Python-URL! - weekly Python news and links (Feb 18)

G

Gabriel Genellina

QOTW: "Syntax can be, and has been, interoperable. The definitions of the
telephone network, the Internet, email, and the Web are all
bits-on-the-wire definitions of what you send back and forth, and they've
all worked well enough to change the world. This belief that
bits-on-the-wire is more important than data structures or APIs is at the
center of my world view." - Tim Bray, author of, for example, "What is RDF"

"Given this indispensable process and architecture issue, isn't it obvious
that it's totally irrelevant to the system's overall safety whether the
compiler has performed the further smattering of semantically puny
'verifications' allowed by mandatory-declaration, stating-typing
languages?" - Alex Martelli


A problem with itertools.groupby: groups apparently
were being "emptied" before use:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/f98e52fede997731/

Should __doubleunderscore__ names be defined by a programmer?
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/999b15a600da5086/

Floating point numbers, Decimals, the upcoming
Fraction type (rational) and their limitations:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/50e0e3f948eb94a6/
Also "inf" and "nan" support:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/3fd33cf86a563d6c/

Very simple RSS/Atom generators:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/6ac9d6ecb4c09128/

Looking for replacements to C's __FILE__ and __LINE__ macros:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/34f3ef011e3484a

Regular expression for prime numbers (?!)
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/b30c697cbe5f6b82/

Notes on how Python manages memory:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/4f906397187a88b9/

The longest thread this week is absolutely off topic, and started
two weeks ago: the speed of light, archery as an esoteric knowledge,
is pound a unit of mass?, wavicles...:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_frm/thread/8c7c359b600881e0/f84617b03f0ddfc1


========================================================================
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.

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

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

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/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 python patch

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

Many Python conferences around the world are in preparation.
Watch this space for links to them.

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.
(e-mail address removed) and (e-mail address removed)
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=groups&group=comp.lang.python.*

Previous - (U)se the (R)esource, (L)uke! - messages are listed here:
http://www.ddj.com/topic/python/ (requires subscription)
http://groups-beta.google.com/groups?q=python-url+group:comp.lang.python*&start=0&scoring=d&
http://purl.org/thecliff/python/url.html (dormant)
or
http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_q=+Python-URL!&as_ugroup=comp.lang.python
There is *not* an RSS for "Python-URL!"--at least not yet. Arguments
for and against are occasionally entertained.


Suggestions/corrections for next week's posting are always welcome.
E-mail to <[email protected]> should get through.

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(approximately), ask <[email protected]> to subscribe. Mention
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-- The Python-URL! Team--

Phaseit, Inc. (http://phaseit.net) is pleased to participate in and
sponsor the "Python-URL!" project. Watch this space for upcoming
news about posting archives.
 
P

Piet van Oostrum

Gabriel Genellina said:
GG> "Given this indispensable process and architecture issue, isn't it obvious
GG> that it's totally irrelevant to the system's overall safety whether the
GG> compiler has performed the further smattering of semantically puny
GG> 'verifications' allowed by mandatory-declaration, stating-typing
GG> languages?" - Alex Martelli

I couldn't find the original of this. I would like to see it in its
context. Googling didn't reveal anything but this Python-URL.
 
F

Fuzzyman

I've just been at a student conference in Krakow (SFI) where I heard a
talk by Gilad Bracha on the problems with Java (and he is in a
position to know!).

I will write it up in a blog entry, but my two favourite quotes from
his talk are:

1. The programs that can be written in languages with static type
systems are a subset of all possible programs. For some people this is
enough.
2. Mandatory static typing is an inherent security risk.

He has a very interesting tale about Java to demonstrate the second
point...


Michael
http://www.manning.com/foord
 

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