Mailman 3 October 2005 - Python-announce-list

ANN: ConfigObj 4.0.0 Final and Pythonutils 0.2.3
by Fuzzyman Oct. 18, 2005

Oct. 18, 2005

ConfigObj 4.0.0 final and Pythonutils 0.2.3 have just hit the streets. http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/configobj.html http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/pythonutils.html They are both pure Python modules - the source distributions include full documentation, which is also online. What's New ? ============ ConfigObj 4.0.0 final has two bugfixes. Using ``setdefault`` to create a new section would return a reference to the dictionary you passed in - not the new section. Also fixed a trivial bug in ``write`` (wouldn't have affected anyone). Pythonutils 0.2.3 is updated to include the ConfigObj 4.0.0 final and cgiutils 0.3.3 ConfigObj is now marked stable. (But caveat emptor :-) What is ConfigObj ? =================== ConfigObj is a simple but powerful config file reader and writer: an *ini file round tripper*. Its main feature is that it is very easy to use, with a straightforward programmer's interface and a simple syntax for config files. It has lots of other features though : * Nested sections (subsections), to any level * List values * Multiple line values * String interpolation (substitution) * Integrated with a powerful validation system - including automatic type checking/conversion - repeated sections - and allowing default values * All comments in the file are preserved * The order of keys/sections is preserved * No external dependencies What is Pythonutils ? ===================== The Voidspace Pythonutils package is a simple way of installing the Voidspace collection of modules. Several of the Voidspace Projects depend on these modules. They are also useful in their own right of course. They are primarily general utility modules that simplify common programming tasks in Python. These are currently : * ConfigObj - simple config file handling * validate - validation and type conversion system * listquote - string to list conversion * StandOut - simple logging and output control object * pathutils - for working with paths and files * cgiutils - cgi helpers (and functions for sending emails etc) * urlpath - functions for handling URLs * odict - Ordered Dictionary Class All the best, Fuzzyman http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python

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ANN: eGenix mxODBC Zope Database Adapter 1.0.9
by M.-A. Lemburg Oct. 17, 2005

Oct. 17, 2005

________________________________________________________________________ ANNOUNCEMENT EGENIX.COM mxODBC Zope Database Adapter Version 1.0.9 Usable with Zope and the Plone CMS. Available for Zope 2.3 through 2.8 on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris and FreeBSD ________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION The eGenix mxODBC Zope Database Adapter allows you to easily connect your Zope or Plone installation to just about any database backend on the market today, giving you the reliability of the commercially supported eGenix product mxODBC and the flexibility of the ODBC standard as middle-tier architecture. The mxODBC Zope Database Adapter is highly portable, just like Zope itself and provides a high performance interface to all your ODBC data sources, using a single well-supported interface on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris and FreeBSD. This makes it ideal for deployment in ZEO Clusters and Zope hosting environments where stability and high performance are a top priority, establishing an excellent basis and scalable solution for your Plone CMS. ________________________________________________________________________ NEWS The new version includes a number of enhancements which make the mxODBC Zope Database Adapter even more robust and reliable. The adapter includes a new, more careful connection pool management and options to adjust the result set size in a more flexible way. We are very pleased to also include a build for Mac OS X with this release. This will make connecting your Zope or Plone installation on Mac OS X to local or remote databases a breeze. Starting with this release, we will now ship binaries for both Unicode build variants of Zope: UCS2 and UCS4. Most recent Linux distributions come pre-built with the UCS4 variant, e.g. SuSE 9 and 10, RedHat 9. ________________________________________________________________________ UPGRADING If you have already bought mxODBC Zope DA 1.0.x licenses, you can use these license for the 1.0.9 version as well. There is no need to buy new licenses. The same is true for evaluation license users. ________________________________________________________________________ MORE INFORMATION For more information on the mxODBC Zope Database Adapter, licensing and download instructions, please visit our web-site: http://zope.egenix.com/ You can buy mxODBC Zope DA licenses online from the eGenix.com shop at: http://shop.egenix.com/ ________________________________________________________________________ Thank you, -- Marc-Andre Lemburg eGenix.com Professional Python Services directly from the Source (#1, Oct 17 2005) >>> Python/Zope Consulting and Support ... http://www.egenix.com/ >>> mxODBC.Zope.Database.Adapter ... http://zope.egenix.com/ >>> mxODBC, mxDateTime, mxTextTools ... http://python.egenix.com/ ________________________________________________________________________ ::: Try mxODBC.Zope.DA for Windows,Linux,Solaris,FreeBSD for free ! ::::

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IMDbPY 2.2 released
by alberanid＠libero.it Oct. 17, 2005

Oct. 17, 2005

IMDbPY 2.2 is available (tgz, deb, rpm, exe) from: http://imdbpy.sourceforge.net/ IMDbPY is a Python package useful to retrieve and manage the data of the IMDb movie database about both movies and people. With this release it is possible to retrieve some new information, including "guest appearances" for TV series; a lot of bugs were fixed and the SQL data access system was heavily improved. Platform-independent and written in pure Python (and few C lines), it can retrieve data from both the IMDb's web server and a local copy of the whole database. IMDbPY package can be very easily used by programmers and developers to provide access to the IMDb's data to their programs. Some simple example scripts are included in the package; other IMDbPY-based programs are available from the home page. -- Davide Alberani <alberanid(a)libero.it> [PGP KeyID: 0x465BFD47] http://erlug.linux.it/~da/

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Dr. Dobb's Python-URL! - weekly Python news and links (Oct 17)
by Cameron Laird Oct. 17, 2005

Oct. 17, 2005

QOTW: "If you don't have the time to be paranoid, try taking the time to straighten out identity theft." -- K. G. Schneider "The best way to make classes on the fly is generally to call the metaclass with suitable parameters (just like, the best way to make instances of any type is generally to call that type)." -- Alex Martelli What code is good to read? The Standard Library. The Indexed Packages. The Cheese Shop. Bit Torrent. Much else--that is, far more than any one person can digest: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/da095d… Windows demands a developer rely on poorly-documented tricks in order to be productive. What *are* those tricks? IPython, autoit, ...: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/3c6f32… Most Python programmers live happily without thought of what codecs do for them. If you're among the few for whom charmap performance is an issue, though, you'll be thankful to Tony Nelson for this Fastcharmap contribution: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/481fda… Do you want to iterate over the same iterable multiple times? There's help (itertool's tee(), for example) for your sort: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/77def0… Jeff Epler and Peter Otten explain the very first step--often the most puzzling one--in working with other-than-English texts: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/5b9e46… http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/ee3fed… ======================================================================== Everything Python-related you want is probably one or two clicks away in these pages: Python.org's Python Language Website is the traditional center of Pythonia http://www.python.org Notice especially the master FAQ http://www.python.org/doc/FAQ.html PythonWare complements the digest you're reading with the marvelous daily python url http://www.pythonware.com/daily Mygale is a news-gathering webcrawler that specializes in (new) World-Wide Web articles related to Python. http://www.awaretek.com/nowak/mygale.html While cosmetically similar, Mygale and the Daily Python-URL are utterly different in their technologies and generally in their results. For far, FAR more Python reading than any one mind should absorb, much of it quite interesting, several pages index much of the universe of Pybloggers. http://lowlife.jp/cgi-bin/moin.cgi/PythonProgrammersWeblog http://www.planetpython.org/ http://mechanicalcat.net/pyblagg.html comp.lang.python.announce announces new Python software. Be sure to scan this newsgroup weekly. http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_ugroup=comp.lang.python.announce Steve Bethard, Tim Lesher, and Tony Meyer continue the marvelous tradition early borne by Andrew Kuchling, Michael Hudson and Brett Cannon of intelligently summarizing action on the python-dev mailing list once every other week. http://www.python.org/dev/summary/ The Python Package Index catalogues packages. http://www.python.org/pypi/ The somewhat older Vaults of Parnassus ambitiously collects references to all sorts of Python resources. http://www.vex.net/~x/parnassus/ Much of Python's real work takes place on Special-Interest Group mailing lists http://www.python.org/sigs/ Python Success Stories--from air-traffic control to on-line match-making--can inspire you or decision-makers to whom you're subject with a vision of what the language makes practical. http://www.pythonology.com/success The Python Software Foundation (PSF) has replaced the Python Consortium as an independent nexus of activity. It has official responsibility for Python's development and maintenance. http://www.python.org/psf/ Among the ways you can support PSF is with a donation. http://www.python.org/psf/donate.html Kurt B. Kaiser publishes a weekly report on faults and patches. http://www.google.com/groups?as_usubject=weekly%20python%20patch Cetus collects Python hyperlinks. http://www.cetus-links.org/oo_python.html Python FAQTS http://python.faqts.com/ The Cookbook is a collaborative effort to capture useful and interesting recipes. http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python Among several Python-oriented RSS/RDF feeds available are http://www.python.org/channews.rdf http://bootleg-rss.g-blog.net/pythonware_com_daily.pcgi http://python.de/backend.php For more, see http://www.syndic8.com/feedlist.php?ShowMatch=python&ShowStatus=all The old Python "To-Do List" now lives principally in a SourceForge reincarnation. http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=355470&group_id=5470&func=browse http://python.sourceforge.net/peps/pep-0042.html The online Python Journal is posted at pythonjournal.cognizor.com. editor(a)pythonjournal.com and editor(a)pythonjournal.cognizor.com welcome submission of material that helps people's understanding of Python use, and offer Web presentation of your work. del.icio.us presents an intriguing approach to reference commentary. It already aggregates quite a bit of Python intelligence. http://del.icio.us/tag/python *Py: the Journal of the Python Language* http://www.pyzine.com Archive probing tricks of the trade: http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_ugroup=comp.lang.python&num=100 http://groups.google.com/groups?meta=site%3Dgroups%26group%3Dcomp.lang.pyth… Previous - (U)se the (R)esource, (L)uke! - messages are listed here: http://www.ddj.com/topics/pythonurl/ (requires subscription) http://groups-beta.google.com/groups?q=python-url+group:comp.lang.python*&s… http://purl.org/thecliff/python/url.html (dormant) or http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_q=+Python-URL!&as_ugroup=comp.lan… There is *not* an RSS for "Python-URL!"--at least not yet. Arguments for and against are occasionally entertained. Suggestions/corrections for next week's posting are always welcome. E-mail to <Python-URL(a)phaseit.net> should get through. To receive a new issue of this posting in e-mail each Monday morning (approximately), ask <claird(a)phaseit.net> to subscribe. Mention "Python-URL!". -- The Python-URL! Team-- Dr. Dobb's Journal (http://www.ddj.com) is pleased to participate in and sponsor the "Python-URL!" project.

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NYLUG meeting: 10/26 The Python Object Model with Alex Martelli & Google (slight correction)
by Ron Guerin Oct. 17, 2005

Oct. 17, 2005

(date and time inadvertently omitted last time. sorry!) The New York Linux User's Group invites you to a special presentation by Alex Martelli of Google, on the Python Object Model. This presentation will be held at P.J. Clarke's Sidecar, rather than our usual location, and Google is picking up the tab for an hour and a half of open bar and food. Additionally, if you're looking for a job as a Python developer, bring your resume. Please RSVP at http://rsvp.nylug.org to attend, as seating is limited. PS: You may wish to bring ID and a GPG fingerprint to sign keys. - Ron (announcement follows) The New York Linux User's Group Presents Alex Martelli - on - The Python Object Model Held at P.J. Clarke's Sidecar October 26, 2005 6:00pm-10:00pm 915 Third Avenue @ 55th Street - NY Python is a multi-paradigm programming language, but, out of the paradigms it supports, there is no doubt that OOP (Object Oriented Programming) is the paradigm that forms Python's core. If you have done any substantial programming with Python, you have, most likely, used some of its OOP features. But -- have you ever stopped to really think about those OOP features, the mechanisms that Python uses (and exposes!) to implement them, and how best to make use of the possibilities this state of things offers? This subject is generally known as the "Object Model" of a language. This talk stops a bit short of examining every level of Python's Object Model -- in particular, it does not get into metatypes (metaclasses) and similar levels of "Black Magic". Rather, the talk sticks to the most practically interesting aspects of Python's Object Model as seen from the point of view of a programmer using Python -- understanding exactly what's going on in all kind of everyday OOP-usage situation, what alternatives and trade-offs these mechanisms imply (for example, when should you use closures, and when should you use functors instead? when to inherit, and when to delegate instead?), and how Design Patterns play into the mix (Python subsumes and build-ins some classic DPs, and makes a few others irrelevant due to its highly dynamic typing, but other classic DPs yet remain extremely relevant and important for optimal day to day use of OOP in Python). About Alex Martelli ------------------- Alex Martelli is Uber Technical Lead at Google, in Production Software. He wrote Python in a Nutshell and co-edited the Python Cookbook, and is a member of the Python Software Foundation. Before joining Google, Martelli spent 8 years with IBM, 12 with think3 inc, and 3 as a Python freelance consultant, mostly for AB Strakt (Sweden). P. J. Clarke's Sidecar ---------------------- 915 Third Avenue @ 55th Street - NY Sidecar is PJ Clarkes handsome semiprivate upstairs dining room. You enter Sidecar through a distinct yet discreet door on East 55th Street. Subway: Take the E, V or 6 Subways to 51st Street, cut over to Third Avenue and walk north 4 blocks. Take the 4, 5 or 6 Trains to 59th Street, cut over to Third and walk 4 blocks south. Bus: Take the 101, 102 or 103 Buses to 55th. If you're coming downtown on Lexington, cut across to Third. If you're coming up on Third, it's right across the street. http://pjclarkes.com/htm/sidecar.htm About NYLUG ----------- NYLUG is the New York Linux Users Group, which has met every month without fail for the last six years. Meetings are free and open to the public, but require advance RSVP due to fire code and security requirements at our usual meeting space at the IBM Building. Our announcements mailing list at http://nylug.org/mailman/listinfo/nylug-announce provides a low-volume but steady stream of Linux, Free and Open Source, and related community and other user group announcements for the tri-state area. Our technical discussion list is a moderate-volume list featuring a diverse group that from home users to enterprise security experts. http://nylug.org/mailman/listinfo/nylug-talk http://www.nylug.org/

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ANN: WCK for Tkinter 1.1 beta 1 (october 15, 2005)
by Fredrik Lundh Oct. 17, 2005

Oct. 17, 2005

The Widget Construction Kit (WCK) is an extension API that allows you to implement custom widgets in pure Python. The WCK can be (and is being) used for everything from light-weight display widgets to full-blown editor frameworks. The Tkinter3000 implementation of the WCK supports all recent versions of Python and Tk/Tkinter. The 1.1 beta 1 release adds improved controller support, resource caching for pens, brushes, and fonts, and support for creating image objects from data in strings. Introduction: http://www.effbot.org/zone/wck-1.htm Downloads: http://www.effbot.org/downloads#tkinter3000 Documentation: http://www.effbot.org/zone/wck.htm http://www.effbot.org/zone/pythondoc-api.htm Using WCK and AggDraw to draw anti-aliased graphics: http://www.effbot.org/zone/wck-aggview.htm enjoy /F

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IPlib 0.9
by alberanid＠libero.it Oct. 16, 2005

Oct. 16, 2005

IPlib 0.9 can be downloaded from: http://erlug.linux.it/~da/soft/iplib/ IPlib is a Python module useful to convert amongst many different notations and to manage couples of address/netmask in the CIDR notation. Some example scripts ('ipconv', 'nmconv' and 'cidrinfo') are included. With this release, you can use the CIDR class to test if a CIDR net is entirely contained in another one. -- Davide Alberani <alberanid(a)libero.it> [PGP KeyID: 0x465BFD47] http://erlug.linux.it/~da/

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ANN: TurboGears 0.8a1 front-to-back web development
by Kevin Dangoor Oct. 14, 2005

Oct. 14, 2005

TurboGears 0.8a1 is available now! What's New ========== This is a brief summary. The complete information about what's new can be found here: http://www.turbogears.org/about/changelog.html * API improvements based on feedback and patches from the first public release. Seven people contributed patches to TurboGears directly, and there's been quite a bit going on in the other projects. * Easier production of XML output from controller methods * Static file directories are set up in new quickstarted projects * Updates to all of the main included projects * IPython is used as the shell, if IPython is available * Bonjour support on the Mac * New getting started guide, and command line tool and configuration references and a new site template by Sebastian Jansson. * Several bug fixes Introduction ============ TurboGears (http://www.turbogears.org) brings together four major pieces to create an easy to install, easy to use web megaframework. It covers everything from front end (MochiKit JavaScript for the browser, Kid for templates in Python) to the controllers (CherryPy) to the back end (SQLObject). The TurboGears project is focused on providing documentation and integration with these tools without losing touch with the communities that already exist around those tools. TurboGears is easy to use for a wide range of web applications. To get a quick idea of what TurboGears is like, take a look at the 20 Minute Wiki tutorial and screencast. The total screencast with brief intro and conclusion did take a little over 23 minutes, but it's close to 20 minutes :) 20 Minute Wiki: http://www.turbogears.org/docs/wiki20/index.html TurboGears site: http://www.turbogears.org/ A big thanks to Remi Delon, Ian Bicking, Bob Ippolito, Ryan Tomayko, Phillip Eby and the many other contributors who have provided all of these great tools. Thanks also to the TurboGears contributors! -- Kevin Dangoor Author of the Zesty News RSS newsreader email: kid(a)blazingthings.com company: http://www.BlazingThings.com blog: http://www.BlueSkyOnMars.com

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NYLUG meeting: The Python Object Model with Alex Martelli & Google (open bar and food!)
by Ron Guerin Oct. 14, 2005

Oct. 14, 2005

The New York Linux User's Group invites you to a special presentation by Alex Martelli of Google, on the Python Object Model. This presentation will be held at P.J. Clarke's Sidecar, rather than our usual location, and Google is picking up the tab for an hour and a half of open bar and food. Additionally, if you're looking for a job as a Python developer, bring your resume. Please RSVP at http://rsvp.nylug.org to attend, as seating is limited. - Ron (announcement follows) The New York Linux User's Group Presents Alex Martelli - on - The Python Object Model Held at P.J. Clarke's Sidecar 915 Third Avenue @ 55th Street - NY Python is a multi-paradigm programming language, but, out of the paradigms it supports, there is no doubt that OOP (Object Oriented Programming) is the paradigm that forms Python's core. If you have done any substantial programming with Python, you have, most likely, used some of its OOP features. But -- have you ever stopped to really think about those OOP features, the mechanisms that Python uses (and exposes!) to implement them, and how best to make use of the possibilities this state of things offers? This subject is generally known as the "Object Model" of a language. This talk stops a bit short of examining every level of Python's Object Model -- in particular, it does not get into metatypes (metaclasses) and similar levels of "Black Magic". Rather, the talk sticks to the most practically interesting aspects of Python's Object Model as seen from the point of view of a programmer using Python -- understanding exactly what's going on in all kind of everyday OOP-usage situation, what alternatives and trade-offs these mechanisms imply (for example, when should you use closures, and when should you use functors instead? when to inherit, and when to delegate instead?), and how Design Patterns play into the mix (Python subsumes and build-ins some classic DPs, and makes a few others irrelevant due to its highly dynamic typing, but other classic DPs yet remain extremely relevant and important for optimal day to day use of OOP in Python). About Alex Martelli ------------------- Alex Martelli is Uber Technical Lead at Google, in Production Software. He wrote Python in a Nutshell and co-edited the Python Cookbook, and is a member of the Python Software Foundation. Before joining Google, Martelli spent 8 years with IBM, 12 with think3 inc, and 3 as a Python freelance consultant, mostly for AB Strakt (Sweden). P. J. Clarke's Sidecar ---------------------- 915 Third Avenue @ 55th Street - NY Sidecar is PJ Clarkes handsome semiprivate upstairs dining room. You enter Sidecar through a distinct yet discreet door on East 55th Street. Subway: Take the E, V or 6 Subways to 51st Street, cut over to Third Avenue and walk north 4 blocks. Take the 4, 5 or 6 Trains to 59th Street, cut over to Third and walk 4 blocks south. Bus: Take the 101, 102 or 103 Buses to 55th. If you're coming downtown on Lexington, cut across to Third. If you're coming up on Third, it's right across the street. http://pjclarkes.com/htm/sidecar.htm About NYLUG ----------- NYLUG is the New York Linux Users Group, which has met every month without fail for the last six years. Meetings are free and open to the public, but require advance RSVP due to fire code and security requirements at our usual meeting space at the IBM Building. Our announcements mailing list at http://nylug.org/mailman/listinfo/nylug-announce provides a low-volume but steady stream of Linux, Free and Open Source, and related community and other user group announcements for the tri-state area. Our technical discussion list is a moderate-volume list featuring a diverse group that from home users to enterprise security experts. http://nylug.org/mailman/listinfo/nylug-talk http://www.nylug.org/

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Simple Python interface for making automatic phone calls
by andrew＠voicent.com Oct. 13, 2005

Oct. 13, 2005

The Voicent Python Simple Interface class contains the following functions. callText callAudio callStatus callRemove callTillConfirm These functions are used to invoke telephone calls from your Python program. For example, callText is used to call a specified number and automatically play your text message using text-to-speech engine. In order for this class to work, you'll need to have Voicent Gateway installed somewhere in your network. This class simply sends HTTP request for telephone calls to the gateway. Voicent has a free edition for the gateway. You can download it from http://www.voicent.com More information can be found at: http://www.voicent.com/devnet/docs/pyapi.htm Thank you and have fun

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