Mailman 3 October 2000 - Python-announce-list

lazy.py 0.7 - Lazy expressions and datastructures
by Bryn Keller 18 Oct '00

18 Oct '00

I'm pleased to announce the release of lazy.py version 0.7, released under the GNU LGPL. lazy.py can be obtained from: http://sourceforge.net/projects/xoltar-toolkit/ Release Name: 0.7 lazy.py provides support for lazy expressions, lazy tuples (functional programming languages call these lazy lists, but since lists are mutable in Python, tuples are closer in meaning), and lazy equivalents for map, filter, reduce, and zip. New in this release: Lazy has become its own module now, since functional was growing somewhat large. Changes: 10/18/2000 - Version 0.7: Removed from functional.py to become separate module. -- Bryn Keller xoltar(a)starship.python.net

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threadpool.py 0.9 - Thread control utilities
by Bryn Keller 18 Oct '00

18 Oct '00

I'm pleased to announce the release of threadpool.py version 0.9, released under the GNU LGPL. threadpool.py can be obtained from: http://sourceforge.net/projects/xoltar-toolkit/ Release Name: 0.9 Notes: This module uses the threading and Queue modules to create a pool of reusable threads. After creating an instance of ThreadPool, one queues functions to be excecuted. The pool dispatches the functions to the waiting threads, which call them. When queueing a function on the pool with *pool*.put(), an instance of ReturnValue is returned. ReturnValue is a subclass of functional.Lazy, and can be used in any context that a regular lazy expression can. When evaluating a ReturnValue, the evaluating thread will block until the other thread has completed its work and loaded the return value of the function into the ReturnValue instance. VLocks are an alternative to RLocks which include a visible queue threads waiting for the lock. lock, unlock, getLockFor, and deleteLockFor work with a module-level dictionary of objects to locks, and can be more convenient than working with lock objects directly. Locked and Async are callable wrappers around a function. Async calls return immediately after queueing their function on a thread pool, while Locked calls first acquire the lock they were passed on creation, call their function, and release the lock. Changes: 10/18/2000: Release 0.9 Fixed endless loop bug when an exception was raised. 10/12/2000: Move to SourceForge, release 0.8 -- Bryn Keller xoltar(a)starship.python.net

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functional.py 0.7 - Functional programming in Python
by Bryn Keller 18 Oct '00

18 Oct '00

I'm pleased to announce the release of functional.py version 0.7, released under the GNU LGPL. functional.py can be obtained from: http://sourceforge.net/projects/xoltar-toolkit/ Release Name: 0.7 functional.py provides support for a functional style of Python programming. It includes support for closures, curried functions, many higher-order functions for composing, joining or otherwise manipulating functions and other callables. New in this release: All the functors (callable classes) now descend from Functor, a class which provides facilities for masquerading as a function. This allows things like curries and disjoins to be passed to code which expects to be able to inspect it for things like the names of its arguments, default values, etc. These functors all provide a SimCode instance as their func_code attribute, which has most of the information that a real code object would have, which helps complete the illusion. This release fixes bugs which affected the curry and rcurry functors. As a result, curry and rcurry will now work with any callable, not only functions and methods. This includes *classes* as well, so you can now pass a class as the first argument to curry, and when the curried function is called, the return value will be a new instance of the class. The Lazy and LazyTuple classes, along with related items, have been removed to their own module, lazy.py. Changes: 10/18/2000 - Version 0.7: Fix for bug in getMinimumArgCount which returned misleading results for callables. Allow classes as first argument to curry and rcurry. All functors now Functor subclasses. Removed lazy functionality to lazy.py 10/12/2000 - Version 0.6: Fix for LazyTuples of length zero (thanks to Alex Martelli) Added new functions/functors: sequential also any_args always with_error attempt 10/1/2000 - Initial release 0.5 -- Bryn Keller xoltar(a)starship.python.net

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Re: meta description of newsgroups?
by barbara pattist 17 Oct '00

17 Oct '00

On Tue, 17 Oct 2000 09:03:33 -0700, Brian Mailman <bmailman(a)sfo.com>wrote: >Russ Allbery wrote: >> >> Brian Mailman <bmailman(a)sfo.com> writes: >> > Sheila King wrote: >> >> >> Here's one I came across recently, that looks promising: >> >> http://tgos.org/newbie/ >> >> > Before you start pointing people there, please subscribe to alt.config >> > and read all that "The Guardian of Sailor Moon" (tgos) has to say about >> > newsgroup creation. > >> The content in the above pages isn't too bad, though, although I could >> nit-pick some of the technical details. > >No, it isn't, and there's plenty I agree with him about. There's also a >lot of things I don't. It seems the details you'd nitpick some find to >be major--and not being a sysadmin, (I only lurk in nanap) I can't tell >who's right. I believe that listing both categories might be offtopic >for this list and I was attempting to make a neutral statement so that >Sheila King could ascertain for herself the provenance of the advice. > >B/ I've never decided whether TGOS is a kook with spells of rationality or a sane guy who goes crazy on certain topics. In any case he's not in my killfile yet, although I've been sorely tempted of late. :) In a nutshell, he keeps telling proponents they don't need a charter for a newsgroup knowing full well there are users coming to alt.config to say their ISP won't carry a group because there is no charter. His FAQ... ignore justification, traffic measurements, charters.... conflicts with all the other FAQs on group creation. BarB

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Re: meta description of newsgroups?
by Baglady Lani 17 Oct '00

17 Oct '00

On Mon, 16 Oct 2000, Sheila King wrote: >Here's one I came across recently, that looks promising: >http://tgos.org/newbie/ Thanks for the heads-up, Sheila. I did notice that they erroneously define Ob as "obviously," whereas in Usenet I've always known it to stand for "obligatory" (i.e. "ObSoc.culture.hawaii: Okay, so I'll admit Hawaii pineapples DO taste better"). I can't find a way to notify them though; the "contact TGOS" link is not a link. Oy. -- \0/ "Packing tips for one-bag trips" | Baglady Lani Teshima, MLIS/tech writer |D The Travelite.FAQ--Get enLITEned | <lani(a)lava.net> IM/eBay: Traveliter /< at <http://www.travelite.org> | Home: http://www.lava.net/~lani soc.culture.hawaii co-moderator, Mouseplanet columnist, Black Rock Ranger

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ANNOUNCE: pybliographer 1.0.6
by gobry＠lithsun15.epfl.ch 17 Oct '00

17 Oct '00

Hi, I've just released pybliographer-1.0.6, available from: http://www.gnome.org/pybliographer/download.html Pybliographer is a tool for handling bibliographic databases. It provides an homogeneous interface over several bibliographic formats, and powerful search capabilities. It can interact with LyX. WHAT'S NEW * Works with Python 1.6 & 2.0 * Capability to create alternate key generators * Fixed the Refer -> BibTeX converter for special characters (angström) REQUIREMENTS * a working gnome 1.0.x environment for the graphical interface * gnome-python >= 1.0.53 * python >= 1.5.2 Frédéric

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Dr. Dobb's Python-URL! - weekly Python news and links (Oct 17)
by Grant Edwards 17 Oct '00

17 Oct '00

Jeremy Hylton announces Python 2.0c1 -- release candidate 1. http://deja.com/=dnc/getdoc.xp?AN=679664784 Oleg Broytmann's bookmark database and internet robot modules, version 3.0 http://deja.com/=dnc/getdoc.xp?AN=679664820 Robin Becker announces ReportLab 1.01 -- a Python package for generating PDF documents using Python as a scripting language. http://deja.com/=dnc/getdoc.xp?AN=679675365 Pearu Peterson starts PySymbolic project - "Doing Symbolics in Python" http://deja.com/=dnc/getdoc.xp?AN=679810372 Robin Becker adds Unicode support to cCopy 0.2 http://deja.com/=dnc/getdoc.xp?AN=680053128 Edward Muller provides binaries for Python on Compaq iPAQ. http://deja.com/=dnc/getdoc.xp?AN=681552161 ======================================================================== Everything 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 although PythonLabs.com bills itself as "The Python Source", which is becoming increasingly true in 2000 http://www.pythonlabs.com/ PythonWare complements the digest you're reading with the daily python url http://www.pythonware.com/daily comp.lang.python.announce announces new Python software. Be sure to scan this newly-revitalized newsgroup at least weekly. http://deja.com/group/comp.lang.python.announce The Vaults of Parnassus ambitiously collects 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 Consortium emerges as an independent nexus of activity http://www.python.org/consortium Cetus does much of the same http://www.cetus-links.de/oo_python.html Python FAQTS http://python.faqts.com/ Python To-Do List anticipates some of Python's future direction http://www.python.org/cgi-bin/todo.py Python Journal is at work on its second issue http://www.pythonjournal.com Links2Go is a new semi-automated link collection; it's impressive what AI can generate http://www.links2go.com/search?search=python Archive probing trick of the trade: http://www.dejanews.com/dnquery.xp?QRY=&DBS=2&ST=PS&defaultOp=AND&LNG=ALL&f… Previous - (U)se the (R)esource, (L)uke! - messages are listed here: http://purl.org/thecliff/python/url.html or http://www.dejanews.com/dnquery.xp?QRY=~g%20comp.lang.python%20Python-URL%21 Suggestions/corrections for next week's posting are always welcome. [http://www.egroups.com/list/python-url-leads/ is hibernating. Just e-mail us ideas directly.] To receive a new issue of this posting in e-mail each Monday morning, ask <claird(a)neosoft.com> to subscribe. Mention "Python-URL!". -- The Python-URL! Team-- Dr. Dobb's Journal (http://www.ddj.com) is pleased to participate in and sponsor the "Python-URL!" project. -- Cameron Laird <claird(a)NeoSoft.com> Business: http://www.Phaseit.net Personal: http://starbase.neosoft.com/~claird/home.html

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Python 2.0 final release is out!
by Guido van Rossum 17 Oct '00

17 Oct '00

I am happy to announce that Python 2.0 is released. I thank my colleagues at BeOpen PythonLabs and the many volunteers in the Python developer community for their incredible work on this release over the past months. Please pick up the new release at http://www.pythonlabs.com/products/python2.0/ There you will find a Windows installer, a source tarball, RedHat RPMs, downloadable and online documentation, and a long list of new features and fixed bugs. Among the new features in Python 2.0 are: - Augmented assignment, e.g. x += 1 - List comprehensions, e.g. [x**2 for x in range(10)] - Extended import statement, e.g. import Module as Name - Extended print statement, e.g. print >> file, "Hello" - Collection of cyclical garbage For a fuller discussion of the changes in Python 2.0 since Python 1.5.2, please see the article "What's New in Python 2.0" by A.M. Kuchling and Moshe Zadka: http://starship.python.net/crew/amk/python/writing/new-python/ All major reported bugs have been fixed in this final release. We've gone through an extremely thorough set of beta releases followed by a release candidate, and therefore we expect that this release will be stable and virtually problem-free. If you nevertheless run into a bug, use the SourceForge bug tracker to report it: http://sourceforge.net/bugs/?group_id=5470 --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)

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gdchart-py-0.5
by Mike Steed 16 Oct '00

16 Oct '00

Gdchart-py-0.5 is available. Gdchart-py is a Python interface to Bruce Verderaime's GDChart library, which produces charts and graphs in PNG, JPEG, and GIF format. Changes in version 0.5: - Uses gd-1.8.3 (bug fixes) - Uses gdchart-0.951 (new options and chart styles) - Now builds against Python-1.6 (still builds against 1.5.x). - option() now returns a dict of current settings when called with no args - GIF and JPEG support are selectable at build time - The build is easier and more solid - Minor bug fixes I have tested this version on WinNT 4.0 and Linux/x86. The makefile includes settings for Solaris and HP-UX (untested). If you have trouble on these platforms, or can provide settings for other platforms, please let me know. Documentation, source code, and Win32 binaries are available: http://athani.pair.com/msteed/software/gdchart/ Regards, Mike Steed msteed(a)fiber.net

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ANNOUNCE: PyClimate 1.0
by Jon Saenz 16 Oct '00

16 Oct '00

Monday, 10/16/2000 Hello, all. We are making the first announce of the first stable release (1.0) of our package pyclimate, which presents some tools used for climate variability analysis and which make extensive use of Numerical Python and C. It is released under the GNU Public License. Changes from the previous release Version 1.0--October, 2000. 1) Improved tests. They are more accurate, reliable, informative, comprehensive and use less disk space. 2) The package compiles using distutils. This feature has been checked on FreeBSD, Linux and OSF platforms. 3) Some minor typos corrected in the documentation. 4) Added KPDF.c, a extension module to estimate univariate and multivariate kernel--based probability density functions. 5) Added a class to compute the vertical component of the curl of a vectorial field in diffoperators.py. 6) DCDFLIB.C is currently distributed with the package. 7) KZFilter.py has been converted into a general purpose LinearFilter.py which holds the basic operations of any linear filter. There are two different subclasses currently, the Lanczos filter and the previous Kolmogorov--Zurbenko filter, KZFilter.py. The user can define new filters just by redefining the filter coefficients subclassing LinearFilter. The package also contains (from release 0.0): IO functions ------------ -ASCII files (simple, but useful) -ncstruct.py: netCDF structure copier. From a COARDS compliant netCDF file, this module creates a COARDS compliant file, copying the needed attributes, comments, and so on in one call. Time handling routines ---------------------- * JDTime.py -> Some C/Python functions to convert from date to Scaliger's Julian Day and from Julian Day to date. We are not trying to replace mxDate, but addressing a different problem. In particular, this module contains a routine especially suited to handling monthly time steps for climatological use. * JDTimeHandler.py -> Python module which parses the units attribute of the time variable in a COARDS file and which offsets and scales adequately the time values to read/save date fields. Interface to DCDFLIB.C ---------------------- A C/Python interface to the free DCDFLIB.C library is provided. This library allows direct and inverse computations of parameters for several probability distribution functions like Chi^2, normal, binomial, F, noncentral F, and many many more. EOF analysis ------------ Empirical Orthogonal Function analysis based on the SVD decomposition of the data matrix and related functions to test the reliability/degeneracy of eigenvalues (truncation rules). Monte Carlo test of the stability of eigenvectors to temporal subsampling. SVD decomposition ----------------- SVD decomposition of the correlation matrix of two datasets, functions to compute the expansion coefficients, the squared cumulative covariance fraction and the homogeneous and heterogeneous correlation maps. Monte Carlo test of the stability of singular vectors to temporal subsampling. Multivariate digital filter --------------------------- Multivariate digital filter (high and low pass) based on the Kolmogorov-Zurbenko filter Differential operators on the sphere ------------------------------------ Some classes to compute differential operators (gradient and divergence) on a regular latitude/longitude grid. LICENSE ======= GNU General Public License Version 2. PREREQUISITES ============= To be able to use it, you will need: 1. Python ;-) 2. netCDF library 3.4 or later 3. Scientific Python, by Konrad Hinsen IF AND ONLY IF you really want to change the C code (JDTime.[hc] and pycdf.[hc]), then, you will also need SWIG. COMPILATION =========== Now, we use distutils. The installation is simpler. DOCUMENTATION ============= Postscript and PDF versions of the manual are included in the distribution. We are preparing an even better version of the documentation. AVAILABILITY ============ http://lcdx00.wm.lc.ehu.es/~jsaenz/pyclimate (Europe) http://pyclimate.zubi.net/ (USA) http://starship.python.net/crew/~jsaenz (USA) Any feedback from the users of the package will be really appreciated by the authors. Enjoy. Jon Saenz, jsaenz(a)wm.lc.ehu.es Juan Zubillaga, wmpzuesj(a)lg.ehu.es Jesus Fernandez, chus(a)wm.lc.ehu.es <P><A HREF="http://starship.python.net/crew/jsaenz/pyclimate">PyClimate 1.0</A> - Several routines for the analysis of climate variability. (16-Oct-00)

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