QOTW: "Given these criteria, my recommendations for a first programming language would be Python or Scheme." - Peter Norvig (some time ago, but referenced on comp.lang.lisp this week) http://www.norvig.com/21-days.html "however if you want more visual effect with less hassle, consider learning Python instead. with Python you can get some graphical stuff working almost out-of-the box, while with Lisp it's matter of luck if particular thing will work on your system :)." -- Alex Mizrahi (on comp.lang.lisp) http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.lisp/msg/7a30146ff97f79b1 Those in California get to hear what Python's "benevolent dictator" does in his day job: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python.announce/browse_frm/thread/f... ...something which isn't fully explained in the Google Master Plan: http://www.larsen-b.com/Article/246.html And for the sake of intercontinental relevance, our European pick of events has to be the Plat_Forms Web development contest in Germany: http://groups.google.com/group/pylons-discuss/browse_frm/thread/2330ada0c8e5... ... although RuPy also certainly deserves attention: http://rupy.wmid.amu.edu.pl/ (November 30th is a big day: it's the Plat_Forms registration deadline *and* Guido's talk, as well as the last day of Ingeniweb in Paris, ...) "Pitivi is written in Python and as such should be an easy project for developers to get started with." Apparently, the non-linear video editor in question could really move forward "if more python hackers came onboard to help out": http://blogs.gnome.org/view/uraeus/2006/11/22/0 http://www.pitivi.org/ Or if your interest is in audio editing, the Python/GTK/GNOME-based Jokosher might welcome your contributions: http://www.jokosher.org/contribute A fledgling free PDF journal appears. http://pythonpapers.org/ November's installment of the language popularity contest quickly leads to an investigation into the coherency of Python's Web programming options: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_frm/thread/02875f58a9... Fundamental questions about the nature of time seem to arise when one is "blazin' some mad chronix": http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_frm/thread/95b64b889b... Meanwhile, potentially better use of time can sometimes be achieved by compiling inline C code at runtime, using cinpy (C in Python) and the remarkable tcc (Tiny C Compiler): http://www.cs.tut.fi/~ask/cinpy/ And for those who want to pretend they're writing Python whilst really writing C++, pyplus maintains the illusion: http://www.imitationpickles.org/pyplus/ But without resorting to the joys of C++, some of those desirable "compile-time" checks can be run on Python source code, too, thanks to pylint: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python.announce/browse_frm/thread/3... Advice about moving from Matlab to Python isn't in short supply this week: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_frm/thread/a71af37fd9... ======================================================================== 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 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/python/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@pythonjournal.com and editor@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.pytho... 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*&start=0&scoring=d& http://purl.org/thecliff/python/url.html (dormant) or http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_q=+Python-URL!&as_ugroup=comp.lang.python 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@phaseit.net> should get through. To receive a new issue of this posting in e-mail each Monday morning (approximately), ask <claird@phaseit.net> to subscribe. Mention "Python-URL!". Write to the same address to unsubscribe. -- The Python-URL! Team-- Dr. Dobb's Journal (http://www.ddj.com) is pleased to participate in and sponsor the "Python-URL!" project.