Mailman 3 June 2006 - Python-announce-list

15 Jun '06

WHAT IS SOYA 3D ? Soya 3D is an object oriented "high level" 3D engine for Python. Somehow, Soya is to 3D what Python is to programming. Soya allows to develop very rapidly games of other 3D apps, entirely in the Python language (contrary to most of the other engine, in which Python is limited to scripting tasks). Moreover, Soya is easy to learn and offers pretty good performances. Soya offers the features one can expect from a 3D engine, like basic scene management, cell-shading, shadows, particles systems,... as well as some unique features aiming at making 3D development easier and more rapid : * Soya takes care of coordinate system conversion automatically * Soya imports Blender models automatically * Soya automatically regulate the rendering speed by modifying the animation quality * Soya is able to determine automatically which objects are static, and to optimize their rendering (work in progress) * Soya's object, including the ones you may create using inheritance, can be saved without writing additional code, using serialization (Pickle or Cerealizer) Soya 3D has been successfully used in the games Slune, Balazar and Balazar Brothers, as well as in scientific simulations, teaching,... WHAT'S NEW ? The 0.11.x release adds support for Cerealizer (a secure Pickle-like module, useful e.g. for network games), a listbox component for the widget system, and adds handy aliases to rotation methods. Finally, there are several bugfixes on shadows, cellshading and raypicking on animated models. Get Soya here: http://soyaproject.org (BTW, http://soya3d.org has NEVER be the Soya 3D "official" page; it is owned by a guy that forked Soya, and now uses it to discredits the project. Please don't use this URL) Jiba

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python-dev Summary for 2006-05-01 through 2006-05-15
by Steven Bethard 14 Jun '06

14 Jun '06

python-dev Summary for 2006-05-01 through 2006-05-15 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ .. contents:: [The HTML version of this Summary is available at http://www.python.org/dev/summary/2006-05-01_2006-05-15] ============= Announcements ============= ------------------- Python 2.5 progress ------------------- Python 2.5 is moving steadily towards its first beta release. See `PEP 356`_ for more details and the full schedule. .. _PEP 356: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0356/ Contributing threads: - `2.5 open issues <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064965.html>`__ - `nag, nag -- 2.5 open issues <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064966.html>`__ ---------------------------------------------------------- Experimental wiki for editing the Python library reference ---------------------------------------------------------- Fredrik Lundh introduced his `pyref wiki`_ which allows wiki-style editing of the Python Library Reference. In addition to providing useful links, like unique URLs for all keywords, types and special methods, the project aims to make cleaning up and rewriting parts of the Python documentation as easy as editing a wiki. If you'd like to help out, let `Fredrik`_ know your infogami user name and he can add you to the group. .. _pyref wiki: http://pyref.infogami.com/ .. _Fredrik: fredrik(a)effbot.org Contributing threads: - `introducing the experimental pyref wiki <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064591.html>`__ - `introducing the experimental pyref wiki <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064720.html>`__ - `more pyref: continue in finally statements <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064726.html>`__ - `more pyref: a better term for "string conversion" <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064746.html>`__ - `more pyref: comparison precedence <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064754.html>`__ - `context guards, context entry values, context managers, context contexts <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064853.html>`__ ----------------------------------------------- Assigning a SourceForge group to a tracker item ----------------------------------------------- When opening a new patch on the SourceForge tracker, you should set "Group" to the earliest still-maintained Python version to which it applies. Currently, that means if it's a candidate for backporting, you should set the "Group" to 2.4. Contributing thread: - `Assigning "Group" on SF tracker? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064760.html>`__ ========= Summaries ========= -------------------------------- PEP 3102: Keyword-only arguments -------------------------------- This fortnight continued discussion from the last on Talin's PEP for keyword-only arguments. Mainly the discussion focused on the second half of his proposal which would allow positional arguments and keyword-only arguments at the same time with syntax like:: def compare(a, b, *, key=None): The arguments for it included: * It allows function APIs to be more strict initially to allow API evolution without breaking existing code. * It provides better documentation for functions that currently would have to take a \*\*kwargs. Still, a lot of people felt uncomfortable with the idea that the writer of a function could force the callee to use keyword arguments even if the callee found positional arguments to be simpler. Contributing thread: - `PEP 3102: Keyword-only arguments <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064656.html>`__ ---------------------------------- Alternative to PEP 355 path object ---------------------------------- Noam Raphael suggested an alternative to the path object suggested by `PEP 355`_ which makes paths more like tuples than strings. The ensuing discussion considered a variety of options, which would have allowed code something like:: pth = Path("~/foo/bar/baz.tar.gz"): assert pth.basepath == HOMEDIR assert pth.dirparts == ('foo', 'bar') assert pth.nameparts == ('baz', 'tar', 'gz') assert pth.prefix == str(pth.basepath) assert pth.dir == os.sep.join(pth.dirparts + ('',)) assert pth.name == os.extsep.join(pth.nameparts) Most of the ideas were also posted to the wiki under `AlternativePathClass`_ or `AlternativePathDiscussion`_, and a number of people asked for a PEP, but none was available at the time of this summary. .. _PEP 355: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0355/ .. _AlternativePathClass: http://wiki.python.org/moin/AlternativePathClass .. _AlternativePathDiscussion: http://wiki.python.org/moin/AlternativePathDiscussion Contributing thread: - `Alternative path suggestion <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064802.html>`__ ---------------------------- Mechanics for Python sprints ---------------------------- Tim Peters started a discussion about the best way to handle SVN commits during a sprint. After discussing a number of heavier-handed solutions, like trying to grant commit privileges for a single branch, in the end it seemed easiest to just add all the sprinters as committers, warn them to be careful about their commits, and have folks keep an eye on python-checkins. Contributing thread: - `Python sprint mechanics <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064861.html>`__ ------------------------- Methods of the bytes type ------------------------- Josiah Carlson asked about which str/unicode methods would still be available in Python 3000's bytes type. Guido asked for the thread to be moved to the `Python-3000 list`_ but then also suggested that "startswith", "endswith", "index", "rindex", "find", "rfind", "split", "rsplit", "join", "count", "replace", and "translate" might all be candidate methods. Josiah brought up some concerns about the bytes type not being hashable, but then Guido stepped in to ask that the debate be put on hold until the Python 3000 branch is more complete and some of these usability issues can be tested out there. .. _Python-3000 list: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-3000 Contributing threads: - `methods on the bytes object <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064613.html>`__ - `methods on the bytes object <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064663.html>`__ - `methods on the bytes object (was: Crazy idea for str.join) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064700.html>`__ ------------------------------------ PEP 3101: Advanced String Formatting ------------------------------------ Talin presented an updated `PEP 3101`_, and Edward Loper brought up an issue with the current escaping strategy -- code like ``'Foo\\%s' % x`` could not be written with the new string formatting since ``'Foo\\{0}'.format(x)`` would read the first brace as being escaped. .. _PEP 3101: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3101/ Contributing threads: - `PEP 3101: Advanced String Formatting <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064655.html>`__ - `PEP 3101 Update <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064921.html>`__ -------------------------------------------- Additional support for Py_ssize_t formatting -------------------------------------------- Georg Brandl asked about formatting unsigned Py_ssize_t values with PyString_FromFormat. To support this, Tim Peters added %u, %lu, and %zu to PyString_FromFormat, PyErr_Format, and PyString_FromFormatV. Contributing thread: - `Py_ssize_t formatting <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064997.html>`__ --------------------------------------------- Supporting long options: --help and --version --------------------------------------------- Heiko Wundram provided a `patch to support long options`_ for the Python interpreter in order to support --version and --help on Unix and -?, /?, /version and /help on Windows. No one seemed opposed to the idea, but at the time of this summary, the patch was still open. .. _patch to support long options: http://bugs.python.org/1481112 Contributing thread: - `Python long command line options <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064820.html>`__ ---------------------- Error codes on Windows ---------------------- Martin v. LÃ¶wis and Marc-Andre Lemburg discussed how to include both DOS and WIN32 error codes on WindowsError objects. As part of the solution, they discussed making the Win32 error code for a specific exception available as a .winerror attribute and making all the Windows error codes available through a winerror module. Contributing thread: - `[Python-checkins] r45925 - in python/trunk: Lib/tempfile.py Lib/test/test_os.py Misc/NEWS Modules/posixmodule.c <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064962.html>`__ ------------------------------- Signature objects for functions ------------------------------- Brett Cannon asked for some discussion of signature objects that would accompany functions and describe what kind of arguments they take. In particular, he wanted to know: * should signature objects be automatically generated, or only created at the request of a user? * should there be a function somewhere that can determine if a particular set of arguments are valid for a function? Some people wanted signature objects to always be available, but with the current C API, that isn't possible because functions declared in C can't be guaranteed to have the information necessary for determining a signature. Others suggested that since the signature object was only useful for introspection, it should only be available through, say, ``inspect.getsignature()``. No PEP was available at the time of this summary. Contributing thread: - `signature object issues (to discuss while I am out of contact) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064718.html>`__ ------------------------- Set complement operations ------------------------- Terry Jones asked about adding efficient set complement operations to Python's builtin sets so that, say, the complement of a 999,999 element set in a 1,000,000 element universe would take up the space of 1 element, not 999,999. Most folks thought it would be better to implement this as a standalone module first before there were any considerations about adding it to the stdlib. Contributing thread: - `Efficient set complement and operation on large/infinite sets. <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064977.html>`__ ------------------------------------------------------------------ Getting the weakref objects out of weakref.Weak*Dictionary objects ------------------------------------------------------------------ Fred L. Drake, Jr. presented a `patch to let users get the weakref objects out`_ of weakref.Weak*Dictionary objects. There was a brief discussion about trying to allow iteration over such dictionaries, but it looked like the patch was pretty reasonable and would soon be applied. .. _patch to let users get the weakref objects out: http://bugs.python.org/1479988 Contributing thread: - `New methods for weakref.Weak*Dictionary types <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064744.html>`__ ----------------------------- Python support for Windows CE ----------------------------- Luke Dunstan offered to maintain the port of Python to Windows CE. He got some clarifications about a number of issues, in particular that, although #ifdefs are occasionally removed to ease Python's maintenance, if they are accompanied by a record of what system and version needs them, they will not be dropped while there is an appropriate maintainer. Contributing thread: - `Python for Windows CE <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064812.html>`__ --------------------------------- Universal binaries for Python 2.4 --------------------------------- Ronald Oussoren asked about backporting to Python 2.4 the universal binary patches he applied to 2.5, mainly in order to avoid Apple picking up a recent copy of Python and shipping with a broken universal build like it did for python 2.3. While 2.4.4 isn't planned until after 2.5.0 (so if Apple picks up the newest version, they won't get the 2.4 line anyway), people seemed happy with the plan, and so there should be universal binary support in both Python 2.4.4 and 2.5.0. Contributing thread: - `python 2.4 and universal binaries <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064970.html>`__ ================ Deferred Threads ================ - `pthreads, fork, import, and execvp <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064983.html>`__ ================== Previous Summaries ================== - `Adding functools.decorator <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064653.html>`__ - `More on contextlib - adding back a contextmanager decorator <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064654.html>`__ - `Tkinter lockups. <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064667.html>`__ - `Visual studio 2005 express now free <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064941.html>`__ =============== Skipped Threads =============== - `unittest argv <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064657.html>`__ - `speeding up function calls <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064668.html>`__ - `elimination of scope bleeding of iteration variables <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064673.html>`__ - `global variable modification in functions [Re: elimination of scope bleeding of iteration variables] <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064677.html>`__ - `python syntax additions to support indentation insensitivity/generated code <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064678.html>`__ - `socket module recvmsg/sendmsg <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064699.html>`__ - `__getslice__ usage in sre_parse <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064723.html>`__ - `More Path comments (PEP 355) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064745.html>`__ - `Path.ancestor() <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064749.html>`__ - `[Python-checkins] r45850 - in python/trunk: Doc/lib/libfuncs.tex Lib/test/test_subprocess.py Misc/NEWS Objects/fileobject.c Python/bltinmodule.c <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064766.html>`__ - `Reminder: call for proposals "Python Language and Libraries Track" for Europython 2006 <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064772.html>`__ - `Date for DC-area Python sprint? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064782.html>`__ - `test failures in test_ctypes (HEAD) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064789.html>`__ - `Positional-only Arguments <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064790.html>`__ - `Any reason that any()/all() do not take a predicate argument? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064792.html>`__ - `mail to talin is bouncing <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064800.html>`__ - `Seeking students for the Summer of Code <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064808.html>`__ - `binary trees. Review obmalloc.c <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064809.html>`__ - `Shared libs on Linux (Was: test failures in test_ctypes (HEAD)) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064813.html>`__ - `lambda in Python <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064817.html>`__ - `Time since the epoch <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064833.html>`__ - `[Python-checkins] r45898 - in python/trunk: Lib/test/test_os.py Lib/test/test_shutil.py Misc/NEWS Modules/posixmodule.c <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064848.html>`__ - `Confirmed: DC-area sprint on Sat. June 3rd <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064850.html>`__ - `A critic of Guido's blog on Python's lambda <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064892.html>`__ - `Weekly Python Patch/Bug Summary <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064893.html>`__ - `binary trees. <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064904.html>`__ - `Yet another type system -- request for comments on a SoC proposal <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064912.html>`__ - `possible use of __decorates__ in functools.decorator <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064928.html>`__ - `total ordering. <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064942.html>`__ - `rest2latex - pydoc writer - tables <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064943.html>`__ - `[Python-checkins] Python Regression Test Failures basics (1) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064949.html>`__ - `PyThreadState_SetAsyncExc, PyErr_Clear and native extensions <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064984.html>`__ - `[Python-3000] Questions on optional type annotations <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064988.html>`__ - `Status: sqlite3 module docs <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/064992.html>`__ - `cleaned windows icons <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/065000.html>`__ - `correction of a bug <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/065007.html>`__ - `Building with VS 2003 .NET <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/065013.html>`__ - `[Python-checkins] r46005 - in python/trunk: Lib/tarfile.py Lib/test/test_tarfile.py Misc/NEWS <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/065016.html>`__ ======== Epilogue ======== This is a summary of traffic on the `python-dev mailing list`_ from May 01, 2006 through May 15, 2006. It is intended to inform the wider Python community of on-going developments on the list on a semi-monthly basis. An archive_ of previous summaries is available online. An `RSS feed`_ of the titles of the summaries is available. You can also watch comp.lang.python or comp.lang.python.announce for new summaries (or through their email gateways of python-list or python-announce, respectively, as found at http://mail.python.org). This python-dev summary is the 4th written by the python-dev summary drone, Steve Bethard. (Look ma! No hundred-message threads!) To contact me, please send email: - Steve Bethard (steven.bethard at gmail.com) Do *not* post to comp.lang.python if you wish to reach me. The `Python Software Foundation`_ is the non-profit organization that holds the intellectual property for Python. It also tries to advance the development and use of Python. If you find the python-dev Summary helpful please consider making a donation. You can make a donation at http://python.org/psf/donations.html . Every cent counts so even a small donation with a credit card, check, or by PayPal helps. -------------------- Commenting on Topics -------------------- 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`_! ------------------------- How to Read the Summaries ------------------------- That this summary is written using reStructuredText_. Any unfamiliar punctuation is probably markup for reST_ (otherwise it is probably regular expression syntax or a typo :); you can safely ignore it. We do suggest learning reST, though; it's simple and is accepted for `PEP markup`_ and can be turned into many different formats like HTML and LaTeX. Unfortunately, even though reST is standardized, the wonders of programs that like to reformat text do not allow us to 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`_. .. _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 .. _c.l.py: .. _comp.lang.python: http://groups.google.com/groups?q=comp.lang.python .. _PEP Markup: http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0012.html .. _Docutils: http://docutils.sf.net/ .. _reST: .. _reStructuredText: http://docutils.sf.net/rst.html .. _PSF: .. _Python Software Foundation: http://python.org/psf/ .. _original text file: http://www.python.org/dev/summary/2006-05-01_2006-05-15.rst .. _archive: http://www.python.org/dev/summary/ .. _RSS feed: http://www.python.org/dev/summary/channews.rdf

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python-dev Summary for 2006-04-16 through 2006-04-30
by Steven Bethard 14 Jun '06

14 Jun '06

python-dev Summary for 2006-04-16 through 2006-04-30 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ .. contents:: [The HTML version of this Summary is available at http://www.python.org/dev/summary/2006-04-16_2006-04-30] ============= Announcements ============= --------------------------- Python 2.5 alpha 2 released --------------------------- Python 2.5 alpha 2 was released on April 27th. If you haven't tried it out yet, now's the time! `PEP 356`_ has more details and the full schedule. .. _PEP 356: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0356/ Contributing threads: - `TRUNK FREEZE from 00:00 UTC, 27th April 2006 for 2.5a2 <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064382.html>`__ - `RELEASED Python 2.5 (alpha 2) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064479.html>`__ - `trunk is UNFROZEN <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064483.html>`__ - `2.5 open issues <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064519.html>`__ ---------------------------- QOTF: Quote of the Fortnight ---------------------------- Phillip J. Eby, on the social behavior of package distributors (and why setuptools goes to such efforts to guess what package distributors were really trying to do): The problem isn't fundamentally a technical one, but a social one. You can effect [sic] social change through technology, but not by being some random guy with a nagging 'bot. (And yes, Phillip, you can nominate yourself for QOTF.) ;-) Contributing thread: - `setuptools: past, present, future <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064168.html>`__ ========= Summaries ========= ------------------------------- Adding setuptools to the stdlib ------------------------------- Phillip J. Eby started checking in some of the `setuptools`_ modules for Python 2.5. People started to get nervous about some of the modules because: * Setuptools changes the distutils "install" command to install everything as zipfile eggs * Setuptools changes the distutils "sdist" command to automate generation of MANIFEST.in and MANIFEST. * Setuptools adds 'site.py' files so that .pth files are processed in PYTHONPATH directories. * Setuptools monkey-patches three classes from distutils: Distribution, Command, and Extension. While most people recognized the need for the features that setuptools provides, a number of them objected to introducing setuptools as a new package and instead argued for merging setuptools into distutils. Phillip said that such a merge might be possible, but that there were a fair number of backwards compatibility concerns (e.g. its redefinition of the "install" and "sdist" commands) and that it would make it much harder for him to maintain external versions of setuptools compatible with Python 2.3 and 2.4. In the end, Phillip suggested withdrawing setuptools from Python 2.5, and figuring out how to merge setuptools into distutils for the 2.6 release. In particular, he asked for help with the mostly trivial porting of the "alias", "rotate", "saveopts" and "setopt" commands. Additionally, he made available some information about the `setuptools internals`_ for anyone who wanted to see better what was going on behind the scenes. .. _setuptools: http://peak.telecommunity.com/DevCenter/setuptools .. _setuptools internals: http://peak.telecommunity.com/DevCenter/EggFormats Contributing threads: - `[Python-checkins] r45510 - python/trunk/Lib/pkgutil.py python/trunk/Lib/pydoc.py <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063838.html>`__ - `Place for setuptools manuals and source for .exe files? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063846.html>`__ - `setuptools in the stdlib ([Python-checkins] r45510 - python/trunk/Lib/pkgutil.py python/trunk/Lib/pydoc.py) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063848.html>`__ - `setuptools in the stdlib ( r45510 - python/trunk/Lib/pkgutil.py python/trunk/Lib/pydoc.py) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063872.html>`__ - `setuptools in the stdlib <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063877.html>`__ - `Raising objections (was: setuptools in the stdlib) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063884.html>`__ - `Raising objections <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063906.html>`__ - `3rd party extensions hot-fixing the stdlib (setuptools in the stdlib) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063930.html>`__ - `setuptools in 2.5. <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063952.html>`__ - `magic in setuptools (Was: setuptools in the stdlib) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063966.html>`__ - `Distutils for Python 2.1 (was "Raising objections") <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064000.html>`__ - `setuptools in 2.5. (summary) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064001.html>`__ - `Distutils thoughts <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064079.html>`__ - `setuptools: past, present, future <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064145.html>`__ - `Easy, uncontroversial setuptools->distutils tasks <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064150.html>`__ - `Internal documentation for egg formats now available <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064348.html>`__ ----------------------------- PEP 343: The "with" Statement ----------------------------- A.M. Kuchling asked about some terminology in the `PEP 343`_ documentation. Originally, the objects with ``__enter__`` and ``__exit__`` methods which were used in the with-statement were called "context managers". When the additional ``__context__`` method was introduced, the term "manageable context" was given to objects that provided it. At PyCon, the PEP was changed to switch the terms, though the names of ``decimal.Context`` and ``contextlib.contextmanager`` were not changed correspondingly. This all led to a rather confusing discussion where people argued over the terminology, appropriately summarized in this quote by Phillip J. Eby: ...everybody has been perfectly clear, we just haven't really gotten on the same page about which words mean what. People then played around with a variety of alternative terms ("context factory", "context specifier", etc.) but in the end, Guido decided that it was much clearer to just drop the ``__context__`` method entirely -- most use-cases at the time just had ``__context__`` returning self, and the few use-cases that didn't could be accomodated with an appropriately named method or function. And dropping the ``__context__`` method meant that only the term "context manager" was necessary, removing most of the earlier terminological confusion. .. _PEP 343: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0343/ Contributing threads: - `PEP 343: confusing context terminology <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063842.html>`__ - `Why are contexts also managers? (was r45544 - peps/trunk/pep-0343.txt) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063863.html>`__ - `With context, please <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064191.html>`__ - `PEP 343 update (with statement context terminology) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064213.html>`__ - `Must objects with __enter__/__exit__ also supply __context__? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064296.html>`__ - `Updated context management documentation <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064331.html>`__ - `[Python-checkins] r45721 - python/trunk/Lib/test/test_with.py <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064385.html>`__ - `More on contextlib - adding back a contextmanager decorator <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064619.html>`__ ------------------------------------------------ Dropping __init__.py requirement for subpackages ------------------------------------------------ After some pressure from other Googlers, Guido suggested that Python drop the requirement that subpackages have an __init__.py file (though top-level packages would still require one). People were concerned that a number of non-subpackage directories would suddenly become packages, e.g. "test" in the Python distribution. There was also some concern about tools that depended on the current requirement -- any tool that currently searches directories for __init__.py files would have to be updated to work with the new semantics. In the end, `Thomas Wouters provided a patch`_ that makes Python now issue a warning when it would have imported a module but failed to because __init__.py was missing. .. _Thomas Wouters provided a patch: http://bugs.python.org/1477281 Contributing threads: - `Dropping __init__.py requirement for subpackages <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064400.html>`__ - `[Python-checkins] r45770 - in python/trunk: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064583.html>`__ ------------------------------------- Python and Visual Studio 2005 Express ------------------------------------- Guido noticed that Microsoft had announced that `Visual Studio 2005 express will be free forever`_, and asked if Python should try to accomodate this. People seemed to think that switching to Visual Studio 2005 for Python 2.5 was too soon but that 2.6 might be a reasonable candidate, particularly since Microsoft no longer provides downloads for the Visual Studio 2003 compiler. .. _Visual Studio 2005 express will be free forever: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/ Contributing thread: - `Visual studio 2005 express now free <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064087.html>`__ ---------------------------- Adding wsgiref to the stdlib ---------------------------- Guido suggested adding Phillip J. Eby's `reference implementation`_ of `PEP 333`_ (the Web Server Gateway Interface) to the standard library. People were generally in favor, though there was some brief discussion about adding a few extras including Ian Bicking's paste.lint validator and a simple dispatch mechanism. It looked like wsgiref would be added in time for Python 2.5. .. _reference implementation: http://svn.eby-sarna.com/wsgiref/ .. _PEP 333: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0333/ Contributing threads: - `Adding wsgiref <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064199.html>`__ - `Adding wsgiref to stdlib <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064549.html>`__ - `[Web-SIG] Adding wsgiref to stdlib <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064556.html>`__ -------------------- Buildbots on Windows -------------------- Some of the Windows buildbots were hanging when the buildbot slave terminated the run early, but failed to terminate python_d.exe, thus making it impossible to recompile anything (since python_d.exe cannot be deleted while running on Windows). No one was certain what was causing the problems (though it seemed like it might be some sort of indexing service running in the background) but Martin v. LÃ¶wis was able to unstick the machines by creating a kill_python.exe application which looks for python_d.exe and kills it. Contributing thread: - `windows buildbot failures <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063792.html>`__ ---------------------------------- Externally maintained packages PEP ---------------------------------- Following up on work from the last fortnight, Brett Cannon put together information on all the packages like sqlite and elementtree that are part of the Python standard library, but have their central repository somewhere else. It looked like a PEP would soon be forthcoming. Contributing threads: - `need info for externally maintained modules PEP <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063788.html>`__ - `draft of externally maintained packages PEP <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064362.html>`__ - `(hopefully) final draft of externally maintained code PEP <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064604.html>`__ ----------------------------- PEP 359: The "make" statement ----------------------------- Discussion continued on `PEP 359`_'s "make" statement continued, looking in particular at ways that breaking the parallel with the class statement might make the "make" statement easier to use. In the end Guido asked me to kill the discussion, so I withdrew the PEP. .. _PEP 359: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0359/ Contributing threads: - `PEP 359: The "make" Statement <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063776.html>`__ - `Updated: PEP 359: The make statement <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063847.html>`__ -------------------------------- PEP 3102: Keyword-only arguments -------------------------------- Talin introduced `PEP 3102`_ which proposes support for "keyword-only" arguments, that is, arguments that must be specified with the name=value keyword syntax, not as positional arguments. The proposal came in two parts: * Allowing keyword arguments after varargs, e.g.:: def add_option(*opts, action='store', type='string', ...) * Allowing keyword arguments with no varargs, e.g.:: def compare(a, b, *, key=None): There was widespread support for the first part of the PEP, particularly since such signatures exist in functions like the builtin min and max already (which gained key= arguments in Python 2.5). The latter part people were unsure of, and suggested a variety of other syntaxes, though Guido had already decided on the "*" syntax. Discussion continued on this issue into the next fortnight. .. _PEP 3102: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3102/ Contributing thread: - `PEP 3102: Keyword-only arguments <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064598.html>`__ ------------------------------------ String formatting for size_t objects ------------------------------------ Brett Cannon ran into some problems with the formatting of size_t objects. What was really needed was the C99 "z" printf modifier, but since Python aims for C89 conformance, that can't be used unconditionally. In the end, Brett Cannon modified Python's config to test if the "z" modifier is supported and then used that whenever possible. Contributing threads: - `PY_FORMAT_SIZE_T warnings on OS X <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063280.html>`__ - `PY_FORMAT_SIZE_T warnings on OS X <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064363.html>`__ --------------------------------- The Grammar file and SyntaxErrors --------------------------------- In working on a parser for a subset of the Python language, Michael Foord ran into some troubles using the Grammar/Grammar file in the Python distribution. In particular, the problem he was having was the entry:: list_for: 'for' exprlist 'in' testlist_safe [list_iter] which indicates that any expression list can be used as the assignment expression in a list comprehension, so that code like the following is valid by the Grammar file:: [1 for 1 in n] Of course Python doesn't allow this, but as Guido explained, the expression that Python really wants is not LL1, so Python fudges it in the parser, and then issues a SyntaxError later by checking that the nodes in the parse tree actually match the restricted type of nodes required. Contributing thread: - `Python Grammar Ambiguity <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064276.html>`__ ------------------------- Pybench now in Python SVN ------------------------- Marc-Andre Lemburg offered to contribute pybench to Python in response to a previous thread indicating some of the problems with pystone. It's now checked in under the Tools directory. Contributing thread: - `2.5a1 Performance <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063849.html>`__ --------------------------- Adding threading.released() --------------------------- Nick Coghlan asked if the ``released()`` function suggested in `PEP 343`_ should be added for Python 2.5 to support code like:: def thread_safe(): with sync_lock: # This is thread-safe with released(sync_lock): # Perform long-running or blocking operation # that doesn't need to hold the lock # We have the lock back here While it seemed occasionally useful (e.g. in the implementation of threading._Condition), this one looked like it would be put off until folks had had more experience with context managers. Contributing thread: - `Proposed addition to threading module - released <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064243.html>`__ ------------------------------ Removing the me_hash for dicts ------------------------------ Kirat Singh asked about removing me_hash from the dict struct to save some space. People generally seemed opposed to trading off speed for space, particularly since it would slow down classes that define their own ``__hash__``. Contributing thread: - `Reducing memory overhead for dictionaries by removing me_hash <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064212.html>`__ ------------------------------------ PEP 3101: Advanced String Formatting ------------------------------------ Talin introduced `PEP 3101`_ which proposes a new formatting system through a new ``string.format()`` method. This would allow specifying items through both positional and keyword arguments, as well as allowing user-defined classes to support their own set of format specifiers, e.g.:: "The story of {0}, {1}, and {c}".format(a, b, c=d) "Today is: {0:%x}".format(datetime.now()) There was some brief discussion about how to escape the brace characters, and some opposition to the compound name syntax (which allowed __getitem__-style access using a dotted notation) before the thread trailed off. .. _PEP 3101: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3101/ Contributing thread: - `PEP 3101: Advanced String Formatting <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064608.html>`__ --------------------- Replacing SourceForge --------------------- Brett Cannon asked for some things that people liked and disliked about SourceForge as the Infrastructure committee moved forward on finding a replacement tracker for SF. There weren't too many positive comments, but some of the things SF was missing are: * A way to flag a patch as "reviewed"; "pending" won't work -- it just sets a timeout period and then deletes the message. * A way to tag a tracker item by the relevant documentation section (e.g. language reference, library reference, etc.) * The ability to participate in a bug discussion through email instead of the web interface * The ability to define a filter on tracker items so that you can be emailed when a new tracker item meets your criteria * A way to identify relations between bugs, e.g. this bug closes another bug. * The ability to close a bug with a checkin. A Call for Trackers was to be soon forthcoming. Contributing threads: - `Reviewed patches [was: SoC proposal: "fix some old, old bugs in sourceforge"] <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064342.html>`__ - `what do you like about other trackers and what do you hate about SF? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064343.html>`__ - `Reviewed patches <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064387.html>`__ ----------------------------------------------- Making decorated functions easier to introspect ----------------------------------------------- Nick Coghlan offered to add a function to the new functools module to make writing introspectable decorators easier. Many decorators that return new functions look something like:: def decorator(func): def new_func(*args, **kwargs): ... return new_func But the newly created function metadata (__name__, __doc__, etc.) is now inconsistent with the original function. Originally, Nick had proposed introducing a decorator function to do this, but he settled instead on a simple helper function, ``functools.update_wrapper``, which can be called by decorator writers to update the appropriate metadata. Contributing thread: - `Adding functools.decorator <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064620.html>`__ --------------------------- Tkinter hangs due to Tk bug --------------------------- Thomas Wouters noticed that test_tcl locked up when Tcl and Tk were compiled with --enable-threads and he tried to refleaktest Tkinter. Seems that despite the lack of any note in the Tk documentation, Tk_Init() doesn't like being called twice even when the first call results in an error. Martin v. LÃ¶wis reported the bug to the Tk folks and added a workaround for the current behavior. Contributing thread: - `Tkinter lockups. <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064235.html>`__ ================ Deferred Threads ================ - `introducing the experimental pyref wiki <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064591.html>`__ - `methods on the bytes object <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064613.html>`__ ================== Previous Summaries ================== - `[Python-checkins] r45321 - in python/trunk: Lib/test/test_traceback.py Lib/traceback.py Misc/NEWS <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063772.html>`__ - `Py_Finalize does not release all memory, not even closely <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063773.html>`__ - `Preserving the blamelist <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063775.html>`__ - `PyObject_REPR() <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063803.html>`__ - `New-style icons, .desktop file <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063967.html>`__ - `Win64 AMD64 (aka x64) binaries available64 <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064125.html>`__ =============== Skipped Threads =============== - `valgrind reports <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063774.html>`__ - `Any reason that any()/all() do not take apredicateargument? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063777.html>`__ - `refleaks & test_tcl & threads <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063785.html>`__ - `2.5 post-alpha1 broken on mac-intel machines <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063793.html>`__ - `Summer of Code preparation <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063795.html>`__ - `[C++-sig] GCC version compatibility <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063799.html>`__ - `remote debugging with pdb <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063800.html>`__ - `Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS around readdir()? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063801.html>`__ - `FYI: more clues re: tee+generator leak <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063802.html>`__ - `[ python-Patches-790710 ] breakpoint command lists in pdb <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063809.html>`__ - `FishEye on Python CVS Repository <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063810.html>`__ - `problem installing current cvs - TabError <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063811.html>`__ - `fat binaries for OSX <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063814.html>`__ - `Returning -1 from function with unsigned long type <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063818.html>`__ - `adding Construct to the standard library? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063819.html>`__ - `posix_confstr seems wrong <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063820.html>`__ - `pdb segfaults in 2.5 trunk? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063825.html>`__ - `possible fix for recursive __call__ segfault <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063828.html>`__ - `How to make _sre.c compile w/ C++? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063831.html>`__ - `Gentoo failures - it's blaming me... <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063832.html>`__ - `a flattening operator? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063867.html>`__ - `[Python-checkins] r45505 - python/trunk/Modules/posixmodule.c <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063874.html>`__ - `bug with __dict__? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063931.html>`__ - `Python Software Foundation seeks mentors and students for Google Summer of Code <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063965.html>`__ - `PEP 355 (object-oriented paths) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063977.html>`__ - `proposal: evaluated string <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064005.html>`__ - `SVN question <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064009.html>`__ - `Google Summer of Code proposal: Pdb improvments <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064012.html>`__ - `Stream codecs and _multibytecodec <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064051.html>`__ - `python 2.5alpha and naming schemes <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064052.html>`__ - `unrecognized command line option "-Wno-long-double" <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064053.html>`__ - `extended bitwise operations <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064054.html>`__ - `Weekly Python Patch/Bug Summary <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064070.html>`__ - `[pypy-dev] Python Software Foundation seeks mentors and students for Google Summer of Code <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064074.html>`__ - `Google Summer of Code proposal: improvement of long int and adding new types/modules. <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064076.html>`__ - `bin codec + EOF <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064078.html>`__ - `Module names in Python: was Re: python 2.5alpha and naming schemes <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064094.html>`__ - `Removing Python 2.4 -m switch helpers from import.c <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064099.html>`__ - `patch #1454481 - runtime tunable thread stack size <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064108.html>`__ - `[Python-3000-checkins] r45617 - in python/branches/p3yk/Lib/plat-mac/lib-scriptpackages: CodeWarrior/CodeWarrior_suite.py CodeWarrior/__init__.py Explorer/__init__.py Finder/Containers_and_folders.py Finder/Files.py Finder/Finder_Basics.py Finder <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064115.html>`__ - `[Python-3000-checkins] r45617 - in python/branches/p3yk/Lib/plat-mac/lib-scriptpackages: CodeWarrior/CodeWarrior_suite.py CodeWarrior/__init__.py Explorer/__init__.py Finder/Containers_and_folders.py Finder/Files.py Finder/Finder_Bas <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064117.html>`__ - `Reject or update PEP 243? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064147.html>`__ - `IronPython Performance <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064149.html>`__ - `[pypy-dev] Python Software Foundation seeksmentors and students for Google Summer of Code <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064155.html>`__ - `New artwork for the osx port <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064182.html>`__ - `[Python-checkins] Python Regression Test Failures refleak (1) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064206.html>`__ - `PEP 8 pylintrc? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064231.html>`__ - `Compiling w/ C++ (was: Reducing memory overhead for dictionaries by removing me_hash) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064233.html>`__ - `Builtin exit, good in interpreter, bad in code. <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064239.html>`__ - `Buildbot messages and the build svn revision number <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064251.html>`__ - `Google Summer of Code proposal: New class for work with binary trees AVL and RB as with the standard dictionary. <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064260.html>`__ - `gettext.py bug #1448060 <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064263.html>`__ - `SoC proposal: "fix some old, old bugs in sourceforge" <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064271.html>`__ - `[Mono-dev] IronPython Performance <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064275.html>`__ - `[IronPython] [Mono-dev] IronPython Performance <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064277.html>`__ - `interested in Google Summer of Code: what should I do? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064322.html>`__ - `EuroPython 2006: Call for papers <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064329.html>`__ - `GNU info version of documentation <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064367.html>`__ - `big-memory tests <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064377.html>`__ - `suggestion: except in list comprehension <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064388.html>`__ - `Accessing DLL objects from other DLLs <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064390.html>`__ - `Addressing Outstanding PEPs <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064391.html>`__ - `PEP 304 (Was: Addressing Outstanding PEPs) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064395.html>`__ - `inheriting basic types more efficiently <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064396.html>`__ - `Google Summer of Code proposal: New class for workwith binary trees AVL and RB as with the standard dictionary. <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064443.html>`__ - `binary trees. Review obmalloc.c <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064473.html>`__ - `A better and more basic array type <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064485.html>`__ - `Type-Def-ing Python <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064486.html>`__ - `traceback.py still broken in 2.5a2 <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064501.html>`__ - `"mick-windows" buildbot uptime <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064510.html>`__ - `rest2latex - was: Re: Raising objections <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064522.html>`__ - `Is this a bad idea: picky floats? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064527.html>`__ - `Summer of Code mailing list <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064546.html>`__ - `Bug day? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064552.html>`__ - `Float formatting and # <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064555.html>`__ - `Crazy idea for str.join <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064584.html>`__ - `rich comparisions and old-style classes <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064607.html>`__ - `methods on the bytes object (was: Crazy idea for str.join) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064612.html>`__ - `Problem with inspect and PEP 302 <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064614.html>`__ - `PyThreadState_SetAsyncExc and native extensions <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064621.html>`__ - `__getslice__ usage in sre_parse <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064622.html>`__ - `elimination of scope bleeding of iteration variables <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064623.html>`__ - `[Python-3000] in-out parameters <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064635.html>`__ - `socket module recvmsg/sendmsg <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/064649.html>`__ ======== Epilogue ======== This is a summary of traffic on the `python-dev mailing list`_ from April 16, 2006 through April 30, 2006. It is intended to inform the wider Python community of on-going developments on the list on a semi-monthly basis. An archive_ of previous summaries is available online. An `RSS feed`_ of the titles of the summaries is available. You can also watch comp.lang.python or comp.lang.python.announce for new summaries (or through their email gateways of python-list or python-announce, respectively, as found at http://mail.python.org). This python-dev summary is the 3rd written by the python-dev summary sucker, Steve Bethard. (Mmmmm... Summaries...) To contact me, please send email: - Steve Bethard (steven.bethard at gmail.com) Do *not* post to comp.lang.python if you wish to reach me. The `Python Software Foundation`_ is the non-profit organization that holds the intellectual property for Python. It also tries to advance the development and use of Python. If you find the python-dev Summary helpful please consider making a donation. You can make a donation at http://python.org/psf/donations.html . Every cent counts so even a small donation with a credit card, check, or by PayPal helps. -------------------- Commenting on Topics -------------------- 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`_! ------------------------- How to Read the Summaries ------------------------- That this summary is written using reStructuredText_. Any unfamiliar punctuation is probably markup for reST_ (otherwise it is probably regular expression syntax or a typo :); you can safely ignore it. We do suggest learning reST, though; it's simple and is accepted for `PEP markup`_ and can be turned into many different formats like HTML and LaTeX. Unfortunately, even though reST is standardized, the wonders of programs that like to reformat text do not allow us to 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`_. .. _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 .. _c.l.py: .. _comp.lang.python: http://groups.google.com/groups?q=comp.lang.python .. _PEP Markup: http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0012.html .. _Docutils: http://docutils.sf.net/ .. _reST: .. _reStructuredText: http://docutils.sf.net/rst.html .. _PSF: .. _Python Software Foundation: http://python.org/psf/ .. _original text file: http://www.python.org/dev/summary/2006-04-16_2006-04-30.rst .. _archive: http://www.python.org/dev/summary/ .. _RSS feed: http://www.python.org/dev/summary/channews.rdf

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ANN: webstring 0.3 released
by L. C. Rees 14 Jun '06

14 Jun '06

webstring is a template system designed for programmers whose preferred template languages are Python and HTML (and XML for people that swing that way). Highlights of 0.3 include: - an HTMLTemplate class for taking questionable HTML and outputting it as correct XHTML 1.0, XHTML 1.1, or HTML 4.0 - better support for integrating string.Template and Python string formatting so they can be used to format XML/HTML element and attribute content. - better batch templating - support for pickling webstring's Template objects - more tests including doctests - removal of unit tests from the main module - support for elementtree as an XML processing backend - speed enhancements - code changes to increase ease of use - more documentation and examples Changelog is available here: http://psilib.sourceforge.net/CHANGELOG-0.3 The webstring module is available for download at: http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/psilib/webstring.py?download More information on webstring including documentation and a tutorial can be found at: http://psilib.sourceforge.net/webstring.html

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Fredericksburg, VA ZPUG reminder: Wed., June 14
by Gary Poster 13 Jun '06

13 Jun '06

Hi all. Don't forget tomorrow's ZPUG meeting. If you plan to attend, an email to me tonight or tomorrow morning would be appreciated, but is not necessary. - Chris McDonough will talk about meld3, a Python HTML/XML templating system in the spirit of PyMeld and other 'push-based' templating systems. (http://www.plope.com/software/meld3). - Tres Seaver will present "Using memcached in Python and Zope", including a demo of using his 'mcdutils' product to do shared session management in Zope. - good snacks. Thanks! Gary

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Vancouver Python Workshop - Talk submission reminder
by Brian Quinlan 13 Jun '06

13 Jun '06

What's New? =========== The deadline for submitting a talk or tutorial for the Vancouver Python Workshop is fast approaching. Talks will be accepted until Friday June 16th. To submit a talk, see: http://www.vanpyz.org/conference/talksubmission.html About the Vancouver Python Workshop =================================== The conference will begin with keynote addresses on August 4st by Guido van Rossum [1], Jim Hugunin [2], and Ian Cavén [3]. Further talks (and tutorials for beginners) will take place on August 5th and 6th. The Vancouver Python Workshop is a community organized and designed for both the beginner and for the experienced Python programmer with: * tutorials for beginning programmers * advanced lectures for Python experts * case studies of Python in action * after-hours social events * informative keynote speakers * tracks on multimedia, Web development, education and more More information see: http://www.vanpyz.org/conference/ or contact Brian Quinlan at: brian(a)sweetapp.com Vancouver ========= In addition to the opportunity to learn and socialize with fellow Pythonistas, the Vancouver Python Workshop also gives visitors the opportunity to visit one of the most extraordinary cities in the world [4]. For more information about traveling to Vancouver, see: http://www.vanpyz.org/conference/vancouver.html http://www.tourismvancouver.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver Important dates =============== Talk proposals accepted: May 15th to June 15th Early registration (discounted): May 22nd to June 30th Normal registration: from July 1st Keynotes: August 4th Conference and tutorial dates: August 5th and 6th [1] Guido van Rossum (Google) is the inventor of Python and has managed its growth and development for more than a decade. Guido was awarded the Free Software Foundation Award in 2002 and Dr.Dobb's 1999 Excellence in Programming Award. Guido works at Google and spends half of his time on Python. [2] Jim Hugunin (Microsoft) is the creator of numerous innovations that take Python into new application domains. Jim's most recent project, IronPython integrates Python into Microsoft's .NET runtime. Jim's previous project, Jython is Python for the Java runtime and was the second production-quality implementation of Python. Before that, Jim's Numeric Python adapted Python to the needs of number crunching applications. Jim works at Microsoft adapting the .NET runtime to the needs of dynamic languages like Python. [3] Ian Cavén is the primary developer of the Lowry Digital Images motion picture restoration system. This Python and Zope-based system has been used to restore over 150 motion pictures. Highlights include Citizen Kane, Sunset Boulevard and both the Indiana Jones and Star Wars trilogies. While Ian was Chief Scientist at Lowry Digital, his rack of computers grew from a few Macintoshes on his desktop to over six hundred Macintosh and Linux servers - at one point earning Lowry the title as the second biggest installation of parallel processing Maintoshes in the world. In 2005, Lowry Digital Images was acquired by DTS (the famous movie audio company) and renamed DTS Digital Images. The motion picture restoration system has been discussed in publications as diverse as IEEE Spectrum, USA Today, the BBC NEWS, the New York Times and Apple.com. Ian has been a Python enthusiast since 1999. [4] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2299119.stm Cheers, Brian

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Pygame.draw challenge
by richard＠pyweek.org 13 Jun '06

13 Jun '06

<http://media.pyweek.org/static/pygame.draw-0606.html> THE CHALLENGE: Create a game in 64kbytes of source code using only pygame. No additional libraries, no external files (even ones loaded from a network). That means no PyOpenGL, no PNGs, no OGGs. THE DEADLINE: Start as soon as you read this announcement. Human-readable, Linux-compatible entries must be received by richard(a)pyweek.org before midnight on the 25th of June, 2006. That's Australian Eastern Standard Time, which is UTC +10. Multiple entries are allowed. Teams are allowed. Monkeys are allowed! Ponies, sadly, are not allowed. THE RESULTS: All entries will be posted to a page on the http://www.pyweek.org/ website. Entry gameplay instructions and license must be included in the source or in the game itself. I will probably choose one of the entries as my favourite, and declare this in various obscure fora and private email messages. No other mention of rankings or favourites will be made. THANKS: Thanks to Phil Hassey for the challenge inspiration! -- Visit the PyWeek website: http://www.pyweek.org/

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Dr. Dobb's Python-URL! - weekly Python news and links (Jun 12)
by Cameron Laird 12 Jun '06

12 Jun '06

QOTW: "Check out BeautifulSoup -- you will never write HTMLParser-based screen scrapers again. :)" - Jonathan Ellis "You clearly need something instead of XML." - Paul McGuire http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/msg/09e943c8dbf1e8c5? Johann C. Rocholl donates a PNG manager in pure Python: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/97c035… Andrew Clover provides new Python icons: http://doxdesk.com/img/software/py/icons2.png http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-March/063235.html http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063517.html Might it be practical to use py2exe to make single-file executables of Tkinter applications? Perhaps when Tkinter reaches 8.5 of Tk: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/b6a613… Even more primitive compilation abilities have advanced lately. Paul Moore details construction of Python with the fee-free Microsoft compiler, while Anthony Baxter compiles Python with C++ (!): http://wiki.python.org/moin/Building_Python_with_the_free_MS_C_Toolkit?high… http://svn.python.org/projects/python/trunk/PCbuild/readme.txt http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063719.html http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063632.html Danny Yee accurately describes David Mertz' Python book: http://dannyreviews.com/h/Text_Python.html Anthony Baxter has created a "Firefox searchbar" which finds Python bugs by their SourceForge IDs. There are also two Firefox sidebar options: http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063285.html http://www.python.org/~anthony/searchbar/ http://starship.python.net/~skippy/mozilla/ http://projects.edgewall.com/python-sidebar/ A few low-level technical touches have the potential to affect wider audiences: a patch from Georg Brandl effects a ratified improvement to traceback, but one which breaks several exising doctests: http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063662.html Also, Zachary Pincus and others worked out a dlopen()-based upgrade to dynamic loading under Mac OS X (or Darwin more broadly): http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-April/063336.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. 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 Python411 indexes "podcasts ... to help people learn Python ..." Updates appear more-than-weekly: http://www.awaretek.com/python/index.html 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 Although unmaintained since 2002, the Cetus collection of Python hyperlinks retains a few gems. 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://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0042/ 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/topic/python/ (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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RERP 0.8.0, an alternative robots.txt parser
by Philip Semanchuk 12 Jun '06

12 Jun '06

RERP (Robot Exclusion Rules Parser) is an alternative to Python's standard robotparser module. I was motivated to write this because the Python's robotparser doesn't gracefully handle non-ASCII which occurs in about .1% of robots.txt files. This module (RERP) handles non-ASCII and also adds a few other niceties (like the ability to customize the user-agent string sent when fetching a robots.txt file). The code, documentation, background, discussion of the specs and examples are all here: http://NikitaTheSpider.com/articles/rerp.html Enjoy! -- Philip http://NiktaTheSpider.com/ Bulk HTML validation, link checking and more

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ANN: Metavolv.py finds improved parameter values for YOUR program.
by I. Myself 11 Jun '06

11 Jun '06

Metavolv.py is a computer program that searches for a better set of parameters for some other program, which we call the target program. The target program determines what "better" means, and it writes a merit value to the screen. The parameters appear in a configuration file for the target program. Although metavolv.py is written in Python, the target program can be any executable file that meets two conditions: It must read a configuration file to get values for parameters, and it must eventually write a result to the screen. Metavolv will repeatedly execute the target program, each time re-writing the configuration file with new parameter values. Metavolv.py will use two other Python files, modify.py and editThis.py. The three files together comprise the program. Metavolv is primarily designed for stochastic target programs, and also for those that require significant execution time. For such programs we cannot be sure of finding a global optimum in a reasonable time span; we are primarily interested in improving the set of parameters that we start with. Hence we are primarily attempting to move toward a local optimum. The Metavolv package, with thorough documentation, is a free download from the URL below. Mitchell Timin -- I'm proud of http://ANNEvolve.sourceforge.net. If you want to write software, or articles, or do testing or research for ANNEvolve, let me know. Humans may know that my email address is: (but remove the 3 digit number) zenguy at shaw666 dot ca

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Python-announce-list June 2006