Mailman 3 March 2003 - Python-announce-list

Updated Cygwin Package: python-2.2.2-6
by Jason Tishler 06 Mar '03

06 Mar '03

New News: === ==== I have updated the version of Python to 2.2.2-6. The tarballs should be available on a Cygwin mirror near you shortly. The only purpose of this release is to rebuild against the latest Cygwin OpenSSL package, 0.9.7a-1. Otherwise, this package should be identical to the previous one. Old News: === ==== Python is an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming language. If interested, see the Python web site for more details: http://www.python.org/ Please read the README file: /usr/doc/Cygwin/python-2.2.2.README since it covers requirements, installation, known issues, etc. To update your installation, click on the "Install Cygwin now" link on the http://cygwin.com/ web page. This downloads setup.exe to your system. Then, run setup and answer all of the questions. Note that we have recently stopped downloads from sources.redhat.com (aka cygwin.com) due to bandwidth limitations. This means that you will need to find a mirror which has this update. In the US, ftp://mirrors.rcn.net/mirrors/sources.redhat.com/cygwin/ is a reliable high bandwidth connection. In Germany, ftp://ftp.uni-erlangen.de/pub/pc/gnuwin32/cygwin/mirrors/cygnus/ is usually pretty good. In the UK, http://programming.ccp14.ac.uk/ftp-mirror/programming/cygwin/pub/cygwin/ is usually up-to-date within 48 hours. If one of the above doesn't have the latest version of this package then you can either wait for the site to be updated or find another mirror. The setup.exe program will figure out what needs to be updated on your system and will install newer packages automatically. If you have questions or comments, please send them to the Cygwin mailing list at: cygwin(a)cygwin.com . I would appreciate if you would use this mailing list rather than emailing me directly. This includes ideas and comments about the setup utility or Cygwin in general. If you want to make a point or ask a question, the Cygwin mailing list is the appropriate place. *** CYGWIN-ANNOUNCE UNSUBSCRIBE INFO *** If you want to unsubscribe from the cygwin-announce mailing list, look at the "List-Unsubscribe: " tag in the email header of this message. Send email to the address specified there. It will be in the format: cygwin-announce-unsubscribe-you=yourdomain.com(a)cygwin.com Jason -- PGP/GPG Key: http://www.tishler.net/jason/pubkey.asc or key servers Fingerprint: 7A73 1405 7F2B E669 C19D 8784 1AFD E4CC ECF4 8EF6

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Update on the ternary operator vote
by pep308vote＠hotmail.com 06 Mar '03

06 Mar '03

About 360 votes have been received to date and the submission rate is not yet falling off. If I had it to do over, the ballot would be simpler, but it seems to be working out okay none-the-less. So far, almost every vote has been absolutely clear in its intent. I've had to mail fewer than ten requests for clarification (mostly for empty emails or for omitted names). A few people hated filling out the examples but some thought it was a great idea -- c'est la vie. The one surprising comment is that some newsgroup readers had filtered out all posts with the word "ternary" or "308" and, as a result, did not see the vote announcement. There have been a handful of requests to post intermediate results. Others have assured me that is a bad idea. Accordingly, results won't be posted until all the votes are in. I can reveal that the results are not lopsided and it is still worth a few minutes to vote. Raymond Hettinger "A man with two watches never knows what time it is."

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PyXR 0.8- Cross-Referenced HTML from Python Source
by logistix＠zworg.com 05 Mar '03

05 Mar '03

PyXR generates HTML pages from python source files. It also attempts to generate cross-referenced hyperlinks, which hopefully makes it distinctive from the 8 million other prettyprinters out there. It's been tested on Python 2.2 and 2.3 for Windows, OpenBSD 3.2 and RedHat 7.3. There's no reason it shouldn't work on other platforms with minor configuration. More information is available at: http://members.bellatlantic.net/~olsongt/python/pyxr.html The package is available at: http://members.bellatlantic.net/~olsongt/python/PyXR.zip I've also posted some sample output (but expect some 404's because of space considerations): http://members.bellatlantic.net/~olsongt/python/PyXRsample/ Enjoy!

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ANN: Python II course (Silicon Valley, CA)
by Wesley Chun 05 Mar '03

05 Mar '03

this coming quarter, i'll be teaching Python II instead of Python I for a little variety. it will be a very informal class based around a variety of advanced topics in Python. if u or anyone u know would be interested in it, please check out the course description or signup at the URL down below. "Python Programming II: Advanced Topics in Python" UC Santa Cruz, Spring Quarter 2003 Apr 14 - Jun 16, 2003 (except May 26 and TBD) Monday nights, 6:30 - 9:30pm Sunnyvale, California in Silicon Valley http://artemis.ucsc-extension.edu/~wesc/024d50cd.htm Register online, or contact Sherry at 408-861-3765 or smirkarimi(a)ucsc-extension.edu to enroll. hope 2 c some of u there! -wesley - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "Core Python Programming", Prentice Hall PTR, � 2001 http://starship.python.net/crew/wesc/cpp/ Silicon Valley-San Francisco Bay Area Python Users Group (BayPIGgies) http://www.baypiggies.net wesley.j.chun :: wesc at deirdre.org or wesc at fuzzyorange.com cyberweb.consulting : henderson, nv : cyberweb at rocketmail.com http://roadkill.com/~wesc/cyberweb/

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OOPServer 0.1 Released
by Thomas Guettler 05 Mar '03

05 Mar '03

This is the 0.1 release of OOPServer. It is a 100% Python solution for developing customised document management systems. It uses Zope as web application server. It includes an Upload-Client for integrating office or other software installed at the client. Up to now the target group are developers. It can be viewed as an example of how you can program Python products with Zope. The implementation of OOPServer is 100% Python and avoids DTML, ZPT and Acquisition. You can get the source from: http://guettli.sourceforge.net A demo is available: http://guettli.dyndns.org:8080 Changes since the last release: - Keyword-List in the demo can be edited - Nicer tables (CSS) - DemoObject has more metadata - Changes to OOPObjects are logged (You know how has changed the object at what time) - i18n: Internationalisation: Available in German and English - Code clean up Thomas Guettler -- Thomas Guettler <guettli(a)thomas-guettler.de> http://www.thomas-guettler.de

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cx_Oracle download issues
by Anthony Tuininga 05 Mar '03

05 Mar '03

Due to a security "enhancement" by Microsoft for IIS, files to be downloaded may not end in .exe. The installer files are being renamed to .exe.bbb which bypasses the "security check" so remove the phony extension upon download. My apologies for the inconvenience but my company uses IIS for its web site. On that note, a while ago someone mentioned that they would be willing to host the binaries for me. If that is still a possibility please contact me and I'll see what can be arranged. Thanks. -- Anthony Tuininga anthony(a)computronix.com Computronix Distinctive Software. Real People. Suite 200, 10216 - 124 Street NW Edmonton, AB, Canada T5N 4A3 Phone: (780) 454-3700 Fax: (780) 454-3838 http://www.computronix.com

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Vote on PEP 308: Addenda
by pep308vote＠hotmail.com 04 Mar '03

04 Mar '03

Several people have requested a short-way to express that they do not want any ternary operator. Here it is: Send a email to pep308vote(a)hotmail.com with a subject of PEP308: Line 1: I reject all alternatives. Line 2: <Your full name> That is simple and is easily tabulated. You may, of course, stick with the original procedure. There were also those whose wished to express some sort of opinion that was not expressable on the ballot. They are welcome to submit a custom vote and I'll accumulate those separately. For example: Line 1: I don't care about the outcome Line 2: <Your full name> Raymond Hettinger

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ANN: Ballot for Complementary PEP308 Ternary VOTE
by Norman Petry 04 Mar '03

04 Mar '03

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is NOT a ballot for the "official" PEP-308 vote being run by Raymond Hettinger. It is for a different vote that is intended to COMPLEMENT the results of the official vote, by using a different type of ballot, and a different method of tallying the results (Condorcet's Method), for those who may be interested. If enough people choose to participate, it will provide a high-quality source of additional information about the preferences of the Python community regarding the ternary operator. This vote is NOT intended to compete with, or substitute for the official vote. Please participate in both votes if you have the time, but BE SURE to vote in the official one if you care about the outcome of PEP-308. See the explanations in my posting to comp.lang.python two days ago for more information about the reasons for this supplemental vote on PEP-308 ("ANNOUNCE: Complementary VOTE re: PEP 308 Ternary Proposal", Sun, 02 Mar 2003 17:44:33 -0600). NOMINATIONS The two-day nomination period for additional syntax proposals has now ENDED. No additional nominations were received, so the ballot is as follows: BALLOT ---------- XX NO TERNARY XX t if C else f XX if C then t else f XX (if C: t else: f) XX if C: t else: f XX C ? t : f XX C ? t ! f XX cond(C, t, f) XX C ?? t || f XX C then t else f XX t when C else f XX C ? t else f XX C -> t else f XX C -> (t, f) XX [t if C else f] XX ifelse C: t else f XX select C: t else f XX when C: t else f XX case C: t else f XX <if C then t else f> XX C and t else f ---------- HOW TO VOTE Voting is a simple matter of RANKING the alternatives of interest by replacing the 'XX' that precedes each option with a 2-digit number. For example, you would use '01' for your FAVOURITE (highest-ranked) option, and greater numbers (02, 03,...) for lower-ranked alternatives. You may RE-ORDER the options on the ballot. It is often easier when there are many options to reorder them manually from best to worst, and then assign rankings. Note though, that you must STILL assign a rank number to each option, since it is always the NUMBER that determines the rank, not the ordering. You may assign the SAME RANK to multiple options if you consider them to be equally good/bad. Doing this is equivalent to abstaining from participation in any decision between these equally-ranked alternatives. To simplify voting, you may TRUNCATE your ballot by leaving certain options UNRANKED (for any options you consider to be so bad and unwinnable as to not be worth considering). If you wish to do this, either: a) leave 'XX' in front of the unwanted option(s) in your submitted ballot, rather than replacing it with a rank number, or b) delete the line(s) of the ballot that contain the unwanted options. You can also use a combination of both methods. In either case, these truncated options will be interpreted the same as if they had been ranked EQUALLY, and LOWER than all explicitly ranked alternatives. While truncation and equal rankings provide convenience, ranking many options (even those you dislike) is a good idea. See the STRATEGY TIPS section (below) for reasons why. Note that the status quo option of "NO TERNARY" simply appears as one of the available options, and every other proposed syntax appears as a separate option on the ballot. By placing "NO TERNARY" somewhere within the middle of your ranking, you can express the desire to have a ternary operator added to Python only if certain forms of syntax are used, and reject alternatives that you dislike (while still expressing preferences among these bad alternatives, in case one or more of them proves to be winnable). The status quo option can of course also be ranked first or last, if you feel either that (a) no ternary is acceptable in any form, or alternately, (b) should be added to the language at any cost. A sample completed ballot might look like: ---------- 02 (if C: t else: f) 01 t if C else f 02 NO TERNARY XX if C then t else f 03 if C: t else: f ---------- Here, the voter's favourite option is "t if C else f". The 4th option is unranked, and could have instead been deleted to indicate the same thing. Surrounding lines of hyphens marking the beginning and end of the ballot are appreciated for clarity, but not required. SUBMITTING YOUR BALLOT You may vote by submitting your email ballot to: ------------------ pepvote(a)canada.com ------------------ Your final vote must be received within 96 HOURS (4 days, approx. Wed-Sat) of the time this message appears on comp.lang.python and/or comp.lang.python.announce for it to be counted in the final result. A CONFIRMATION message will be returned for each ballot that is received, identifying any problems. Unconfirmed ballots will not appear in the results, so if you don't receive a reply within a few hours, you may wish to send your ballot again (I'm confirming votes manually, so the response will not be immediate). If you decide to CHANGE YOUR VOTE, just send a revised ballot containing your new preferences. The last confirmed ballot for each email address will be the one that appears in the final results. RESULTS Results will be published on Sunday, March 9th, but NOT before the voting period of the "official" vote has ended (Noon, EST). Published results will be sent to comp.lang.python and comp.lang.python.announce. Results will include (among other things) a list containing each voter's NAME, EMAIL ADDRESS (munged), and COMPLETED BALLOT to allow for independent verification. Therefore, if you do not want any or all of this information about you made public, DO NOT VOTE! Please refer to the previous message announcing this vote for details about what types of information will appear in the results. STRATEGY TIPS You may be unfamiliar with CONDORCET'S METHOD, the system of voting used here (unless you happen to be a member of the Debian Project :-). Although completing a ranked ballot is technically very easy, if you wish to know how to maximise the chances of getting the outcome you want, you should read following information before completing your ballot: ***** 1. Condorcet's method of counting ranked ballots is very different from other systems (STV/AV/IRV, Borda, etc.) that also use a ranked ballot. Therefore, it is a bad idea to attempt to vote strategically based on what you know (or think you know) about how those systems work. The best strategies for one method of voting will usually fail very badly when applied in another, even if the form of the ballot is similar. 2. You should NOT assume that ranking any UNACCEPTABLE options will harm the chances of electing your PREFERRED option(s). Condorcet's method is a system of pairwise voting, where the overall result is determined by finding the majority winners of a series of two-way races between every possible pair of alternatives. Not ranking (truncating) some options, or assigning the same rank to a group of options is therefore equivalent to ABSTAINING from participation in any decision between those equally-ranked alternatives. Therefore, if the final choice in the election is between two options, both of which you dislike -- but not EQUALLY -- you may later regret not having participated in that decision. 3. You should also NOT vote for what you believe to be an acceptable, popular choice (the "lesser evil" compromise) ahead of your true favourite(s), in the belief that this will somehow help to prevent the election of a popular, disliked alternative (the "greater evil"). This type of strategy is often necessary in plurality ("first-past-the-post") voting, but is ineffective and unnecessary with Condorcet's method. Condorcet's method finds the best compromise automatically, if one is needed, so doing this will simply harm the chances of electing your true favourite. See http://www.electionmethods.org/Condorcet.htm for a detailed explanation of this. ******************************************************* With CONDORCET'S METHOD, you will maximise the power and effectiveness of your ballot by providing a COMPLETE and SINCERE expression of your true preferences. You should only rank options equally if you genuinely consider them to be equally good (or bad). ******************************************************* -- Norman Petry

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Kodos 0.9 released (python regular expression GUI)
by stuff＠mailzilla.net 03 Mar '03

03 Mar '03

Kodos 0.9 has been released and is available at: http://kodos.sourceforge.net Kodos is a regular expression tester, debugger and validator that allows a developer to create and modify regular expressions against a test string. The intuitive interface allows the developer the ability to modify the regex and to see the effects in real-time. Key Features: - Matches can be easily viewed and each match can be seen distinctly - Regex groups and named groups are clearly displayed - Sample source code is shown so even python developers new to regular expressions can quickly add the produced regular expressions to their own projects. - Ability to load and save your test cases - Kodos relies on PyQt for the GUI elements. To read more detailed information, view screenshots and download Kodos please visit: http://kodos.sourceforge.net

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ANN: AsciiDoc 2.0 released
by srackham＠methods.co.nz 03 Mar '03

03 Mar '03

AsciiDoc -------- AsciiDoc is a text document format for writing articles, manuals and UNIX man pages. AsciiDoc files can be translated to HTML (with or without stylesheets), DocBook (articles, books and refentry documents) and LinuxDoc using the asciidoc(1) command. AsciiDoc can also used to build and maintain websites. asciidoc(1) can be extended and customised to output any SGML/XML markup, this is because all asciidoc(1) translation rules are contained in cascading text based configuration files. Requisites ---------- Python 1.5.2 or higher. Obtaining AsciiDoc ------------------ The latest AsciiDoc version and online documentation can be found at the AsciiDoc website http://www.methods.co.nz/asciidoc/ AsciiDoc is also hosted at the SourceForge at http://sourceforge.net/projects/asciidoc/ Best regards, --- Stuart Rackham <srackham(a)methods.co.nz>

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