Dr. Dobb's Python-URL!

QOTW:  "What's the reason for having two symbols [!= and <>] mean the same
thing?  Hysterical raisins.  Python originally used only '<>'.  C
programmers whined about that, so Python added '!=' too.  But Python code
already used '<>', so it was too late to get rid of that one.  '<>' was
deprecated instead.  That's a computer science term usually meaning it's
like a mentally disturbed uncle:  we won't kill it, but we won't talk about
it either <wink>.  The good news is that Guido has become more hardened to
whining over the centures since then."       -- Tim Peters

"As they say, science advances, funeral by funeral."
                                            -- Marc Wilson


Discussion
----------
     Raymond Hettinger intrigues with the third episode of a series of
     mysterious Python puzzles.
         <http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=tH5Ta.24164$7O.4744@nwrdny01.gnilink.net>

     Paul Rubin proposes a language extension to deal with closing files
     in a nice way.
         <http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=7xhe5b82ip.fsf%40ruckus.brouhaha.com>

     While the original question was about scripting Paint Shop Pro
     Duncan Booth shows how easy it is to write text in an image
     by using PIL.
         <http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=Xns93C2B04C1DD91duncanrcpcouk@127.0.0.1>

     Steven Taschuk discusses several ways to implement Singletons in Python.
         <http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=mailman.1058723911.12956.python-list@python.org>

     Raymond St. Marie writes something that I'm not sure of what it is,
     but it is funny nonetheless.
         <http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=20030726235931.05032.00000547@mb-m26.aol.com>

     Chris Perkins wrote a checkable iterator, for when you need to
     know when an iterator is exhausted.
         <http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=45228044.0307211220.7590d7e9@posting.google.com>

     Raymond Hettinger argues that a new syntax to create Sets is not needed.
         <http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=wKEUa.4422$AO6.252@nwrdny02.gnilink.net>

     Bengt Richter gives a detailed analysis and example code for a
     genric 'namespace' type to store variables in.
         <http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=bfutsf$flc$0@216.39.172.122>

     A possible way to help you finding errors in your Python programs is by
     listing all identifiers that are used. Bengt Richter wrote a little program
     that does just this (mind the correction in the follow-up message).
         <http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=nl&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=bfsn0b%24htm%240%40216.39.172.122&rnum=14>
         <http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=nl&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=bfsqrs%24q1g%240%40216.39.172.122>

Announcements
-------------
     It was a busy week, last week!

     Guido van Rossum is interviewed in the Wall Street Journal.
         <http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0%2c%2cSB105874358077089900-H9jeoNplal2op2mZYCIb6aAm5%2c00.html>
         <http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=4868482a.0307211318.8f2e6d0@posting.google.com>

     Bruce Eckel talks with Bill Venners about how Python's minimal finger
     typing allows programmers to focus on the task, not the tool, generating
     a productivity that makes more projects feasible.
         <http://www.artima.com/intv/tipping.html>

     Python 2.3 release candidate 2, the second and last release candidate
     for Python 2.3 This will become Python 2.3 final if no new major bugs
     are found this week.
         <http://www.python.org/2.3/>
     A binary installer for MacPython-2.3rc2 for Mac OS X 10.2:
         <http://www.cwi.nl/ftp/jack/python/mac/MacPython-OSX-2.3rc2-3.dmg>

     PythonD 2.2.1 Release 2.0, a 32-bit, multi-threaded, networking- and
     OpenGL-enabled Python interpreter for DOS and Windows
         <http://members.lycos.co.uk/bdeck/pythond.htm>

     KirbyBase is a simple, pure-python, flat-file database management 
     system ...
	 <http://www.netpromi.com/kirbybase.html>

     Epydoc 2.0, a tool for generating API documentation for Python modules,
     based on their docstrings.
         <http://epydoc.sourceforge.net/>

     Aap's 1.0 release is not only "the first stable version of this
     powerful build tool", but offers the potential of real money
     for interested developers.
         <http://www.a-a-p.org/>

     py2exe 0.4.1, is a distutils extension to convert python scripts into
     windows exe-files (plus a few dlls), able to run on computers without
     requiring a python installation.
         <http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/py2exe/>

     The SciPy '03 Workshop on Scientific Computing with Python is being held
     at Cal Tech again this year. It is a two day workshop held September
     11-12 in Pasadena, CA.
         <http://www.scipy.org/site_content/scipy03>

     WebTK 0.alpha3, a Python framework using Twisted as its underlying
     Web server, allowing webmasters to develop websites like any classic
     GUI software.
         <http://www.webtk.org/>

     Leo 3.12, an outlining editor/browser/organizer for programmers.
         <http://sourceforge.net/projects/leo/>

     numarray 0.6, an array processing extension supporting records,
     memory mapping,  and computational capabilities.
         <http://www.stsci.edu/resources/software_hardware/numarray>

     CUTE 0.1.6, a Qt and Scintilla based text editor which can be
     easily extended using python.
         <http://cute.sf.net>

     SciParam 1.0.0 is a Python package to easily add additional quality
     control for entering scientific parameters in wxPython-based user
     interfaces.
         <http://great-er.intevation.org/sciparam/>

     WordUtils 0.7.0, pure-Python objects related to word searching
     and matching.
         <http://cedar-solutions.com/software/wordutils/>

     Fnorb 1.3, a pure-Python CORBA implementation.
         <http://fnorb.sourceforge.net/>

     cx_Freeze 2.1, a set of utilities for freezing Python scripts into
     executables. cx_OracleDBATools 1.2 and cx_OracleTools 7.1, a set of
     Python scripts that handle Oracle tasks in a cross platform manner.
         <http://starship.python.net/crew/atuining/>

     imgv 2.8.6, a cross-platform image viewer written entirely in Python,
     using Pygame.
         <http://imgv.sourceforge.net/>

     pynum2word-0.1, translate numbers into words in different languages.
         <http://sourceforge.net/projects/pynum2word/>


========================================================================
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.
E-mail to <Python-URL@phaseit.net> should get through.

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(approximately), ask <claird@phaseit.net> to subscribe.  Mention
"Python-URL!".


-- The Python-URL! Team--

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