nor is it compliant with Python's DBI - it lives in the twilight zone between flat files, OO databases, relational systems, and tree-structured storage. Keywords which *do* apply to MetaKit are: portable, high-performance, low footprint, embeddable, transaction-based, dynamic schemas, multi- language, load-on-demand, unconventional. For details on this first alpha release of MkWrap, see: http://www.equi4.com/metakit/mk4py/mkwrap.txt It contains pre-built extensions for Windows and Linux, a small sample, rudimentary documentation, and the C++ sources of the Python interface. MkWrap was initially created by Gordon McMillan - I merely sprinkled a few extra ideas and bugs onto it to make life more interesting :) The MetaKit home page is here: http://www.equi4.com/metakit/ The Mk4py version of the Python interface is unaltered: http://www.equi4.com/metakit/mk4py/ Some background info on MetaKit can be found on my personal pages: http://www.equi4.com/jcw/ Comments, suggestions, problem reports always welcome (but see below). -- Jean-Claude P.S. This is a "deadline-crush" announcement - I'll be back August 18. <A HREF="http://www.equi4.com/metakit/mk4py/mkwrap.txt">MkWrap</A> - Python interface to the MetaKit (commercial) embedded database. (08-Aug-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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simple module to manipulate recurring dates
by Skip Montanaro 06 Aug '99

06 Aug '99

In Musi-Cal I frequently need to deal with recurring dates such as "every Monday from 1pm to 3pm". The fact that I can't easily process recurring dates has been an ongoing problem. After one of my partners posed a question about recurring dates for another project a couple days ago, I decided it was time to start thinking seriously about it. The result is a small module, recur.py, which you can get to through my Python Bits page at http://www.musi-cal.com/~skip/python/ The module implements a single class, Recurrence. You can intersect two recurrences to get a new one or generate a finite series of absolute dates from an infinite recurrence. It doesn't yet do unions (my feeble brain hasn't figured that out), nor can it parse limited English phrases such as the one above into a Recurrence object. Also, it can only represent simple recurrences. More complex recurrences like "Easter", "every other Friday" or "the third Thursday of the month" are beyond it. Marc-Andre Lemburg's mxDateTime module: http://starship.python.net/crew/lemburg/mxDateTime.html is required. I'd very much like to get some feedback on this, especially on the stuff it can't do. It's an area where I have virtually no past programming experience (literature references would be most welcome!). If I'm hiking down the wrong trail I'd like to find out before I run into a lot of grizzly bears (or even the occasional snake... ;-) Thanks, Skip Montanaro | http://www.mojam.com/ skip(a)mojam.com | http://www.musi-cal.com/~skip/ 847-971-7098 <A HREF="http://www.musi-cal.com/~skip/python/recur.py">recur.py</A> - a Python class to handle recurring dates; needs mxDateTime module. (06-Aug-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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Sketch 0.6.1 - vector drawing program
by Bernhard Herzog 06 Aug '99

06 Aug '99

Sketch 0.6.1 - A vector drawing program Sketch is a vector drawing program for Linux and other unices. It's intended to be a flexible and powerful tool for illustrations, diagrams and other purposes. Despite the low version number, it already has advanced features like gradients, text along a path and clip masks and its fully scriptable due to its implementation in a combination of Python and C. Changes since version 0.6.0: * Spanish messages. * The AI export filter can handle axial and radial gradients now. * The CMX import filter has better support for gradients. * The AI import filter supports guides Homepage: --------- http://www.online.de/home/sketch Features: --------- o Drawing primitives: o Rectangles o Ellipses o Bezier curves o Bitmap images: JPEG, GIF,... (all types the Python Imaging Library can read) o Encapsulated PostScript o Text o All objects, including images and text, can be rotated, scaled, sheared, etc. (all affine transformations are possible) o Gradient fills o Special Effects and Features: o Use rectangles, ellipses and bezier objects as guides o Blend Groups: Automatically updated interpolations of arbitrary objects o Text can be converted to bezier objects. o Text along Path o Exports Encapsulated PostScript and Adobe Illustrator files o Imports XFig, Adobe Illustrator, Corel CMX and WMF files o Fully scriptable in Python For more information, have a look at the sketch webpage. License: -------- Sketch is released under GNU Library General Public License. <A HREF="http://www.online.de/home/sketch/">Sketch 0.6.1</A> - advanced vector drawing program for Unix written in Python. (06-Aug-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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PIL 1.0 final - Python Imaging Library
by PythonWare 06 Aug '99

06 Aug '99

The Python Imaging Library (PIL) adds image processing capabilities to your Python interpreter. This library supports many file formats, and provides powerful image processing and graphics capabilities. PIL 1.0 final is now available from: http://www.pythonware.com/ Changes since the last beta include faster text rendering, support for using PIL as a package, mechanisms to hook into a standard Tkinter build, better GIF encoding, incremental image decoding, and various bug fixes. see the README and CHANGES files for the full story. PIL 1.0 is (as before) shipped under a Python-style license, and can be used without fee also in commercial projects. However, we encourage commercial users to support our development efforts by purchasing a support package; for details, see: http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil/support.htm enjoy, the PIL development team <A HREF="http://www.pythonware.com/">Python Imaging Library 1.0</A> - an image processing and graphics library for Python. (06-Aug-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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Zope Weekly News - Wed, 4 Aug 1999
by Amos Latteier 04 Aug '99

04 Aug '99

Hello, This week saw the launch of Bruce Perens's Technocrat.net. This is one of the highest profile Zope sites to date. Butch Landingin's Squishdot product for Zope is a big part of what makes the site tick. Way to go Bruce and Butch! Another major thread on the Zope lists this week was e-commerce. Scott Robertson released a credit card processing product for Zope, and there was a lot of discussion about existing Zope e-commerce packages and where to go from here. Finally, activity continues at a fairly intense rate in CVS as preparations for beta two are made. And thanks to David Ascher, you can now easily download snapshots of the Zope development tree. * Bruce Perens's new technology policy site, Technocrat.net made a big splash this week. Bruce Perens is a major open source figure, and his new site runs on Zope using the Squishdot product. http://technocrat.net/ http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=99/07/27/205246&mode=thread http://technocrat.net/932767939/ * Zope showed up on Slashdot again in an Ask Slashdot article. http://slashdot.org/askslashdot/99/07/31/0323235.shtml http://www.zope.org/pipermail/zope/1999-August/007580.html * Scott Robertson announced a Cyber Cash Connector for Zope. This allows you to conduct credit card transactions. A long discussion of e-commerce and Zope followed on the zope-dev list. http://www.zope.org/pipermail/zope/1999-August/007606.html * Chris Petrilli announced a Database Adapter status page. http://www.zope.org/Download/DAStatus http://www.zope.org/pipermail/zope/1999-July/007432.html * Paul Everitt posted a note showing the growth of interest in Zope as evidenced by the number of hits on Zope.org and the number of subscribers to the Zope mailing lists. http://www.zope.org/pipermail/zope/1999-July/007456.html * Chris Petrilli announced the availability of slides used in a Zope training. http://www.zope.org/pipermail/zope/1999-July/007431.html http://www.digicool.com/Solutions/Training/Material/ * Chris Petrilli posted a Database adapter roadmap. http://www.zope.org/pipermail/zope-dev/1999-July/001013.html http://www.zope.org/Information/DARoadmap * Paul Everitt posted an announcement about Zope/Python activities at the upcoming O'Reilly Open Source Software Convention. http://www.zope.org/Information/OReillyConferenceInfo http://www.zope.org/pipermail/zope/1999-August/007581.html * Michel Pelletier announced ZSybaseDA 1.0.1, a Database Adapter for Sybase. http://www.zope.org/pipermail/zope/1999-August/007637.html http://www.zope.org/Download/ZSybaseDA/ * Steve Spicklemire announced Zieve, Z-subclassable class that assists in sorting ZClasses in various ways. http://www.zope.org/pipermail/zope/1999-August/007691.html * Brian Lloyd responded to a question about Pluggable Brains with an informative post illuminating this powerful and under-documented feature. http://www.zope.org/pipermail/zope/1999-August/007743.html * Python guru David Ascher set up a nightly CVS snapshot archive for a couple major Python projects including Zope. This allows you to get access to the latest sources from CVS without using CVS. http://starship.python.net/crew/da/zopedists/ Keep on Zopin! -Amos == Amos Latteier mailto:amos@digicool.com Digital Creations http://www.digicool.com -- ----------- 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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CVS snapshots of Python, Zope, etc.
by David Ascher 04 Aug '99

04 Aug '99

So that those behind firewalls and otherwise without CVS access can access the latest and buggiest (uh, I mean greatest) versions of Python projects, I've setup a nightly job to make snaphots of CVS trees. So far, I have nightly snapshots for: Python: http://starship.python.net/crew/da/pythondists Zope: http://starship.python.net/crew/da/zopedists PyOpenGL: http://starship.python.net/crew/da/pyopengldists (the Zope snapshot is a little out of date because of unrelated network routing issues). I'm willing to add new projects to this list, within reasonable disk space limits. If you're interested in adding a project, email me at da(a)python.net with the relevant CVS information. --david ascher CVS Snapshots - daily snapshots of <A HREF="http://starship.python.net/crew/da/pythondists/">Python</A>, <A HREF="http://starship.python.net/crew/da/zopedists/">Zope</A> and <A HREF="http://starship.python.net/crew/da/pyopengldists/">PyOpenGL</A> CVS development versions. (04-Aug-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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[fm] Pybliographer 0.5
by Markus Fleck 03 Aug '99

03 Aug '99

Pybliographer 0.5 Fred - August 02nd 1999, 21:56 EST Pybliographer is a tool for managing bibliographic databases. It currently supports BibTeX files, but could be extended to other formats. It can be used for searching, editing, reformatting, etc. In fact, it's a simple framework that provides easy to use python classes and functions, and therefore can be extended to many usages (generating HTML pages according to bibliographic searches, etc). Changes: Pybliographer now comes with a Gnome interface for viewing and searching (not yet editing, but emacs does the job...) Download: http://www.idiap.ch/~gobry/pybliographer/pybliographer-0.5.tar.gz Homepage: http://www.idiap.ch/~gobry/pybliographer.html Author: Frederic Gobry License: GPL Category: GNOME/Misc Depends on: python glib recode gnome Freshmeat (c) 1999 scoop(a)freshmeat.net <A HREF="http://www.idiap.ch/~gobry/pybliographer.html">Pybliographer 0.5</A> - a framework for managing bibliographic databases; currently supports BibTeX files. (02-Aug-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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Deeply Embedded Python 0.1
by Ivan Porres Paltor 02 Aug '99

02 Aug '99

Deeply Embedded Python is a minimal version of the Python virtual machine. It is targeted to small embedded systems where it is necessary a trade-off between language features and memory footprint of the interpreter. With this patch, it is possible to build a python interpreter WITHOUT support for float, complex and long numbers, file objects, parser, compiler and depedencies with any operating system. Deeply Embedded Python is distributed as a patch file for the Python 1.5.1 source tree. You can download the patch and its documentation from: http://www.abo.fi/~iporres/python The patch can be distributed freely. Enjoy! Ivan == <A HREF="http://www.abo.fi/~iporres/python/">Deeply Embedded Python 0.1</A> - A minimal version of the Python virtual machine for small embedded systems. (02-Aug-99) -- Ivan Porres Paltor Turku Centre for Computer Science Åbo Akademi, Department of Computer Science Phone: +358-2-2154033 Lemminkäinengatan 14A FIN-20520 Turku - Finland http://www.abo.fi/~iporres -- ----------- 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 microthreads (experimental)
by wware-nospam＠world.std.com 01 Aug '99

01 Aug '99

I have been interested in using Python to program simulated swarms of interacting agents. For this purpose, I have implemented what I call "microthreads" in Python, modifying Python's virtual machine, and maintaining a frame stack for each thread. I have successfully run 1500 threads simultaneously. Source code and some example usages are available at ftp://ftp.std.com/pub/wware/uthread.tgz for anybody interested in this. This is a pre-pre-thinking-about- alpha-some-day release, and probably buggy, but the examples run as expected. == - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Resistance is futile. Capacitance is efficacious. Will Ware email: wware @ world.std.com [Moderator's note: the following is taken from the package's README file.] ************************************************************************** Microthreads for Python Will Ware <wware(a)world.std.com> It would be nice to use Python for programs involving huge numbers of very light-weight threads. This would make it easy to simulate large swarms of interacting agents, which sounds like fun. Python functions are compiled to a bytecode, which runs on a virtual machine, defined in Python/ceval.c in the eval_code2 function. Python uses frame objects to administer information involved in nested function calls. In ceval.c, the frame stack is implicitly embedded in the C stack, because eval_code2 calls itself recursively when one Python function calls another. Microthreads are implemented with a modified version of the eval_code2 function. This version allows different threads to maintain different frame stacks explicitly. This version also executes a predetermined number of opcodes, whereas eval_code2 normally runs an infinite loop, terminating only when a function reaches either an error or a return statement. Two data structures have been defined. One is a thread object, which includes a frame stack, and also stacks for program counters and stack pointers. The other is a semaphore object, which provides an ability for threads to coordinate with one another. Using a semaphore it is possible to define a mailbox in Python, whereby one thread can send messages to another. The included example files demonstrate how threads and semaphores work, and how to implement a mailbox. ************************************************************************** <A HREF="ftp://ftp.std.com/pub/wware/">Python microthreads</A> - experimental implementation of interpreter-level threads using a modified Python byte code interpreter. (01-Aug-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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Interscript 1.0a9 released
by skaller＠maxtal.com.au 01 Aug '99

01 Aug '99

ANN: MAXTAL INTERSCRIPT version 1.0a9 RELEASED 1 August 1999 ---------------------------------------------------------- Maxtal Interscript is an advanced literate programming system, designed to support integrated development of code and documentation. It requires Python 1.5.2 [C version] [http://www.python.org] to operate, [Note 1.5.1 will not do!] It benefits from availability of some Posix features and common tools. [For NT, Cygnus' gnu tools packages is recommended] This is an ALPHA version, and is provided for experiment and evaulation. Version 1.0a9 has some major new features: INTERNATIONALISATION SUPPORT * generates navigation tags and other fixed information in any language. (Some data for French, German and Spanish are provided, but the data tables are not complete) * select sections by language -- allows writing books and documentation in multiple languages, and generating documents for any subset simultaneously (for multiple weavers!) * full support for reading ISO-10646 encoded as UTF-8, UTF-16, UCS-2 (Unicode), UCS-2le,UCS4, UCS-4le, ISO8599-x encodings for European languages, ShiftJis (Japanese), Big5 (Chinese), GB (Chinese), Wansung (Korean), Johab (Korean), and a large set of Microsoft/IBM code pages (DOS, Windows and Mac versions). * Interscript always generates UTF-8 (Standard for the Internet, and Linux, compatible with ASCII) IMPROVED SCRIPT DEBUGGING * errors in client script are now reported in exquisite detail with nice formatting * completely revamped trace control: 'verbosity' is gone, there are now switches for tracing particular event classes MUCH FASTER TANGLING * interscript now does some dependency checking and skips included files which haven't changed --- this only works for tangling at present --- BUG FIXES * several nasty bugs have been fixed, including incorrect scope control for client functions MINOR FEATURES * better support for formatting data in table cells * cursory support for software metrics * cursory support for attributions, licences, copyright information, etc * more coherent policy on caching FTP'd files * more systematic treatment of weavers and tanglers as 'plug in' components * generate HTML subdocument groups by name COMMAND LINE CHANGES Note interscript now _requires_ a new command line switch to generate documents: --language=xx, where xx is the ISO code for the country of the language. Web document files are prefixed by the language code. Also, verbosity is gone, replaced by --tracing=event-class. MAILING LIST interscript-dev(a)eGroups.com mailing list for developers and serious users. ONLINE DOCUMENTATION You will find the complete HTML documentation for Interscript version 1.0a9 at http://www.triode.net.au/~skaller/interscript DOWNLOAD -------------------- You can download Maxtal Interscript using anonymous FTP. ftp://ftp.triode.net.au/ftp/skaller/interscript_1_0_a9.tgz is the complete Maxtal Interscript package WITHOUT DOCUMENTATION as a gzipped, tarred, archive. The tarball is 1 Meg, and includes ready to run Python script, the full interscript sources. The full package including documentation can be got from ftp://ftp.triode.net.au/ftp/skaller/interscript_1_0_a9_doc.tgz As this include the full Unicode character tables, as well as tables for all the other encodings, in HTML form, the documentation is quite large [2.9Meg]. Note this is the SPANISH version. The browser navigation buttons are in Spanish, and the introductory paragraphs are also in Spanish [but the rest is in English] You can also get the tarballs by http: http://www.triode.net.au/~skaller/interscript/interscript_1_0_a9.tgz http://www.triode.net.au/~skaller/interscript/interscript_1_0_a9_doc.tgz FEEDBACK -------- Please mailto:skaller@maxtal.com.au to contact the author, John Skaller. Interscript is easy to install, but somewhat trickier to generate. OSS Licence ----------- Software on the FTP site is available free for any use, except where components are, or are derived from, third party components, in which case the licence for those components applies. Commercial Support ------------------ I will consider any requests for commercial support. Please feel free to contact me if you're considering a serious investment in literate programming. Interscript is free, but paid support is recommended for institutions and companies intending serious use: please contact me early with your requirements. Enjoy! John Max Skaller ph:61-2-96600850 mailto:skaller@maxtal.com.au 10/1 Toxteth Rd http://www.maxtal.com.au/~skaller Glebe 2037 NSW AUSTRALIA John Max Skaller ph:61-2-96600850 mailto:skaller@maxtal.com.au 10/1 Toxteth Rd http://www.maxtal.com.au/~skaller Glebe 2037 NSW AUSTRALIA <A HREF="http://www.triode.net.au/~skaller/interscript/">Maxtal Interscript 1.0a9</A> - advanced literate programming system, designed to support integrated development of code and documentation. (01-Aug-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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Python-announce-list August 1999