🌐 Mailman 3 April 2007 - Python-announce-list - python.org

[ANN] PyTables 2.0b2 released
by Francesc Altet April 4, 2007

April 4, 2007

=========================== Announcing PyTables 2.0b2 =========================== PyTables is a library for managing hierarchical datasets and designed to efficiently cope with extremely large amounts of data with support for full 64-bit file addressing. PyTables runs on top of the HDF5 library and NumPy package for achieving maximum throughput and convenient use. The PyTables development team is happy to announce the public availability of the second *beta* version of PyTables 2.0. This will hopefully be the last beta version of 2.0 series, so we need your feedback if you want your issues to be solved before 2.0 final would be out. You can download a source package of the version 2.0b2 with generated PDF and HTML docs and binaries for Windows from http://www.pytables.org/download/preliminary/ For an on-line version of the manual, visit: http://www.pytables.org/docs/manual-2.0b2 Please have in mind that some sections in the manual can be obsolete (specially the "Optimization tips" chapter). Other chapters should be fairly up-to-date though (although still a bit in state of flux). In case you want to know more in detail what has changed in this version, have a look at ``RELEASE_NOTES.txt``. Find the HTML version for this document at: http://www.pytables.org/moin/ReleaseNotes/Release_2.0b2 If you are a user of PyTables 1.x, probably it is worth for you to look at ``MIGRATING_TO_2.x.txt`` file where you will find directions on how to migrate your existing PyTables 1.x apps to the 2.0 version. You can find an HTML version of this document at http://www.pytables.org/moin/ReleaseNotes/Migrating_To_2.x Keep reading for an overview of the most prominent improvements in PyTables 2.0 series. New features of PyTables 2.0 ============================ - NumPy is finally at the core! That means that PyTables no longer needs numarray in order to operate, although it continues to be supported (as well as Numeric). This also means that you should be able to run PyTables in scenarios combining Python 2.5 and 64-bit platforms (these are a source of problems with numarray/Numeric because they don't support this combination as of this writing). - Most of the operations in PyTables have experimented noticeable speed-ups (sometimes up to 2x, like in regular Python table selections). This is a consequence of both using NumPy internally and a considerable effort in terms of refactorization and optimization of the new code. - Combined conditions are finally supported for in-kernel selections. So, now it is possible to perform complex selections like:: result = [ row['var3'] for row in table.where('(var2 < 20) | (var1 == "sas")') ] or:: complex_cond = '((%s <= col5) & (col2 <= %s)) ' \ '| (sqrt(col1 + 3.1*col2 + col3*col4) > 3)' result = [ row['var3'] for row in table.where(complex_cond % (inf, sup)) ] and run them at full C-speed (or perhaps more, due to the cache-tuned computing kernel of Numexpr, which has been integrated into PyTables). - Now, it is possible to get fields of the ``Row`` iterator by specifying their position, or even ranges of positions (extended slicing is supported). For example, you can do:: result = [ row[4] for row in table # fetch field #4 if row[1] < 20 ] result = [ row[:] for row in table # fetch all fields if row['var2'] < 20 ] result = [ row[1::2] for row in # fetch odd fields table.iterrows(2, 3000, 3) ] in addition to the classical:: result = [row['var3'] for row in table.where('var2 < 20')] - ``Row`` has received a new method called ``fetch_all_fields()`` in order to easily retrieve all the fields of a row in situations like:: [row.fetch_all_fields() for row in table.where('column1 < 0.3')] The difference between ``row[:]`` and ``row.fetch_all_fields()`` is that the former will return all the fields as a tuple, while the latter will return the fields in a NumPy void type and should be faster. Choose whatever fits better to your needs. - Now, all data that is read from disk is converted, if necessary, to the native byteorder of the hosting machine (before, this only happened with ``Table`` objects). This should help to accelerate applications that have to do computations with data generated in platforms with a byteorder different than the user machine. - The modification of values in ``*Array`` objects (through __setitem__) now doesn't make a copy of the value in the case that the shape of the value passed is the same as the slice to be overwritten. This results in considerable memory savings when you are modifying disk objects with big array values. - All the leaf constructors (except Array) have received a new ``chunkshape`` argument that lets the user to explicitly select the chunksizes for the underlying HDF5 datasets (only for advanced users). - All the leaf constructors have received a new parameter called ``byteorder`` that lets the user specify the byteorder of their data *on disk*. This effectively allows to create datasets in other byteorders than the native platform. - Native HDF5 datasets with ``H5T_ARRAY`` datatypes are fully supported for reading now. - The test suites for the different packages are installed now, so you don't need a copy of the PyTables sources to run the tests. Besides, you can run the test suite from the Python console by using:: >>> tables.tests() Resources ========= Go to the PyTables web site for more details: http://www.pytables.org About the HDF5 library: http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HDF5/ About NumPy: http://numpy.scipy.org/ To know more about the company behind the development of PyTables, see: http://www.carabos.com/ Acknowledgments =============== Thanks to many users who provided feature improvements, patches, bug reports, support and suggestions. See the ``THANKS`` file in the distribution package for a (incomplete) list of contributors. Many thanks also to SourceForge who have helped to make and distribute this package! And last, but not least thanks a lot to the HDF5 and NumPy (and numarray!) makers. Without them PyTables simply would exists. Share your experience ===================== Let us know of any bugs, suggestions, gripes, kudos, etc. you may have. ---- **Enjoy data!** -- The PyTables Team -- >0,0< Francesc Altet http://www.carabos.com/ V V Cárabos Coop. V. Enjoy Data "-"

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Python Ireland 11th April 2007 Meeting
by Michael Twomey April 4, 2007

April 4, 2007

Hi, The Python Ireland group will be having our next meeting soon: Wednesday, 11th April at 7pm Location: OpenApp 55 Fitzwilliam Square Dublin 2 More Info: http://openapp.biz/sections/contact/ We'll be giving the following talk: * Developing Applications with Django - Vishal Vatsa This will be followed by some friendly chat in the nearest pub. Due to space limits please mention your interest on the python ireland mailing list so we can get an idea of how many people are coming. See http://groups.google.com/group/pythonireland For more info and directions see http://wiki.python.ie/moin.cgi/PythonMeetup/April2007 cheers, Michael Python Ireland - http://python.ie/

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NumPy 1.0.2 released
by Travis Oliphant April 3, 2007

April 3, 2007

NumPy 1.0.2 has been released NumPy is a Python extension that provides a multi-dimensional array and basic mathematical processing to Python. NumPy also provides foundation for basic image and signal processing, linear algebra and Fourier transforms, and random number generation. NumPy also includes easy integration with ctypes and Fortran allowing powerful extensions to be written. This release is mainly a bug-fix release but includes a few new features and optimizations. For full details see the release notes at http://www.scipy.org/ReleaseNotes/NumPy_1.0 Binary installers for Windows and Python 2.3, 2.4, and 2.5 are available at Sourceforge along with a gzipped tar-ball and source rpm: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=1369&package_id=175103 Enjoy!! NumPy developers http://numpy.scipy.org

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Python-URL! - weekly Python news and links (Apr 2)
by Cameron Laird April 2, 2007

April 2, 2007

QOTW: "This whole charset mess is not meant to be solved by mere mortals." - Thorsten Kampe, a day or so before solving his symptom with a codecs method: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/msg/a2e573ccc54f66db http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/msg/a2e573ccc54f66db "... [T]here's almost never a reason to use the cmp= argument to sort() anymore. It's almost always better to use the key= argument." - STeVe Bethard http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/67b996… wmi makes it easy for a Windows-hosted Python process to examine the process table: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/c38ff6… wmi does much else, too, of course; its documentation rewards study. Mind the Exceptions! When overriding built-ins--and in many of life's other Pythonic moments--Exceptions are important to conform: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/msg/2136bcbd13a022c2 John Nagle, Mark Dufour, Paul Boddie, ... usefully frame type annotation as a general issue of language development: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/msg/78bb43f3679d51b5 http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/msg/d246e366c9d23378 Notice the larger thread to which this contributes advertises the virtues of Shed Skin 0.0.21. Testing has many specific idioms and ideas. Python's relation to testing deserves wider understanding: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/5854b5… ======================================================================== 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 The Python Papers aims to publish "the efforts of Python enthusiats". http://pythonpapers.org/ Readers have recommended the "Planet" sites: http://planetpython.org http://planet.python.org 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 continues the marvelous tradition early borne by Andrew Kuchling, Michael Hudson, Brett Cannon, Tony Meyer, and Tim Lesher 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 Many Python conferences around the world are in preparation. Watch this space for links to them. 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-- Phaseit, Inc. (http://phaseit.net) is pleased to participate in and sponsor the "Python-URL!" project. Watch this space for upcoming news about posting archives.

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Rope 0.5m4
by Ali Gholami Rudi April 2, 2007

April 2, 2007

Rope 0.5m4 has been released. Get it from http://sf.net/projects/rope/files. ================================================ rope, a python refactoring IDE and library ... ================================================ Overview ======== `rope`_ is a python refactoring IDE and library. The IDE uses the library to provide features like refactoring, code assist, and auto-completion. It is written in python. The IDE uses `Tkinter` library. .. _`rope`: http://rope.sf.net/ New Features ============ * Generating python elements * Memorizing locations and texts * Added `.ropeproject` folder * Saving history across sessions * Saving object data to disk * Incremental ObjectDB validation * Inlining `staticmethod`\s * Setting ignored resources patterns Maybe the most notable change in this release is the addition of a new folder in projects for holding configurations and other informations for a project. Its default name is ``.ropeproject``, but it can be changed in ``~/.rope`` or `Project` constructor (if using rope as a library). You can also force rope not to make such a folder by using `None` instead of a `str`. Currently it is used for these perposes: * There is a ``config.py`` file in this folder in which you can change project configurations. Look at the default ``config.py`` file, that is created when there is none available, for more information. When a project is open you can edit this file using ``"Edit Project config.py"`` action or ``C-x p c``. * It can be used for saving project history, so that the next time you open the project you can see and undo past changes. If you're new to rope use ``"Project History"`` (``C-x p h``) for more information. * It can be used for saving object information. Before this release all object information where kept in memory. Saving them on disk has two advantages. First, rope will need less memory and second, the calculated and collected information is not thrown away each time you close a project. You can change what to save and what not to in the ``config.py`` file. Since files on disk change overtime project object DB might hold invalid information. Currently there is a basic incremental object DB validation that can be used to remove or fix out of date information. Rope uses this feature by default but you can disable it by editing ``config.py``. Other interesting features related to rope's object DB and object inference are planned for ``0.5`` release. So if you're interested keep waiting! The generate element actions make python elements. You have to move on an element that does not exist and perform one of these generate actions. For example:: my_print(var=1) Calling generate function on `my_print` (``C-c n f``) will result in:: def my_print(var): pass my_print(var=1) It handle methods, static methods, classes, variables, modules, and packages, too. Generate element actions use ``C-c n`` prefix. Rope can now save locations or strings in memory. These are similar to emacs's bookmarks and registers. These actions use ``C-x m`` prefix.

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python-cjson 1.0.3x4 released - new feature
by Ferenczi Viktor April 1, 2007

April 1, 2007

This is an enhanced version of python-cjson, the fast JSON encoder/decoder supporting extension functions to encode/decode arbitrary objects. New feature: Optional automatic conversion of dict keys to string. Since JSON specification does not allow non-string keys in objects, it's very useful to add optional automatic conversion of dictionary keys. This could be useful when porting code originally written for simplejson that does this by default. The feature can be enabled by passing key2str=True keyword argument to the encode() function. Default behaviour of python-cjson has been preserved, so without this keyword argument encoding of non-string dictionary keys will raise EncodeError. Upgrade only if you need this new feature. This version includes new unit tests for the above feature. All existing and new unit tests are passed with python 2.3.5, 2.4.3 and 2.5.0 without problems. But silent bugs may exists. Download, examples and more information: http://python.cx.hu/python-cjson

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[ANN] Release 0.62.0 of Task Coach
by Frank Niessink April 1, 2007

April 1, 2007

Hi all, I'm please to announce release 0.62.0 of Task Coach. This release fixes a couple of bugs, and adds a number of features. Bugs fixed: * When saving timestamps in a task file, e.g. for effort start and stop times, microseconds are no longer saved as part of the timestamp. The microseconds caused problems when importing Task Coach data in Excel. * When exporting tasks to HTML or CSV format from the task tree viewer, child tasks hidden by a filter would still be exported. Features added: * Added Slovak translation thanks to Viliam Búr * Printing a selection is enabled (except on Mac OSX). * The notebook that contains the different views allows for dragging and dropping of tabs, enabling you to create almost any layout you like. Unfortunately, this widget does not yet provide functionality to store the layout in the TaskCoach.ini file. * Whether the clock icon in the task bar blinks or not is now a setting (see Edit -> Preferences -> Window behavior. * The toolbar buttons for 'new item', 'new sub item', 'edit item' and 'delete item' now work for tasks, effort records and categories, depending on what view is active. * Added a category column for task viewers. * Added an attachment column that shows whether a task has one or more attachments. * Added an 'Open all attachments' menu item for tasks * Added snooze option to reminders. Feature changed: * Removed filter sidebar. Filter options previously available on the sidebar are now available via the search filter on the toolbar, the category tab and the view menu. Dependency changed: * Task Coach now requires wxPython 2.8.3-unicode or newer (this is only relevant if you use the source distribution). What is Task Coach? Task Coach is a simple task manager that allows for hierarchical tasks, i.e. tasks in tasks. Task Coach is open source (GPL) and is developed using Python and wxPython. You can download Task Coach from: http://www.taskcoach.org https://sourceforge.net/projects/taskcoach/ In addition to the source distribution, packaged distributions are available for Windows XP, Mac OSX, and Linux (Debian and RPM format). Note that Task Coach is alpha software, meaning that it is wise to back up your task file regularly, and especially when upgrading to a new release. Cheers, Frank

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python-cjson 1.0.3x3 released - important bugfix
by Ferenczi Viktor April 1, 2007

April 1, 2007

This is an enhanced version of python-cjson, the fast JSON encoder/decoder supporting extension functions to encode/decode arbitrary objects. Bugfix release: python-cjson-1.0.3x3 Bug #20070401a has been fixed: When a decoder extension function was called after the failure of an internal decoder (for example after failing to interpret new Date(...) as null) the internal exception was propagated (not cleared) and could be incorrectly raised in the decoder extension function pointing to en otherwise correct statement in that function. This could cause severe confusion to the programmer and prevented execution of such extension functions. JSON encoding is not affected by this bug. You can reproduce this bug with python-cjson-1.0.3x2: http://python.cx.hu/python-cjson/bugs/bug.php?dt=20070401a Download, examples and more information: http://python.cx.hu/python-cjson

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