🌐 Mailman 3 September 1999 - Python-list - python.org

Unloading COM objects?
by Robert Oct. 3, 1999

Oct. 3, 1999

Hi, I've been fooling around with ATL and making COM automation objects to be scripted by python. However, each time I rebuild the COM dll, I have to quit python because the file is being used (after a win32com.client.Dispatch call). Is there any way of unloading the COM object in python? I tried o=win32com.client.Dispatch("test.object"), o=None, with no success. Thanks Robert

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YA-Newbie: baffled by deepcopy/pickle issues...
by fredp＠multimania.com.nospam Oct. 3, 1999

Oct. 3, 1999

Hi, I'm working on my first sizable app in Python/wxPython, and I was making good progress until I hit this snag. I want to be able to capture (to memory) the state of the app at a given time and restore it later if need be. Luckily most of that state is encompassed by a single object, so I thought copy.deepcopy() was going to be a snap. Problem is, it only works once. I can save the current state, do a bunch of things, and go back to the saved state, all right. But if I try to restore it a second time, or try to save another one, everything goes to hell, as if the objects were empty. It's a card game, with the object structure like this : class Card : usual data attributes (color, rank, source bitmap, etc) class Stack: mostly a List of Cards, plus a few attributes, and methods self.Cols : an attribute of the wxFrame, a List of 13 Stacks, which encapsulates most of the game state. Then I have methods like: def Save(self, event): self.SaveGame = deepcopy(self.Cols) def Restore(self, event): self.Cols = deepcopy(self.SaveGame) All classes are defined at the top-level of the module. At first I thought I had misunderstood something about the function, so after trying a few variants I replaced deepcopy by pickle.dump() and pickle.load() with a temp file on disk. The behaviour is exactly the same, so maybe I have a general namespace/scope problem here... Any hints on how to track this one down ? Thanks, fp -- YAFAP : http://www.multimania.com/fredp/

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What GUI-lib to use
by Thomas Weholt Oct. 3, 1999

Oct. 3, 1999

Hi, I get the feeling Tk is the de facto standard for GUI-development in Python. I`ve looked at Gtk and KDE, but find Gtk the most appealing to use. Tk looks - well, rather old. My main concern is that the gtk-lib is to premature to use for gui-development, that the libs. change too much and that it`s hard to keep projects backwards-compatible. This thoughts are based on "feelings", I`ve not dived into the code or coded any gui so far using any of them. I`ve just seen/had problems with installing programs using different gtk-versions, older not compatible with new ones and vica versa. KDE is an option, but I`d rather use Gtk for a number of reasons, most of which are based on personal taste rather than any technical aspects. I want to develop GUIs to simple scripts fast, writing as little code as possible, but still making it understandable. Looked at GLADE. How does this work with Python? Could Tk get a more modern look perhaps and solve all our problems? Any ideas, thoughts ?? Thomas Weholt

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lzw.py
by Dinu C. Gherman Oct. 2, 1999

Oct. 2, 1999

Hi, I had some fun writing Python functions to encode and decode data using a variant of the Lempel-Ziv coding algorithm family, namely LZW, Lempel-Ziv-Welch. This is something like a "taboo algorithm" if I understand the weird logic of companies and their mind-boggling interpretation of intellectual property rights. To me this sounds like saying some of Newton's algorithms were illegal to use without paying for it. In any case I don't want to mess with Unisys and let them im- pose their view of the world on me, but I also don't want to end, somewhat early, in "what-happens-to-be-just-a-regular" car accident... So, is there a way to make my rather limited brain understand, what I and you can do with such a code without going to all patent offices and legal departments of companies? Am I, my- self, allowed to use it? Is there a difference between using the coding and decoding part? Can I pass anything of this to somebody else? Is it illegal to send it, receive it, read it, download it, use it? -- All of it? Of course, there is zlib, but who says there won't be another deep-pocket company popping up tomorrow just to say they have invented this "before" already? Regards, Dinu -- Dinu C. Gherman ................................................................ "An average of more than 15 % of adults in 12 industrialized countries are functionally illiterate; in Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States, the rates are over 20 %." (The State of the World's Children 1999, UNICEF, http://www.unicef.org/sowc99)

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Installation problem (or not...)
by Mikael Olofsson Oct. 2, 1999

Oct. 2, 1999

Hi, If these are stupid questions, could someone please answer them anyway. I have been using python at work for quite a while (under unix), but I have never tried to install it - until yesterday. I decided to install python on my Pentium II machine at home (Win95). I downloaded version 1.5.2 and related stuff from python.org, from the "Download Python for Windows 95/98 and NT" page. So far so good. Later, when I installed it I got an error message complaining that some DLL file assumed WinNT and not Win95. The same thing happened for the win32all installation. This made me worried. As I have understood things, the installation is supposed to work in all NT/95/98 environments. I have not tried any tests yet, but I don't think I would trust my installation under these circumstances - even if all tests went well. Q1: Should I be worried? Q2: If so: What should I do? Thanks in advance, /Mikael ----------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: Mikael Olofsson <mikael(a)isy.liu.se> WWW: http://www.dtr.isy.liu.se/dtr/staff/mikael Phone: +46 - (0)13 - 28 1343 Telefax: +46 - (0)13 - 28 1339 Date: 29-Sep-99 Time: 16:13:30 This message was sent by XF-Mail. -----------------------------------------------------------------------

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Becoming root within a Python script
by François Pinard Oct. 2, 1999

Oct. 2, 1999

Hi, people. I have a small problem, for which I see no elegant solution yet. Is there a common idiom I could use? I would like, within a executing Python started as non-root, ask for the root password, and then, continue executing part of the script while being root, becoming the previous again after some sub-job is done. Of course, I can kludge something in, but I would prefer something nice. :-) -- François Pinard http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~pinard

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Prizes for open-source Eiffel software
by geoff＠elj.com Oct. 2, 1999

Oct. 2, 1999

The Non-Profit International Consortium for Eiffel (NICE): http://www.eiffel-nice.org/ is organising the 3rd Annual Eiffel Struggle and made an initial call for participation in June 1999: http://www.eiffel-nice.com/eiffel/struggle99/cfp/ First prize is $2,000 (two thousand) US, 2nd prize is 1000 Euros (one thousand) with the 15 other prizes ranging from professional compilers/libraries as well attendenace at one of the TOOLS conferences (USA, Europe, Pacific) (including accomodation and air travel). A number of book awards are also available. The closing date for submissions is 15 October 1999 (~3 weeks to go). The results from last years Eiffel Struggle '98 are here: http://www.elj.com/eiffel/struggle98/results/ There are plenty of getting started resources available from the call for participation page. These include: http://www.elj.com/eiffel/getting-started/doc/ http://www.eiffel-forum.org/archive/tools.htm Good starting places for existing libraries include: http://www.eiffel-forum.org/archive/ http://www.cetus-links.org/oo_eiffel_libraries.html http://SmallEiffel.loria.fr/general/repository.html Obviously it would be nice to have some of the comprehensive Python Libraries: http://www.python.org/doc/current/lib/lib.html adapted to Eiffel. Some starting library resources for Linux include: eGtk: http://www.netlabs.net/~richieb/gtk_eiffel.html http://www.eiffel-forum.org/archive/bielak/gtk.htm eSockets: http://www.eiffel-forum.org/archive/straszheim/esockets.htm EiffelFox: http://www.eiffel-forum.org/archive/Hiebert/efox.htm eXML: http://www.eiffel-forum.org/archive/leitner/exml.htm Geoff Eldridge / Secretary - Eiffel/NICE email: geoff(a)eiffel-nice.org Join NICE: http://www.eiffel-nice.org/#membership Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.

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My own pyhton in CGI...
by mlh＠idt.ntnu.no Oct. 1, 1999

Oct. 1, 1999

I'm having a problem - I want to use the newest version of Python for CGI, and the one installed by the techies around here is a bit old... So - I installed my own in my home directory (which works just fine) but when I try to write something like #!/my/home/directory/foo/bar/python it doesn't work. It there a standard problem/solution here, or must I dig more deeply into it? (I think I have set the permissions for the python and its super-directories properly...) -- Magnus Lie Please forward all spam to Hetland uce(a)ftc.org

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Locking some methods from certain clients
by Cyril Elkaim Oct. 1, 1999

Oct. 1, 1999

Hi, I've the following question: I want to lock the accesse of some method of an object from other objects using it. But on a class by class basis. What I want is the possibility to know the class-name of a caller and if this caller is on my access list let it use my method. Something like this: class callee: def method(self): if __caller__ == "agreed": execute... else: raise callError, "caller no authorized to execute" this class will be able to call the method class aggreed: def run(self): x = callee() x.method() this class not class other: def ren(self): x = callee() c.method() It's something like the export clause in Eiffel. Thanks in advance Cyril Elkaim

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How buid _tkinter_d.pyd?
by Bing Chen Oct. 1, 1999

Oct. 1, 1999

I build _tkinter.pyd and _tkinter_d.pyd in VC6, _tkinter_d.pyd doesn't work, because the function init_tkinter() should be name init_tkinter_d(), but I can't link it with library, I need your help if you know how to build _tkinter_d.pyd in right way? Many thanks BC

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