Mailman 3 April 2004 - Python-announce-list

New mailing list for ZConfig users
by Fred L. Drake, Jr. April 24, 2004

April 24, 2004

I've created a new mailing list for users of the ZConfig configuration library. (Yes, there was a request for such a beast!) The mailing list is run using Mailman at Zope.org; the subscription page is available at: http://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zconfig/ ZConfig is a configuration library intended for general use. It supports a hierarchical schema-driven configuration model that allows a schema to specify data conversion routines written in Python. ZConfig's model is very different from the model support by the ConfigParser module found in Python's standard library, and is more suitable to configuration-intensive applications. ZConfig schema are written in an XML-based language and are able to "import" schema components provided by Python packages. Since components are able to bind to conversion functions provided by Python code in the package (or elsewhere), configuration objects can be arbitrarily complex, with values that have been verified against arbitrary constraints. This makes it easy for applications to separate configuration support from configuration loading even with configuration data being defined and consumed by a wide range of separate packages. The current version of ZConfig is version 2.2. More information about ZConfig can be found at the project page: http://www.zope.org/Members/fdrake/zconfig/ or in the wiki: http://dev.zope.org/Zope3/ZConfig ZConfig is covered by the Zope Public License, version 2.0. See the file LICENSE.txt in the distribution for the full license text. -Fred -- Fred L. Drake, Jr. <fdrake at acm.org> PythonLabs at Zope Corporation

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EuroPython update april 23
by Martijn Faassen April 23, 2004

April 23, 2004

EuroPython news update ====================== EuroPython is the European Python and Zope Conference. This year in its third edition, we are holding the conference in the beautiful locale of Göteborg, Sweden. Hundreds of Python users and Zope users are expected. - If you still want to submit a talk, note that the talk submission deadline is approaching very rapidly. You have until monday the 26th of april to submit your talk proposal. As an extra incentive, note that speakers participate at a reduced fee. - The early bird registration deadline is also very near now; after may 1st the rate will go up by 60 euros from 160 to 220. We also still have (very) cheap accomodation available, but this is running out quickly. So please register now! - The conference program is really shaping up nicely! We'll have tracks on topics ranging from core python hacking to social skills, and of course Zope. There will be tutorials, BoFs, lightning talks and panel discussions. Many of us are arriving early and/or staying on after the conference for a couple of days for sprints or other activities. - Our keynote speakers will be Mark Shuttleworth and Guido van Rossum. Mark Shuttleworth was among other things what we think is the first Python programmer in space. He is also is the sponsor of the schooltool project to develop an open source school administration system in Python. More about about him can be found at http://www.markshuttleworth.com/ If you don't know who Guido van Rossum is, you really need to come to EuroPython to find out and meet him. More information can be found at http://www.europython.org. See you at EuroPython 2004!

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ANN: Use Jython to Write Ant Tasks
by etaekema＠earthlink.net April 23, 2004

April 23, 2004

This is an article I wrote that looks at how to add scripted behaviour to ant builds. It details the steps to write a custom Ant task in Jython, compile it and install it into Ant so it can be used as any other task in an ant build. The article also takes a quick look at an alternate implementation using Groovy. You can read it here: http://www.pycs.net/users/0000177/stories/11.html. Ed Taekema Toronto, Canada

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Musical MIDI Accompaniment 0.7
by Bob van der Poel April 22, 2004

April 22, 2004

I'm pleased to announce the release of my program mma - Musical MIDI Accompaniment version: Beta 0.7 MMA is a accompaniment generator -- it creates midi tracks for a soloist to perform over from a user supplied file containing chords and MMA directives. MMA is very versatile and generates excellent tracks. It comes with an extensive user-extendable library with a variety of patterns for various popular rhythms, an extensive user manual, and several demo songs. MMA is a command line driven program. It creates MIDI files which need a sequencer or MIDI file play program. MMA is written in Python. You'll need version 2.2 of Python for MMA to function. MMA is supplied in 4 tar.gz archives. Included: mma-bin -- the main script and library files). mma-html -- documentation in HTML format. mma-ps -- documentation in Postscript format. mma-songs -- a collection of about 120 songs in MMA format. If you get the entire download package it is well under 1meg in size. MMA is currently in BETA. We are looking for lots of help in debugging the program, creating songs for distribution, and new and improved library files. Best of all, MMA is free. It is released under the terms of the GNU public license. It has been developed on a Linux platform, but should be usable on just about any system. MMA is available on my personal home page: http://mypage.uniserve.com/~bvdp/mma/mma.html If you have any questions or comments, please send them to: bvdp(a)uniserve.com Enjoy! Beta 0.7: new packaging, HTML docs, Solo/Melody tracks, dynamic track allocation, general cleanups and a few new commands. Also, make note of the NEW home site and my new email address! Comments appreciated! -- Bob van der Poel ** Wynndel, British Columbia, CANADA ** EMAIL: bvdp(a)uniserve.com WWW: http://mypage.uniserve.com/~bvdp

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ANN: AsciiDoc 5.07 released
by Stuart Rackham April 22, 2004

April 22, 2004

AsciiDoc -------- AsciiDoc is an uncomplicated text document format for writing short documents, articles, books 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 is highly configurable: both the AsciiDoc source file syntax and the backend output markups (which can be almost any type of SGML/XML markup) can be customized and extended by user. Requisites ---------- Python 2.1 or higher. Obtaining AsciiDoc ------------------ The latest AsciiDoc version, examples 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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ANN: SciPy 0.3 Released
by Travis N. Vaught April 22, 2004

April 22, 2004

Greetings, SciPy 0.3 has been released and binaries are available from the scipy.org site. http://www.scipy.org Changes since the 0.1 version (0.1 enjoyed a wide release, there was a version 0.2 that had limited exposure) include the following: - general improvements: Added utility functions for constructing arrays by concatenation, intended mainly for command-line use. Added bmat constructor for easy creation of block matrices. Added mat constructor for constructing matrices (where * is matrix multiplication). Added many PIL utility functions so that if the PIL is installed, image loading, saving, and other operations are available. Added scipy.info, which handles dynamic docstrings and class help better than python's help command. - documentation: much improved - sparse: superLU upgraded to 3.0 - optimize: Added non-linear conjugate gradient algorithm. Improvements to BFGS algorithm and Wolfe-condition line-search. Added two CONSTRAINED optimization techniques. Added simulated annealing and brute-force optimization strategies and Powell's method. Added many very good 1-D root-finding routines. - stats: Added many statistical distributions. Many continuous and discrete random variables are available with a simple mechanism for adding new ones. Added several statistical tests. - special: Added MANY new special functions. |general_function| renamed to |vectorize| and moved to scipy_base. Improved the way domain errors are handled (user specified display of problems). More tests on special functions added. - fftpack: replaced with fftpack2--can optionally be configured to support djbfft - io: Reading of MATLAB .mat files (version 4 and 5) supported. Writing version 4 .mat files supported. Added very flexible and general_purpose text file reader. Added shelving save operation to save variables into an importable module. Routines for reading and writing fortran-records. - linalg: Linear algebra is greatly improved over SciPy 0.1. ATLAS is now optional (but encouraged). Most lapack functions have simplified interfaces (all lapack and blas available). Matrix exponentials and other matrix functions added. - signal: Added support for filter design and LTI system analysis. - xplt: Updated xplt to use newer pygist so that Windows platform is supported. Addition of several plotting types. - integrate: added another ODE integrator. Added romberg integration and several other integration approaches. The complete release notes can be found here: http://www.scipy.org/download/scipy_release_notes_0.3.html You'll also notice that scipy.org is now a spanking new Plone portal (http://www.plone.org -- keep up the good work, plone folks). This is the first binary release in a long time and we hope to increase the frequency to every 6 months or so. If you'd like to follow or join the community, you can subscribe to the mailing lists here: http://www.scipy.org/mailinglists/ Best Regards, Travis BTW SciPy is: ------------- SciPy is an open source library of scientific tools for Python. SciPy supplements the popular Numeric module, gathering a variety of high level science and engineering modules together as a single package. SciPy includes modules for graphics and plotting, optimization, integration, special functions, signal and image processing, genetic algorithms, ODE solvers, and others.

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ANN: C-Python 2.3.3 Patch to Enable Python Function Subclassing - X1.0
by Lenard Lindstrom April 21, 2004

April 21, 2004

A C-Python 2.3.3 Patch to Enable Python Function Subclassing. Experimental Version 1.0 The source code patch and a recompiled python23.dll for win32 can be found at: http://www3.telus.net/len_l/Function_Subclassing.html md5 sums: 05e7af6f007c02d3100ca4e5794bd390 *FS-src-X1-0.tgz (size 64,102 bytes) 9288762a9d2d714db55dae9adc6d844b *FS-win32-bin-X1-0.zip (size 500,118 bytes) Requirements: ------------ For the source code patch the Python 2.3.3 final source code available at www.python.org and a compatible C compiler. For the win32 binary the Windows version of Python 2.3.3 . Introduction ------------ This is an experimental patch which contains modified python interpreter source code files that permit function subclassing. The python def statement is also extended to simplify creation of subclass instances. Eg.: from types import FunctionType class FunctionSubType(FunctionType): def __call__(self, *args, **kwds): print 'Hello' return super(FunctionSubType, self).__call__(*args, **kwds) def (FunctionSubType) fn(x): # optional '(<class>)' gives subclass return 2*x fn(12) # prints 'Hello' then returns 24 The optional class specifier works with any expression that evaluates to a callable accepting the same five arguments as types.FunctionType. The parenthesis are mandatory. The above syntax was chosen because it is easy to implement. Why Function subclassing? ----------------------- Function subclassing simplifies special method creation. Normally this is done using wrapper classes like staticmethod. The following is the subclass equivalent: from __future__ import division from types import FunctionType class staticfunction(FunctionType): def __get__(self, object, type): return self # Using it is simple: # I know this example would be better done with a class method, but # it is just a simple example. :-) class Vector2(object): def __init__(self, x, y): self.x = x self.y = y def (staticfunction) Normal2(x, y): # Special constructor length = (x**2 + y**2)**0.5 return Vector2(x/length, y/length) One can write a static method mixin: class StaticMixin(object): """Make a function a static method""" def __get__(self, object, type): return self class PosFunction(FunctionType): """Ensure all arguments are positive numbers""" def __call__(self, *args): for i in args: if i < 0: raise TypeError, "Requires positive number arguments" return super(PosFunction, self).__call__(*args) class StaticPosIntFunc(StaticMixin, FunctionType): pass ... class Vector(object): ... def (StaticPosIntFunc) Normal2(x, y): ... It is a matter of opinion whether or not this approach is more elegant than using wrapper classes. The best way to decide is to try it yourself. Enjoy. Lenard Lindstrom <len-l(a)telus.net>

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EuroPython talks deadline approaching fast
by Martijn Faassen April 20, 2004

April 20, 2004

Hi there, There is less than a week's time left to submit a talk for EuroPython! If you want to give a talk, you have until next week monday (26th of april) to submit talks. Please look here: http://www.europython.org/conferences/epc2004/info/ for an overview of the tracks available and please submit your talk. A talk submission just needs a short summary about what your talk is going to be about. Note that speakers get a reduced fee for conference admission! Note also that the early bird registration deadline is not far away either (may 1). More about EuroPython: http://www.europython.org Regards, Martijn

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ANN: HarvestMan 1.3.4
by pythonguy＠Hotpop.com April 20, 2004

April 20, 2004

HarvestMan is a world-wide-web crawler (offline browser/robot) program written completely in Python. WWW: http://harvestman.freezope.org Version 1.3.4 a minor bug-fix version is ready.It fixes a bug in setting up of network for users behind proxies/firewalls. Get it from http://harvestman.freezope.org/files/HarvestMan-1.4.zip Thank You ! -ABP

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Call for an Impeachment Inquiry of Bush and Cheney
by Bill Cole April 19, 2004

April 19, 2004

Call for an Impeachment Inquiry of Bush and Cheney, Get Congress to Take Action Sign our online Petition and read below for more information: http://www.votenader.org/get_involved/impeach.php HEY DUDE WHERE'S MY BUDDY!!!??? COME BACK HOME MICHAEL!!! Ok Michael, you've had your realpolitik fling with ex-General Wesley Clark. Your endorsed Presidential candidate in the Democratic Primaries has withdrawn. It is time for you to come home, to join your buddies and resume your only genuine role which is that of defiance and resistance. Compliance and assistance with the Democrats does not accord with your past, your character, your bold writings and, most memorably, your long corrosive assaults on the Party that betrayed the working classes and plunged our country into corporate globalization. Remember, Michael, you're the flinty man from Flint, Michigan. You've never forgotten your roots. The heady Hollywood, Manhattan scene with the celebrities and Academy Awards have never gotten to your head but rather have gotten into your deserving pockets. How we all recall your standing before one billion people in Los Angeles at the televised Academy Awards in 2003 and, breaking the customary cant of the awardees, throwing the gauntlet down to George W. Bush and his "fictitious" war mongering. Now the War has become a quagmire, with both Republicans and Democrats complicit (check the votes in Congress). The Draft may be on the way. So what are you doing going on the Al Franken Show very nearly breaking down when Al Gore (he of the pro NAFTA/GATT, anti-worker, regime-change, Iraq-bombing, lethal sanctions on half a million children Administration) called and thought you were apologizing. You have nothing to apologize for, Michael. Gore has a lot to apologize for-blowing the election he won in Florida and the country as a whole and for blowing, with Bill Clinton, the many opportunities the rich-booming Nineties and the collapse of the Soviet Union gave this country to turn a peace dividend into a pro-worker, pro-environment, pro-consumer and anti-poverty resurgence. Come back and join our Presidential campaign, Michael. Talk to those "Reagan Democrats"-those 35% of union members who still vote Republican and against their own interests-as only you can. Michael, if you go pumping for the Democratic Party this year, just what are you going to say to the unemployed steelworkers near Sparrows Point in Maryland? To the megathousands of laid off textile and furniture workers in North and South Carolina? To the abandoned auto workers waiting and waiting near their empty factories that went to repressive countries? To the millions of blue-collar workers, who fought our wars, only to learn that the two parties won't fight for their company pensions and health insurance? Are you going to tell them how the Democratic Party pushed through the WTO, let their pensions erode or disappear, were too busy collecting checks from the corporate bosses to pay attention to the corporate crime wave that looted and drained trillions of dollars from millions of workers, their retirement and small investments? Will you tell them that the cowardly Democrats, who couldn't win the fewer elections they are now not losing without the labor vote, won't even mount a determined drive to repeal the notorious, union-blocking Taft Hartley Act? How can you be free to be what you are, or to depress Bush's vote, to jolt into consciousness the moribund Democratic Party? Hey Dude, join your real buddies! The ones you may be thinking about just don't fit either your message, your vision, or our website VoteNader.org. Come back home Michael. The workers and the youth of America are looking for you. Best regards, Ralph Nader P.S. Will you put this invitation on your website and see how your fans react to Michael Moore returning to the Nader 2004 presidential campaign? Patti Smith will reserve a big singing spot, for you, on the stage for the customary finale, PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER. Wednesday April 14, 2004 Join the Call for an Impeachment Inquiry of Bush and Cheney Help us Get Congress to Take Action You can help the call for an impeachment inquiry of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Sign our online Petition. http://www.votenader.org/get_involved/impeach.php George W. Bush and Dick Cheney should be impeached for two reasons: They led the United States into an illegal, unconstitutional war in Iraq. They misled the Congress and the American people with five falsehoods that led to war. All it takes is one Member of the House of Representatives to call for an Impeachment Inquiry to start the process to investigate the two grounds. If the House then votes by a simple majority for Articles of Impeachment, the Senate would then undertake a trial of the President and Vice President. They would only be convicted, and impeached, if two-thirds of the Senate agrees. -- Party of Peru (Shining Path/Sender Luminoso) and the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) are are closely associated with RIM. (The PKK is no longer a formal member of RIM; however, it was one of RIM's founders. The Shining Path is still a member.) Other groups that comprise the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement are the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist, the Union of Iranian Communists (Sarbedaran)and the Nepal Communist Party. The RIM via its publication A WORLD TO WIN declared its belief in the Palestinian intifada. The February 28, 2002, edition stated "the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement once again reaffirms its unwavering support .and calls on all revolutionary and progressive people to step up their actions on (the Palestinians') behalf." Another edition advised Palestinians to "link up with .the parties and organizations that make up the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement. With the weapon of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and its military strategy, people's war, the Palestinian people's fight will surely become .more integral part of the world revolution, hastening the day when imperialism, Zionism .meet their doom." These Maoist terrorist organizations are financing their activities by trafficking in controlled substances. According to December 13, 2000, testimony by Frank Cilluffo, to the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) " is heavily involved in the European drug trade, especially in Germany and France. French law enforcement estimates that the PKK smuggles 80 percent of the heroin in Paris." Cilluffo is Deputy Director, Global Organized Crime Program Counterterrorism Task Force at Washington, D.C.'s Center for Strategic and International Studies. This same testimony reveals the Nepal Communist Party, ".turned to drug trafficking for funding. Nepal serves as a hub for hashish trafficking in Asia." The CIA Fact Book lists Nepal as a major source for heroin from

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