Mailman 3 May 2005 - Python-announce-list

ANN: HarvestMan 1.4.5 a1
by Anand 27 May '05

27 May '05

I am glad to announce the first alpha release of HarvestMan 1.4.5. HarvestMan 1.4.5 is the first major revision after HarvestMan 1.4 which was released in Jan 2005. HarvestMan [http://harvestman.freezope.org] is a WWW crawler program written entirely in Python. It has many features which allows you to highly customize your www crawling/offline downloading. HarvestMan features as much as 60+ configuration options. Here are the highlights of this release. 1. Configuration file changed to XML format from text format of previous versions. 2. An archival feature to archive downloaded files. 3. New, robust parser based on SGMLParser module. 4. Modifications in project caching. Changelog for this release available at http://harvestman.freezope.org/files/Changelog.txt . HarvestMan website: http://harvestman.freezope.org . Regards -Anand

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packageresources 0.1: Standard access to package related resources
by Dieter Maurer 27 May '05

27 May '05

packageresources is a Python package for standard access to package related resources (e.g. configuration files, package related data, presentation templates, ...). Such a standard access is essential for applications running from a zip archive or as a frozen application (in case they use associated non-code resources). packageresources defines a new URL scheme (see RFC 2396), the 'pypackage' scheme, used to designate package resources and a set of functions to access such resources. It also provides a function to patch Python's standard library such that 'pypackage' URLs are handled transparently. The current implementation supports packages in the filesystem or in a zip archive and frozen packages. It has been tested on *nix and Windows (XP). Not everything may work for installations using the macpath module (i.e. older Macintoshs). Read "doc.rst" in the tarball, for details. Download: <http://www.dieter.handshake.de/pyprojects/packageresources.tgz> Dieter

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[ANN] pylint 0.7
by Sylvain Thénault 27 May '05

27 May '05

Hello all ! I'm pleased to announce a new release of PyLint. I've been promising a 1.0 release some time ago, but it appears I've not enough time yet to do the polishing I wish, and since the latest (0.6.4) release has a few really annoying bugs (mainly related to options handling), I eventually decided to make this intermediate release. It mainly targets bug fixes but as the main pylint package has moved (it's not anymore a logilab'subpackage), I've made a 0.7 instead of a 0.6.5. Some others fixes and minor enhancements are included (see below for a more detailed list), and this release should be really stable. Please send any bugs or comments on the mailing list. What's new ? ------------ * WARNING: pylint is no longer a logilab subpackage. Users may have to manually remove the old logilab/pylint directory. * this time, real fix of the "disable-msg in the config file" problem, test added to unittest_lint * fix a bug in the variables checker which may causing some false positives when variables are defined and used within the same statement (test func_noerror_defined_and_used_on_same_line) * fix bug with --list-messages and python -OO * fix possible false positive for W0201 * introduce a new --additional-builtins option to handle user defined builtins * --reports option has now -r as short alias, and -i for --include-ids What is pylint ? ---------------- Pylint is a python tool that checks if a module satisfy a coding standard. Pylint can be seen as another pychecker since nearly all tests you can do with pychecker can also be done with Pylint. But Pylint offers some more features, like checking line-code's length, checking if variable names are well-formed according to your coding standard, or checking if declared interfaces are truly implemented, and much more (see http://www.logilab.org/projects/pylint/ for the complete check list). The big advantage with Pylint is that it is highly configurable, customizable, and you can easily write a small plugin to add a personal feature. The usage it quite simple : $ pylint mypackage.mymodule This command will output all the errors and warnings related to the tested code (here : mypackage.mymodule), will dump a little summary at the end, and will give a mark to the tested code. Pylint is free software distributed under the GNU Public Licence. Home page --------- http://www.logilab.org/projects/pylint Download -------- ftp://ftp.logilab.org/pub/pylint Mailing list ------------ mailto://python-projects@logilab.org Enjoy ! -- Sylvain Thénault LOGILAB, Paris (France). http://www.logilab.com http://www.logilab.fr http://www.logilab.org

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Docutils 0.3.9 released
by Felix Wiemann 26 May '05

26 May '05

Docutils 0.3.9 Released ======================= Docutils 0.3.9 has been released. You can download it from <http://prdownloads.sf.net/docutils/docutils-0.3.9.tar.gz?download>. The Docutils homepage is located at <http://docutils.sf.net/>. Major Changes Since Docutils 0.3.7 ================================== * Added "file_insertion_enabled" and "raw_enabled" settings. See <http://docutils.sf.net/docs/user/config.html#file-insertion-enabled>. * Added auto-enumerated lists. See <http://docutils.sf.net/docs/ref/rst/restructuredtext.html#enumerated-lists>. * Added "header" and "footer" directives. See <http://docutils.sf.net/docs/ref/rst/directives.html#document-header-footer>. * Added "list-table" directive. See <http://docutils.sf.net/docs/ref/rst/directives.html#list-table>. * Added support for section subtitles. See <http://docutils.sf.net/docs/user/config.html#sectsubtitle-xform>. * Added "field_name_limit" and "option_limit" settings to HTML writer. See <http://docutils.sf.net/docs/user/config.html#field-name-limit>. * Added "cloak_email_addresses" setting to HTML writer. See <http://docutils.sf.net/docs/user/config.html#cloak-email-addresses>. * UTF-8 BOMs (byte order marks) are now removed from the input stream. * Many minor improvements and bug fixes. See <http://docutils.sf.net/HISTORY.html#release-0-3-9-2005-05-26>. -- Felix Wiemann -- http://www.ososo.de/

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[ANNOUNCE] Twenty-fifth release of PythonCAD now available
by Art Haas 26 May '05

26 May '05

I'm pleased to announce the twenty-fifth development release of PythonCAD, a CAD package for open-source software users. As the name implies, PythonCAD is written entirely in Python. The goal of this project is to create a fully scriptable drafting program that will match and eventually exceed features found in commercial CAD software. PythonCAD is released under the GNU Public License (GPL). PythonCAD requires Python 2.2 or newer. The interface is GTK 2.0 based, and uses the PyGTK module for interfacing to GTK. The design of PythonCAD is built around the idea of separating the interface from the back end as much as possible. By doing this, it is hoped that both GNOME and KDE interfaces can be added to PythonCAD through usage of the appropriate Python module. Addition of other PythonCAD interfaces will depend on the availability of a Python module for that particular interface and developer interest and action. The twenty-fifth release consists primarily of bug fixes. The compatibility code for the GTK Action and ActionGroup classes introduced in the previous release had a number of bugs which have been fixed. People running PythonCAD on PyGTK releases prior to 2.4 should find this latest release working correctly due to these fixes. Thanks go to Wilbert Knol for helping identify and test the proposed fixes for this problem. A number of changes to the event handling code also are include in this release. Previously various event handling routines either returned an incorrect value, or returned a value when not needed. This release cleans up many of these issues, making the event handling code easier to follow as well as better conforming to GTK/PyGTK requirements. Various other bug fixes and code enhancements are present in this release as well. A mailing list for the development and use of PythonCAD is available. Visit the following page for information about subscribing and viewing the mailing list archive: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/pythoncad Visit the PythonCAD web site for more information about what PythonCAD does and aims to be: http://www.pythoncad.org/ Come and join me in developing PythonCAD into a world class drafting program! Art Haas -- Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. -Thomas Jefferson to James Smith, 1822

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SCF Bundle released
by Philippe C. Martin 26 May '05

26 May '05

Dear all, I am very happy to announce the release of SCFB: a python development toolkit for Smart Cards. SCFB comes with all necessary tools to easily get a Smart Card application running. SCFB also includes the necessary Smart Card and their software interface. SCFB is the tool we use to develop our own Smart Cards solutions. You may find information on SCFB by following the links: www.snakecard.com/html_bundle www.snakecard.com/scfb.pdf Best regards, Philippe Martin

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DFW Pythoneers' Coding Sprint This Saturday
by Jeff Rush 26 May '05

26 May '05

The DFW Pythoneers meet, at nerdbooks.com (a local bookstore), with our laptops for hands-on Python programming on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month. As we progress, we'll be focusing on Extreme Programming techniques, re pair programming, version control, unit testing and so forth. Represented are users of Linux, MacOS and Windows, in a variety of skill levels so if you are thinking of getting into programming, come along. This Saturday is 4th Saturday and we'll be doing it again. AGENDA LAST TIME: Last time we had 7 people show up, got connected to the Internet and learned about using the Subversion version control software, while sharing a single piece of Python source we each modified and passed to others thru the repository. It was a lot of fun to be making changes, do an update and see the work of others appear. AGENDA THIS TIME: Since we have a lot of beginner Python programmers, this time I'd like to start with an hour of presentation on the datatypes and basic control structures of Python. And then hands-on producing some simple programs that introduce certain Python concepts. For example, (1) a program that copies a file given on the command-line, to introduce file I/O and command-line arguments. Then (2) modify it to count the number of lines, to cover line I/O and lists, and then (3) modify it to count the number of matches against a string or regular expression provided as a new command-line argument, to bring in string operations and REs. If there is still time, we can cover the "optparse" module for advanced command-line parsing. Suggestions are welcome but I thought during this initial stage, we'd pick 3-4 commonly-used modules from the Python library each session and explore how to use them. For those more advanced in Python, please come also. Let's pair up with others on projects of common interest and use these Saturdays as working sessions. WHERE and WHEN? You can find directions to Nerdbooks at www.nerdbooks.com. We meet from 2:00pm to 5:00 pm. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: And further information about mailing lists and such at: http://python.taupro.com/ I'd also like to ask those planning to participate in the coding sprints to prepare their laptops with the necessary software, to save time. Details are on the wiki at: http://python.taupro.com/SprintingSetup As we meet to begin some projects, I'll give out write-access passwords. The repository is publically readable so everyone can watch the projects. Also, if you can bring along extra power strips, ethernet cables, and perhaps even a folding table or two. Jeff Rush, DFW Pythoneers Coordinator

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ANN: numarray-1.3.2
by Todd Miller 25 May '05

25 May '05

Numarray is an array processing package designed to efficiently manipulate large multi-dimensional arrays. Numarray is modelled after Numeric and features c-code generated from python template scripts, the capacity to operate directly on arrays in files, arrays of heterogeneous records, string arrays, and in-place operation on memory mapped files. ========================================================================= Release Notes for numarray-1.3.2 I. ENHANCEMENTS None. 1.3.2 fixes the problem with gcc4 on Mac OS-X 10.4 Tiger II. BUGS FIXED / CLOSED 1193125 Build failure on Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger) 1195370 numarray1.3.1 setup.py broken See http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=450446&group_id=1369&func=browse for more details. ========================================================================= Release Notes for numarray-1.3.1 I. ENHANCEMENTS None. 1.3.1 fixes the problem with gcc-3.4.3 II. BUGS FIXED / CLOSED 1152323 /usr/include/fenv.h:96: error: conflicting types for 'fegete 1185024 numarray-1.2.3 fails to compile with gcc-3.4.3 1187162 Numarray 1.3.0 installation failure See http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=450446&group_id=1369&func=browse for more details. ========================================================================= Release Notes for numarray-1.3.0 Numarray is an array processing package designed to efficiently manipulate large multi-dimensional arrays. Numarray is modelled after Numeric and features c-code generated from python template scripts, the capacity to operate directly on arrays in files, arrays of heterogeneous records, string arrays, and in-place operation on memory mapped files. I. ENHANCEMENTS 1. Migration of NumArray.__del__ to C (tp_dealloc). Overall performance. 2. Removal of dictionary update from array view creation improves performance of view/slice/subarray creation. This should e.g. improve the performance of wxPython sequence protocol access to Nx2 arrays. Subclasses now need to do a.flags |= numarray.generic._UPDATEDICT to ensure that dictionary based attributes are inherited by views. NumArrays no longer do this by default. 2. Modifications to support scipy.special. 3. Removal of an unnecessary getattr() from ufunc calling sequence. Ufunc performance. II. BUGS FIXED / CLOSED 1179355 average() broken in numarray 1.2.3 1167184 Floating point exception in numarray's dot() 1151892 Bug in matrixmultiply with zero size arrays 1160184 RecArray reversal 1156172 Incorect error message for shape incompatability 1155538 Incorrect error message when multiplying arrays See http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=450446&group_id=1369&func=browse for more details. III. CAUTIONS This release should be backward binary compatible with numarray-1.1.1 and 1.2.3. WHERE ----------- Numarray-1.3.0 windows executable installers, source code, and manual is here: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=1369 Numarray is hosted by Source Forge in the same project which hosts Numeric: http://sourceforge.net/projects/numpy/ The web page for Numarray information is at: http://stsdas.stsci.edu/numarray/index.html Trackers for Numarray Bugs, Feature Requests, Support, and Patches are at the Source Forge project for NumPy at: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=1369 REQUIREMENTS ------------------------------ numarray-1.3.0 requires Python 2.2.2 or greater. AUTHORS, LICENSE ------------------------------ Numarray was written by Perry Greenfield, Rick White, Todd Miller, JC Hsu, Paul Barrett, Phil Hodge at the Space Telescope Science Institute. We'd like to acknowledge the assitance of Francesc Alted, Paul Dubois, Sebastian Haase, Chuck Harris, Tim Hochberg, Nadav Horesh, Edward C. Jones, Eric Jones, Jochen Kuepper, Travis Oliphant, Pearu Peterson, Peter Verveer, Colin Williams, Rory Yorke, and everyone else who has contributed with comments and feedback. Numarray is made available under a BSD-style License. See LICENSE.txt in the source distribution for details. -- Todd Miller jmiller(a)stsci.edu ________________________________________________________________________

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ANN: blamehangle 0.1.0
by Freddie 25 May '05

25 May '05

(sorry if this appears several times, Australian usenet servers are atrocious) blamehangle is Yet Another IRC Bot Framework. Started in 2003 as a replacement for a nasty perl monster, we're just now getting around to releasing it. Useful features include: * Asynchronous HTTP client. * Threaded database lookups. * Threaded DNS lookups. * Multiple IRC network support. * Possibly understandable plugin deveopment model. * Useful collection of plugins. * Sometimes actively developed! blamehangle is available for download from the MadCowDisease web site: http://www.madcowdisease.org/mcd/blamehangle Or via Subversion at: svn://svn.madcowdisease.org/blamehangle/tags/0.1.0 or svn://svn.madcowdisease.org/blamehangle/trunk (for sometimes broken trunk) trunk is recommended, as there are several minor bugs fixed already. oops!

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Localized Type Inference of Atomic Types in Python
by Brett C. 24 May '05

24 May '05

My thesis, "Localized Type Inference of Atomic Types in Python", was successfully defended today for my MS in Computer Science at the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. With that stamp of approval I am releasing it to the world. You can grab a copy at http://www.drifty.org/thesis.pdf . For those of you who attended my talk at PyCon 2005 this is the thesis that stemmed from the presented data. As of this exact moment I am not planning to release the source code mainly because it's a mess, I am not in the mood to pull the patches together, and the last thing I want happening is people finding mistakes in the code. =) But if enough people request the source I will take the time to generate a tar.bz2 file of patches against the 2.3.4 source release and put them up somewhere. Below is the abstract culled directly from the thesis itself. -Brett C. --------------------------------- ABSTRACT Types serve multiple purposes in programming. One such purpose is in providing information to allow for improved performance. Unfortunately, specifying the types of all variables in a program does not always fit within the design of a programming language. Python is a language where specifying types does not fit within the language design. An open source, dynamic programming language, Python does not support type specifications of variables. This limits the opportunities in Python for performance optimizations based on type information compared to languages that do allow or require the specification of types. Type inference is a way to derive the needed type information for optimizations based on types without requiring type specifications in the source code of a program. By inferring the types of variables based on flow control and other hints in a program, the type information can be derived and used in a constructive manner. This thesis is an exploration of implementing a type inference algorithm for Python without changing the semantics of the language. It also explores the benefit of adding type annotations to method calls in order to garner more type information.

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