Dr. Dobb's Python-URL!

QOTW:  "Confronting 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.com/groups?threadm=mailman.1057084443.18247.python-list@python.org>

     Bengt Richter adds another twist to this discussion about overloading
     the assignment operator (which is a statement, really).
         <http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=bdve6b$2nq$0@216.39.172.122>

     Geoff Howland discusses issues related to the use of Python
     executables for source code secrecy, instead of speed increase.
         <http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=82j7gv8b8sr7nejhunf32hb3oitc08s4pa@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.com/groups?threadm=3F0669B5.679FB505@alcyone.com>

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

     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.com/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.com/groups?threadm=u1xx83hey.fsf@fitlinxx.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.com/groups?threadm=bdspmf$leq$0@216.39.172.122>

     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.sourceforge.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.org/>

     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.librelogiciel.com/software/PyKota/action_Presentation>

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

     PyRex 0.8.1, a language for writing Python extension modules.
         <http://www.cosc.canterbury.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.sourceforge.net/>


Announcements
-------------
     PyRex 0.8, a language for writing Python extension modules.
         <http://www.cosc.canterbury.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.org/>

     DocUtils 0.3, a system for processing plaintext documentation
     (reStructuredText markup).
         <http://docutils.sourceforge.net/>

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

     ClientForm 0.0.10 and 0.1.3a, a Python module for handling
     HTML forms on the client.
         <http://wwwsearch.sourceforge.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.twistedmatrix.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.python.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.cognizor.com.
    editor@pythonjournal.com and editor@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=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/         
  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.
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-- The Python-URL! Team--

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