Python-URL! - weekly Python news and links (Mar 9)

Wed Apr 21 18:16:41 EDT 2010

QOTW:  "I used to think anonymous functions (AKA blocks, etc...) would
be a
nice feature for Python.

Then I looked at a stack trace from a different programming language
with
lots of anonymous functions. (I believe it was perl.)

I became enlightened." - Jonathan Gardner, apparently echoing Guido's
criterion of debuggability in language design
   http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/msg/3ebe7a0b78086acf

Editor Cameron Laird apologizes for the following three entries, which
appeared in the last installment only in an unusably garbled form:
   There is no module in the standard library to handle filesystem
paths
   in an OO way - but why?
       http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/t/f580fb3763208425/

   A "History Channel" special: how the way a TAB key was interpreted
   changed over time
       http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/t/82d9181fcd31ffe4/

   After a false start, finally we get our first "Is it Call-By-Value
or
   Call-By-Reference?" thread of the year!
       http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/t/fd36962c4970ac48/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back in the present,
   Three new preliminary Python versions are now available for
testing:
   Python 2.7 alpha 4
       http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/t/779e761d934dbc1a/
   Python 3.1.2 release candidate
       http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.python.general/656887
   Python 2.6.5 release candidate 1
       http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.python.devel/111319

   Forget those Java recipes when implementing the Singleton pattern:
       http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/t/9228a3763eb552b3/

   How to obtain a module docstring without actually importing it:
       http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/t/ca97d63ace6ea81d/

   Do something only if a certain module is already in use by the
current
   program:
       http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/t/ee22c223fa73a429/

   Functions, bound methods, unbound ones: what are their differences?
       http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/t/72ab93ba395822ed/

   Automatically adding global names to a module: how to do that, and
   alternatives to use when it's not a good idea:
       http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/t/40837c4567d64745/

   Raymond Hettinger on the rationale behind the collections.Counter
class:
       http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/t/64d0fe87f7ea9e6/

   How Tk 8.5 + ttk (the version that ships with Python 2.6) compares
to
   other GUI toolkits:
       http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/t/d8d24eacf022ed75/

   The actual behavior of slicing like L[n::-1] is not properly
documented:
       http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/t/add9aa920b55eacc/

   Documenting a function with #comments instead of a proper docstring
is
   silly, isn't it? How does that affect source code quality?
(Including
   historical disgression going back to the PDP-8, the Altair and even
   nanocomputers...)
       http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/t/dea5c94f3d058e26/

   Coming from Perl, one has to unlearn (bad?) habits and embrace
Python's
   "rigid flexibility":
       http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/t/4bfdc60d3f58c960/
       http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/t/24bfa00b428f868f/

   And for those perl-like oneliner fans, here is dos2unix:
       http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/t/c4b63debe91d51c7/

   Perl has CPAN. Python has PyPI + easy_install, but they lack many
   important features. How could we improve that?
       http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/t/c2c452cc4aaa6e98/

   The pysandbox project provides a sandbox where untrusted code
cannot
   modify its environment; now looking for someone to find holes in
it:
       http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/t/87bf10f8acede7c3/

========================================================================
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

   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
enthusiasts":
       http://pythonpapers.org/
   The Python Magazine is a technical monthly devoted to Python:
       http://pythonmagazine.com

   Readers have recommended the "Planet" site:
       http://planet.python.org

   comp.lang.python.announce announces new Python software.  Be
   sure to scan this newsgroup weekly.
       http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python.announce/topics

   Python411 indexes "podcasts ... to help people learn Python ..."
   Updates appear more-than-weekly:
       http://www.awaretek.com/python/index.html

   The Python Package Index catalogues packages.
       http://www.python.org/pypi/

   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/donations/

   The Summary of Python Tracker Issues is an automatically generated
   report summarizing new bugs, closed ones, and patch submissions.
       http://search.gmane.org/?author=status%40bugs.python.org&group=gmane.comp.python.devel&sort=date

   nullege is an interesting search Web application, with the
intelligence
   to distinguish between Python code and comments.  It provides what
   appear to be relevant results, and demands neither Java nor CSS be
   enabled:
       http://www.nullege.com

   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://code.activestate.com/recipes/langs/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, see:
       http://www.python.org/channews.rdf
   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/

   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

   Enjoy the *Python Magazine*.
       http://pymag.phparch.com/

   *Py: the Journal of the Python Language*
       http://www.pyzine.com

   Dr.Dobb's Portal is another source of Python news and articles:
       http://www.ddj.com/TechSearch/searchResults.jhtml?queryText=python
   and Python articles regularly appear at IBM DeveloperWorks:
       http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/search/searchResults.jsp?searchSite=dW&searchScope=dW&encodedQuery=python&rankprofile=8

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