can i make a p2p application in python?

[holger krekel]

eugene kim wrote:
> i don't even know what bootstrapping is..

Bootstrapping in is the process of bringing
a system to its working state.  With P2P-networks
bootstrapping is difficult. You usually don't want
a central point of control (or failure) but how do 
pop into into a network that is constantly changing?  

E.g. one of the problems of Gnutella was 'bootstrapping' 
into the virtual network.  First, people had to get 
working IP-addresses by word-of-mouth.  Then gnutella 
nodes started using 'hostcaches' which automated
the task of finding initial hosts. Due to the design of the
'hostcache' the network slowly morphed into a centralistic structure.  
This didn't work reasonably with millions of nodes.

> can u recommend a good book to read?

i am currently reading "Peer to Peer" published
by O'Reilly.  It has interesting articles from
several programmers including from freenet, gnutella,
napster, jabber, Red Rover. It's all more about concepts but 
also offers helpful technical details.

Depending on your background you might be able to
extract useful information and code from 'circle'
and the related 'chord' project.  

have fun,

    holger