Mailman 3 February 2005 - Python-announce-list

www.python.org down
by webmaster＠python.org Feb. 10, 2005

Feb. 10, 2005

Yes, we know that www.python.org is down. Please be patient. -- Aahz (aahz(a)pythoncraft.com) <*> http://www.pythoncraft.com/ "The joy of coding Python should be in seeing short, concise, readable classes that express a lot of action in a small amount of clear code -- not in reams of trivial code that bores the reader to death." --GvR

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[ANN] Movable Python 0.4.6
by fuzzyman＠gmail.com Feb. 10, 2005

Feb. 10, 2005

A new release of Movable Python is available - 0.4.6 This fixes a few issues including a bug in the Python 2.2 support, and a fix for a psyco/IPython incompatibility issue. We have a new icon and logo thanks to Aidan Ashby - http://aidan.voidspace.org.uk Due to bugfixes (in movpy) we can now offer a prebuilt environment for Python 2.2 that includes wxPython and SPE. The prebuilt environments feature updated versions of several components (SPE, IPython, readline) Downloads - http://sourceforge.net/projects/movpy Documentation - http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/movpy What is Movable Python ? ------------------------- Movable Python is a way of building portable, standalone, Python environments. The result is a version of Python that can be used without having to install python on the target machine. (Currently windows only - but could be ported to Mac using py2app and Lunix using cx_freeze). This means you can carry around a prebuilt python environment on a USB memory stick - Python on a stick. Come and get your gannet ripple, python on a stick..... [1] This is useful for : * Machines where you don't have admin rights (can't install programs) * Where you need a portable 'Build, Test, and Run' Python environment (will nicely fit on a usb memory stick) * Having several versions of python on the same machine for forward/backward compatibility testing * Easily deploying python scripts without having to install python * Try before you buy - test python without having to install it, including new versions * 'Python Runtime Environment'. '.py' files can be associated with movpy With the addition of wxPython, SPE [2], and IPython [3] it becomes a full 'Build, Test, and Run' environment. What's Available ? ------------------- >From sourceforge ( http://sourceforge.net/projects/movpy ) : The source distribution that allows you to customize and build your own environments. This requires py2exe. Prebuilt environments for Python 2.2, 2.3, and 2.4. Environments are available either as 'basic' build, or 'standard' build. Basic comes with the standard library, psyco, and IPython. Standard has wxPython and SPE included. What Has Changed ? ------------------- 2005/02/07 Version 0.4.6a Movpy Icon and image added by Aidan Ashby - http://aidan.voidspace.org.uk Changes by Michael We use exec rather than eval (which shouldn't be used with `multiple statement code objects`) IPython isn't called if -p is on (psyco and IPython don't play well together yet) IPython won't be called if psyco.full() has been called in your script locals() and globals() are now passed explicitly to interactive() (optional if you use interactive yourself) (This was an attempt to make IPython work with psyco - which it doesn't yet !) Fixed a bug in Python 2.2 support - 'exclude_modules' now works ! Forced package import for encodings. SPE now works with python 2.2 - but still 'experimental'. Icon is now used in python 2.2 Plus the pre-built environments use newer versions of readline, IPython, and SPE Regards, Michael Foord http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/index.shtml [1] For the 'Pythonically Challenged' this alludes to the python's sketch where John Cleese is dressed as an usherette selling ice-creams during the interval in a british film-house. He shouts: "Albatross! Albatross! Stormy-petrel on a stick! Gannet ripple!". Silly Monty Python reference supplied by John Davenport. [2] Stanis Python Editor IDE - see http://spe.pycs.net [3] IPython - enormously flexible interactive shell for Python. See http://ipython.scipy.org

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Dr. Dobb's Python-URL! - weekly Python news and links (Feb 9)
by Craig Ringer Feb. 9, 2005

Feb. 9, 2005

QOTW: "Such infrastructure building is in fact fun and instructive -- as long as you don't fall into the trap of *using* such complications in production code, where Python's simplicity rules;-)." -- Alex Martelli http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/4… "C++ to Python is a steep 'unlearning' curve..." -- Philip Smith "URK -- _my_ feeling is that we have entirely *too many* options for stuff like web application frameworks, GUI toolkits, XML processing, ..." -- Alex Martelli http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/a… "We should concentrate on *real* problems, ones that exist in real code, not ones that mostly exist in wild-eyed prose that consists of predictions of pain and death that conspicuously fail to occur, no matter how many times they are repeated or we are exhorted to heed them or face our doom." -- Jeremy Bowers http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/a… Special thanks this week to Dean Goodmanson for his help identifying several items. The Online Computer Library Center contest is open. It closes May 15. Among the usual C++ and Java languages, Python also is available for selection: http://www.oclc.org/research/researchworks/contest/default.htm#guidelines Baoqui Chi runs into a documented, but easily overlooked, trap in the handling of __del__ methods and receives good advice on better fixes: http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/1… Steve Holden explains how to think about bytecode management: http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/5… in a conversation aimed at Pyro improvement. Michael Tobis sparks off a discussion on the underlying nature of generators and offers a caution on jumping to conclusions about the writings of non-native English speakers: http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2005-January/263448.html Derek finds out that the Python interpereter is smarter about finding resources than it lets on: http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2005-January/263473.html irc.freenode.net #python is overcrowded: the entrance now routes to #python-cleese or #python-gilliam: http://divmod.org/users/washort/python-split.htmlmklm Steve Holden provides an evocative illustration that the rules are there for a reason, even if breaking them doesn't hit you (*ahem*) immediately: http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2005-February/263851.html In response to a question about rewriting exceptions to include more information, Stefan Behnel gets a couple of rather useful answers: http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2005-February/263843.html Netcraft Reports 33K Zope servers in January, 55K in February! http://mail.zope.org/pipermail/zope-announce/2005-February/001651.html Joakim Stork discovers that thanks to classes being first class objects in Python, sometimes the best solution is so simple it's often possible to miss it entirely: http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2005-February/263891.html Someone posts an interesting attempt at a cross-platform way to discover the user's home directory: http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2005-February/263921.html Metaclasses are handy things. Steven Bethard demonstrates a nice simple use case: http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2005-February/264037.html As John Machin demonstrates, generating SQL in Python doesn't have to be ugly: http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2005-February/264248.html ======================================================================== 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. 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 Brett Cannon continues the marvelous tradition established by Andrew Kuchling and Michael Hudson 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/ The Python Business Forum "further[s] the interests of companies that base their business on ... Python." http://www.python-in-business.org 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. deli.cio.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/ http://purl.org/thecliff/python/url.html (dormant) or http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_q=+Python-URL!&as_ugroup=comp.lan… 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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RELEASED Python 2.3.5, final
by Anthony Baxter Feb. 9, 2005

Feb. 9, 2005

On behalf of the Python development team and the Python community, I'm happy to announce the release of Python 2.3.5 (final). Python 2.3.5 is a bug-fix release. See the release notes at the website (also available as Misc/NEWS in the source distribution) for details of the bugs squished in this release. Python 2.3.5 contains an important security fix for SimpleXMLRPCServer - for more, see the announcement of PSF-2005-001 at: http://www.python.org/security/PSF-2005-001/ Python 2.3.5 is the last planned release in the Python 2.3 series, and is being released for those people who still need to run Python 2.3. Python 2.4 is a newer release, and should be preferred if possible. From here, bugfix releases are switching to the Python 2.4 branch - 2.4.1 will be the next Python release. For more information on Python 2.3.5, including download links for various platforms, release notes, and known issues, please see: http://www.python.org/2.3.5 Highlights of this new release include: - Bug fixes. According to the release notes, more than 50 bugs have been fixed, including a couple of bugs that could cause Python to crash. Highlights of the previous major Python release (2.3) are available from the Python 2.3 page, at http://www.python.org/2.3/highlights.html Enjoy the new release, Anthony Anthony Baxter anthony(a)python.org Python Release Manager (on behalf of the entire python-dev team)

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ANN: Constrict 0.1.0 DNS message parsing library
by Jason Smith Feb. 9, 2005

Feb. 9, 2005

This message is to announce a new Python module, Constrict, which is useful for examining DNS messages that you receive either from a network capture or from a socket. While other DNS-related Python projects exist, none provide flexible message parsing and inspection. http://www.oes.co.th/projects/Constrict Constrict is BIND for Python: it is a Python library for parsing DNS messages using ISC's libbind. Constrict allows you to see DNS messages in two ways: * Direct access to the libbind parsing functions * A Python object with various meaningful attributes This software is available under the GNU General Public License, version 2. This is the initial release. Constrict evolved from an internal project development, so it has already seen much real-world testing. The wrapper to the BIND C API is thorough enough for most development, and the object-oriented view is quite intuitive for day-to-day queries and responses. Constrict is known to work with Python 2.3 and BIND 9 on Linux/i386 and Linux/ppc. -- Jason Smith Open Enterprise Systems Bangkok, Thailand http://www.oes.co.th

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PAMIE 1.4 is released!!!
by calfdog＠yahoo.com Feb. 9, 2005

Feb. 9, 2005

PAMIE 1.4 is released!!! You can easily automate Internet Explorer to test your web pages. Used with Pyunit you can create entire test suites Pamie is an opensource project on sourceforge.net To Download - https://sourceforge.net/projects/pamie/ Home Page: pamie.sourceforge.net Here are Following Methods avaiable: ClickButton() ClickImage() ClickLink() ClickSubmitButton() DeleteCookie() DemoPause() DoEvent() GetCheckBox() GetCheckBoxChecked() GetCookie() GetDropDown() GetframeNames() GetInputTypes() GetLinks() GetListBox() GetListBoxSelected() GetNames() GetRadioButton() GetString() GetTabIndex() GetTabs() GetTextBox() GoBack() GoHome() LocationName() LocationURL() Navigate() Pause() Quit() RandomNameTest() Refresh() SetCheckBox() SetDropDownBox() SetEventlistBox() SetlistBox() SetRB() SetRadioButton() SetTab() SetTextBox() TestComplete() TestPam() UnsetCheckBox() UnsetListBox() _init_ _wait innerHtml() outerHtml() pageText() randomUser() +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Enjoy Rob Marchetti Sponsors feel free to email me.

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ANN: PIL 1.1.5 beta 3 (february 8, 2005)
by Fredrik Lundh Feb. 8, 2005

Feb. 8, 2005

The Python Imaging Library (PIL) adds image processing capabilities to your Python interpreter. This library supports many file formats, and provides powerful image processing and graphics capabilities, including display support for Windows and Tkinter. PIL 1.1.5 beta 3 (aka rc1) is now available from effbot.org: http://effbot.org/downloads#imaging (look for Imaging-1.1.5b3.tar.gz). Prebuilt binaries are also available, for Mac OS X and Windows. Mac OS X 10.3 (Python 2.3), thanks to Bob Ippolito: http://bob.pythonmac.org/archives/2005/02/08/pil-115b3-for-mac-os-x-103 Windows (Python 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4): http://effbot.org/downloads/#pil Visible changes in this release include: + Don't crash in "quantize" method if the number of colors requested is larger than 256. This release raises a ValueError exception; future versions may return a mode "RGB" image instead (reported by Richard Oudkerk). + Added WBMP read/write support (based on code by Duncan Booth). For a list of other changes in 1.1.5, see this page: http://effbot.org/zone/pil-changes-115.htm Report bugs to the image-sig mailing list, or directly to me, as usual. enjoy /F

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REMINDER: OSCON / Python 13 submissions deadline is Feb. 13th
by Kevin Altis Feb. 8, 2005

Feb. 8, 2005

Don't forget that the deadline for submitting a talk or tutorial for OSCON / Python 13 is Sunday, February 13th. ka --- Kevin Altis altis(a)semi-retired.com http://altis.pycs.net/ The Call for Proposals has just opened for the 7th Annual O'Reilly Open Source Convention http://conferences.oreillynet.com/os2005/ OSCON is headed back to friendly, economical Portland, Oregon during the week of August 1-5, 2005. If you've ever wanted to join the OSCON speaker firmament, now's your chance to submit a proposal (or two) by February 13, 2005. Complete details are available on the OSCON web site, but we're particularly interested in exploring how software development is moving to another level, and how developers and businesses are adjusting to new business models and architectures. We're looking for sessions, tutorials, and workshops proposals that appeal to developers, systems and network administrators, and their managers in the following areas: - All aspects of building applications, services, and systems that use the new capabilities of the open source platform - Burning issues for Java, Mozilla, web apps, and beyond - The commoditization of software: who and/or what can show us the money? - Network-enabled collaboration - Software customizability, including software as a service - Law, licensing, politics, and how best to navigate other troubled waters Specific topics and tracks at OSCON 2005 include: Linux and other open source operating systems, Java, PHP, Python, Perl, Databases (including MySQL and PostgreSQL), Apache, XML, Applications, Ruby, and Security. Attendees have a wide range of experience, so be sure to target a particular level of experience: beginner, intermediate, advanced. Talks and tutorials should be technical; strictly no marketing presentations. Session presentations are 45 or 90 minutes long, and tutorials are either a half-day (3 hours) or a full day (6 hours). Feel free to spread the word about the Call for Proposals to your friends, family, colleagues, and compatriots. We want everyone to submit, from American women hacking artificial life into the Linux kernel to Belgian men building a better mousetrap from PHP and recycled military hardware. We mean everyone! Even if you don't want to participate as a speaker, send us your suggestions--topics you'd like to see covered, groups we should bring into the OSCON fold, extra-curricular activities we should organize--to oscon-idea(a)oreilly.com . This year, we're moving to the wide open spaces of the Oregon Convention Center. We've arranged for the nearby Doubletree Hotel to be our headquarters hotel--it's a short, free Max light rail ride (or a lovely walk) from the Convention Center. Registration opens in April 2005; hotel information will be available shortly. Deadline to submit a proposal is Midnight (PST), February 13. For all the conference details, go to: http://conferences.oreillynet.com/os2005/ Press coverage, blogs, photos, and news from the 2004 O'Reilly Open Source Convention can be found at: http://www.oreillynet.com/oscon2004/ Would your company like to make a big impression on the open source community? If so, consider exhibiting or becoming a sponsor. Contact Andrew Calvo at (707) 827-7176, or andrewc(a)oreilly.com for more info. See you Portland next summer, The O'Reilly OSCON Team

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Chicago Python User Group, Thurs, Feb 10
by Ian Bicking Feb. 8, 2005

Feb. 8, 2005

The Chicago Python User Group, ChiPy, will have its next meeting on Thursday, February 10th, starting at 7pm. For more information on ChiPy see http://chipy.org John Hunter of the University of Chicago School of Medicine will give a presentation on Matplotlib, a Python package for scientific plotting that (among other things) emulates Matlab plotting. matplotlib is a python 2D plotting library which produces publication quality figures using in a variety of hardcopy formats and interactive GUI environments across platforms. matplotlib can be used in python scripts, interactively from the python shell (as in matlab or mathematica), in web application servers generating dynamic charts, or embedded in GUI applications. Short talks on other Python graphics packages are welcome. There will also be time to chat, and many opportunities to ask questions. We encourage people at all levels to attend. Location -------- This month we will be meeting at SMS, 444 N Michigan Ave 28th floor, Chicago, IL, 312-938-4400 SMS is near Grand and State on the Red Line. In the heart of the city, adjacent to the Wrigley building and across the street from the Tribune Tower. You'll have to sign in at the front desk when coming in. About ChiPy ----------- We meet once a month, on the second Thursday of the month. If you can't come this month, please join our mailing list: http://lonelylion.com/mailman/listinfo/chipy

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BayPIGgies: February 10, 7:30pm
by Aahz Feb. 7, 2005

Feb. 7, 2005

[Argh -- ignore wrong date on last post] WARNING: the last meeting of BayPIGgies at Stanford is currently scheduled for March. Our host, Danny Yoo, is leaving Stanford, and we need to find a new location. If you wish to assist with the search, please join the BayPIGgies mailing list. Meanwhile, let's all give hearty thanks to Danny for helping us find a stable meeting location for so long! The next meeting of BayPIGgies will be Thurs, February 10 at 7:30pm. Donovan Preston will preview his PyCon presentation on developing GUI applications with HTML and HTTP. If you want to do a presentation in March (also before PyCon!), please send e-mail to baypiggies(a)baypiggies.net BayPIGgies meetings are in Stanford, California. For more information and directions, see http://www.baypiggies.net/ Before the meeting, we may meet at 6pm for dinner in downtown Palo Alto. Discussion of dinner plans is handled on the BayPIGgies mailing list. Advance notice: The March 10 meeting agenda has not been set. Please send e-mail to baypiggies(a)baypiggies.net if you want to make a presentation. -- Aahz (aahz(a)pythoncraft.com) <*> http://www.pythoncraft.com/ "The joy of coding Python should be in seeing short, concise, readable classes that express a lot of action in a small amount of clear code -- not in reams of trivial code that bores the reader to death." --GvR

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