This is a summary of traffic on the `python-dev mailing list`_ from October 01,
2004 through October 15, 2004. It is intended to inform the wider Python
community of on-going developments on the list. To comment on anything
mentioned here, just post to `comp.lang.python`_ (or email
python-list(a)python.org which is a gateway to the newsgroup) with a subject line
mentioning what you are discussing. 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 fiftieth summary written by Brett Cannon (Time for my summary
mid-life crisis).
To contact me, please send email to brett at python.org ; I do not have the
time to keep up on comp.lang.python and thus do not always catch follow-ups
posted there.
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_ (otherwise it is probably regular expression syntax
or a typo =); you can safely ignore it, although I suggest learning reST; it's
simple and is accepted for `PEP markup`_ and gives some perks for the HTML
output. 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 text file`_.
.. _PEP Markup: http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0012.html
The in-development version of the documentation for Python can be found at
http://www.python.org/dev/doc/devel/ and should be used when looking up any
documentation on new code; otherwise use the current documentation as found at
http://docs.python.org/ . PEPs (Python Enhancement Proposals) are located at
http://www.python.org/peps/ . To view files in the Python CVS online, go to
http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/python/ . Reported bugs and
suggested patches can be found at the SourceForge_ project page.
The `Python Software Foundation`_ is the non-profit organization that holds the
intellectual property for Python. It also tries to forward the development and
use of Python. But the PSF_ cannot do this without donations. You can make a
donation at http://python.org/psf/donations.html . Every penny helps so even a
small donation (you can donate through PayPal or by check) helps.
.. _python-dev: http://www.python.org/dev/
.. _SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=5470
.. _python-dev mailing list: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev
.. _comp.lang.python: http://groups.google.com/groups?q=comp.lang.python
.. _Docutils: http://docutils.sf.net/
.. _reST:
.. _reStructuredText: http://docutils.sf.net/rst.html
.. _PSF:
.. _Python Software Foundation: http://python.org/psf/
.. contents::
.. _last summary: http://www.python.org/dev/summary/2004-09-16_2004-09-30.html
.. _original text file: http://www.python.org/dev/summary/2004-10-01_2004-10-15.ht
=====================
Summary Announcements
=====================
Sorry for the very late and short summary but I am in extreme crunch mode right
now with school (partially thanks to a research paper comparing Python to Java)
and preparing for applications to doctorate programs (any recommendations for
schools with a good CS dept. and language research would be appreciated).
Don't expect things to pick up again until the quarter is over (Dec. 9th is my
last final).
=========
Summaries
=========
----------------------
New module: subprocess
----------------------
Peter Ästrand wrote `PEP 324`_ to come up with a platform-independent way to
create processes. Originally entitled popen5, it has now been added to the
stdlib as subprocess.
.. _PEP 324: http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0324.html
Contributing threads:
- `subprocess - updated popen5 module
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-October/049270.html>`__
- `python/dist/src/Lib subprocess.py,NONE,1.1
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-October/049361.html>`__
- `Wither docs for the subprocess module?
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-October/049444.html>`__
--------------------
Python 2.4.b1 is out
--------------------
`Python 2.4b1`_ has been released. As usual please download it, run the test
suite, and test it with your own code.
.. _Python 2.4b1: http://www.python.org/2.4/
Contributing threads:
- `2.4b1 release, this Friday (AU time) -- imminent TRUNK FREEZING
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-October/049383.html>`__
- `RELEASED Python 2.4, beta 1
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-October/049452.html>`__
- `TRUNK UNFROZEN (release is done)
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-October/049453.html>`__
--------------------------------------
We need a replacement for ConfigParser
--------------------------------------
David Goodger brought forward two patches for ConfigParser he wanted to apply.
This quickly brought up the point that ConfigParser's API is not exactly
optimal. So the decision was made to field new designs. If you happen to have
your own code lying around that handles .ini files nicely then get it cleaned
up and consider proposing at as a replacement.
Some ideas have already been floated on the list but will have to wait for the
next summary for mention/discussion.
Contributing threads:
- `ConfigParser patches
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-October/049167.html>`__
===============
Skipped Threads
===============
- Guidelines for Logging Usage
- Status of undocumented distutils features in 2.4?
- Toward Python's future article
- test_pep263.py is "-kb" in CVS
- python/dist/src/Doc/whatsnew whatsnew24.tex, 1.108, 1.109
- Python on Windows 64bits?
- About the Wise installer on Windows
- Patch wanted
- python/dist/src/Objects unicodeobject.c, 2.228, 2.229
- Minor cookielib changes for 2.4b1
- proposed struct module format code addition
- Cyclic GC issues
Just don't have the time to summarize this, but a in-depth discussion of
garbage collection involving extension code and using non-Python structs.
- python-dev Summary for 2004-09-16 through 2004-09-30 [draft]
Lead to a discussion of executing modules in packages using the new '-m'
command-line flag.
ponto is a small piece of software to enable *informatics education* by
building object oriented documents and using OpenOffice.org.
ponto is released under GPL.
At the moment two languages namely german and english are supported.
ponto will start OpenOffice.org (writer) and communicates via pyuno-bridge.
example use (with OpenOffice.org bundled python)
[Linux]
/usr/local/OpenOffice.org1.1.2/program/python
[Mac OS X]
/Applications/OpenOffice1.1.2/program/python
from ponto import Document
birthdayInvitation=Document()
opening=birthdayInvitation.createParagraph("Hi friend,")
mainText=birthdayInvitation.createParagraph("as you know, ...")
...
more information (incl. source-code) at
http://www.ham.nw.schule.de/pub/bscw.cgi/0/73468http://ddi.cs.uni-dortmund.de/projekte/ponto
Ludger Humbert
Gaphor 0.7.0
Gaphor is an easy to use UML modeling environment written in Python.
Gaphor has an UML 2.0 compliant data model. It's design is very extensible.
Important changes since 0.6.0
=============================
- XMI export plugin
- Item alignment
- Full featured undo mechanism
- Copy/paste
- usability improvements
Requirements
============
- GTK+ 2.0 or newer
- PyGtk 2.0 or newer
- Gnome-Python 2.0 or newer (at least the gnome.canvas module)
- DiaCanvas2 0.14.2
Homepage
========
http://gaphor.sourceforge.net/
Download
========
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/gaphor/gaphor-0.7.0.tar.gz?download
FAQtor is a python script that generates customizable FAQs from a
simple XML input file.
FAQtor can be downloaded from:
http://faqtor.sourceforge.net
More information about FAQtor can be found at the above URL.
FAQtor is released under the GPL and generated faqs can be used for
commercial and non-commercial purposes. FAQtor makes it easy for all
websites to include a FAQ because it takes the tedious nature out of
it. There is no longer any need to manually edit the FAQ and update
links to answers, etc... After initial (optional) customization, all
that is necessary when updating a FAQ is to update the XML input file
and re-run FAQtor.
The XML file contains all of the information necessary to create a
professional looking FAQ.
Phil
Announcing urwid 0.8.3 with CJK support
---------------------------------------
Urwid home page:
http://excess.org/urwid/
Tarball:
http://excess.org/urwid/urwid-0.8.3.tar.gz
New in this release:
- Added support for CJK double-byte encodings.
Word wrapping mode "space" will wrap on edges of double width characters.
Wrapping and clipping will not split double width characters.
curses_display.Screen.get_input() may now return double width characters.
Text and Edit classes will work with a mix of regular and double width
characters.
- Use new method Edit.set_edit_text(..) instead of Edit.update_text().
- Minor improvements to edit.py example program.
About Urwid
===========
Urwid is a curses-based UI/widget library for Python. It features fluid
interface resizing, multiple text layout options, simple markup for
attributes, powerful scrolling list boxes and flexible edit boxes.
Urwid maximizes the use of your available screen real estate. It does
not provide code for box drawing or simulated drop shadows. It aims to
make writing professional, responsive console applictions easier.
Ian Ward <ian#excess,org>
<P><A HREF="http://excess.org/urwid/">urwid 0.8.3</A> - curses-based UI/widget library (15-Nov-04)
Just released: the exciting Blender 2.35 version. Now with a full undo
system, complete rewritten and upgraded mesh modeling, Outliner tool,
new deform features, and much, much more...
Read the full list of additions and changes in 2.35:
http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Blender_2_35.482.0.html
Here you can download Blender 2.35 for all platforms:
http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Blender.31.0.html
Blender homepage: http://www.blender.org
Blender Python IDE: http://spe.pycs.net
***
Changes in 2.35 Python API
Scripts
A new group was created to take care of bundled scripts management and
discussions. Resources include mailing lists, a cvs repository and a
section at Blender's wiki. The goal from now on is to make sure
included scripts reach the quality and integration expected for any
Blender functionality.
For this release only two scripts were added to the already bundled
ones:
* Scripts Help Browser (Help menu): shows help information about
registered scripts. This is a very recent addition, after 2.35 script
authors will have time to update their scripts with more information.
* Save Current Theme (Export menu): save the current theme as a
Blender Python script.
Internal changes
BPython is going through general clean-up and internal restructuring
of the code. Stephen Swaney has been very active in this area, besides
having fixed many memory leaks and other bugs.
Additions
* new modules: Sound, Window.Theme;
* script links: new scene OnSave event;
* misc: now all command line arguments passed to Blender are
available with sys.argv;
* Blender: new options to Blender.Get(): 'homedir', 'scriptsdir',
'uscriptsdir';
* BGL: 6 GLU functions;
* Effect: made Effect.Get('my_obj') return list with all my_obj's
effects -- this breaks compatibility with its old behavior, but is in
accordance with the rest of the API and is more useful;
* Image: added image.glLoad() and image.glFree();
* Material: access to mirror and transparency;
* Object: fixed obj.getMatrix(): defaults to world space again,
added old pre-2.34 behavior as option: 'old_worldspace';
* Texture: access to Musgrave, Voronoi, Distorted Noise tex types;
* Window: new GetPerspMatrix() function;
* World: world.get/setCurrent() method.
Contributors
Besides the usual bpython team members, many other programmers
contribute with patches, bug reports, suggestions and feedback via
forums and mailing lists. We apologize for any omissions, please feel
free to correct us:
Stephen Swaney, Chris Keith, Joilnen B. Leite, Joseph Gilbert, Jacques
Guignot, Michel Selten, Willian Padovani Germano, Chris Want, Campbell
Barton, Joseph Eagar, Tom Musgrove, Michael Reimpell, Satish Goda,
Nathan Letwory, Alexander Szakaly, Jonas Petersen, Stani Michiels,
Yann Vernier, Jean-Michel Soler, Alfredo de Greef, Matt Ebb, Stefan
Gartner.
gnome-python 2.6.1 has just been released. It offers convenient
wrappers for most APIs in GNOME 2.6 platform, including the following
modules:
gnome, gnome.ui, gnome.canvas, gnome.vfs
gconf
gtkhtml2
bonobo, bonobo.activation, bonobo.ui
gnome.applet
nautilus
gnomeprint, gnomeprint.ui
The source tarball can be (or will be shortly) found here:
ftp://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/gnome-python/2.6/
Please file bug reports here:
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=gnome-python
Overview of Changes from gnome-python 2.6.0 to gnome-python 2.6.1
=================================================================
* gnome.vfs
- 64 bit fixes in async operations (Benoît Dejean)
- Better parameter handling in vfs_read (Benoît Dejean)
* gnome.canvas
- Allow subclassing without __gobject_init__ (Gustavo)
* gtkhtml2
- Workaround gtkhtml2 initialization bug (Jonathan Blandford)
* general
- Include a couple of missing bonobo examples in the tarball (N. V.
Shmyrev)
- Add runtime check for required pygtk version (Gustavo)
--
Gustavo J. A. M. Carneiro
<gjc(a)inescporto.pt> <gustavo(a)users.sourceforge.net>
The universe is always one step beyond logic
SPE got upgraded to work smoothly with the new Blender 2.35 and ships
now with the last version of wxGlade (0.3.5.1)
Mac Os X users should use the latest version of wxPython The major
problem now to be tackled is to let the toolbar appear. Any Mac
wxPython user who could tackle this with my support?
Spe is a stable, full-featured python IDE with auto-indentation, auto
completion, call tips, syntax coloring, syntax highlighting, class
explorer, source index, auto todo list, sticky notes, integrated
pycrust shell, python file browser, recent file browser, drag&drop,
context help, ... Special is its blender support with a blender 3d
object browser and its ability to run interactively inside blender.
Spe ships with wxGlade (gui designer), PyChecker (source code doctor)
and Kiki (regular expression console). Spe is extensible with wxGlade.
:Links:
- Homepage: http://spe.pycs.net
- Website: http://projects.blender.org/projects/spe/
- Screenshots: http://spe.pycs.net/pictures/index.html
- Forum: http://projects.blender.org/forum/?group_id=30
- RSS feed: http://spe.pycs.net/weblog/rss.xml
- Author: http://www.stani.be
**WARNING**
Appearantly there is a bug in Mozilla/Firefox which corrupts
downloading of tar.gz archives. So please use wget or another download
program to download the tar.gz archive.
:New features:
- wxGlade 0.3.5.1
- Blender: Sound and Registry support in Blender Browser
:Bug fixes:
- Blender browser
- anti-aliasing for Mac OS X
- find wxPython 2.5.3 documentation (Windows only)
:Requirements:
- full python 2.3+
- wxpython 2.5.2.8+
- optional blender 2.35
:Donations (thanks!):
- April Atkinson
:Batteries included:
- Kiki:
Regular Expression (regex) console. For more info:
http://project5.tk
- PyChecker:
PyChecker is a tool for finding bugs in python source code. It
finds problems that are typically caught by a compiler for
less dynamic languages, like C and C++. It is similar to lint.
For more info: http://pychecker.sourceforge.net
- wxGlade:
wxGlade is a GUI designer written in Python with the
popular GUI toolkit wxPython, that helps you create
wxWindows/wxPython user interfaces. As you can guess by the
name, its model is Glade, the famous GTK+/GNOME GUI builder,
with which wxGlade shares the philosophy and the look & feel
(but not a line of code). For more info:
http://wxglade.sourceforge.net
Hello
We have developed a tool (visualwade) that generates complete PHP projects
(with databases such as mySQL or ORACLE).
The metamodel logic and generators are developed in pure 100% python (the
client modeller is developed in other than python).
This tool is freeware.
Is opened for plugins (in python, of course) to add some new features. We
hope you try it by downloading in our web www.visualwade.com
<BLOCKED::http://www.visualwade.com>
We have been developed this tool for 5 years.
Documentation is being made (sorry for the inconveniences). Soon will be
available!
Thanks and best regards
Antuán
I am happy to announce a new beta release of pyFltk.
pyFltk is a Python wrapper for the FLTK GUI toolkit, an extremely
lightweight and cross-platform toolkit that can be found at
http://www.fltk.org
The new release of pyFltk contains various improvements in
cross-language polymorphisms and several bug fixes. In addition, it
now relies on more modern Python features and will not work with
Python prior to version 2.0 anymore.
pyFltk can be found at http://pyfltk.sourceforge.net
At present source, pre-compiled Windows and pre-compiled Linux RPM can
be downloaded.
Please direct bug reports and comments to the mailing list:
pyfltk-user(a)lists.sourceforge.net
Have fun.
Andreas Held
http://pyfltk.sourceforge.net