python-dev Summary for 2004-01-01 through 2004-01-31

B

Brett C.

python-dev Summary for 2004-01-01 through 2004-01-31
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This is a summary of traffic on the `python-dev mailing list`_ from
January 1, 2004 through January 31, 2004. It is intended to inform the
wider Python community of on-going developments on the list. To comment
on anything mentioned here, just post to `comp.lang.python`_ (or email
(e-mail address removed) which is a gateway to the newsgroup) with a
subject line mentioning what you are discussing. All python-dev members
are interested in seeing ideas discussed by the community, so don't
hesitate to take a stance on something. And if all of this really
interests you then get involved and join `python-dev`_!

This is the thirty-third and -fourth summaries written by Brett Cannon
(who is rather fed up with being sick recently).

To contact me, please send email to brett at python.org ; I do not have
the time to keep up on comp.lang.python and thus do not always catch
follow-ups posted there.

All summaries are archived at http://www.python.org/dev/summary/ .

Please note that this summary is written using reStructuredText_ which
can be found at http://docutils.sf.net/rst.html . Any unfamiliar
punctuation is probably markup for reST_ (otherwise it is probably
regular expression syntax or a typo =); you can safely ignore it,
although I suggest learning reST; it's simple and is accepted for `PEP
markup`_ and gives some perks for the HTML output. Also, because of the
wonders of programs that like to reformat text, I cannot guarantee you
will be able to run the text version of this summary through Docutils_
as-is unless it is from the original text file.

... _PEP Markup: http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0012.html

The in-development version of the documentation for Python can be found
at http://www.python.org/dev/doc/devel/ and should be used when looking
up any documentation on something mentioned here. PEPs (Python
Enhancement Proposals) are located at http://www.python.org/peps/ . To
view files in the Python CVS online, go to
http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/python/ . Reported bugs
and suggested patches can be found at the SourceForge_ project page.

The `Python Software Foundation`_ is the non-profit organization that
holds the intellectual property for Python. It also tries to forward
the development and use of Python. But the PSF_ cannot do this without
donations. You can make a donation at
http://python.org/psf/donations.html . Every penny helps so even a
small donation (you can donate through PayPal or by check) helps.

... _python-dev: http://www.python.org/dev/
... _SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=5470
... _python-dev mailing list:
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev
... _comp.lang.python: http://groups.google.com/groups?q=comp.lang.python
... _Docutils: http://docutils.sf.net/
... _reST:
... _reStructuredText: http://docutils.sf.net/rst.html
... _PSF:
... _Python Software Foundation: http://python.org/psf/

... contents::

... _last summary:
http://www.python.org/dev/summary/2003-12-01_2003-12-31.html


=====================
Summary Announcements
=====================
Quick personal announcement/plea: I am looking for a summer
job/internship. If you happen to have a position at your company or
happen to know of one somewhere **please** let me know at
(e-mail address removed) . I obviously know Python rather well, but I do know
other languages. I am quite willing to send you my resume and answer
any questions you might have about experience, etc. I would truly
appreciate any help anyone can provide me in finding something for the
summer. I do have housing handled in the Los Angeles area and the
Seattle/Bellevue area on top of the San Luis Obispo area, although I am
willing to relocate for the summer.

Sorry about the lateness of this summary. I realize this is going out
when another one is already due. Unfortunately, on top of needing to
secure a summer job/internship and trying to get that dealt with, I also
got strep throat that was rather horrid. It was not fun to only be
officially over pneumonia for a couple of weeks before I got sick again.
Rather frustrating since I haven't been this ill so often since I was
a little kid. And having to deal with school on top of being sick did
not help matters.

In actual Python-related news, PyCon_ is still open for registration.
If you haven't yet, go to http://pycon.org/dc2004/register/ and
register! Last year was a blast and I expect no less from this year (I
am actually spending my Spring Break at PyCon I enjoyed myself so much
last year). Papers have been selected and it looks like we are going to
have a great line-up of talks that cover the gamut of interests. In
other words I highly recommend attending if you can.

And even if you can't attend, if you are in the D.C. area, consider at
least attending the first two days of the sprints which are the weekend
preceding the conference (March 20-21). More info on the sprints can be
found at http://www.python.org/cgi-bin/moinmoin/SprintPlan2004 .

And now, on with the juicy stuff...

... _PyCon: http://www.pycon.org/

=========
Summaries
=========

---------------------
Benchmarking is a go!
---------------------
After Guido committed the parrotbench code to CVS, various people began
to run the benchmark and post their scores. If you are curious to see
how your machine compares take a look at the contributing threads.

Contributing threadds:
- `Pie-thon benchmark code ready
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/041551.html>`__
- `Re: Are we collecting benchmark results across machines
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/041553.html>`__


-----------------------------------
Windows compilation moved to VC.NET
-----------------------------------
Martin v. Löwis converted the project files and anything else needed so
that Python can now be compiled using VC.NET . All of the previous
files needed for compiling under VC 6 has been moved to PC/VC6 .

Contributing threads:
- `Switch to VC.NET 7.1 completed
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/041600.html>`__


--------------------------
Shutting Unicode errors up
--------------------------
Enough people have asked for the ability to silence Unicode errors that
Martin v. Löwis suggested adding a module attribute in sys to specify
whether Unicode errors should be ignored or not. M.A. Lemburg, though,
thought it was a bad idea and suggested instead that people use a custom
codec that relaxed the error-handling.

the thread seemed to end with no changes planned.

Contributing threads:
` Relaxing Unicode error handling
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/041605.html>`__


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
new PEPs (sorry, nothing witty came to me about PEPs that was not
excruciatingly corny)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In all cases, ignore the Created date in terms of posting date; click on
the Last Modified link if you care to see when the PEP was officially added.

`PEP 324`_ proposes a new module named popen5. As suggested by the
name, it hopes to come up with a unified module for process creation.
To see Guido's initial response to the PEP and what he thinks is a
"category killer" and why any new additions to the stdlib must be one,
read http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/041698.html .

`PEP 325`_ proposes a 'close' method for generators so as to handle what
normally would be handled in a try/finally block (such as closing files
and such).

`PEP 326`_ wants to add maximum and minimum singletons. Guido rejected
the PEP. There is a complete implementation, though, with the PEP.

`PEP 327`_ is the long-awaited decimal type PEP that has been in the
process of being refined for quite a while. Development in the sandbox
has been moving forward.

`PEP 328`_ is the 'import' PEP in terms of multi-line imports and
dealing with relative imports.

... _PEP 324: http://python.org/peps/pep-0324.html
... _PEP 325: http://python.org/peps/pep-0325.html
... _PEP 326: http://python.org/peps/pep-0326.html
... _PEP 327: http://python.org/peps/pep-0327.html
... _PEP 328: http://python.org/peps/pep-0328.html

Contributing threads:
- `PEP 324: popen5 - New POSIX process module
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/041606.html>`__
- `New version of installer
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/041672.html>`__
- `prePEP "Decimal data type" v0.2
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/041691.html>`__
- `PEP 326 (quick location possibility)
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/042303.html>`__
- `PEP 327: Decimal Data Type
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/042347.html>`__


-------------------------------------
Making Python and HP-UX friends again
-------------------------------------
Cameron Laird said he wanted to try to spear-head an attempt to get
Python to compiled on HP-UX correctly. In the past threading support
has been out of the question and getting Tkinter to go has been an issue
as well along with curses. Cameron said he would like to get Python
working for HP-UX as far back as version 10.20, although he said he
would also be fine with the current 11.x versions.

Most of it seems to have to do with requiring tweaks to Configure.in,
Modules/Setup, and setup.py . As of this exact second no patches have
been added to SourceForge_. You can get a version of Python 2.3.3
compiled for HP-UX at
http://hpux.cs.utah.edu/hppd/hpux/Languages/python-2.3.3/ .

This also led to a slight discussion of how slightly crufty Configure.in
is. Any help bringing it up-to-date or cleaning up would be appreciated.

Contributing threads:
- `HP-UX clean-up
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/041607.html>`__


----------------------------
msi installer for Python 2.4
----------------------------
Going for the record of the person mentioned the largest number times in
a single Summary who is not labeled a BDFL, Martin v. Löwis updated his
msi installer for Python 2.4 . It can be found at
http://www.dcl.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/home/loewis/python2.4.0.12421.msi
along with info on the installer at
http://www.dcl.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/home/loewis/msipackage.html .

Contributing threads:
- `New version of installer
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/041661.html>`__
- `Python MSI
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/041921.html>`__


----------------------
New collections module
----------------------
Raymond Hettinger has created a new module called 'collections'. It
primary purpose is to be home to "high-performance container datatypes".
To start, it only has an implementation of deques.

Contributing threads:
- `collections module
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/041829.html>`__
- `collections module (correction)
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/041899.html>`__
- `Collections
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/042270.html>`__


----------------
CJKCodecs in 2.4
----------------
A perk of having Hye-Shik Chang an official developer of Python is
getting his CJKCodecs integrated into Python 2.4 .

Contributing threads:
- `CJKCodecs integration into Python
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/041836.html>`__
- `Oodles of warnings in cjkcodecs
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/042203.html>`__


---------------
Statistics talk
---------------
Raymond Hettinger asked for some suggestions on a statistics module he
was working on. A whole bunch of stuff from names to algorithms to
include came up. There is now a module in the sandbox being worked on
to implement what was discussed.

Contributing threads:
- `Accumulation module
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/041988.html>`__


------------------------------------
Installer problems for MacPython-OS9
------------------------------------
Jack Jansen told python-dev how he has not been able to distribute a
version of MacPython-OS9 for Python 2.3.3 because the free license for
the installer expired. It was suggested that the PSF_ pay for a
license. If you think this is a good idea and you are a PSF member
consider bringing the topic up at the general meeting to be held at PyCon_.

Contributing threads:
- `No more releases of MacPython-OS9?
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/042022.html>`__


--------------------------------------
Anyone want to maintain MacPython-OS9?
--------------------------------------
If anyone would like to take over maintenance of MacPython-OS9 so that
it continues to exist beyond the 2.3 branch then contact Jack Jansen.

Contributing threads:
- `PEP 11 mistake?
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/042036.html>`__


--------------
Python in 2003
--------------
Go to http://python.org/topics/2003.html to read AM Kuchling's report on
what happened to Python in 2003.

Contributing threads:
- `Python in 2003 summary
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/042049.html>`__


---------------------------------
Compiling using the free .NET SDK
---------------------------------
If you wish to compile Python using the free .NET SDK then read the
first email in the contributing thread thanks to someone named Garth.

Contributing threads:
- `Compiling python with the free .NET SDK
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/042053.html>`__


--------------------------
No dict.addlist() for you!
--------------------------
The idea of adding a method to dict called 'addlist(k,v)' that would act
like ``d.setdefault(k, []).append(v)``. It was eventually agreed upon
that the perk of having it as a part of dict was not justified since the
idiom it was implementing is simple enough so as to not really require
adding the method.

Contributing threads:
- `dict.addlist()
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/042114.html>`__


--------------------------------------------------------
Want to be able to change Python's name at compile time?
--------------------------------------------------------
Jack Jansen asked what people thought of adding the ability of being
able to specify the name of Python through 'configure' and have the
permeate throughout the code. The main reason for this is to allow
people on OS X to be able to have other framework builds of Python that
don't interfere with the installed version on OS X 10.3 .

The thread ended with no definitive decision as to whether to move ahead
or not.

Contributing threads:
- `Configure option to change Python's name?
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/042153.html>`__


---------------------------------
You think you are a Hotshot, huh?
---------------------------------
Sparked by a question about where the development of the Hotshot
profiler was, a new file was added to the scripts directory for making
it easier to launch Hotshot for profiling.

Contributing threads:
- `Hotshot
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/042222.html>`__


-------------------------------------------------
Happy patch/bug statistics days are back again...
-------------------------------------------------
Kurt Kaiser has taken over for Skip Montanaro (thanks to both for
continuing and starting this weekly email, respectively) for sending out
the "Weekly Python Patch/Bug Summary" email.

Contributing threads:
- `Weekly Python Patch/Bug Summary
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/042244.html>`__


---------------------------------------------------
Change in posting rules to python-dev (but barely!)
---------------------------------------------------
The posting rules to python-dev have changed so that emails from
non-subscribers must be ok'ed by moderators. But joining python-dev is
still open to the public and requires no clearance from anyone so it is
not a big hurdle to overcome to post to the list.

You can always subscribe and turn mail delivery off if you like to.
This is needed if you send mail to the list from multiple accounts such
as yours truly.

Contributing threads:
- `Proposed: change to posting rules for python-dev
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/042358.html>`__


-----------------------------------
GPL code in Python core is not okay
-----------------------------------
Although the question was specific to python-mode.el, the general answer
is that GPL code is not allowed into Python. The clash of the GPL with
the PSF license since the latter is BSD-style.

Contributing threads:
- `Would GPL on python-mode.el be a problem?
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2004-January/042311.html>`__
 
N

Neil Hodgson

Brett C.:

It is particularly appropriate that this item should exhibit a character
encoding problem. I'm sure Martin doesn't have any characters that weird
(square root, partial differential) in his name. Something is wrong in the
tool chain, but it doesn't look like a simple incorrect charset declaration.
Maybe reST has a problem with non-ASCII characters.

Neil
 
M

Michael Hudson

Neil Hodgson said:
Brett C.:

It is particularly appropriate that this item should exhibit a character
encoding problem. I'm sure Martin doesn't have any characters that weird
(square root, partial differential) in his name. Something is wrong in the
tool chain, but it doesn't look like a simple incorrect charset declaration.
Maybe reST has a problem with non-ASCII characters.

Um, the article as posted to clpy is hasn't been through docutils
yet... if the mere fact of formatting it as reST caused encoding
problems, that would indeed be a mysterious and deep effect.

Brett's mail contains a header:

X-MIME-Autoconverted: from 8bit to quoted-printable by
war.OCF.Berkeley.EDU id i1O1oOqk029956

I'd be inclined to blame that.

The summary looks fine on python.org.

Cheers,
mwh
 
B

Brett C.

Michael Hudson said:
Um, the article as posted to clpy is hasn't been through docutils
yet... if the mere fact of formatting it as reST caused encoding
problems, that would indeed be a mysterious and deep effect.

Brett's mail contains a header:

X-MIME-Autoconverted: from 8bit to quoted-printable by
war.OCF.Berkeley.EDU id i1O1oOqk029956

I'd be inclined to blame that.

So would I. =) Damn it, that is upsetting. I save the text in UTF-8
and reST handles it fine (as Michael points out below, it shows up
find in the HTML version). Aahz has suggested using another SMTP
server for sending out the Summary, but that is a pain in the rear.

Then again I don't love butchering Martin's last name every summary
(and his is pretty much the only consistent reason for worrying about
Unicode).
The summary looks fine on python.org.

I suggest using the HTML version if you want really nice formatting
and hyperlinks and there are less funky formatting issues thanks to
news or mail readers.

-Brett
 
A

Aahz

So would I. =) Damn it, that is upsetting. I save the text in UTF-8
and reST handles it fine (as Michael points out below, it shows up
find in the HTML version). Aahz has suggested using another SMTP
server for sending out the Summary, but that is a pain in the rear.

<raised eyebrow> How's it a pain? Just write a Python script that does
an scp of the file to creosote, then rsh/ssh to run another Python script
on creosote that does the mailing. <evil grin>
 
M

Michael Hudson

<raised eyebrow> How's it a pain? Just write a Python script that does
an scp of the file to creosote, then rsh/ssh to run another Python script
on creosote that does the mailing. <evil grin>

Via which SMTP server, exactly?

Cheers,
mwh
 

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