Dr. Dobb's Python-URL! - weekly Python news and links (Jul 12)

[Peter Otten]

QOTW: "Python's a language you can swear by, not at." - Chris

"Every sufficiently advanced LISP application will eventually reimplement
Python." - Hodgson's Law
Chad Himeda asks for a nested loop limit and Peter Hansen answers
with a quick test on the commandline. A discussion on the merits of
code approaching this limit entrails.
http://groups.google.com/groups?thre...ing.google.com

Karl Pech wants to calculate PI using the Monte Carlo method - and fast.
http://groups.google.com/groups?thre...s.t-online.com

Chris recollects how he fell in love with Python.
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm...t%40python.org

Marco Aschwanden asks for opinions on the use of multiple return
statements in a single function.
http://groups.google.com/groups?thre...t%40python.org

Bryan Olson searches for the longest matching prefix of a string using
regular expressions. Michael Hudson offers an alternate approach.
http://groups.google.com/groups?thre...ws.prodigy.com

Contrary to the current documentation, the open() builtin is not
retained for compatibility only. It may even grow some extra logic and
no longer be confined to ordinary files.
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/pyt...ly/045931.html

Guido van Rossum is less concerned about variable names shading
builtins than many posters on c.l.py.
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/pyt...ly/045948.html

Anthony Baxter announces release of the first alpha version of
Python 2.4. You are invited to download and participate in the test.
http://groups.google.com/groups?thre...t%40python.org
================================================== ======================
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.

comp.lang.python.announce announces new Python software. Be
sure to scan this newsgroup weekly.
http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=d...ython.announce

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

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 (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

Cetus collects Python hyperlinks.
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

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?...ShowStatus=all
The old Python "To-Do List" now lives principally in a
SourceForge reincarnation.
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid...70&func=browse
http://python.sourceforge.net/peps/pep-0042.html

The online Python Journal is posted at pythonjournal.cognizor.com.
ed****@pythonjournal.com and ed****@pythonjournal.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=d...python&num=100
http://groups.google.com/groups?meta....lang.python.*

Previous - (U)se the (R)esource, (L)uke! - messages are listed here:
http://www.ddj.com/topics/pythonurl/
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
Suggestions/corrections for next week's posting are always welcome.
E-mail to <Py********@phaseit.net> should get through.

To receive a new issue of this posting in e-mail each Monday morning
(approximately), ask <cl****@phaseit.net> to subscribe. Mention
"Python-URL!".
-- The Python-URL! Team--

Dr. Dobb's Journal (http://www.ddj.com) is pleased to participate in and
sponsor the "Python-URL!" project.

[Jacek Generowicz]

"Peter Otten" <py********@phaseit.net> writes:

Guido van Rossum is less concerned about variable names shading
builtins than many posters on c.l.py.
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/pyt...ly/045948.html

This gives a message about python.org's mail system moving (and that
it is expected to finish 10 days ago).

Anybody know a convenient alternative way of seeing this message ?

[Peter Otten]

Jacek Generowicz wrote:

"Peter Otten" <py********@phaseit.net> writes:

Guido van Rossum is less concerned about variable names shading
builtins than many posters on c.l.py.
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/pyt...ly/045948.html
This gives a message about python.org's mail system moving (and that
it is expected to finish 10 days ago).

Anybody know a convenient alternative way of seeing this message ?

I checked it just now, maybe you need to clear some cache?

For now (GvR answering Skip Montanaro):

<quote> That was probably a checkin I made. I would have left it alone except the
code was

file = open(...)

As long as I was changing the variable name to not mask the builtin I
changed the call as well. Had it been

f = open(...)

I probably would have kept my hands off.
Hm... I'm not particularly concerned over fixing all code that uses
file as a local variable name, unless it actually is likely to need to
reference the file class by name; builtins are in the last scope
searched for the very reason that no programmer is expected to keep up
with all additions to the built-in library, so locals hiding built-ins
is okay. (Not that it isn't a good idea to avoid obvious clashes --
'str' for string variables and 'type' for type variables being the
most obvious stumbling blocks.)
In any case, I was under the impression that file() was the wave of the
future and open() a nod to the past.

Now you know better...

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)
</quote>

[Jacek Generowicz]

Peter Otten <__*******@web.de> writes:

I checked it just now, maybe you need to clear some cache?

Bah, yes, it's some sort of local problem.

Thanks.