Dr. Dobb's Python-URL! - weekly Python news and links (Nov 27)
Paul Boddie
python-url at phaseit.net
Mon Nov 27 18:04:29 CET 2006
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/f09ffd3e7200e06f/
...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/2330ada0c8e5605c/
... 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/02875f58a917c04d
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/95b64b889bef4c46
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/36a06d611e9a6363/
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/a71af37fd9372868/
========================================================================
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 at pythonjournal.com and editor at 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.python.*
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