Dr. Dobb's Python-URL! - weekly Python news and links (Jul 7)

[Irmen de Jong]

QOTW: "Confrontin g the Martellibot is like flirting with an encyclopedia,
I'd rather not do it myself, but I respect those who do, because it
produces knowledge." -- Anton Vredegoor

"Python and Java are not diametrically opposed religions that must fight
to the death in jihad, despite the existence of loonies favoring exactly
that. They solve different problems; sometimes in similar ways, sometimes
not." -- Mark Hughes


Discussion
----------
Michael Chermside explains what assignment in Python means, and how
this conflicts with a proposed change of the assignment 'operator'.
<http://groups.google.c om/groups?threadm= mailman.1057084 443.18247.pytho n-list@python.org >

Bengt Richter adds another twist to this discussion about overloading
the assignment operator (which is a statement, really).
<http://groups.google.c om/groups?threadm= bdve6b$2nq$0@21 6.39.172.122>

Geoff Howland discusses issues related to the use of Python
executables for source code secrecy, instead of speed increase.
<http://groups.google.c om/groups?threadm= 82j7gv8b8sr7nej hunf32hb3oitc08 s4pa@4ax.com>

Erik Max Francis explains the difference in output of printing an
element as part of a list and printing the element itself.
<http://groups.google.c om/groups?threadm= 3F0669B5.679FB5 05@alcyone.com>

Mirko Zeibig shows that "bound method" objects can be used for
callback functions, or "functors".
<http://groups.google.c om/groups?threadm= slrnbg55ts.c27. mirko-lists@zeibig.ne t>

Erwin Andreasen explains that buffering is why a python script with
multiple threads can seem to execute the same 'print' multiple times.
<http://groups.google.c om/groups?threadm= 87vfulrkuz.fsf@ andreasen.org>

David Bolen adds insight to the question "when is unit-testing bad?",
regarding elements that we think are hard to unit-test.
<http://groups.google.c om/groups?threadm= u1xx83hey.fsf@f itlinxx.com>

Bengt Richter shows how to use zip to transpose a list to get a
list of columns (apparently inspired by a Martellibot post).
<http://groups.google.c om/groups?threadm= bdspmf$leq$0@21 6.39.172.122>

Tkinspect is a kind of debugger that allows one to diagnose a Tkinter
process "from the outside".
<http://wiki.tcl.tk/tkinspect>

Announcements
-------------
Python 2.3beta2, the second beta release of Python 2.3.
<http://www.python.org/2.3/>

Pyro 3.3 beta, an advanced and powerful Distributed Object
Technology system written entirely in Python.
<http://pyro.sourceforg e.net/>

4Suite 1.0a3, a comprehensive platform for XML and RDF processing,
with base libraries and a server framework.
<ftp://ftp.4suite.org/pub/4Suite/>

DNSpython 1.0.0, a DNS toolkit for Python.
<http://www.dnspython.o rg/>

Eric 3.2, a full featured Python IDE that is written in PyQt using the
QScintilla editor widget.
<http://www.die-offenbachs.de/detlev/eric3.html>

PyKota 1.12, a complete Print Quota and Accounting Software Solution
for CUPS and LPRng.
<http://www.librelogici el.com/software/PyKota/action_Presenta tion>

PyQt 3.7, a comprehensive set of Python bindings for Trolltech's
Qt GUI toolkit.
<http://www.riverbankco mputing.co.uk/pyqt/>

PyRex 0.8.1, a language for writing Python extension modules.
<http://www.cosc.canter bury.ac.nz/~greg/python/Pyrex/>

SQLObject 0.4, SQLObject is an object-relational mapper supporting
Postgres, MySQL, and SQLite.
<http://sqlobject.org>

Scratchy 0.6, an Apache log parser and HTML report generator.
<http://scratchy.source forge.net/>


Announcements
-------------
PyRex 0.8, a language for writing Python extension modules.
<http://www.cosc.canter bury.ac.nz/~greg/python/Pyrex/>

M2Crypto 0.11, a crypto and SSL toolkit for Python.
<http://www.post1.com/home/ngps/m2>

PythonCAD 8th release, a CAD package written in Python.
<http://www.pythoncad.o rg/>

DocUtils 0.3, a system for processing plaintext documentation
(reStructuredTe xt markup).
<http://docutils.source forge.net/>

Scratchy 0.4, an Apache log parser and HTML report generator.
<http://scratchy.source forge.net/>

ClientForm 0.0.10 and 0.1.3a, a Python module for handling
HTML forms on the client.
<http://wwwsearch.sourc eforge.net/ClientForm/>

SCons 0.90, a software construction tool (build tool, or make tool).
<http://www.scons.org/>

Twisted 1.0.6, an event-driven networking framework for server
and client applications.
<http://www.twistedmatr ix.com/>
David Mertz, our own Lulu, presents Twisted to a wider audience.
<http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-twist1.html>

TTFQuery 0.2.4, builds on the FontTools module to allow you
to query TTF font-files for metadata and glyph outlines.
<http://sourceforge.net/projects/ttfquery/>


=============== =============== =============== =============== ============
Everything 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
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.

comp.lang.pytho n.announce announces new Python software. Be
sure to scan this newly-revitalized newsgroup at least weekly.

http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_ugroup=comp.lang.python.announce

Brett Cannon continues the marvelous tradition established by
Andrew Kuchling and Michael Hudson of 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/

The Python Business Forum "further[s] the interests of companies
that base their business on ... Python."

http://www.python-in-business.org

The Python Software Foundation has replaced the Python Consortium
as an independent nexus of activity

http://www.python.org/psf/

Cetus does much of the same

http://www.cetus-links.org/oo_python.html

Python FAQTS

http://python.faqts.com/

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://python.sourceforge.net/peps/pep-0042.html

The online Python Journal is posted at pythonjournal.c ognizor.com.
editor@pythonjo urnal.com and editor@pythonjo urnal.cognizor. com
welcome submission of material that helps people's understanding
of Python use, and offer Web presentation of your work.

*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.*

Previous - (U)se the (R)esource, (L)uke! - messages are listed here:

http://www.ddj.com/topics/pythonurl/

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or
http://groups.google.c om/groups?oi=djq&a s_q=+Python-URL!&as_ugroup= comp.lang.pytho n


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