🌐 Mailman 3 August 2006 - Python-announce-list - python.org

Polyform Puzzler
by David Goodger Aug. 8, 2006

Aug. 8, 2006

Polyform Puzzler is a software toolkit for exploring & solving polyform puzzles, like Pentominoes and Soma Cubes. It consists of a set of front-end applications for specific polyform puzzles and a Python library that does the heavy lifting. New polyforms and new puzzles can easily be defined and added. http://puzzler.sourceforge.net/ -- David Goodger <http://python.net/~goodger>

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ANN: xtopdf: PDF creation / conversion toolkit: alpha release of v1.3
by vasudevram Aug. 8, 2006

Aug. 8, 2006

Hi group, xtopdf: PDF creation / conversion toolkit: alpha release of v1.3 This is actually a somewhat preliminary announcement, but may be of interest to developers / users who know Python and/or have earlier checked out my xtopdf PDF creation / conversion toolkit: I've released (via my web site, not yet properly packaged/documented and put on the SourceForge site, that will be done in some days), the next version of xtopdf: v1.3. This version adds support for conversion of CSV, TDV (Tab Delimited Values) and XLS (limited support) to PDF. v1.3 also adds some GUI tools written using wxPython (v1.0 had only command-line tools and a library for developers). Users/developers will need to install wxPython and properly configure it to work with their Python installation before they can use these GUI tools. This is fairly straightforward on Windows using the .MSI or .EXE (can't remember which it is right now) installer for wxPython, but on Linux, you'll need to know how to handle the tools that are used to build packages from source code, i.e. make, configure, etc. Also, wxPython is a medium-sized package - it took around an hour or two to fully build on my reasonably fast PC. So be patient (get yourself a coffee or two, or do something else in another Linux console / window while wxPython builds :-) Those who know even basic Python should be able to install and run both xtopdf v1.0 and the new stuff in v1.3, at least for the command-line tools (the programs are quite simple). Main SourceForge site for xtopdf v1.0: http://sourceforge.net/projects/xtopdf There are no releases between 1.0 and 1.3 :-) URL for xtopdf v1.3 on my web site: http://www.dancingbison.com/xtopdf-1.3.zip URL for xtopdf v1.0 on my web site: http://www.dancingbison.com/xtopdf-1.0.tar.gz wxPython site: http://wxpython.org xtopdf requires both Python and the open source version of the ReportLab toolkit. Python site: [You shouldn't be reading this group if you don't know the site :-), ok, maybe you're a newbie to Python and happened across this group;its http://www.python.org] ReportLab site: http://www.reportlab.org More details (for Windows) are available in a guide here: http://itext.ugent.be/library/question.php?id=41 I'd appreciate any feedback, about bugs (v1.3 is tested but not a lot yet, that will be done in next days), or how / what for anyone is using it. Apart from the "proper" packaging/documenting and upload to SourceForge (and my web site), I shall be writing and posting more about how to use it, etc. in the coming days. Enjoy, and Thanks Vasudev =========================== Vasudev Ram Software consulting and training http://www.dancingbison.com ===========================

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No August Fredericksburg ZPUG
by Gary Poster Aug. 8, 2006

Aug. 8, 2006

The Fredericksburg, VA ZPUG will be taking a break this month: no August 9 meeting. Thanks Gary

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Dr. Dobb's Python-URL! - weekly Python news and links (Aug 8)
by Jack Diederich Aug. 8, 2006

Aug. 8, 2006

QOTW: "being able to cook an egg" - Guido Van Rossum in response to the question, "What do you think is the most important skill every programmer should posses?" "I am asking for your forgiveness" - an open letter to Guido by someone who took the "D" in "BDFL" too literally. Parsing a Grammar. Several solid tools are suggested. http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/ea9736… Alex Martelli was awarded the Frank Willison award at OSCON. Can I define one class across multiple files? Yes, but the need does have a code smell... http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/463328… Broken decorator example in a PEP -- it's a decorated class! Here are work arounds (python 2.6 cometh, never fear!) http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/930e57… Releases of Note Revision 51087. It isn't prime. It isn't the product of two cubes. It is python2.5 beta3. http://www.python.org/download/releases/2.5/ http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0356/ mod_python 3.2.10 released. http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/2694cc… functional 0.7 released. Functional toolkit for python. http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/136c70… Clever Harold released. py_web_frameworks += 1 http://blog.melhase.net/articles/2006/08/02/clever-harold-the-shocking-firs… Upcoming Community Events SciPy - Scientific Python Conference Aug 17-18 (Pasadena, CA) http://www.scipy.org/SciPy2006/ Open Source Developers Conference Dec 5-8 (Melbourne, Australia) http://www.osdc.com.au/ ======================================================================== 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. For far, FAR more Python reading than any one mind should absorb, much of it quite interesting, several pages index much of the universe of Pybloggers. http://lowlife.jp/cgi-bin/moin.cgi/PythonProgrammersWeblog http://www.planetpython.org/ http://mechanicalcat.net/pyblagg.html 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, Tim Lesher, and Tony Meyer continue the marvelous tradition early borne by Andrew Kuchling, Michael Hudson and Brett Cannon 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/python/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%20python%20patch 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 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. editor(a)pythonjournal.com and editor(a)pythonjournal.cognizor.com 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%3Dgroups%26group%3Dcomp.lang.pyth… 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*&s… http://purl.org/thecliff/python/url.html (dormant) or http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_q=+Python-URL!&as_ugroup=comp.lan… 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 <Python-URL(a)phaseit.net> should get through. To receive a new issue of this posting in e-mail each Monday morning (approximately), ask <claird(a)phaseit.net> to subscribe. Mention "Python-URL!". Write to the same address to unsubscribe. -- The Python-URL! Team-- Dr. Dobb's Journal (http://www.ddj.com) is pleased to participate in and sponsor the "Python-URL!" project.

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Leipzig Python User Group - Meeting, August 16, 2006, 8:00pm
by Mike Müller Aug. 7, 2006

Aug. 7, 2006

========================= Leipzig Python User Group ========================= Next Meeting Wednesday, August 16, 2006 --------------------------------------- We will meet on August 16 at 8:00 pm at the training center of Python Academy in Leipzig, Germany (http://www.python-academy.com/center/find.html). Our regular meeting time, the second Tuesday of the month, would be August 8. We postpone to next week because the meeting location is not available at this regular date. Stefan Schwarzer will present his Python module ftputil. Food and soft drinks are provided. Please send a short confirmation mail to info(a)python-academy.de, so we can prepare appropriately. Everybody who uses Python, plans to do so or is interested in learning more about the language is encouraged to participate. While the meeting language will be mainly German, English speakers are very welcome. We will provide English interpretation if needed. Current information about the meetings can always be found at http://www.python-academy.com/user-group/index.html ========================= Leipzig Python User Group ========================= Stammtisch am 16.08.2006 ------------------------- Wir treffen uns am 16.08.2006 um 20:00 Uhr wieder im im Schulungszentrum der Python Academy in Leipzig (http://www.python-academy.de/Schulungszentrum/anfahrt.html). Am planmäßigen zweiten Dienstag im Monat, dem 8.August, steht unser Treffpunkt nicht zur Verfügung, so dass wir das Treffen auf nächste Woche verschieben. Stefan Schwarzer stellt sein Python-Modul ftputil vor. Für das leibliche Wohl wird gesorgt. Wir bitten um kurze Anmeldung per e-mail an: info(a)python-academy.de An den Treffen der Python Anwendergruppe kann jeder teilnehmen, der Interesse an Python hat, die Sprache bereits nutzt oder nutzen möchte. Die Arbeitssprachen des Treffens ist Deutsch. Englisch sprechende Python-Enthusiasten sind trotzdem herzlich eingeladen. Wir übersetzen gern. Aktuelle Informationen zu den Treffen sind immer unter http://www.python-academy.de/User-Group/index.html zu finden.

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[ANN] rest2web 0.5.0 Beta 1 Released
by Fuzzyman Aug. 6, 2006

Aug. 6, 2006

After five months there is finally a new release of `rest2web <http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/rest2web/>`_. This is **0.5.0 Beta 1**. There are an awful lot of changes and improvements, but there shouldn't be any backward compatability issues with previous versions. * `rest2web 0.5.0Beta1 zip <http://www.voidspace.org.uk/cgi-bin/voidspace/downman.py?file=rest2web-0.5.…>`_ * `rest2web 0.5.0Beta1 tar.gz <http://www.voidspace.org.uk/cgi-bin/voidspace/downman.py?file=rest2web-0.5.…>`_ One of the best changes, is the addition of a new `Quickstart Guide <http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/rest2web/quickstart.html>`_ by *Andrew Ittner*. What is rest2web ? ============== **rest2web** is a tool that generates html files for websites, parts of websites, or project documentation. It allows you to keep your page content in `ReST <http://docutils.sourceforge.net>`_ format, and has a simple but flexible templating system. It can automatically build index pages, 'breadcrumbs' and sidebars for your site. By providing access to a data-structures that represents your site (for example `indextree and thispage <http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/rest2web/reference/indextree.html>`_), you can easily build in extra functionality. What's New in 0.5.0 ? ================ The full changelog is below. As you can see a *lot* has changed. I will try to summarise the most important changes first : * Addition of 'Quickstart Guide' * rest2web can now build a site from just a directory of ReST documents; no need tosupply *restindexes* or index pages if you don't want to {sm;:-)} * Global uservalues (effectively variables available in every page) can be set in the `Config File <http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/rest2web/config_file.html>`_ or at the command line * Lots of new `command line options <http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/rest2web/command_line.html>`_ available, including setting verbosity levels (make rest2web quieter !) * New `Standard Functions <http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/rest2web/functions.html>`_, especially 'include' for better customisation of templates (e.g. for defining a different footer for some directories) * More information available in the namespace and indextree (source filename, target filename, full url etc) Plus a host of bugfixes and minor improvements. Version 0.5.0 Beta 1 2006/08/06 ======================== Updated docs. Moved 'pythonutils' distribution into the 'rest2web' directory for ease of packaging. Added a ``#!`` line to ``r2w.py``. All rest2web imports now absolute imports. Added 'quickstart.txt' thanks to Andrew Ittner. Added an ``include`` standard function, this can be used to nest templates or customise sections. (It will walk up the directory tree looking for the file you specify and takes an optional argument if the file doesn't exist - useful for templates that allow subdirectories to add to the template, or even wrap the body.) ``make_dist.py`` now takes ``nopause`` as a command line argument (``make_dist.py`` is in `Subversion`_ for creating distributions.) Default breadcrumb divider is now '>'. Breadcrumbs are also output in HTML on separate lines for readability. Fixed bug when ``final_encoding`` is ``None``. Default config file is now called ``r2w.ini``. ``rest2web.ini`` will still be supported until the next release. Fixed bug with ``standerr`` where no logfile is used. ``print_crumbs`` can now take ``None`` for the dividers. Added 'globalValues' to the namespace. (Available in templates and pages for storing values which can be accessed across all pages.) Added 'uservalues' and 'restindex' into each page in the indextree. A new command line 'nopause' option to override the config file. Change so that variables (and functions etc) defined in templates can be used in single code blocks (like ``<% new_name %>``). Added more information about pages to the namespace and indextree. The new values are : 'source_file': The source file for the page 'current_dir': The current directory being processed - this can be turned into an absolute filepath by doing ``os.path.join(os.getcwd(), current_dir)`` 'target_dir': The target file directory (as an absolute file path) being rendered into. Note if the file has a target specified it may not be put in this directory. Use ``os.path.dirname(target_file)`` instead. 'full_page_url': The full url (starting with '/') for the current page 'target_file': The full filename of the page being rendered Fixed bug where 'thispage' wasn't set on pages in the indextree. (Value should be ``True`` for the current page.) Fixed bug where 'thispage' (in the namespace) would sometimes be incorrectly ``None``. Cached template files for faster execution. Special thanks to Martin Krafft for bugfixes and suggestions. Version 0.5.0 alpha 2006/05/01 ====================== **rest2web** can now build a site with no index pages, no template and no restindexes. This is the `force <../force_mode.html>`_ command line option. It can be used to automatically build a site from a collection of ReST documents, and use default templates. ``uservalues`` can be passed at the `command line <../command_line.html>`_ and in the config file. (Command line `uservalues <uservalues.html>`_ override config file ones.) These uservalues are now available in every page. The encoding of uservalues in the config file is specified by the ``__encoding__`` value. A ``--template-file`` (or ``-t``) command line option. (Will override the top level ``template`` keyword specified in the restindex.) This allows you to have alternative templates for a site; for example one for an online version and another for distributed documentation. New website template, created by `Fuchsiashock Design <http://www.fuchsiashock.co.uk>`_. ``final_encoding`` should never be ``utf8`` - should be ``utf-8`` instead. This is because ``utf8`` is not recognised by browsers. (This is now automatically handled.) Added ``initialheaderlevel`` a new restindex keyword. It sets the size of headers used in ReST documents. Can be set per page. The ``file`` keyword has been bugfixed. It now only operates if the target file doesn't exist or is different to the source file. It copies the timestamp along with the file. The `gallery plugin <gallery.html>`_ now ignores non-image files. It also skips image files it can't handle (currently only animated jpgs. **rest2web** now has three levels of verbosity, controlled from the command line : * ``-v`` : Verbose, the default. * ``-a`` : Warnings and actions. * ``-w`` : Warnings only. ``uservalues`` can now be inserted in pages using a new syntax. Where this is used, the uservalues are inserted *before* the page is rendered from ReST to HTML. This means uservalues can be in ReST format. The syntax for single values is ``<* ... *>``. For multiple lines of code it is ``<$ ... $>``. Added ``modtimeiso`` value to the namespace and the ``formattime`` `standard function <../functions.html>`_. The ``namespace`` and ``uservalues`` are both now available (as dictionaries) to the macros and the standard functions. Removed the two ``<br />`` from ``listend`` in the standard function ``minibar`` and added ``wrapper_class`` to ``print_details``. Added ``os`` and ``sys`` to the namespace for every page. The default crumb for index pages (if no ``page-title`` specified) is the filename, minus the extension and turned to title case. Removed ``urlpath`` from rest2web, because it is now in pythonutils. It won't run in the distribution directory - need to run "make_dist.py". (This only applies if fetched from `subversion <http://svn.rest2web.python-hosting.com>`_).

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RELEASED Python 2.5 (beta 3)
by Anthony Baxter Aug. 4, 2006

Aug. 4, 2006

On behalf of the Python development team and the Python community, I'm happy to announce the third BETA release of Python 2.5. This is an *beta* release of Python 2.5. As such, it is not suitable for a production environment. It is being released to solicit feedback and hopefully discover bugs, as well as allowing you to determine how changes in 2.5 might impact you. If you find things broken or incorrect, please log a bug on Sourceforge. In particular, note that changes to improve Python's support of 64 bit systems might require authors of C extensions to change their code. More information (as well as source distributions and Windows and Universal Mac OSX installers) are available from the 2.5 website: http://www.python.org/2.5/ There's been over 50 fixes since the second beta. This large number of changes meant we felt more comfortable cutting a third beta release, rather than charging ahead to the release candidate. As of this release, Python 2.5 is now in *feature freeze*. Unless absolutely necessary, no functionality changes will be made between now and the final release of Python 2.5. The plan is that this will be the final beta release (no, really, this time for sure (probably)). We should now move to one or more release candidates, leading to a 2.5 final release early August. PEP 356 includes the schedule and will be updated as the schedule evolves. At this point, any testing you can do would be greatly, greatly appreciated. The new features in Python 2.5 are described in Andrew Kuchling's What's New In Python 2.5. It's available from the 2.5 web page. Amongst the language features added include conditional expressions, the with statement, the merge of try/except and try/finally into try/except/finally, enhancements to generators to produce a coroutine kind of functionality, and a brand new AST-based compiler implementation. New modules added include hashlib, ElementTree, sqlite3, wsgiref and ctypes. In addition, a new profiling module "cProfile" was added. Enjoy this new release, Anthony Anthony Baxter anthony(a)python.org Python Release Manager (on behalf of the entire python-dev team)

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PyWeek #3 in September!
by richard＠pyweek.org Aug. 4, 2006

Aug. 4, 2006

PyWeek 3 is coming up. I've scheduled it for the first week of September. The exact dates are 00:00UTC Sunday 3rd September to 00:00UTC Sunday 10th September. REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN Visit the PyWeek website to sign up: http://www.pyweek.org/ THE PYWEEK CHALLENGE: - Invites all Python programmers to write a game in one week from scratch either as an individual or in a team, - Is intended to be challenging and fun, - Will hopefully increase the public body of python game tools, code and expertise, - Will let a lot of people actually finish a game, and - May inspire new projects (with ready made teams!) Entries must be developed during the challenge, and must incorporate some theme decided at the start of the challenge. The rules for the challenge are at: http://media.pyweek.org/static/rules.html Richard -- Visit the PyWeek website: http://www.pyweek.org/

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python-dev Summary for 2006-06-16 through 2006-06-30
by steven.bethard＠gmail.com Aug. 3, 2006

Aug. 3, 2006

python-dev Summary for 2006-06-16 through 2006-06-30 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ .. contents:: [The HTML version of this Summary is available at http://www.python.org/dev/summary/2006-06-16_2006-06-30] ============= Announcements ============= ------------------- Python 2.5 schedule ------------------- A number of bugs are being squashed as Python 2.5 moves towards its next release. See `PEP 356`_ for more details and the full schedule. .. _PEP 356: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0356/ Contributing threads: - `Beta 1 schedule ? (Bug in stringobject?) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066113.html>`__ - `Adding winerror module (Beta 1 schedule ?) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066159.html>`__ - `current 2.5 issues <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066204.html>`__ - `TRUNK FREEZE IMMINENT FOR 2.5 BETA 1 - 00:00 UTC, 20-JUNE-2006 <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066206.html>`__ - `beta1 coming real soon <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066253.html>`__ - `RELEASED Python 2.5 (beta 1) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066318.html>`__ - `TRUNK is UNFROZEN, but in FEATURE FREEZE <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066322.html>`__ - `2.5 and beyond <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066807.html>`__ ----------------------------------------- Checkins for betas and release candidates ----------------------------------------- Anthony Baxter announced some guidelines for checkins for the beta and release candidate releases. For all beta releases: * All checkins must have an entry for Misc/NEWS, a test and docs * All checkins that add features must have approval from a release manager * All checkins must not break any of the buildbots For all release candidates: * All checkins must have approval from a release manager Approval from a release manager (Anthony or Neal) should preferably be obtained in public (e.g. the python-dev list) and should be noted in the commit message. Contributing threads: - `When to branch release25-maint? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066200.html>`__ - `RFC: trunk checkins between now and 2.5 final <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066718.html>`__ ------------------------------------------- FishEye on the Python Subversion Repository ------------------------------------------- FishEye is once again `available for the Python repository`_. .. _available for the Python repository: http://fisheye3.cenqua.com/browse/python Contributing thread: - `FishEye on Python CVS Repository <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066188.html>`__ ========= Summaries ========= --------------------------------- PEP 3103: A Switch/Case Statement --------------------------------- After Thomas Lee provided a `simple patch implementing a switch statement`_ for Python, there was a massive discussion about it and how `PEP 275`_ should best be implemented. After much discussion, basically three camps arose: * School I: The switch statement should just be syntactic sugar for the corresponding if/elif chain. * School II: The switch statement should dispatch on a precomputed dict of values. * School III: The switch statement should correspond to an if/elif chain but require all expressions to be hashable (to allow for better optimizations). School I was primarily concerned with the repetition of the ``x ==`` in something like:: if x == ...: ... elif x == ...: ... elif x == ...: ... else: ... School II seemed to feel that just aiding DRY was not enough to introduce a new construct, and that the switch statement should also be able to avoid the function definitions in dispatching code like:: def f(...): ... def g(...): ... def h(...): ... dispatch_dict = {x:f, y:g, z:h} dispatch_dict[value](*args) In order to optimize this kind of code, School II wanted to be able to compute the dispatch dict ahead of time, so that it wouldn't have be recomputed each time the switch statement was executed. There was a lot of discussion as to exactly when this freezing should occur, with some voting for module compilation time (allowing only constants in the cases), some voting for function definition time (allowing only constants and non-local names in the cases) and some voting for the first time the switch statement is executed (allowing only constants and both local and non-local names). Guido put together a thorough summary of the options in `PEP 3103`_. There was some discussion of introducing a ``static`` keyword which would cause an expression to be evaluated at function definition time, so that, for example, the following code would create a list of functions returning each of 0, 1, ... 9:: funcs = [lambda: (static i) for i in xrange(10)] The intention was that switch statement cases would then allow only constants or static expressions. Guido requested a separate PEP on the idea, and `Fredrik Lundh posted a proto-PEP`_, but at the time of this summary, no official PEP had been submitted. In the end, it looked like Guido was leaning towards the switch statement as syntactic sugar for a dispatching dict, with the dict frozen at function definition time (which would mean compile-time for module-level switch statements). However, the introduction of the statement seemed likely to be postponed at least until Python 3.0. .. _simple patch implementing a switch statement: http://bugs.python.org/1504199 .. _PEP 275: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0275/ .. _PEP 3103: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3103/ .. _Fredrik Lundh posted a proto-PEP: http://online.effbot.org/2006_06_01_archive.htm#pep-static Contributing threads: - `Switch statement <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066086.html>`__ - `An obscene computed goto bytecode hack for "switch" :) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066115.html>`__ - `Simple Switch statement <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066499.html>`__ - `Alternatives to switch? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066508.html>`__ - `Temporary Constantification <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066531.html>`__ - `Simple Switch statementZ <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066537.html>`__ - `PEP 3103: A Switch/Case Statement <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066570.html>`__ - `School IIb? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066585.html>`__ - `Switch statement - handling errors <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066650.html>`__ - `Split switch statement <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066652.html>`__ - `once [was: Simple Switch statementZ] <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066692.html>`__ ------------------------------ Restricted execution in Python ------------------------------ For his Ph.D. thesis, Brett Cannon is looking into adding facilities for restricted execution to Python, partly with the goal of getting Python into Firefox alongside Javascript. His restricted execution specifications aimed to take advantage of the C-to-Python language barrier to enforce security restrictions. Though there's no real way to get private attributes in pure Python, objects coded in C and exposed to Python can select which attributes are exposed, thus making the non-exposed attributes truly private to Python-level code. His initial draft aimed to hide as many "dangerous" objects as possible, and then cripple objects like ``file`` that would be difficult to hide. A number of people seemed to prefer a hiding-only approach, but comments from Armin Rigo seemed to suggest that plugging all the introspection holes that give access to file objects might be quite difficult. The discussion continued on into the next fortnight. Contributing threads: - `doc for new restricted execution design for Python <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066344.html>`__ - `Is Lib/test/crashers/recursive_call.py really a crasher? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066627.html>`__ - `For sandboxing: alternative to crippling file() <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066792.html>`__ ----------------------------------------------- NaN and infinities in Python float calculations ----------------------------------------------- Nick Maclaren asked about trying to get more platform-independent behavior in Python's floats, so that IEEE 754 values as in `PEP 754`_ would be produced more consistently. Currently, different OSes produce different results when these values are involved:: Python 2.4.2 (#1, May 2 2006, 08:28:01) [GCC 4.1.0 (SUSE Linux)] on linux2 Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information. >>> a = "NaN" >>> b = float(a) >>> c = int(b) >>> d = (b == b) >>> print a, b, c, d NaN nan 0 False Python 2.3.3 (#1, Feb 18 2004, 11:58:04) [GCC 2.8.1] on sunos5 Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information. >>> a = "NaN" >>> b = float(a) >>> c = int(b) >>> d = (b == b) >>> print a, b, c, d NaN NaN 0 True Nick Maclaren suggested either raising an exception for all ambiguous or invalid operations, or returning NaN or infinity as appropriate and then raising exceptions whenever an operation that would lose the error indication was performed. Nick Coghlan explained that the decimal module already does most of this:: >>> from decimal import Decimal as d >>> nan = d('NaN') >>> int(nan) Traceback (most recent call last): ... decimal.InvalidOperation >>> >>> from decimal import getcontext, Overflow >>> ctx = getcontext() >>> ctx.traps[Overflow] = False >>> d('1e999999999') * 10 Decimal("Infinity") Nick Maclaren seemed to suggest that he would be working on a PEP and an implementation that would bring some of the decimal module consistencies to Python's floats as well. .. _PEP 754: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0754/ Contributing threads: - `Numerical robustness, IEEE etc. <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066186.html>`__ - `Numerical robustness, IEEE etc. <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066192.html>`__ - `Python memory model (low level) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066834.html>`__ ----------------------------------------------- ImportWarnings for directories without __init__ ----------------------------------------------- Ralf W. Grosse-Kunstleve complained that with Python 2.5 he started getting tons of "ImportWarning: Not importing directory" messages. James Y Knight pointed out that running Python in your home directory is quite likely to issue such warnings if you have *any* directories in your home directory that have the same name as a python module (e.g. ``readline``). A number of options for silencing the errors were discussed, including invoking Python like ``python -W'ignore:Not importing directory'`` and including ``warnings.filterwarnings('ignore', 'Not importing directory', ImportWarning)`` in site.py or .pythonrc.py. Two patches were provided that introduce the warning only if the import fails, `one by Shane Hathaway`_ and `one by Sergey A. Lipnevich`_. No final decision had been made at the time of this summary. .. _one by Shane Hathaway: http://bugs.python.org/1515361 .. _one by Sergey A. Lipnevich: http://bugs.python.org/1515609 Contributing threads: - `Dropping __init__.py requirement for subpackages <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066280.html>`__ - `ImportWarning flood <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066345.html>`__ ------------------ Updating turtle.py ------------------ Gregor Lingl proposed replacing turtle.py in the Python standard library with his `new xturtle.py module`_. The xturtle module is backwards compatible with the turtle module and adds a number of enhancements. However, Gregor's request came after Python 2.5's feature freeze, so he was told to propose it again in Python 2.6. There was some discussion about this -- as the stdlib turtle module is poorly tested, some contended that introducing the new APIs of xturtle would not make things any worse. A couple of compromises were offered: mentioning xturtle in the turtle module docs, and putting xturtle in the Tools directory. .. _new xturtle.py module: http://ada.rg16.asn-wien.ac.at/~python/xturtle/ Contributing threads: - `xturtle.py a replacement for turtle.py(!?) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066676.html>`__ - `xturtle.py - a replacement for turtle.py <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066677.html>`__ - `xturtle.py a replacement for turtle.py(!?) ATTENTION PLEASE! <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066734.html>`__ - `xturtle.py <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066742.html>`__ ---------------------------------------------------------- Relative imports and PEP 338: Executing Modules as Scripts ---------------------------------------------------------- Relative imports, as described in `PEP 328`_, introduced problems for `PEP 338`_ which allows modules within packages and zipfiles to be run with the -m command-line switch. The -m switch sets the __name__ of the module to '__main__' so that ``if __name__ == '__main__'`` blocks will get executed. However, relative imports use __name__ to determine the parent package, so if a module that has a relative import is executed using the -m switch, the relative import will fail. Nick Coghlan suggested adding a __module_name__ attribute that would not be clobbered by the -m switch, but people generally seemed to think that it would be simpler to just require absolute imports in main modules. .. _PEP 328: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0328/ .. _PEP 338: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0338/ Contributing threads: - `PEP 338 vs PEP 328 - a limitation of the -m switch <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066161.html>`__ - `PEP 328 and PEP 338, redux <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066609.html>`__ - `[Python-checkins] r47142 - in python/trunk: Doc/lib/librunpy.tex Lib/runpy.py Lib/test/test_runpy.py <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066690.html>`__ -------------------------------------------- Importing modules within unicode directories -------------------------------------------- Kristjan V. Jonsson pointed out that currently, Python on Windows cannot import modules from directories with unicode names, even if the module names themselves are plain ASCII. Nick Coghlan suggested that this was likely because import.c was doing something like ``u'c:/tmp/\u814c'.encode('mbcs')``, getting back ``'c:/tmp/?'`` and being unable to do anything useful with that. Martin v. Lowis suggested using the 8.3 simplified filename used by DOS, at least until the import machinery gets reworked to better handle encodings, hopefully for Python 2.6. `Thomas Heller had provided a patch`_ for reworking import.c in this manner a while back, but it was large enough that no one had reviewed it. .. _Thomas Heller had provided a patch: http://bugs.python.org/1093253 Contributing thread: - `unicode imports <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066103.html>`__ ---------------------------------------- MS VC++ 2003 toolkit no longer available ---------------------------------------- Bill Janssen pointed out that Python 2.4 on Windows expects to be compiled with the MS Visual C++ compiler version 7.1, and that the corresponding MS VC++ 2003 toolkit is no longer available. Fredrik Lundh explained that the compiler is still available in the .net SDK as well as being available to MSDN subscribers. There was again some discussion about moving to the VS 2005 toolkit for compiling Python. It would have made compiling for 64bit architectures somewhat easier, but would have meant that extension writers would have to install three different compilers just to compile extensions for Python 2.3, 2.4 and 2.5, and would also have given problems for MinGW users as MinGW does not yet easily support linking to the msvcr80 runtime library. Contributing threads: - `Python 2.4 extensions require VC 7.1? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066110.html>`__ - `Documentation enhancement: "MS free compiler"? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066182.html>`__ - `Documentation enhancement: "MS free compiler"? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066257.html>`__ --------------------------------- Keeping interned strings in a set --------------------------------- Alexander Belopolsky tried out the new set C API by `replacing the dict of interned strings with a set`_ instead. He had to make two changes to get this to work: there's currently no way to retrieve a single object from a set, and Py_Finalize() needed to be changed to finalize sets after strings (instead of the other way around as it used to be). There was some discussion about trying to get rid of PySet_Fini() so the latter problem wouldn't be an issue at all, but with all the other Py*Fini() functions already existing, it didn't seem worth it. The patch had no slowdown and reduced the memory consumption of the interning structure slightly. .. _replacing the dict of interned strings with a set: http://bugs.python.org/1507011 Contributing threads: - `Keeping interned strings in a set <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066084.html>`__ - `Keeping interned strings in a set <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066088.html>`__ - `setobject code <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066116.html>`__ - `Proposal to eliminate PySet_Fini <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066645.html>`__ ------------------------- Allowing empty subscripts ------------------------- Guido finally vetoed the proposal to allow ``x[()]`` to be written as ``x[]``. The use-cases were weak, and in most cases the functionality seemed better expressed as attribute access. Contributing threads: - `Pre-PEP: Allow Empty Subscript List Without Parentheses <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066099.html>`__ - `Empty Subscript PEP on Wiki - keep or toss? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066848.html>`__ ------------------------------------- Creating range objects at the C level ------------------------------------- Ralf W. Grosse-Kunstleve asked about the removal of the C function ``PyRange_New()`` which had been deprecated in Python 2.4. The right way to create ranges is to call PyRange_Type with the appropriate parameters, e.g. something like ``PyObject_CallFunction((PyObject*) &PyRange_Type, "lll", start, stop, step)``. Ralf was nervous about this alternative because it also appeared to be undocumented, and requested that something like the above be at least put into the What's New document. Contributing threads: - `PyRange_New() alternative? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066343.html>`__ - `PyObject* aliasing (Was: PyRange_New() alternative?) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066477.html>`__ ---------------------------------- type(), __class__ and isinstance() ---------------------------------- Martin Maly pointed out that you can't fool isinstance() into thinking your object is not a subclass of its true base class:: >>> class C(object): ... pass ... >>> class D(object): ... __class__ = property(lambda self: C) ... >>> isinstance(D(), D) True >>> isinstance(D(), C) True Phillip J. Eby explained that isinstance() checks both the type() of the object and the __class__ attribute. In essence, you can lie about your __class__ to make isinstance() return True, but you can't lie to make it return False. Guido suggested that these issues, as well as lying about an object's __bases__, should be revisited for Python 3000. Contributing thread: - `Semantic of isinstance <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066591.html>`__ ---------------------------------------------------------------- Requiring backward compatibility in the standard library modules ---------------------------------------------------------------- Ka-Ping Yee's uuid module, newly added for Python 2.5, contained a comment "This module works with Python 2.3 or higher". George Yoshida asked if that comment should be interpreted as requiring Python 2.3 compatibility. People generally felt like the list of backwards compatible modules in `PEP 291`_ should be as small as possible so as to keep maintenance as simple as possible. Ka-Ping removed the comment, and submitted the module to PyPI for Python 2.3 and 2.4 users. .. _PEP 291: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0291/ Contributing thread: - `uuid backward compatibility <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066153.html>`__ --------------------- Figleaf code coverage --------------------- `Titus Brown offered some reports`_ from his `figleaf code coverage`_ utility. People seemed particularly interested in trying to get coverage across multiple platforms, perhaps using a BuildBot extension, and Titus said he'd try to look into it. Walter Dorwald also pointed to `his own code coverage module`_. .. _Titus Brown offered some reports: http://vallista.idyll.org/~t/temp/python2.4-svn/ .. _figleaf code coverage: http://darcs.idyll.org/~t/projects/figleaf-latest.tar.gz .. _his own code coverage module: http://styx.livinglogic.de/~walter/python/coverage/PythonCodeCoverage.py Contributing threads: - `Code coverage reporting. <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066184.html>`__ - `Code coverage reporting. <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066193.html>`__ ------------------------ Improving error messages ------------------------ Georg Brandl proposed going through abstract.c and modifying error messages like "object does not support item assignment" to also include the type of the object. He got little feedback, mainly because everyone seemed to think it was such an obviously good idea that there was no need for any. Python 2.5 now incorporates `Georg's better error messages`_. .. _Georg's better error messages: http://bugs.python.org/1507676 Contributing threads: - `Improve error msgs? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066048.html>`__ - `Improve error msgs? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066128.html>`__ ----------------------------------------- Allowing assignments in global statements ----------------------------------------- Talin proposed allowing a global statement to be combined with an assignment statement, e.g.:: global badger = 42 Guido suggested that such a desire was a sure indicator of overuse of ``global``. Contributing thread: - `Allow assignments in 'global' statements? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066347.html>`__ ----------------------------------------- Splitting Python tests from CPython tests ----------------------------------------- Frank Wierzbicki volunteered some time into splitting out CPython specific test from Python-the-language tests. Armin Rigo pointed him to PyPy's `tests modified to be more implementation independent`_. .. _tests modified to be more implementation independent: http://codespeak.net/svn/pypy/dist/lib-python/modified-2.4.1/test Contributing thread: - `Cleanup of test harness for Python <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066817.html>`__ ----------------------------------------- A multi-dimensional array type for Python ----------------------------------------- For `Google's Summer of Code`_, Karol Langner will be working on `implementing a basic multi-dimensional array type`_ for Python core, based on the numpy_ array struct. He asked for any comments or suggestions that people had for the project. .. _Google's Summer of Code: http://code.google.com/summerofcode.html .. _numpy: http://www.numpy.org/ .. _implementing a basic multi-dimensional array type: http://scipy.org/BaseArray Contributing thread: - `basearray <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066516.html>`__ ================== Previous Summaries ================== - `Source control tools <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066187.html>`__ - `Dropping externally maintained packages (Was: Please stop changing wsgiref on the trunk) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066195.html>`__ =============== Skipped Threads =============== - `Last-minute curses patch <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066095.html>`__ - `Bug in stringobject? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066100.html>`__ - `Fwd: subprocess.Popen(.... stdout=IGNORE, ...) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066111.html>`__ - `About dynamic module loading <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066190.html>`__ - `PyString_FromFormat <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066213.html>`__ - `Misleading error message from PyObject_GenericSetAttr <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066227.html>`__ - `Bug: xml.dom.pulldom never gives you END_DOCUMENT events with an Expat parser <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066228.html>`__ - `os.getmtime now returns a float? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066252.html>`__ - `XP build failing <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066258.html>`__ - `ETree: xml vs xmlcore <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066268.html>`__ - `test_ctypes failure on Mac OS X/PowerPC 10.3.9 (Panther) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066282.html>`__ - `Small sqlite3 test suite fix (Python 2.5b1 candidate) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066291.html>`__ - `Weekly Python Patch/Bug Summary <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066350.html>`__ - `Things to remember when adding *packages* to stdlib <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066353.html>`__ - `Moving the ctypes repository to python.org <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066417.html>`__ - `PyObject_CallFunction and 'N' format char <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066501.html>`__ - `pypy-0.9.0: stackless, new extension compiler <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066512.html>`__ - `[Python-checkins] Things to remember when adding *packages* to stdlib <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066515.html>`__ - `Import semantics <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066523.html>`__ - `2.5b1 Windows install <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066542.html>`__ - `Python-Dev Digest, Vol 35, Issue 143 <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066577.html>`__ - `Problems building Python on OSX 10.4.6? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066579.html>`__ - `enhancements for uuid module <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066583.html>`__ - `Do we need a bug triage day? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066647.html>`__ - `Oh-why that?? Please ignore one of the two <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066678.html>`__ - `msvccompiler.py: some remarks <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066768.html>`__ - `Joke: Rush Limbaugh (a joke in and of himself) <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066780.html>`__ - `PyGIL_ and --without-threads <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066784.html>`__ - `document @property? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066787.html>`__ - `Pickle implementation questions <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066803.html>`__ - `sys.settrace() in Python 2.3 vs. 2.4 <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066820.html>`__ - `how long to wait for expat to incorporate a fix to prevent a crasher? <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066829.html>`__ - `LOAD_CONST POP_TOP <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-June/066832.html>`__ ======== Epilogue ======== This is a summary of traffic on the `python-dev mailing list`_ from June 16, 2006 through June 30, 2006. It is intended to inform the wider Python community of on-going developments on the list on a semi-monthly basis. An archive_ of previous summaries is available online. An `RSS feed`_ of the titles of the summaries is available. You can also watch comp.lang.python or comp.lang.python.announce for new summaries (or through their email gateways of python-list or python-announce, respectively, as found at http://mail.python.org). This python-dev summary is the 7th written by the python-dev summary slacker, Steve Bethard. To contact me, please send email: - Steve Bethard (steven.bethard at gmail.com) Do *not* post to comp.lang.python if you wish to reach me. The `Python Software Foundation`_ is the non-profit organization that holds the intellectual property for Python. It also tries to advance the development and use of Python. If you find the python-dev Summary helpful please consider making a donation. You can make a donation at http://python.org/psf/donations.html . Every cent counts so even a small donation with a credit card, check, or by PayPal helps. -------------------- Commenting on Topics -------------------- To comment on anything mentioned here, just post to `comp.lang.python`_ (or email python-list(a)python.org which is a gateway to the newsgroup) with a subject line mentioning what you are discussing. All python-dev members are interested in seeing ideas discussed by the community, so don't hesitate to take a stance on something. And if all of this really interests you then get involved and join `python-dev`_! ------------------------- How to Read the Summaries ------------------------- That this summary is written using reStructuredText_. Any unfamiliar punctuation is probably markup for reST_ (otherwise it is probably regular expression syntax or a typo :); you can safely ignore it. We do suggest learning reST, though; it's simple and is accepted for `PEP markup`_ and can be turned into many different formats like HTML and LaTeX. .. _python-dev: http://www.python.org/dev/ .. _SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=5470 .. _python-dev mailing list: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev .. _c.l.py: .. _comp.lang.python: http://groups.google.com/groups?q=comp.lang.python .. _PEP Markup: http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0012.html .. _Docutils: http://docutils.sf.net/ .. _reST: .. _reStructuredText: http://docutils.sf.net/rst.html .. _PSF: .. _Python Software Foundation: http://python.org/psf/ .. _archive: http://www.python.org/dev/summary/ .. _RSS feed: http://www.python.org/dev/summary/channews.rdf

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[ANNOUNCE] Thirty-fourth release of PythonCAD now available
by Art Haas Aug. 3, 2006

Aug. 3, 2006

Hi. I'm pleased to announce the thirty-fourth development release of PythonCAD, a CAD package for open-source software users. As the name implies, PythonCAD is written entirely in Python. The goal of this project is to create a fully scriptable drafting program that will match and eventually exceed features found in commercial CAD software. PythonCAD is released under the GNU Public License (GPL). PythonCAD requires Python 2.2 or newer. The interface is GTK 2.0 based, and uses the PyGTK module for interfacing to GTK. The design of PythonCAD is built around the idea of separating the interface from the back end as much as possible. By doing this, it is hoped that both GNOME and KDE interfaces can be added to PythonCAD through usage of the appropriate Python module. Addition of other PythonCAD interfaces will depend on the availability of a Python module for that particular interface and developer interest and action. The thirty-fourth release builds on the graphics improvements from the previous release. A number of small optimizations again reduce unneeded screen redraws, and a variety of redraw issues have been corrected. The newest PythonCAD release is the first release using Cairo graphics routines for entity drawing. If the Cairo routines are not available on the system then the existing GDK routines will be used, so only people running PythonCAD on recent PyGTK/GTK+ releases will see the change. The latest release includes the new ability to rotate objects around an arbitrary point in addition to the entity display improvements. Finally, a variety of other bug fixes and code improvements are included in the release. A mailing list for the development and use of PythonCAD is available. Visit the following page for information about subscribing and viewing the mailing list archive: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/pythoncad Visit the PythonCAD web site for more information about what PythonCAD does and aims to be: http://www.pythoncad.org/ Come and join me in developing PythonCAD into a world class drafting program! Art Haas -- Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. -Thomas Jefferson to James Smith, 1822

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