Mailman 3 September 2007 - Python-announce-list

[ANN] Underscode 0.1.0 released
by Ivan Vilata i Balaguer 19 Sep '07

19 Sep '07

Hi people, I'm really happy to announce the first public version of Underscode, a Python identifier-like encoding. I took it mainly as a hobby so its development in time has been very irregular, but I think it's already time to release and enjoy it! Now the announcement text: ============== Underscode ============== ------------------------------------- A Python identifier-like encoding ------------------------------------- :Author: `Ivan Vilata i Balaguer <ivan(a)selidor.net>`__ :URL: http://underscode.selidor.net/ About Underscode ================ Underscode_ is an encoding which is capable of representing *any* Unicode string as a valid (and quite similar) Python identifier. The way Unicode strings are encoded minimises the chances of clashing with other existing names, while not obscuring the resulting string too much. Some method decorators are provided which allow arbitrary objects to be accessed as normal instance attributes, with optional tab-completion support for interactive usage. The standard Python codec API is also supported. Underscode-encoded (or *underscoded*) strings can be quickly spotted because they end with an *odd* number of underscores, and they contain escape sequences beginning with an underscore where characters not allowed in identifiers would be found. Some examples of underscoded strings are: * ``_`` encodes the empty string. * ``foo_`` encodes ``foo``. * ``class_`` encodes ``class``. * ``foo__bar_`` encodes ``foo_bar``. * ``foo_x20bar_`` encodes ``foo bar``. * ``_2006_09_18_``, like ``_20060918_``, encodes ``20060918``. * ``_x2fbin_x2fls_``, encodes ``/bin/ls``. * ``The_x20Knights_x20Who_x20Say_x20_u201cNi_x21_u201d_`` encodes the properly quoted ``The Knights Who Say “Ni!”``. * And the very flat ``____init_____`` which happens to be ``__init__``. As you see, underscoded strings are quite similar to their decoded counterparts when these are more or less identifier-like, but complex strings can still be handled. Underscode is a very basic tool which may have several uses: * Avoiding clashes between method names and table field names in ORMs. * Enabling interactive attribute-like completion for children in hierarchically arranged structures (DOM trees, filesystems...), with full Unicode support. * As an aid in the generation of RPC stubs for identifiers which are not allowed by Python. * Computing unique IDs for sections in automatically generated XML or HTML documents. * Naming page handlers for web server frameworks like CherryPy. * ... just use your imagination! The Underscode package is released under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 3 or later (see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/). Underscoded strings as attributes --------------------------------- Underscode provides a module with decorators that allow you to use plain attribute access as a flexible way of accessing all kinds of "child objects" without polluting the normal attribute namespace, and with optional interactive completion if you wish so. For instance, you can make the (string) keys of a dictionary accessible as attributes:: from underscode.decorators import proxy_method class AttributedDict(dict): @proxy_method(dict.__getitem__) def __getattr__(self, name): return super(AttributedDict, self).__getattr__(name) @proxy_method(dict.__setitem__) def __setattr__(self, name, value): super(AttributedDict, self).__setattr__(name, value) @proxy_method(dict.__delitem__) def __delattr__(self, name): super(AttributedDict, self).__delattr__(name) Then, access to an attribute which looks like an underscoded string gets the name decoded and used as an argument to ``__getitem__()``: >>> d = AttributedDict() >>> d {} >>> d.foo = 1 >>> d.foo_ = 42 >>> d.foo_, d['foo'], d.foo (42, 42, 1) >>> d {u'foo': 42} >>> del d.foo_ >>> d {} Adding tab-completion on underscoded attributes to this simple example is as easy as applying some ready-to-use decorators on the methods used as arguments to ``proxy_method``. See the documentation of the ``underscode.decorators`` module for more information and examples. Python codec API support ------------------------ Since the Underscode package is compliant with the standard Python codec API, you can use Underscode to encode and decode strings with the usual ``unicode.encode()`` and ``str.decode()`` calls at any time just by importing the ``underscode.codec`` subpackage (it is not automatically imported by the main ``underscode`` package): >>> import underscode.codec >>> print u'this is \u201ca test\u201d' this is “a test” >>> u'this is \u201ca test\u201d'.encode('underscode') 'this_x20is_x20_u201ca_x20test_u201d_' >>> 'this_x20is_x20_u201ca_x20test_u201d_'.decode('underscode') u'this is \u201ca test\u201d' Getting Underscode ================== You can point your browser at http://underscode.selidor.net/ if you want to download the source code distribution of Underscode. It uses the standard ``setup.py`` method for installation, runs on any platform and has no additional dependencies but Python version 2.4 or greater. You may also be interested in following the development of Underscode; you can get a copy of its development `Bazaar-NG`_ branch with:: $ bzr get https://bzr.selidor.net/selidor/underscode/trunk underscode Helping Underscode ================== There is a discussion group for Underscode at Google Groups: http://groups.google.com/group/underscode It would be great to discuss your opinions and feelings on Underscode in the group, to know how you used it in your project, and to help solving yours and others problems there! If you come across a bug or you have some enhancement proposal, you may use the Trac_ instance available at http://underscode.selidor.net/ .. _Underscode: http://underscode.selidor.net/ .. _Bazaar-NG: http://bazaar-ng.org/ .. _Trac: http://trac.edgewall.org/ :: Ivan Vilata i Balaguer @ Welcome to the European Banana Republic! @ http://www.selidor.net/ @ http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/ @

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ANN: PyEnchant 1.2.0
by Ryan Kelly 19 Sep '07

19 Sep '07

Hi All, I'm pleased to announce the release of PyEnchant version 1.2.0. This version includes some important updates in the underlying enchant library, and implements basic "filters" to allow skipping of email addresses, WikiWords, URLs, etc during a spellchecking session. Cheers, Ryan About: ------ Enchant (http://www.abisource.com/enchant/) is the spellchecking package behind the AbiWord word processor, is being considered for inclusion in the KDE office suite, and is proposed as a FreeDesktop.org standard. It's completely cross-platform because it wraps the native spellchecking engine to provide a uniform interface. PyEnchant brings this simple, powerful and flexible spellchecking engine to Python: http://pyenchant.sourceforge.net/ It also provides extended functionality including classes for tokenizing text and iterating over the spelling errors in it, as well as a ready-to-use text interface and wxPython dialog. Current Version: 1.2.0 Licence: LGPL with exemptions, as per Enchant itself ChangeLog for 1.2.0: -------------------- * Implemented "filters" that allow tokenization to skip common word forms such as URLs, WikiWords, email addresses etc. * Now ships with enchant-1.3.0, meaning: * PWLs can return a useful list of suggestions rather than the empty list * Hunspell replaces MySpell as the default Windows backend * Tokenization doesnt split words at non-alpha characters by default * GtkSpellCheckerDialog contributed by Fredrik Corneliusson * Removed deprecated functionality: * Dict.add_to_personal * All registry handling functionality from enchant.utils * enchant.utils.SpellChecker (use enchant.checker.SpellChecker) * Removed PyPWL, as native enchant PWLs can now suggest corrections -- Ryan Kelly http://www.rfk.id.au | This message is digitally signed. Please visit ryan(a)rfk.id.au | http://www.rfk.id.au/ramblings/gpg/ for details

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MetaContract 0.2
by Olivier Ravard 18 Sep '07

18 Sep '07

I'm happy to announce that MetaContract 0.2 is now available for download from: http://sourceforge.net/projects/metacontract/ what is metacontract ? -------------------- Design by Contract allows a programmer to document a function/class with statements describing behavior. Metacontract implements the PEP-0316 related to this feature for the Python language using meta classes. Major changes ------------- - improve doc string parsing * ignore the whitespace at the start of the line and around the colon * take account a single expression if followed the colon * take account line continuation like the standard Python rule. - add functions forall, exists, implies - add a function classmaker for metaclass conflicts.

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[ANN] Metatest 0.1.0
by Jonathan Fine 18 Sep '07

18 Sep '07

Hello This announcement also appears on the Metatest web site http://metatest.sourceforge.net === *** Metatest - a Python test framework Metatest is a simple and elegant Python framework for writing tests. Metatest is mostly about writing tests and by design is not tied to any particular test runner. Hence the name. Here's how to write some tests using Metatest. We can think of the tests as an executable specification. from metatest.py.mymod import plus, Point # Function plus adds two numbers. plus(2, 2) == 4 plus(2, '', _ex=TypeError) # Class Point represent a point in the plane. p = Point(2, 5) p.x == 2 p.y == 5 p.area == 10 And here's one way to run them. if __name__ == '__main__': import metatest metatest.run() It's not hard to write an adapter that will run these tests in a different test runner framework. We gave a talk about Metatest at PyCon UK 2007 and here are the slides (HTML). http://www.pyconuk.org http://metatest.sourceforge.net/doc/pyconuk2007/metatest.html Please visit Sourceforge to download Metatest. http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=204046 -- Jonathan Fine

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London Python meetup, Wednesday, October the 10th
by Simon Brunning 18 Sep '07

18 Sep '07

ThoughtWorks UK (my employer) have given us the use of a room this time, so I'm looking for volunteer speakers, too. Details here: <http://announce.londonpython.org.uk/2007/09/18/london-python-meetup-wednesd…>. -- Cheers, Simon B. simon(a)brunningonline.net

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ANN: Python FTP Server library (pyftpdlib) 0.2.0 released
by Giampaolo Rodola' 17 Sep '07

17 Sep '07

Hi, I'm pleased to announce release 0.2.0 of Python FTP Server library (pyftpdlib). http://code.google.com/p/pyftpdlib/ === About === Python FTP server library provides an high-level portable interface to easily write asynchronous FTP servers with Python. Based on asyncore framework pyftpdlib is actually the most complete RFC959 FTP server implementation available for Python programming language. === Major changes === * Support for FXP, site-to-site transfers. * NAT/Firewall support with PASV (passive) mode connections. * Configurable range of ports to use for passive data transfers. * Per-user messages configurability. * Maximum connections limit. * Per-source-IP limits. * Maximum login attempts limit. A complete list of changes including enhancements and bug fixes is available here: http://code.google.com/p/pyftpdlib/wiki/ReleaseNotes02 === More links: === * Source tarball: http://pyftpdlib.googlecode.com/files/pyftpdlib_0.2.0.tar.gz * Online docs: http://code.google.com/p/pyftpdlib/wiki/Tutorial * FAQs: http://code.google.com/p/pyftpdlib/wiki/FAQ * Roadmap: http://code.google.com/p/pyftpdlib/wiki/Roadmap * Issue tracker: http://code.google.com/p/pyftpdlib/issues/list Thanks, -- Giampaolo Rodola' < g.rodola [at] gmail [dot] com >

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August PSF Board meeting minutes available
by David Goodger 17 Sep '07

17 Sep '07

Minutes of a Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Python Software Foundation, August 13, 2007: http://www.python.org/psf/records/board/minutes/2007-08-13/ -- David Goodger <http://python.net/~goodger>

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ANNOUNCE: PyQt3Support r1 - Python bindings for Qt3Support
by Matteo Bertini 17 Sep '07

17 Sep '07

#### PyQt3Support - Python bindings for Qt3Support #### http://www.develer.com/oss/PyQt3Support #### What is this? PyQt3Support is an extension to PyQt4 that adds bindings to Qt's Qt3Support library for usage from the Python language. This is very helpful to migrate existing PyQt3 applications to PyQt4. #### Why? Porting from Qt3 to Qt4 can be tedious and bug-prone. For C++ programmers, Trolltech provides a library, called Qt3Support, that immensely helps. With Qt3Support, a C++ programmer basically only needs mechanical changes to your source code. The library is made of two different parts: * A new family of widgets (Q3*) with the same API of Qt3. * New member functions (or overloads) within standard Qt4 widgets. For Python programmers, the situation is worse: PyQt4 does not bind Qt3Support to Python. Developers of PyQt3 are forced to manually upgrade their code to PyQt4, class by class. This package fills the gap. By providing a new module PyQt4.Qt3Support, it enables PyQt3 developers to access Trolltech's migration library, and thus upgrade their code much easily and faster, with almost only mechanical changes. It's not a panacea of course: you probably still need minor manual adjustments and supervising, but it can still be of great help. #### Where? PyQt3Support has been developed and tested under both Windows (2000, XP, Vista) and Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora). #### License Qt3Support follows whatever license you have for PyQt3 and PyQt4, because its source code is machine-generated from PyQt3's and PyQt4's source code. Thus, Qt3Support can be freely used under both the GPL or the commercial license offered by Qt/PyQt producers. In case you are interested in developing Qt3Support itself, you want to know that the script that generates Qt3Support is released under the GPL license. #### Status PyQt3Support is not complete: it binds about 30% of the Qt3Support, but don't be fooled by this figure: it's the part that is probably used most in existing programs (more common widgets, constructors, ecc.). Moreover, since it is fully machine-generated, it is very easy to extend it to cover more classes and functions. See below as per how to contribute to the development. * PyQt3 ported classes: Q3VBox, Q3HBox, Q3Frame, Q3Grid, Q3Accel, Q3PopupMenu, Q3MenuData, Q3DockWindow, Q3DockArea, Q3ListView, Q3ScrollView, Q3ColorGroup, Q3Header, Q3ListBox, Q3StrList, Q3Table, Q3MemArray, Q3MainWindow, Q3ToolBar, Q3Action, Q3SimpleRichText, Q3StyleSheet, Q3Mime, Q3ComboBox, Q3GroupBox, Q3FileDialog, Q3Url, Q3WidgetStack, Q3HGroupBox, Q3VGroupBox, Q3IconView, Q3DragObject, Q3Picture, Q3ValueList, Q3CString, Q3ButtonGroup, Q3VButtonGroup * PyQt4 qt3supported classes: Gui.QBoxLayout, Core.QNamespace, Gui.QLCDNumber, Gui.QGridLayout, Gui.QApplication, Gui.QPushButton, OpenGL.QGLWidget, Core.QObject, Gui.QLabel, Gui.QPixmap, Core.QTextCodec, Gui.QToolButton, Gui.QTabWidget, Gui.QMenu, Core.QTimer, Gui.QLayout, Gui.QPalette, Gui.QMenuBar, Gui.QLineEdit, Gui.QDialog, Gui.QInputDialog, Gui.QCheckBox, Gui.QWidget, Gui.QTextEdit, Gui.QEvent, Gui.QSlider #### Download http://www.develer.com/oss/PyQt3Support -- Matteo Bertini - naufraghi(a)develer.com Develer S.r.l. - http://www.develer.com Software Solutions

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Python-URL! - weekly Python news and links (Sep 17)
by Gabriel Genellina 17 Sep '07

17 Sep '07

QOTW: "I learn something valuable from comp.lang.python every week, and most of it has nothing to do with Python." - Richie Hindle "Ninety percent of all problems on top of the stove are caused because people don't preheat their pan properly." - Christopher Kimball, on the Zen that apparently applies even beyond software development http://www.powells.com/authors/kimball.html Comments on a blog post of Bruce Eckel where he feels a bit disappointed about Python 3.0: http://groups.google.com.ar/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/70a… Attempts to explain how recursion works in clear words: http://groups.google.com.ar/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/3a9… "Ordered dictionary" means different things for different people: http://groups.google.com.ar/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/b16… How to customize logging output in a common place: http://groups.google.com.ar/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/ae5… Using extended slicing and Ellipsis: http://groups.google.com.ar/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/419… How to remove undesired traceback entries: http://groups.google.com.ar/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/387… Using self.name to access instance attributes is awful (newbie says): http://groups.google.com.ar/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/a0e… ======================================================================== 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. Just beginning with Python? This page is a great place to start: http://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide/Programmers The Python Papers aims to publish "the efforts of Python enthusiats": http://pythonpapers.org/ The Python Magazine is a technical monthly devoted to Python: http://pythonmagazine.com Readers have recommended the "Planet" sites: http://planetpython.org http://planet.python.org 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 continues the marvelous tradition early borne by Andrew Kuchling, Michael Hudson, Brett Cannon, Tony Meyer, and Tim Lesher 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 Many Python conferences around the world are in preparation. Watch this space for links to them. 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!". Write to the same address to unsubscribe. -- The Python-URL! Team-- Phaseit, Inc. (http://phaseit.net) is pleased to participate in and sponsor the "Python-URL!" project. Watch this space for upcoming news about posting archives.

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ANNOUNCE: pprocess 0.3
by Paul Boddie 16 Sep '07

16 Sep '07

Announcing the release of pprocess 0.3 (previously known as parallel/ pprocess), available from... http://www.python.org/pypi/pprocess/0.3 Note that only POSIX-like platforms are supported in this release, although improvements in portability and all other areas are welcome. What is it? ----------- The pprocess module provides several mechanisms for running Python code concurrently in several processes. On systems with multiple CPUs or multicore CPUs, processes should take advantage of as many CPUs or cores as the operating system permits. Several different abstractions are supported by the module, including channels (and communicating sequential processes), queues and a parallel map function. The module gives developers a certain amount of flexibility in developing new abstractions, and a motivation behind the development of the module was, in fact, to discover which abstractions are most convenient when writing parallel-aware programs. Tutorial -------- In order to get a feel for the abstractions and mechanisms provided by the module, a tutorial has been made available; it illustrates the process of converting certain kinds of sequential programs into parallel programs: http://www.boddie.org.uk/python/pprocess/tutorial.html Future Work ----------- The module has been tested with non-trivial programs (see the PyGmy raytracer example in the distribution), but performance results have been varied: pprocess ensures the utilisation of many processors but could arguably show better scalability. It is envisaged that the focus for future releases involve improvements to the interprocess communications mechanisms employed, along with an investigation into more effective ways of distributing computations in specific programs. In the context of recent discussions about Python concurrency support [1], this module is intended as a demonstrator for various API conveniences, with an aim of encouraging standardisation and potentially the eventual standard library adoption of a useful parallel processing module. [1] http://jessenoller.com/2007/09/10/interesting-read-tear-down-that-gil/

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