QOTW: "In short, it's never what you think it is ;-)" - timbot, probably on the subject of performance
"Real efficiency comes from elegant solutions, not optimized programs. Optimization is always just a few correctness-preserving transformations away." - Jonathan Sobel http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~jsobel/c455-c511.updated.txt Microsoft is (again) structuring its current marketing around "platforms", and apparently Python is starting to show up in the campaigns: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/jun06/06-20MSRoboticsStudioPR.mspx Intel puts Python to good use in commercial "program slicing": http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/98cd59f90b169896/ Transcoding PVRs? Constructing collaborative whiteboards? Streaming multimedia in all directions? Apparently you can construct very impressive network-aware audiovisual applications *visually* with Kamaelia: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/36c89411fba299b6/ If you only care about advanced concurrency methods, pipeline- based methods, and componentry, well, that's in there, too, wrapped as Axon: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/msg/7a5f189e886d9fc0 Discussion about the new Python icons might inspire a reader to try them: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/204f2792a882648d/ Wow: PyPy is up to 0.9.0: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python.announce/msg/6fa325e6c0cdd526 Life becomes more sophisticated than ever before: http://golly.sourceforge.net/ Timbot illustrates how an experienced file-comparer thinks about performance hacks (and Windows): http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/msg/15d45c2b268fa410 ... and how much deeper one can analyze recursion and numerics than merely the "tastes great! less filling!" level: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/msg/e67403fcaa06c022 http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/msg/4451e63833a0c1c1 ======================================================================== 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/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. [EMAIL PROTECTED] and [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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.python.* 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*&start=0&scoring=d& http://purl.org/thecliff/python/url.html (dormant) or http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_q=+Python-URL!&as_ugroup=comp.lang.python 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 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> should get through. To receive a new issue of this posting in e-mail each Monday morning (approximately), ask <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 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. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list