Mailman 3 November 2001 - Python-Dev

RELEASED: Python 2.2b2 is out!
by barry＠zope.com Nov. 16, 2001

Nov. 16, 2001

Today we release Python 2.2b2, the second -- and probably last -- beta release of Python 2.2, for your enervation, elocution, and effervescence. http://www.python.org/2.2/ Our thanks to everyone who is testing out these beta releases! Please continue to report any bug you find to the bug tracker: http://sourceforge.net/bugs/?group_id=5470 Highlights of what's new for this release are outlined below. For a more complete list, please see: http://sf.net/project/shownotes.php?… [View More]release_id=61669 Andrew Kuchling is writing a gentle introduction to the most important changes, titled "What's New in Python 2.2": http://www.amk.ca/python/2.2/ Guido's written his own introduction to the type/class unification at: http://www.python.org/2.2/descrintro.html python-is-so-proud-of-little-brother-orlijn-ly y'rs, -Barry -------------------- snip snip -------------------- - Lots of bug fixes! - Multiple inheritance mixing new-style and classic classes in the list of base classes is now allowed. - The new builtin dictionary() constructor, and dictionary type, have been renamed to dict. This reflects a decade of common usage. - dict() now accepts an iterable object producing 2-sequences. For example, dict(d.items()) == d for any dictionary d. The argument, and the elements of the argument, can be any iterable objects. - New-style classes can now have a __del__ method, which is called when the instance is deleted (just like for classic classes). - Assignment to object.__dict__ is now possible, for objects that are instances of new-style classes that have a __dict__ (unless the base class forbids it). - The socket function has been converted to a type; see below. - Assignment to __debug__ raises SyntaxError at compile-time. This was promised when 2.1c1 was released as "What's New in Python 2.1c1". - mmap has a new keyword argument, "access", allowing a uniform way for both Windows and Unix users to create read-only, write-through and copy-on-write memory mappings. - By default, the gc.garbage list now contains only those instances in unreachable cycles that have __del__ methods. - The socket module defines a new method for socket objects, sendall(). - Symbolic group names in regular expressions must be unique. - We've finally confirmed that this release builds on HP-UX 11.00, *with* threads, and passes the test suite. - Thanks to a series of patches from Michael Muller, Python may build again under OS/2 Visual Age C++. - Updated RISCOS port by Dietmar Schwertberger. [View Less]

1 0

Psyco documentation
by Armin Rigo Nov. 16, 2001

Nov. 16, 2001

Hello, I've written some docs to get interested people started in understanding Psyco. It's on the site http://homepages.ulb.ac.be/~arigo/psyco/ where you will also find an update of Psyco (now supporting finally: and except: clauses, and with a few minor improvements that accelerated the Mandelbrot example quite a bit). The new and old documents are both available in HTML and Postscript. Please let me know if you tested some (reasonably small) examples and got a SIGSEGV or a failed … [View More]

1 0

__class_init__
by Thomas Heller Nov. 16, 2001

Nov. 16, 2001

ExtensionClass did include a __class_init__ class-method, which has been called at the end of class creation. I've uploaded a (simple minded) patch to fileobject.c, which implements the same behaviour for new style classes. It is simple minded because it only iterates over the tp_base member and not over tp_bases. Any chance this could be included in Python 2.2? http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=478374&group_id=54… Thomas

3 8

PEP 273 comments
by Martin v. Loewis Nov. 16, 2001

Nov. 16, 2001

Hi Jim, Reading through PEP 273, I have a couple of comments: Section zlib, "will fail with a message": Is this still current? Looking at the implementation, it seems that you'll rather get an import error, which sounds much better. Section Booting Looking at the implementation, it appears that PyImport_InitZip already invokes PyImport_ImportModule. Is there a mechanism that prevents ZIP import from being used while it is not ready yet? Regards, Martin

2 1

Branch created for Python 2.2 beta 2
by barry＠zope.com Nov. 15, 2001

Nov. 15, 2001

Hi all, I've just created the branch for Python 2.2 beta 2, tagged as r22b2-branch. As usual there's also a tag on the trunk tagged as r22b2-fork. Just a reminder that no checkins should be committed on the branch, without checking with me first (except for Tim and Fred, of course ;). You can continue to make commits on the trunk, but if the change should be merged into the branch, please include a note in your commit log message. I've been out of touch with my email for most of today due … [View More]

1 0

.pyc magic time bomb?
by Neil Schemenauer Nov. 15, 2001

Nov. 15, 2001

Has the magic for .pyc files been fixed? If not, shouldn't this be done before the 2.2 release. Neil

3 2

Re: Proposal for a modified import mechanism.
by eric Nov. 15, 2001

Nov. 15, 2001

I have to agree with Prabhu on this one. The current behavior of import, while fine for standard modules and even simple packages with a single level, is sub-optimal for packages that contain sub-packages. The proposed behavior solves the problem. Handling the packaging issues in SciPy was difficult, and even resulted in a (not always popular) decision to build and overwrite the Numeric package on machines that install SciPy. Prabhu's import doesn't resolve all the issues (I think packages … [View More]may just be difficult...), but it would have solved this one. The proposed import allows us to put our own version of Numeric in the top SciPy directory. Then all SciPy sub-packages would grab this one instead of an existing site-packages/Numeric. That makes SciPy self-contained and allows people to try it out without worrying that it might break their current installation. There are other solutions to this problem, but Prabhu's fix is by far the easiest and most robust. Prabhu's import also has some other nice benefits. Some of the sub-packages in SciPy are useful outside of SciPy. Also sometimes it is easier to develop a packages outside of the SciPy framework. It would be nice to be able to develop a module or package 'foo' outside of SciPy and then move it into SciPy at a later date. However, every SciPy sub-package that referred to foo prior to its inclusion in SciPy now has to be updated from 'import foo' to 'import scipy.foo'. These kind of issues make it very painful and time consuming to rearrange package structures or move modules and sub-packages in and out of the package. Simplifying this will improves package development. > I'm personnally against anything that enlarges the search path uselessly; Hopefully I've explained why it is useful for complex packages. > because the obvious reason of increased name space collision, increased > run-time overhead etc... I'm missing something here because I don't understand why this increases name space collision. If the objection is to the fact that SciPy can have a version of Numeric in it that masks a Numeric installed in site-packages, I guess I consider this a feature, not a bug. Afterall, this is already the behavior for single level packages, extending it to multi-level packages seems natural. If this isn't your objection, please explain. The current runtime overhead isn't so bad. Prabhu sent me a few numbers on the SciPy import (which contains maybe 10-15 nested packages). I attached them below -- the overhead is less than 10%. It should be negligible for standard modules as only packages are really affected (right Prabhu?). $ python >>> import time >>> s = time.time (); import scipy; print time.time()-s 1.37971198559 >>> $ python >>> import my_import >>> import time >>> s = time.time (); import scipy; print time.time()-s 1.48667407036 There may be technical issues under the covers that make this hairier than it appears, but, from the standpoint of someone working on a large multi-level package, it looks like a good idea. see ya, eric ----- Original Message ----- From: "Frederic Giacometti" <frederic.giacometti(a)arakne.com> To: <import-sig(a)python.org> Cc: <ej(a)ee.duke.edu>; <prabhu(a)cyberwaveindia.com>; <python-list(a)python.org> Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2001 1:13 PM Subject: Re: Proposal for a modified import mechanism. > > > > > > I'd like to ask the Python developers if they'd consider > > > > (a) changing the way the current import works to do what I > > proposed, or, > > > > (b) add a new keyword like 'rimport' (or something) that does this > > recursive search through parent packages and loads modules. This > > was actually suggested by Gordon McMillan. Gordon actually > > suggested something stronger -- import only supports absolute > > names, rimport is relative import and rrimport is a recursive > > relative import. But this would break the current import since > > import currently aupports some relative lookup. So maybe import > > and rimport is a workable solution? > > I'd rather introduce a __parent__ module attribute (in addition to the > existing __name__) so that, for instance, the following would do your job: > > from __parent__.__parent__.toto import something > > In its spirit, this is similar to the '..' of the file systems. > > For top-level modules, __parent__ would be None. > > I'm personnally against anything that enlarges the search path uselessly; > because the obvious reason of increased name space collision, increased > run-time overhead etc... > > Frederic Giacometti > > > [View Less]

12 38

[development doc updates]
by Fred L. Drake Nov. 15, 2001

Nov. 15, 2001

The development version of the documentation has been updated: http://python.sourceforge.net/devel-docs/ Added a chapter on Tkinter & friends, contributed by Mike Clarkson. There are a few additional updates as well.

1 0

Making over Half Million Dollars every 4 to 5 Months from your Home
by Maria Nov. 15, 2001

Nov. 15, 2001

AS SEEN ON NATIONAL TV: Making over Half Million Dollars every 4 to 5 Months from your Home for an investment of only $25 U.S. Dollars expense one time THANK'S TO THE COMPUTER AGE AND THE INTERNET! ================================================== BE A MILLIONAIRE LIKE OTHERS WITHIN A YEAR!!! Before you say ''Bull'', please read the following. This is the letter you have been hearing about on the news lately. Due to the popularity of this letter on the Internet, a national weekly news … [View More]program recently devoted an entire show to the investigation of this program described below, to see if it really can make people money. The show also investigated whether or not the program was legal. Their findings proved once and for all that there are ''absolutely NO Laws prohibiting the participation in the program and if people can follow the simple instructions, they are bound to make some mega bucks with only $25 out of pocket cost''. DUE TO THE RECENT INCREASE OF POPULARITY & RESPECT THIS PROGRAM HAS ATTAINED, IT IS CURRENTLY WORKING BETTER THAN EVER. This is what one had to say: ''Thanks to this profitable opportunity. I was approached many times before but each time I passed on it. I am so glad I finally joined just to see what one could expect in return for the minimal effort and money required. To my astonishment, I received total $610,470.00 in 21 weeks, with money still coming in." Pam Hedland, Fort Lee, New Jersey. =================================================== Here is another testimonial: "This program has been around for a long time but I never believed in it. But one day when I received this again in the mail I decided to gamble my $25 on it. I followed the simple instructions and 3 weeks later the money started to come in. First month I only made $240.00 but the next 2 months after that I made a total of $290,000.00. So far, in the past 8 months by re-entering the program, I have made over $710,000.00 and I am playing it again. The key to success in this program is to follow the simple steps and NOT change anything.'' More testimonials later but first, ===== PRINT THIS NOW FOR YOUR FUTURE REFERENCE ====== $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ If you would like to make at least $500,000 every 4 to 5 months easily And comfortably, please read the following...THEN READ IT AGAIN and AGAIN!!! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ FOLLOW THE SIMPLE INSTRUCTION BELOW AND YOUR FINANCIAL DREAMS WILL COME TRUE, GUARANTEED! INSTRUCTIONS: =====Order all 5 reports shown on the list below ===== For each report, send $5 CASH, THE NAME & NUMBER OF THE REPORT YOU ARE ORDERING and YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS to the person whose name appears ON THAT LIST next to the report. MAKE SURE YOUR RETURN ADDRESS IS ON YOUR ENVELOPE TOP LEFT CORNER in case of any mail problems. === When you place your order, make sure you order each of the 5 reports. You will need all 5 reports so that you can save them on your computer and resell them. YOUR TOTAL COST $5 X 5=$25.00. Within a few days you will receive, vie e-mail, each of the 5 reports from these 5 different individuals. Save them on your computer so they will be accessible for you to send to the 1,000's of people who will order them from you. Also make a floppy of these reports and keep it on your desk in case something happen to your computer. IMPORTANT - DO NOT alter the names of the people who are listed next to each report, or their sequence on the list, in any way other than what is instructed below in step '' 1 through 6 '' or you will lose out on majority of your profits. Once you understand the way this works, you will also see how it does not work if you change it. Remember, this method has been tested, and if you alter, it will NOT work !!! People have tried to put their friends/relatives names on all five thinking they could get all the money. But it does not work this way. Believe us, we all have tried to be greedy and then nothing happened. So Do Not try to change anything other than what is instructed. Because if you do, it will not work for you. Remember, honesty reaps the reward!!! 1.... After you have ordered all 5 reports, take this advertisement and REMOVE the name & address of the person in REPORT # 5. This person has made it through the cycle and is no doubt counting their fortune. 2.... Move the name & address in REPORT # 4 down TO REPORT # 5. 3.... Move the name & address in REPORT # 3 down TO REPORT # 4. 4.... Move the name & address in REPORT # 2 down TO REPORT # 3. 5.... Move the name & address in REPORT # 1 down TO REPORT # 2 6.... Insert YOUR name & address in the REPORT # 1 Position. PLEASE MAKE SURE you copy every name & address ACCURATELY! ========================================================== **** Take this entire letter, with the modified list of names, and save it on your computer. DO NOT MAKE ANY OTHER CHANGES. Save this on a disk as well just in case you lose any data. To assist you with marketing your business on the internet, the 5 reports you purchase will provide you with invaluable marketing information which includes how to send bulk e-mails legally, where to find thousands of free classified ads and much more. There are 2 Primary methods to get this venture going: METHOD # 1: BY SENDING BULK E-MAIL LEGALLY ========================================================== Let's say that you decide to start small, just to see how it goes, and we will assume You and those involved send out only 5,000 e-mails each. Let's also assume that the mailing receive only a 0.2% response (the response could be much better but lets just say it is only 0.2%. Also many people will send out hundreds of thousands e-mails instead of only 5,000 each). Continuing with this example, you send out only 5,000 e-mails. With a 0.2% response, that is only 10 orders for report # 1. Those 10 people responded by sending out 5,000 e-mail each for a total of 50,000. Out of those 50,000 e-mails only 0.2% responded with orders. That's=100 people responded and ordered Report # 2. Those 100 people mail out 5,000 e-mails each for a total of 500,000 e-mails. The 0.2% response to that is 1000 orders for Report # 3. Those 1000 people send out 5,000 e-mails each for a total of 5 million e-mails sent out. The 0.2% response to that is 10,000 orders for Report # 4. Those 10,000 people send out 5,000 e-mails each for a total of 50,000,000 (50 million) e-mails. The 0.2% response to that is 100,000 orders for Report # 5 THAT'S 100,000 ORDERS TIMES $5 EACH=$500,000.00 (half million). Your total income in this example is: 1..... $50 + 2..... $500 + 3.....$5,000 + 4.... $50,000 + 5..... $500,000 ....... Grand Total=$555,550.00 NUMBERS DO NOT LIE. GET A PENCIL & PAPER AND FIGUREOUT THE WORST POSSIBLE RESPONSES AND MATTER HOW YOU CALCULATE IT, YOU WILL STILL MAKE A LOT OF MONEY ! ========================================================= REMEMBER FRIEND, THIS IS ASSUMING ONLY 10 PEOPLE ORDERING OUT OF 5,000 YOU MAILED TO. Dare to think for a moment what would happen if everyone or half or even one 4th of those people mailed 100,000e-mails each or more? There are over 150 million people on the Internet worldwide and counting. Believe me, many people will do just that, and more! METHOD # 2 : BY PLACING FREE ADS ON THE INTERNET ======================================================= Advertising on the net is very very inexpensive and there are hundreds of FREE places to advertise. Placing a lot of free ads on the Internet will easily get a larger response. We strongly suggest you start with Method # 1 and add METHOD # 2 as you go along. For every $5 you receive, all you must do is e-mail them the Report they ordered. That's it. Always provide same day service on all orders. This will guarantee that the e-mail they send out, with your name and address on it, will be prompt because they can not advertise until they receive the report. =========== AVAILABLE REPORTS ==================== ORDER EACH REPORT BY ITS NUMBER & NAME ONLY. Notes: Always send $5 cash (U.S. CURRENCY) for each Report. Checks NOT accepted. Make sure the cash is concealed by wrapping it in at least 2 sheets of paper. On one of those sheets of paper, Write the NUMBER & the NAME of the Report you are ordering, YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS and your name and postal address. PLACE YOUR ORDER FOR THESE REPORTS NOW : ==================================================== REPORT# 1: The Insider's Guide to Advertising for Free on the Net Order Report #1 from: Marìa Luz Ruiz P.O Box 3279-1000 San José, Costa Rica América Central _____________________________________________ REPORT # 2: The Insider's Guide to Sending Bulk e-mail on the Net Order Report # 2 from: Nada Mahmood P.O. Box 5385 Manama, Bahrain Arabian Gulf _________________________________________________________ REPORT # 3: Secret to Multilevel Marketing on the Net Order Report # 3 from : Kamalarora m237,Vikaspuri, Newdelhi_110018 India ___________________________________________________________ REPORT # 4: How to Become a Millionaire Utilizing MLM & the Net Order Report # 4 from: Mahdokht Kaz 1175 Road 6025 Zinj 360, Bahrain Arabian Gulf ____________________________________________________________ REPORT #5: How to Send Out 0ne Million e-mails for Free Order Report # 5 from: P. Condinho 2549 Mason Heights Mississauga, Ontario L5B 2S3, Canada ____________________________________________________________ $$$$$$$$$ YOUR SUCCESS GUIDELINES $$$$$$$$$$$ Follow these guidelines to guarantee your success: === If you do not receive at least 10 orders for Report #1 within 2 weeks, continue sending e-mails until you do. === After you have received 10 orders, 2 to 3 weeks after that you should receive 100 orders or more for REPORT # 2. If you did not, continue advertising or sending e-mails until you do. === Once you have received 100 or more orders for Report # 2, YOU CAN RELAX, because the system is already working for you, and the cash will continue to roll in ! THIS IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER: Every time your name is moved down on the list, you are placed in front of a Different report. You can KEEP TRACK of your PROGRESS by watching which report people are ordering from you. IF YOU WANT TO GENERATE MORE INCOME SEND ANOTHER BATCH OF E-MAILS AND START THE WHOLE PROCESS AGAIN. There is NO LIMIT to the income you can generate from this business !!! ====================================================== FOLLOWING IS A NOTE FROM THE ORIGINATOR OF THIS PROGRAM: You have just received information that can give you financial freedom for the rest of your life, with NO RISK and JUST A LITTLE BIT OF EFFORT. You can make more money in the next few weeks and months than you have ever imagined. Follow the program EXACTLY AS INSTRUCTED. Do Not change it in any way. It works exceedingly well as it is now. Remember to e-mail a copy of this exciting report after you have put your name and address in Report #1 and moved others to #2 ...........#5 as instructed above. One of the people you send this to may send out 100,000 or more e-mails and your name will be on every one of them. Remember though, the more you send out the more potential customers you will reach. So my friend, I have given you the ideas, information, materials and opportunity to become financially independent. IT IS UP TO YOU NOW ! ============ MORE TESTIMONIALS ================ "My name is Mitchell. My wife, Jody and I live in Chicago. I am an accountant with a major U.S. Corporation and I make pretty good money. When I received this program I grumbled to Jody about receiving ''junk mail''. I made fun of the whole thing,spouting my knowledge of the population and percentages involved. I ''knew'' it wouldn't work. Jody totally ignored my supposed intelligence and few days later she jumped in with both feet. I made merciless fun of her, and was ready to lay the old ''I told you so'' on her when the thing didn't work. Well, the laugh was on me! Within 3 weeks she had received 50 responses. Within the next 45 days she had Received total $ 147,200.00 ........... all cash! I was shocked. I have joined Jody in her ''hobby''. Mitchell Wolf M.D., Chicago, Illinois ====================================================== ''Not being the gambling type, it took me several weeks to make up my mind to participate in this plan. But conservative that I am, I decided that the initial investment was so little that there was just no way that I wouldn't get enough orders to at least get my money back''. '' I was surprised when I found my medium size post office box crammed with orders. I made $319,210.00in the first 12 weeks. The nice thing about this deal is that it does not matter where people live. There simply isn't a better investment with a faster return and so big." Dan Sondstrom, Alberta, Canada ======================================================= ''I had received this program before. I deleted it, but later I wondered if I should have given it a try. Of course, I had no idea who to contact to get another copy, so I had to wait until I was e-mailed again by someone else.........11 months passed then it luckily came again...... I did not delete this one! I made more than $490,000 on my first try and all the money came within 22 weeks." Susan De Suza, New York, N.Y. ======================================================= ''It really is a great opportunity to make relatively easy money with little cost to you. I followed the simple instructions carefully and within 10 days the money started to come in. My first month I made $20,560.00 and by the end of third month my total cash count was $362,840.00. Life is beautiful, Thanx to internet.". Fred Dellaca, Westport, New Zealand ======================================================= ORDER YOUR REPORTS TODAY AND GET STARTED ON 'YOUR' ROAD TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM ! ======================================================= If you have any questions of the legality of this program, contact the Office of Associate Director for Marketing Practices, Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Washington, D.C. [View Less]

1 0

Re: [Python-Dev] PEP 275: "Switching on Multiple Values", Rev 1.1
by Jack Jansen Nov. 15, 2001

Nov. 15, 2001

Even though I'm not sure I like the switch idea (and I won't even contemplate how Guido will react when he comes back and sees what we've been spending our time on:-) there's one very special case of switch that I would like, and that's the Algol 68 style switch on type. If we had something like def foo(x): switch type(x): case int: do something case string: do something else this would be a nice point to hook into for something that tries to … [View More]

3 4