Mailman 3 January 2003 - Python-announce-list

Python-IDL
by Andrew McMurry 20 Jan '03

20 Jan '03

For users of Python and RSI's Interactive Data Language here is an interoperability tool, which allows you to execute IDL commands from python, and access the results. http://www.astro.uio.no/~mcmurry/python-idl/ This could be useful if you have lots of legacy IDL code that you wish to use with a much nicer language as the front end. Python-IDL should currently be considered beta-level code. Complex uses of it may not work. Please inform me of any problems. IDL is a commercial product (and a trademark) of Research Systems Inc. Andrew

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ANN: PythonCard 0.7
by Kevin Altis 20 Jan '03

20 Jan '03

PythonCard is a GUI construction kit for building cross-platform desktop applications on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Release 0.7 includes over 40 sample applications and tools to help users build applications in Python, including codeEditor, findfiles, and resourceEditor (layout editor). A list of changes since release 0.6.9 is at the end of this message. All the information you need about PythonCard can be found on the project web page at: http://pythoncard.sourceforge.net/ The installation instructions and walkthroughs are available on the main documentation page: http://pythoncard.sourceforge.net/documentation.html You can download the latest release at: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=19015 For a list of most of the samples that have been built with PythonCard and screenshots of them in action go to: http://pythoncard.sourceforge.net/samples/samples.html The kind people at SourceForge host the project: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pythoncard/ If you want to get involved the main contact point is the Mailing list: http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/pythoncard-users PythonCard requires Python 2.2.x (2.2.2 recommended) or later and wxPython 2.3.3.1 or later (2.4.0.1 recommended). wxPython can be downloaded at http://www.wxpython.org/ Additional Notes: Remember to backup or just delete your old PythonCardPrototype directory before installing a new version, so that the old files aren't still in the package directory. If you installed a previous version of PythonCard on Windows using the binary installer, then you should be able to remove the old package via the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel. The distutils installer will put the framework, components, docs, samples, and tools in Python22\Lib\site-packages. Of course, on Linux and Mac OS X that path will be slightly different and have forward slashes. I built this release using distutils from Python 2.3a1. Thanks to Thomas Heller for helping me get the build working. Windows users should get a PythonCard menu in the Start->Programs menu with links to the documentation, samples, codeEditor, findfiles, and resourceEditor. The tools and most of the samples will now keep their config and data file info in the ".pythoncard" directory created by the framework. On Unix, the directory will be ~/.pythoncard. On Windows, the directory varies as described in the following post: http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Mail/Message/PythonCard/1496793 So, if you run a PythonCard app with any of the runtime tools and select "Save Configuration" from the "Debug" menu, the window positions and sizes of your runtime windows (Shell, Message Watcher, etc.) will be saved in ".pythoncard/pythoncard_config.txt" not the PythonCardPrototype directory. Likewise, when you change the text style used by the codeEditor via the "Styles..." menu item under the "Format" menu, the modification will be saved in ".pythoncard/stc-styles.rc.cfg" ka --- Kevin Altis altis(a)semi-retired.com http://radio.weblogs.com/0102677/ --- changelog since release 0.6.9, 2002-10-23 Release 0.7 2003-01-15 added "Create Component Docs..." menu item to widgets sample for creating "component_documentation" directory added home directory config support, so user configs are no longer stored in PythonCardPrototype added numericArrayToImage function to graphic module BitmapCanvas can now draw numpy arrays renamed all variables named list and dict to listX and dictX to avoid built-in type name confusion numerous conversions to conform to PEP 290 replaced use of types module for type checks with built-in type factory - isinstance(i, int) replaced string module functions with string methods replaced '== None' with 'is None' and '!= None' with 'is not None' added many features to jabberChat sample added additional *. wildcards for Linux like *.TXT *.JPG, *.JPEG since Unix filenames are case-sensitive fixed stack in rpn calculator (Randy Lea) added CodeEditor component to resourceEditor added caseinsensitive_listKeySort function to util.py module used by flatfileDatabase for sorting list of dictionaries added caseinsensitive_sort function to util.py module added wordwrap function to util.py module fixed command event in slider component added new samples pages to main web site added code folding to CodeEditor component added openFileDialog and saveFileDialog wrappers to dialog.py added clipboard module added life sample added spirograph sample added wxNO_FULL_REPAINT_ON_RESIZE style to TextArea and CodeEditor components added dirwalk generator function to utils.py changed findfiles to use dirwalk fixed closeField event in RightTextField component fixed script launching to handle spaces in directory names added Phil Edwards' PySSHed sample added simpleIEBrowser sample to test IEHtmlWindow component added IEHtmlWindow component fixed default backgroundColor handling in resourceOutput.py

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spyce v1.3.5 released
by Rimon Barr 19 Jan '03

19 Jan '03

Spyce v1.3.5 released on 19 January 2002 SPYCE is a server-side language that supports simple and efficient Python-based dynamic HTML generation. Those who are familiar with JSP, PHP, or ASP and like Python, should have a look at Spyce. Its modular design makes it very flexible and extensible. It can also be used as a command-line utility for static text pre-processing. Get it at: http://spyce.sourceforge.net Taglib and Spylambda modules now loaded implicitly, but only when tags and spyce lambdas are used, respectively, for improved performance. Makefile install rule made more portable; removed -D switch that is not available on MacOS X and FreeBSD versions of install. The automaton module was improved to allow the easy definition of an entire state-machine, and the EOFError exception is now properly handled when file-based Spyce caching is turned on. Change log v1.3.5 taglib and spylambda modules loaded implicitly only when needed (i.e. when tags or spyce lambdas are actually used in a given file) make install made more portable; removed install -D switch EOFError now handled for file-based spyce caching (strange Windows bug?) improvements to automaton module Enjoy, Rimon.

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path module v1.0 released
by jason＠jorendorff.com 19 Jan '03

19 Jan '03

The 'path' module provides an object-oriented wrapper for file pathnames. Less typing than os.path, more fun, and a few new tricks. Download path v1.0: http://www.jorendorff.com/articles/python/path Quick example: import os from path import path home = path(os.environ['HOME']) for f in home.walk(): if f.endswith('~') and f.isfile(): os.remove(f) Please send feedback to jason at jorendorff dot com. <P><A HREF="http://www.jorendorff.com/articles/python/path/index.html">path 1.0</a> - Python <code>path</code> module, an OO wrapper for <code>os.path</code>.

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[ann] rlcompleter2 <TAB> interactive completion
by holger krekel 18 Jan '03

18 Jan '03

------------------------------------------------------- rlcompleter2.py python command line completion (v0.94) ------------------------------------------------------- i am glad to announce a new module for python command line completion. It aims to further improve the python interactive experience. This is all you need to know about the user interface: <TAB> which you can hit while hacking away in your interactive python session. You need to have >readline< installed and working. And using it with Python 2.2.2 gives best results. For a list of features, download and installation information please refer to http://codespeak.net/~hpk/rlcompleter2 ------------------------------------------------------- some features ------------------------------------------------------- - completion on any valid Python statement/expression - many convenient completions, e.g. func(<tab> presents function signatures and docs module.<tab> presents module docstring (among others) func<tab> autocompletes '(' or '()' obj<tab> completes '.' if obj is module or instance - when you hit <tab> multiple times you'll get increasing details about multiple completions - the completer tries to autodetect your terminal height and width. - shows type information for multiple matches. types are abbreviated by three characters. please report back any problems and bugs, have fun, holger krekel, 18th January 2003

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python-dev Summary for 2003-01-01 through 2003-01-15
by drifty＠bigfoot.com 17 Jan '03

17 Jan '03

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ python-dev Summary for 2003-01-01 through 2002-01-15 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This is a summary of traffic on the `python-dev mailing list`_ between January 1, 2003 and January 15, 2003 (inclusive). It is intended to inform the wider Python community of on-going developments on the list that might interest the wider Python community. To comment on anything mentioned here, just post to python-list(a)python.org or comp.lang.python in the usual way; give your posting a meaningful subject line, and if it's about a PEP, include the PEP number (e.g. Subject: PEP 201 - Lockstep iteration). All python-dev members are interested in seeing ideas discussed by the community, so don't hesitate to take a stance on something. And if all of this really interests you then get involved and join python-dev! This is the ninth summary written by Brett Cannon (and fashionably late, no less!). All summaries are archived at http://www.python.org/dev/summary/ . Please note that this summary is written using reStructuredText_ which can be found at http://docutils.sf.net/rst.html . Any unfamiliar punctuation is probably markup for reST_; you can safely ignore it (although I suggest learning reST; its simple and is accepted for PEP markup). Also, because of the wonders of programs that like to reformat text, I cannot guarantee you will be able to run the text version of this summary through Docutils_ as-is unless it is from the original itself. .. _python-dev mailing list: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev .. _Docutils: http://docutils.sf.net/ .. _reST: .. _reStructuredText: http://docutils.sf.net/rst.html .. contents:: ====================== Summary Announcements ====================== This summary has been written in the first-person. Aahz had suggested I write in third-person, but I just can't stand it. =) A new project named `Minimal Python`_ whose goal is to write a Python interpreter using a minimal amount of C and maximizing the amount of code written in Python. As of now it is just a mailing list but some interesting points have already been made and it has some major Python programmers involved with it so it will more than likely succeed. Leaving out `Broken strptime in Python 2.3a1 & CVS`_ for two reasons. One, the only lesson in that thread is that when C does not give you a good standard, rewrite the code in Python and come up with one. Two, since the whole thing revolves around my code I would be more biased than I normally am. =) Also, some of the threads have notes with them mentioning how I could not find them in the Mailman archive. And go to PyCon_ (especially since I am going to be giving a tutorial on reST_)! .. _Minimal Python: http://codespeak.net/mailman/listinfo/pypy-dev .. _Broken strptime in Python 2.3a1 & CVS: http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/031983.html .. _PyCon: http://www.python.org/pycon/ =================================================== `PEP 303: Extend divmod() for Multiple Divisors`__ =================================================== __ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2002-December/031511.html Splinter threads: - map, filter, reduce, lambda (can't find thread in Mailman archive) As mentioned in the `last summary`_, this thread sparked a huge response to the built-ins in Python (if you don't remember what all the built-ins are, just execute ``dir(__builtins__)`` in the interpreter). It started with Christian Tismer calling for the deprecation of ``divmod()`` since he "found that divmod compared to / and % is at least 50 percent *slower* to compute", primarily because ``divmod()`` is a function and the overhead that comes from being that. Guido responded and agree that, in hindsight, "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea". But since it isn't broken he is not for replacing it since "At this point, any change causes waste". Besides, Tim Peters came up with the great compromise of removing " divmod() when [Tim's] dead. Before then, it stays." Guido would rather have the energy spent on adding the ability for the language to recognize that it "is a built-in so it can generate more efficient code". This led to Christian suggesting changing Python so that built-ins like ``divmod()`` that can easily be written in Python be done so and thus remove the C version without any backwards-compatibility issues. Guido's response was to "first make some steps towards the better compiler [Guido] alluded to. Then we can start cutting." Tim in an email said that "If we have to drop a builtin, I never liked reduce <wink>". This then led to Barry Warsaw saying he could stand to lose ``apply()``. Then Raymond Hettinger nominated ``buffer()`` and ``intern()`` as things that could stand to go away. Michael Hudson suggested ``map()`` and ``filter()``. Guido said ``apply()`` could stand getting a PendingDeprecationWarning since the new calling conventions (``fxn(*args, **kwargs)``) replace ``apply()``'s use. He almost mentioned how he wanted something like ``foo(1, 2, 3, *args, 5, 6, 7, **kw)`` since the ``5, 6, 7`` is currently not supported. But the call for the removal of ``lambda`` is what really set things off. People in support of the removal said that nested scoping removed a huge reason for having ``lambda``. But functional programmers said that they wouldn't let ``lambda`` be taken away. It was agreed it had its uses, but the name was not relevant to its use and its syntax is non-standard and should be changed in Python 3000. Someone suggested renaming it ``def``, but Guido said no since "Python's parser is intentionally simple-minded and doesn't like having to look ahead more than one token" and using ``def`` for ``lambda`` would break that design. Barry suggested ``anon`` which garnered some support. It was also suggested to have ``lambda`` use parentheses to hold its argument list like a good little function. And then all of this led to a discussion over features in Python that are not necessarily easy to read but are powerful. Some said that features such as list comprehensions, the ``*/**`` calling syntax, etc., were not good since they are not syntactically obvious. This was argued against by saying they are quite useful and are not needed for basic programming. .. _last summary: http://www.python.org/dev/summary/2002-12-16_2002-12-31.html ================== `Holes in time`__ ================== __ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/031836.html Tim Peters brought up an inherent problem with the new datetime_ type and dealing with timezones and daylight savings. Imagine when DST starts; the clock jumps from 1:59 to 3:00. Now what happens if someone enters a time that does not use DST? The implementation has to handle the possibility of something inputting 2:00 and instantly pushing forward an hour. But what is worse is when DST ends. You go from 1:59 back to 1:00! That means you pass over everything from 1:00 to 1:59 twice during that day. Since it is flat-out impossible to tell, what should be done in this case? Originally ``datetime`` raised a ValueError. It has now been changed to "go through 1:00am to 1:59am twice" according to Aahz. If you want to read a paper on the history of time go to http://www.naggum.no/lugm-time.html as recommended by Neil Schemenauer. .. _datetime: http://www.python.org/dev/doc/devel/lib/module-datetime.html =========================================== `no expected test output for test_sort?`__ =========================================== __ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/031889.html This thread was originally started by Skip Montanaro to try to figure out why ``test_sort`` was failing to catch an error when run through ``regrtest.py``. But Skip quickly realized ``regrtest.py`` was using the wrong directories. What makes this thread worth mentioning is a question I posed about whether it was worth converting tests over to PyUnit. Guido said not for the sake of converting, but if you were going to be improving upon the tests, then moving a testing suite over to PyUnit was a good idea. It was also said that all new testing suites should use PyUnit (although doctest is still acceptable, just not preferred). Walter Dörwald started `patch #662807`_ to use for converting tests to PyUnit. So give a hand if you care to. .. _patch #662807: http://www.python.org/sf/662807 ============ binutils ============ (Can't find in Mailman archive) Andrew Koenig told python-dev of a problem with binutils_ 2.13 way back in the `2002-089-16 through 2002-09-01 summary`_. Well, it appears that 2.13.2 fixes the issues. .. _2002-089-16 through 2002-09-01 summary: http://www.python.org/dev/summary/2002-08-16-2002-09-01.html =========================== The meaning of __all__ =========================== (Can't find in Mailman archive) Jack Jansen asked what the proper use of ``__all__``; a discussion on the PyObjC_ mailing list sparked this question. The answer is that ``__all__`` is used for the public API of a module. .. _PyObjC: http://pyobjc.sourceforge.net/ ====================================== PEP 301 implementation checked in ====================================== (Can't find in Mailman archive; http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2003-January/137270.html goes to python-list discussion) AM Kuchling announced that the `PEP 301`_ implementation by Richard Jones. The web server handling everything is at `amk.ca`_ off of a DSL line so don't hit it too hard. An example of how to change a Distutils ``setup.py`` file is given in the e-mail. .. _PEP 301: http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0301.html .. _amk.ca: http://www.amk.ca/cgi-bin/pypi.cgi ======================================= bz2 problem deriving subclass in C ======================================= (Can't find in Mailman archive) This thread was originally about a patch by Neal Norwitz and how to properly deal with deallocating in C code. Apparently this has nipped several people in the bum and has changed since the introduction of new-style classes. It appears that if you are deallocating a base type, you call its ``tp_dealloc()`` function; if it is a new-style class, you call ``self->ob_type->tp_free()``. ==================== `Cross compiling`__ ==================== __ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/031848.html (Link only part of thread; rest missing) Splinter threads: - `Bastion too <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/031851.html>`__ - `What attempts at security should/can Python implement? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/031871.html>`__ - `Whither rexec? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/031842.html>`__ - `tainting <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/031960.html>`__ Originally a thread about cross-compilation on OS X to Windows by Timothy Wood, this ended up changing into a thread about security in Python. As has come up multiple times before, rexec_'s lack of actual security for new-style classes came up. This then led to a question of whether Bastion_ was secure as well. The answer was no and have now been subsequently sabotaged on purpose by Guido; they now require you to manually edit the code to allow them to work. A discussion on how to make Python secure came up. Various points were made such as how to deal with introspection and how people might try to get around being locked out of features. Tainting was also mentioned for strings. If you need some security in your app, take a look at mxProxy_. Its design is similar to how Zope3_ handles security. .. _rexec: http://www.python.org/doc/current/lib/module-rexec.html .. _Bastion: http://www.python.org/doc/current/lib/module-Bastion.html .. _mxProxy: http://www.egenix.com/files/python/mxProxy.html .. _Zope3: http://dev.zope.org/Wikis/DevSite/Projects/ComponentArchitecture/FrontPage =========================== `tutor(function|module)`__ =========================== __ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/031893.html (Only part of thread; rest missing from archive) Christopher Blunk proposed the idea of having a built-in ``examples()`` function or something similar that would spit out example code on how to use something. There was a discussion as to whether it was reasonable for Python to try to keep up a group of examples in the distribution. It was agreed, though, that more code examples would be good to have *somewhere*. One place is in the Demo_ directory of the source distribution. Problem with that is it is only available in the source distribution and it is not vigorously maintained. Both of these are solvable, but it didn't look like anyone was taking the reigns to cause this to happen. Another was to push people to give to an online repository (such as the `Python Cookbook`_) to keep it centralized and accessible by anyone. Problem with that is it creates a dependency on something outside of PythonLab's control. The last option was adding it to the module documentation. This is the safest since it means it becomes permanent and everyone will have access to it. But it has the same drawback as all of these other suggestions; you can't access it in the interpreter as easily as you can ``help()``. The thread ended with no conclusion beyond cleaning up the ``Demos`` directory and adding more examples to the official documentation would be nice. .. _Demo: http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/python/python/dist/src/Demo/ .. _Python Cookbook: http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Python/Cookbook/ ========================================= `PEP 297: Support for System Upgrades`__ ========================================= __ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/031838.html MA Lemburg asked if Guido would be willing to let an implementation of `PEP 297`_ into Python 2.3. He said yes and would also be willing to add it to 2.2.3 and even 2.1.4 if that version ever comes about. A discussion of how to handle the implementation began. The agreed upon directory name became ``site-package-<Python-version>`` with ``<Python version>`` being the full version: major.minor.micro. ``site.py`` will be modified so that if the current version of Python is different from the version of the directory that it won't add it to ``sys.path``. There was the brief idea of deleting the directory as soon as the version did not match, but that was thought of being harsh and unneeded. .. _PEP 297: http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0297.html ================================ `PyBuffer* vs. array.array()`__ ================================ __ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/031841.html (Only part of thread; rest missing from archive) Splinter threads: - `Slow String Repeat <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/031895.html>`__ Bill Bumgarner asked whether ``PyBuffer*`` or ``array.array()`` was the proper thing to use because one is like a huge string and the other is unsigned ints. Guido basically said to just use strings like everyone else for byte storage. Bill said he would just live with the dichotomy. This thread also brought up a question of performance for the code ``array.array('B').fromlist([0 for x in range(0, width*height*3)])``. Was cool to watch various people take stabs as speeding it up. Written in Python, the fast way was to change it to ``array.array('B', [0])*width*height*3``; doing several decent-sized calls minimized ``memcpy()`` calls in the underlying C code. Raymond Hettinger came up with a fast way to do it in C. ========================== `new features for 2.3?`__ ========================== __ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/031837.html Neal Norwitz wanted to get the tarfile_ module into Python 2.3. This led to Guido saying he wanted to get Docutils_ and better pickling for new-style classes in as well. The Docutils idea was shot down because it was stated it currently is not ready for inclusion. 2.4 is probably the version being shot for. The pickle idea raised security ideas (this is becoming a trend for some reason on the list lately). In case you didn't know, you shouldn't run pickled code you don't trust. .. _tarfile: http://python.org/sf/651082 ================ `sys.path[0]`__ ================ __ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/031896.html Thomas Heller had a question about the documented handling of ``sys.path[0]``. This quickly led to the point that the value, when specified and not the empty string, is a relative path; not necessarily the desired result. And so `patch #664376`_ was opened to make it be absolute. .. _patch #664376: http://www.python.org/sf/664376 =================== `Misc. warnings`__ =================== __ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/031884.html MA Lemburg noticed that ``test_ossaudiodev`` and ``test_bsddb3`` were not expected skips on his Linux box. He wondered why they were not exepected to be skipped on his platform. This led to a discussion over the expected skip set and how it is decided what is going to be skipped (experts on the various OSs make the call). ============================== `Raising string exceptions`__ ============================== __ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/031907.html It looks like string exceptions are going to raise PendingDeprecationWarning; you have been warned. ====================== `PEP 290 revisited`__ ====================== __ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/032003.html Kevin Altis was cleaning up wxPython_ and all the references to the ``string`` module and pointed out that the stdlib probably could stand to have a similar cleaning as well. Guido said, though, that it is better to choose a module you are familiar with and do a complete style clean-up instead of doing a library-wide clean-up of a single thing. .. _wxPython: http://www.wxpython.org/ ============================ `Assignment to __class__`__ ============================ __ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/032016.html Kevin Jacobs got bitten by the change to non-heap objects that prevents the assigning to ``__class__`` (it was recently backported to the 2.2 branch). He asked if there was any way to bring it back; Guido said no because of various layout issues in the C struct and such. ================================= `Parallel pyc construction`__ ================================= __ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/032060.html Paul Dubois ran into an problem on a 384 processor system with .pyc file corruption. He wanted a way to just skip the creation of .pyc files entirely since his programs run for so long that initial start-up times are inconsequential and that is the point of .pyc files. Neal Norwitz is working on `patch #602345`_ to implement a command-line option. .. _patch #602345: http://www.python.org/sf/602345 ============================================== `Extension modules, Threading, and the GIL`__ ============================================== __ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/032017.html This thread was briefly mentioned in the `last summary`_. But it had changed into a discussion of Python external thread API. Mark Hammond commented how he had bumped up against its limitations in multiple contexts. Mark thought it would be useful to define an API where one wanted the ability to say "I'm calling out to/in from an external API". This would be a large project, though, and so Mark was not up to doing it on his own. David Abrahams, though, stepped up and said he was willing to help. So did Anthony Baxter. Tim Peters had his own twist by wanting to be able to call from a thread into a Python thread without knowing a single thing about that state of Python at that point, e.g. don't even know that that interpreter is done initializing. Mark saw the way to go about solving all of this by writing a PEP, write a new C API to solve this issue that is optional and used by extension modules wanting to use the new features, and then define a new TLS (Thread Local Storage; thank you acronymfinder.com). Mark thought the TLS would only be needed for thread-state. Someone suggested ACE_ as a TSS (Thread State Storage) implementation which can cover all the platforms that Python needs covered. But Mark suggested coming up with a "pluggable TLS" design. .. _ACE: http://doc.ece.uci.edu/Doxygen/Beta/html/ace/classACE__TSS.html ============================================ `Interop between datetime and mxDateTime`__ ============================================ __ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/032100.html MA Lemburg expressed interest in trying to get mxDateTime_ to play nice with datetime_. The idea of having a base type like the new basestring in Python 2.3 was suggested. But there was pickling issues with datetime, MA wanting to keep mxDateTime compatible with Python 1.5.2, and getting everyone to work in a consistent way through the base type. Another instance where interfaces would be handy. .. _mxDateTime: http://www.lemburg.com/files/python/mxDateTime.html =========================== `properties on modules?`__ =========================== __ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/032106.html Neil Schemenauer wanted to be able to make module variables be properties. Samuele Pedroni stepped up and said the issue for this to work was "about instance-level property apart the module thing details". He also pointed out that it would mean you could directly import a property which would cause unexpected results, thus killing the idea. Guido was disappointed he didn't get to wield his BDFL pronouncement stick and smack the idea down <wink>. ====================================== `Fwd: Re: PEP 267 improvement idea`__ ====================================== __ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/032165.html Oren Tirosh forwarded an e-mail from python-list(a)python.org to python-dev about `PEP 267`_ and various strategies. One was using negative keys for signaling guaranteed key lookup failure. Oren also played with inlining. He also said that since interned strings are now out of Python as of 2.3 (thanks to Oren) that the namespace could "have only interned strings as entry keys and avoid the need for a second search pass on first failed lookup". He even considered creating a special dict type for namespaces. .. _PEP 267: http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0267.html

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ANNOUNCE: SCons 0.10 is now available
by Steven Knight 16 Jan '03

16 Jan '03

SCons is a software construction tool (build tool, or make tool) written in Python. It is based on the design which won the Software Carpentry build tool competition in August 2000. Version 0.10 of SCons has been released and is available for download from the SCons web site: http://www.scons.org/ Or through the download link at the SCons project page at SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/scons/ RPM and Debian packages and a Win32 installer are all available, in addition to the traditional .tar.gz and .zip files. WHAT'S NEW IN THIS RELEASE? IMPORTANT: Release 0.10 contains the following interface changes: - The meaning of the third argument passed to user-defined Scanner functions has changed. It was formerly the target node being built, and is now a list of directories (a path) which may be searched for files found during the scan. - The .sconsign files are no longer ASCII text, they are now a pickled (binary) Python data structure. This release adds the following features: - SCons now prints a description of Python functions being executed as actions to update a target. - Scanners now support a "recursive" attribute that specifies the Scanner will be re-applied to files found during the scan. - A new Clean() method supports removing user-specified files when using the -c option. - New SetJobs() and GetJobs() method support setting or fetching the default number of jobs. - The MinGW tool chain is now supported. - A new --debug=includes option has been added. The following fixes have been added: - SCons now symlinks or copies files from Repositories on different file systems, when hard links won't work. - The Install() method prints something when the -n option is used. - When the -n option is used, SCons no longer creates duplicate source files in a BuildDir(). - The Program() Builder (and other multiple-step Builders) now work properly when only the source file is specified. - A bug when building a file whose basename matched the directory in which it lived has been fixed. - The -c options will now properly remove symlinks. - The Environment.get() now returns None by default. - Error messages now all start with "scons: ***". - Warning messages now all start with "scons: warning:". Performance has been improved as follows: - Scanners are now called once and only once per file. - Internal checks for whether a file has a Builder have been significantly sped up. - Unnecessary internal imports have been removed. The following changes have been made to the SCons packaging: - The scons-local packages no longer contain Python bytecode (*.pyc) files. The documentation has been improved: - The initial explanation of SConscript files has been improved. - A misformatted table in the StaticObject description has been fixed. - New features have been documented. ABOUT SCONS Distinctive features of SCons include: - a global view of all dependencies; no multiple passes to get everything built properly - configuration files are Python scripts, allowing the full use of a real scripting language to solve difficult build problems - a modular architecture allows the SCons Build Engine to be embedded in other Python software - the ability to scan files for implicit dependencies (#include files); - improved parallel build (-j) support that provides consistent build speedup regardless of source tree layout - use of MD5 signatures to decide if a file has really changed; no need to "touch" files to fool make that something is up-to-date - easily extensible through user-defined Builder and Scanner objects - build actions can be Python code, as well as external commands An scons-users mailing list is available for those interested in getting started using SCons. You can subscribe at: http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/scons-users Alternatively, we invite you to subscribe to the low-volume scons-announce mailing list to receive notification when new versions of SCons become available: http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/scons-announce ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Special thanks to Derrick 'dman' Hudson, Steve Leblanc, Lachlan O'Dea, and Anthony Roach for their contributions to this release. On behalf of the SCons team, --SK

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ANN: NCBI EUtils client
by Andrew Dalke 16 Jan '03

16 Jan '03

We have developed a client-side interface to NCBI's "EUtils" server, which is a web service for querying their Entrez databases, including GenBank and PubMed. It is available from http://www.dalkescientific.com/EUtils/ and distributed under the Biopython license, http://www.biopython.org/License.shtml Example: Get all protein sequences related to protein GI:4579714 >>> import EUtils >>> from EUtils import HistoryClient >>> client = HistoryClient.HistoryClient() >>> result = client.post(EUtils.DBIds("protein", "4579714")) >>> related = result.neighbor_links("protein") >>> related_dbids = related.linksetdbs["protein_protein"].dbids >>> proteins = client.post(related_dbids) >>> len(proteins) 223 >>> infile = proteins.efetch(retmode = "text", rettype = "fasta") >>> >>> fasta = infile.read() >>> print fasta[:788] >gi|27450749|gb|AAO14677.1|AF508258_1 rhodopsin [Pyrocystis lunula] MAPIPDGFTYGQWSLVYNSLSFGIAGMGCATIFFWLQLPNVSKSYRTALTITGLVTAIATYHYVRIFNSW VDAFKVVNVNGGDYTVTLLGAPFNDAYRYVDWLLTVPLLLIELILVMKLPKAETVKLSWNLGVASAVMVA LGYPGEIQDDLLVRWFWWAMAMIPFYYVVVTLVNGLSDATAKQPDSVKSLVVTARYLTVISWLTYPGVYI IKSMGLAGNIATTYEQVGYSVADVVAKAVFGVLIWAIAAGKSDEEEKNGLLG >gi|6319528|ref|NP_009610.1| Homolog to HSP30 heat shock protein Yro1p; Yro2p [Saccharomyces cerevisiae] MSDYVELLKRGGNEAIKINPPTGADFHITSRGSDWLFTVFCVNLLFGVILVPLMFRKPVKDRFVYYTAIA PNLFMSIAYFTMASNLGWIPVRAKYNHVQTSTQKEHPGYRQIFYARYVGWFLAFPWPIIQMSLLGGTPLW QIAFNVGMTEIFTVCWLIAACVHSTYKWGYYTIGIGAAIVVCISLMTTTFNLVKARGKDVSNVFITFMSV IMFLWLIAYPTCFGITDGGNVLQPDSATIFYGIIDLLILSILPVLFMPLANYLGIERLGLIFDEEPAEHV GPVAEKKMPSPASFKSSDSDSSIKEKLKLKKKHKKDKKKAKKAKKAKKAKKAQEEEEDVATDSE >>> Andrew Dalke dalke(a)dalkescientific.com -- Need usable, robust software for bioinformatics or chemical informatics? Want to integrate your different tools so you can do more science in less time? Contact us! http://www.dalkescientific.com/

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Flightdeck-UI MVM 0.1.2 + Library 0.1.5 released
by fdui＠openlight.com 15 Jan '03

15 Jan '03

*** The Flightdeck-UI project is looking for testers and user feedback *** on all platforms. If you come up with your own themes and control *** files, they may be included in the distribution. In addition, *** links to good screenshots can be added to the Flightdeck-UI site. *** The MVM application can also show your name, organization, URL and *** a brief description for any control file or theme that you create. The goal of the Flightdeck-UI project is to apply ideas from aircraft instrumentation design to general purpose user interfaces. New features added to MVM allow any numerical value published on almost any website to be monitored by the application. Example control files (supplied with the distribution) illustrate the monitoring of current outdoor temperatures in the U.S. and Europe. MVM can be quickly configured to track data from several sources (for example your favorite stock, the local weather, the number of visits to your website, etc.). It will then sit in some corner of your desktop, allowing you to read this information with an occasional glance. MVM includes a graphical editor and theme support. Go see the screenshots at "http://www.openlight.com/fdui/screens.html". MVM is built on top of the Flightdeck-UI library, which provides widgets based on the basic instruments of flight. See the project homepage ("http://www.openlight.com/fdui/") to download the software, read more information on the current as well as future Flightdeck-UI widgets, learn the rationale behind the MVM monitoring approach, etc. The README files for both the application and the library, as well as two whitepapers are available from the project homepage. MVM and the Flightdeck-UI library are both open source/free software. They have been tested under Linux (RedHat 7.2) and a little under Windows 95. Questions can be emailed to originator of this message. Your ideas and participation will be appreciated!

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How-To install and use PSO services under Windows NT/2000/XP
by thanos＠0x01.com 15 Jan '03

15 Jan '03

A new document by Vadim Shaykevich showing how to install and use PSO services under Windows NT/2000/XP http://sourceforge.net/docman/display_doc.php?docid=14746&group_id=49265

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