🌐 Mailman 3 January 2025 - Python-list - python.org

Re: Tools to help with text mode (i.e. non-GUI) input
by Keith Thompson Jan. 17, 2025

Jan. 17, 2025

Alan Gauld <learn2program(a)gmail.com> writes: > On 11/01/2025 14:28, Chris Green via Python-list wrote: >> I'm looking for Python packages that can help with text mode input, > > The standard package for this is curses which comes as part > of the standard library on *nix distros. The thing about curses (which may or may not be a problem) is that, by design, it takes over the whole screen. If you want to do simpler text manipulations (showing a dismissible message, showing bold text, etc.) without interfering with existing text, curses can't do it, at least not easily. If your terminal supports it, your current screen contents can be restored after the application finishes (curses enables the "alternate screen" and then restores the primary screen on exit). There don't seem to be a lot of good solutions for doing curses-like text manipulation without taking over the entire screen. [...] -- Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) Keith.S.Thompson+u(a)gmail.com void Void(void) { Void(); } /* The recursive call of the void */

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Tools to help with text mode (i.e. non-GUI) input
by Chris Green Jan. 16, 2025

Jan. 16, 2025

I'm looking for Python packages that can help with text mode input, i.e. for use with non-GUI programs that one runs from the command prompt in a terminal window running a bash shell or some such. What I'm specifically after is a way to provide a default value that can be accepted or changed easily and also a way to provide a number of different values to choose from. I.e. for the default sort of input one might see:- Colour? red Hitting return would return 'red' to the program but you could also backspace over the 'red' and enter something else. Maybe even better would be that the 'red' disappears as soon as you hit any key other than return. For the select a value type of input I want something like the above but hitting (say) arrow up and arrow down would change the value displayed by the 'Colour?' prompt and hitting return would accept the chosen value. In addition I want the ability to narrow down the list by entering one or more initial characters, so if you enter 'b' at the Colour? prompt the list of values presented would only include colours starting with 'b' (beige, blue, black, etc.) Are there any packages that offer this sort of thing? I'd prefer ones from the Debian repositories but that's not absolutely necessary. It might also be possible/useful to use the mouse for this. -- Chris Green ·

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Re: Tools to help with text mode (i.e. non-GUI) input
by Chris Green Jan. 16, 2025

Jan. 16, 2025

Alan Gauld <learn2program(a)gmail.com> wrote: > On 14/01/2025 00:20, Grant Edwards via Python-list wrote: > > On 2025-01-13, Alan Gauld via Python-list <python-list(a)python.org> wrote: > > > >> All of that is possible in curses, you just have to code it. > > > > All of that is easy with curses in C. Unfortunately, the high level > > "panel" and "menu" curses subystems that make it easy aren't included > > in the Python curses API, > > panel is included. Just import curses.panel. > > menu unfortunately isn't but it's not difficult to roll > your own by creating a window with a list of options, provided > you don't try to get too fancy(submenus etc). > Yes, thanks all, maybe just straightforward curses is the way to go. Looking at some of the 'cleverer' ones they end up looking remarkably like GUI code, in which case I might as well use a GUI. I have written a (fairly simple) Gtk based python program, I was just trying to avoid all the GUI overheads for a little new project. -- Chris Green ·

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is input from a pipe?
by km Jan. 15, 2025

Jan. 15, 2025

Not a question, but a quick note about a problem that sometimes pops up in forums, that is how to detect on Linux if standard input (or any I/O stream) is via pipe. My suggestion is to check if the stream is a FIFO, if True it is a pipe, otherwise not a pipe The solution that sometimes is proposed, that is if not sys.stdin.isatty() simply checks if the input is not from a terminal, but it may be from a file, not only from a pipe. import os import sys import stat def check_if_stream_is_pipe(ifile): return stat.S_ISFIFO(os.fstat(ifile.fileno()).st_mode) print(check_if_stream_is_pipe(sys.stdin))

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How to weight terms based on semantic importance
by marc nicole Jan. 15, 2025

Jan. 15, 2025

Hello, I want to weight terms of a large text based on their semantics (not on their frequency (TF-IDF)). Is there a way to do that using NLTK or other means? through a vectorizer? For example: a certain term weights more than others etc... Thanks

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Python 3.14.0 alpha 4 is out
by Hugo van Kemenade Jan. 14, 2025

Jan. 14, 2025

Hello, three dot fourteen dot zero alpha four! https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-3140a4/ This is an early developer preview of Python 3.14. Python 3.14 is still in development. This release, 3.14.0a4, is the fourth of seven planned alpha releases. Alpha releases are intended to make it easier to test the current state of new features and bug fixes and to test the release process. During the alpha phase, features may be added up until the start of the beta phase (2025-05-06) and, if necessary, may be modified or deleted up until the release candidate phase (2025-07-22). Please keep in mind that this is a preview release and its use is not recommended for production environments. Many new features for Python 3.14 are still being planned and written. Among the new major new features and changes so far: * PEP 649: deferred evaluation of annotations * PEP 741: Python configuration C API * PEP 761: Python 3.14 and onwards no longer provides PGP signatures for release artifacts. Instead, Sigstore is recommended for verifiers. * Improved error messages * Removals of old deprecations, and new deprecations, many scheduled for removal from Python 3.16 * C API removals and deprecations * (Hey, fellow core developer, if a feature you find important is missing from this list, let Hugo know.) The next pre-release of Python 3.14 will be 3.14.0a5, currently scheduled for 2025-02-11. More resources: * Online documentation: https://docs.python.org/3.14/ * PEP 745, 3.14 Release Schedule: https://peps.python.org/pep-0745/ * Report bugs at https://github.com/python/cpython/issues * Help fund Python and its community: https://www.python.org/psf/donations/ And now for something completely different In Python, you can use Greek letters as constants. For example: ``` from math import pi as π def circumference(radius: float) -> float: return 2 * π * radius print(circumference(6378.137)) # 40075.016685578485 ``` Enjoy the new release. Thanks to all of the many volunteers who help make Python Development and these releases possible! Please consider supporting our efforts by volunteering yourself or through organisation contributions to the Python Software Foundation. Regards from a slushy, slippery Helsinki, Your release team, Hugo van Kemenade Ned Deily Steve Dower Łukasz Langa

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Installing Python-3.10.16
by roc str Jan. 14, 2025

Jan. 14, 2025

having a difficult time installing Python-3.10.16.tgz using the Python-3.20.0a2.exe installer. Please Advise Mario Ramos.

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RE: Tools to help with text mode (i.e. non-GUI) input
by Alan Gauld Jan. 14, 2025

Jan. 14, 2025

On 11/01/2025 14:28, Chris Green via Python-list wrote: > I'm looking for Python packages that can help with text mode input, The standard package for this is curses which comes as part of the standard library on *nix distros. > What I'm specifically after is a way to provide a default value that > can be accepted or changed easily and also a way to provide a number > of different values to choose from. The default value is easy. The list of values sounds like a pop-up menu. Ofr you can just offer a prompt with a list in it that the user picks(maybe by number?) Its really a programmers choice, curses provides the tools to display it however you choose. (Yu might also find the dialog third party package useful for displaying text mode dialog boxes) > I.e. for the default sort of input one might see:- > > Colour? red > > Hitting return would return 'red' to the program but you could also > backspace over the 'red' and enter something else. Maybe even better > would be that the 'red' disappears as soon as you hit any key other > than return. All of that is possible in curses, you just have to code it. > For the select a value type of input I want something like the above > but hitting (say) arrow up and arrow down would change the value > displayed by the 'Colour?' prompt and hitting return would accept the > chosen value. Again that's easy enough to do. Or you could pop up a menu and allow the user to cursor up/dowmn (or use the mouse) to select an option. > In addition I want the ability to narrow down the list > by entering one or more initial characters, so if you enter 'b' at the > Colour? prompt the list of values presented would only include colours > starting with 'b' (beige, blue, black, etc.) Again that's more about the programmer's use of the tools. curses allows you to display the characters wherever/however you want on screen. > Are there any packages that offer this sort of thing? I'd prefer ones > from the Debian repositories but that's not absolutely necessary. > It might also be possible/useful to use the mouse for this. curses dores all you want but you need to do all the logic, its not as simple as using a GUI toolkit. dialog sits on top of curses and provides a more GUI like experiece. urwin is another toolkit for text mode but it is more of a pseudo GUI environment with a menu-bar, dialogs, forms etc etc. Curses is about mapping areas of the screen(windows) and displaying text within those areas. You can control colour and strength etc, move things around, hide/show areas, position the cursor anywhere on screen. You can even create huge virtual screens and use the visible screen as a viewport into that(think like a big spreadsheet) There are a couple of Howto type documents online Shameless Plug: --------- I wrote a short kindle book on curses with python: https://kdp.amazon.com/amazon-dp-action/us/dualbookshelf.marketplacelink/B0… ------------- HTH -- Alan G Author of the Learn to Program web site http://www.alan-g.me.uk/ http://www.amazon.com/author/alan_gauld Follow my photo-blog on Flickr at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alangauldphotos

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Using pipx for packages as opposed to applications
by Chris Green Jan. 13, 2025

Jan. 13, 2025

Can one use pipx to wrap the process of creating an independent environment for a python package as opposed to a runnable application? E.g. I want to install and use pksheet but, as it's not available from the Debian repositories, I'll have to install it from PyPi. So I should put it in its own environment. Can pipx help me with this? -- Chris Green ·

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Re: Using pipx for packages as opposed to applications
by Chris Green Jan. 13, 2025

Jan. 13, 2025

Stefan Ram <ram(a)zedat.fu-berlin.de> wrote: > Chris Green <cl(a)isbd.net> wrote or quoted: > >E.g. I want to install and use pksheet but, as it's not available from > >the Debian repositories, I'll have to install it from PyPi. > > I can't dig up any "pksheet" on PyPI. So, you got to take > my earlier response like a rumor from a random tech meetup in > Palo Alto - sounds interesting, but needs serious verification. > Ah, oops, a typo. It's pysheet (I have pk on the brain from it being Point Kilometrique, distance markers on canals in France). Thanks for your previous response, it told me what I needed to know, that pipx isn't really going to do what I want particularly easily. If I DIY an environment for pysheet and then develop some python that uses it, how do I then make it accessible as a 'normal' program? This is just for my own use by the way, on (probably) just a couple of Linux systems. -- Chris Green ·

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