For Some Value of "Magic"

Starting 2010 With a Bang

2009-11-20T21:18:00.005-05:00

Holden Web's first one-day workshop was, thanks to Jacob Kaplan Moss, a sell-out success. As a result, and partially due to some excellent feedback from the New York City Python Meetup group, we will be running the same workshop in New York on January 22, again with Jacob presenting. We are also offering a one-day IronPython workshop presented by Michael Foord on January 21.

Since the three-day Introduction to Python classes have been well-received in Virginia we are also offering that class in New York on January 18-20.

To try and make things easier for those attending and smooth out our administration we are using Eventbrite for the first time. I would really like to know how easy people find it to get information about our classes and to enroll for them. Anyone wanting specific information not mentioned in the course outlines is, of course, welcome to contact us for further details.

If you would like to take one of these classes simply follow the links above (or click here for a list of all our current offerings, then just go to the ones you are interested in) and click the Order Now button which should be clearly visible. Once you have entered the details click the Review Your Order button, and you have fifteen minutes to check that you have entered the correct information before you click the Pay Now button. It really couldn't be much easier, I hope.

We are also very interested to know what other event you would like us to run. This is the front end of a new venture for Holden Web, and your opinions and requirements (places you'd like to attend presentations as well as other topics) will help us to move in the right direction. So feel free to contact us with your suggestions, or make them in comments below. Thanks in advance for the feedback.

Two Thousand Posts Behind

2009-11-17T22:39:00.003-05:00

While recording material for the first three episodes of a new Python podcast (you'll have to wait*) I realized that I've been less in contact with the doings of the Python community than usual over the last six months, due to project and teaching work.

When I am in "less busy" mode and have some spare time I often follow the comp.lang.python newsgroup, offering advice and opinion when the occasion allows. I also find the time to track the Planet Python newsfeed, which is full of interesting (and often detailed) information about what various Python personalities have been up to. When I get busy, as I have been this year, those information sources tend to take a background role.

I just started on the task of "catching up" with Planet Python, and have had to recognize that there is no way I am going to. There have been over two thousand posts since the start of June this year, and I just don't have the time to run through it all -- particularly not if I want to follow up all the interesting stuff I see. In the first minute of examination I saw details of an IronPython application that allows you to examine .NET binary assemblies and instantiate the various classes you come across, interacting with them through an interactive console.

This was interesting because it's been one of the reasons many Java shops keep Jython in their toolkit. Java is also a compiled language not an interactive one, and so it's difficult to learn about the tools without going through an intensive "write/run/debug" cycle that makes it difficult to condense your experience into learned material. With Jython you just use the interactive Python interpreter, creating instances as you like, calling their methods and examining their attributes. "Plays well with others" has always been one of Python's strengths.

Anyway, suffice it to say that there's been some amazing stuff going on in the Python ecosphere recently. I am really looking forward to next year's PyCon (February, in Atlanta). There were so many great proposals that even with an expansion from four tracks to five there wasn't room to accommodate all the stuff that could have gone in. So expect some pretty amazing Open Space sessions too!

* Provisionally entitled "A Little Bit of Python"

Google Mail Weirdness

2009-10-31T13:07:00.003-04:00

I'd be delighted if somebody could explain what the hell's going on here. I switched mail for the holdenweb.com domain to run through Google's Gmail for Domains service. Things had been going quite nicely, and the spam levels had reduced amazingly without me having to apply any external filtering (which makes me wonder just exactly why Google Groups is so clogged up with the output of asshole spammers, but that's another post).

Recently I have started to receive replies to emails sent out from my holdenweb.com account in the Gmail mailbox I have used for years. At first I though this might be Thunderbird (or me) getting my email accounts and personalities mixed up, but it appears this isn't the case. Here's a test message I sent to myself as an experiment, as it looks in my Sent folder:
So it definitely looks as though it went out from holdenweb.com. And here's the same message as it arrived in my Inbox:
So it goes out from my holdenweb.com address, and arrived at the recipient from my gmail.com address. That's pretty evil, Google - or is there some obvious way I am shooting myself in the foot? It's making my mail conversations pretty hard to track right now.

PyCon is Coming

2009-10-31T11:57:00.003-04:00

Kirby Urner suggested that the PSF should advertise PyCon at airports. I though this was a great idea until I looked into the cost of hiring the billboards. Thanks to the wonders of modern web technology, however, we can all now see what it would be like to advertise PyCon on buses.

My slogan is probably pretty feeble. Can you do better?

Pyticipate: Interpret Your World

2009-10-16T10:10:00.003-04:00

Well, Grig Gheorghiu just posted the list of invited speakers for PyCon 2010, with their chosen topics. It's a doozie:

Ian Bicking: On the Subject of Source Code
Jeff Rush: Interfaces, Adapters and Factories
Jack Diederich: Python's Dusty Corners
Mike Fletcher: Debating 'til Dawn: Topics to Keep You Up All Night
Raymond Hettinger: Mastering Team Play: Four Powerful Examples of Composing Python Tools
Bob Ippolito: The Other Kind of Testing
Alex Martelli: Powerful Pythonic Patterns
Joe Gregorio: Threading is Not a Model
Ned Batchelder: Tests and Testability
Holger Krekel: The Ring of Python
Ted Leung: A Survey of Concurrency Constructs

More details on the PyCon web site. If PyCon only had those talks it would make an amazing one-day event, but of course there will be three days of talks, with four tracks, so in practice it will be completely impossible for anyone to attend all the talks that they would like to.

That's where the Pycon videos come in - high quality recordings of every scheduled talk will be available. It's nowhere near as good as being there, but if you were at PyCon it's a great way to fill in the gaps, and if you weren't then it's a good reminder of exactly why you should be next time around.

PyCon is a great conference. I'm looking forward to it already!

Lending Pythonistas

2009-09-27T08:30:00.005-04:00

Too often I hear people bemoaning their inability to change the world, so I wanted to bring Kiva, and specifically the Pythonistas team, to your attention because if you have even a modest amount of money to spare you can put it to use again and again to help worthy enterprises, typically closely allied with their local community.

I started lending money through Kiva a while ago, and more recently joined its Pythonistas team. I suggested starting such a team shortly after I joined Kiva, but it took Anna Martelli's energy to actually get it off the ground, and I received my invitation a couple of months ago - thanks, Anna! If you decide you want to become a "Kiva Pythonista" all you have to do is follow this link.

Even as a Kiva Pythonista you still decide to whom you want to lend money, you simply say you want your loans to be counted as a part of the Pythonista effort. The enterprises you will fund are typically far from hi-tech: here are some of the groups I am currently funding to give you some idea of the kinds of activity you can support.

Secretarial Services in Uganda
Second-Hand Clothing in Guatemala
Fish Retailing in Senegal
Cattle Farming in Azerbaijan
A Grocery Store in Cambodia
Animal Rearing in Tajikistan
A General Store in Togo
A Cooperative Bank in Bolivia

This came to mind because I got an email this morning reminding me that I had received repayments of $150, and so I am just about to use the Kiva site to lend those repaid funds to new borrowers, keeping my money actively at work. And now I can do it as a Pythonista!

Last Week to Submit Your PyCon Papers

2009-09-23T23:17:00.003-04:00

PyCon is a little earlier next year, and the organizers are trying to prepare earlier too. So this is a reminder that there is one week remaining to submit your PyCon talk proposals. PyCon 2010, in Atlanta, is a must-attend event. It's a great event to speak at, too, so don't delay!

PyCon Talk Submissions Closing Soon

2009-09-16T15:51:00.004-04:00

Please note that if you would like to present a talk at next year's PyCon, time is rapidly running out. The call for papers was issued some time ago, and closes on October 1. So get your writing hat on, and put that proposal in now!

Apple's Cynical Approach

2009-09-15T09:31:00.003-04:00

It turns out that for a long time now Apple iPhones have been lying to Exchange Server mail hosts, telling the mail servers that on-device encryption is supported. It now transpires that only the recently-added 3G S model supports encryption through hardware, and this came to light when a recent upgrade made the phones tell the truth.

The unfortunate consequence for any business that has standardized on iPhones for remote mail access is that if they have required on-device encryption the iPhone has been breaking their security guidelines since it was installed. According to Apple their only alternatives are to change their security policies to allow iPhones to store plain text emails or upgrade everyone to the new 3G S device.

What a crock. Not only that, the iPhone users apparently had to wait until after they'd been upgraded to even learn that this issue existed. I am so glad I'm not a corporate Apple user.

Community Spirit

2009-09-09T09:37:00.001-04:00

If the Python community (or the whole open source community, for that matter) could learn to work together for a common goal there's almost nothing it couldn't achieve. Here's an example of what single-minded determination can do.

Python in Brazil

2009-08-29T07:35:00.006-04:00

If you want an exotic holiday, fly to Brazil. While you are there, take in the pythonbrasil conference. That's a good web site that makes it look like fun!

Can You Do Better?

2009-08-27T22:55:00.004-04:00

As a graphic artist I'm a pretty good combine harvester operator, so there is no subtlety about the banner graphic I came up with for (maybe) the python.org homepage. But I was glad that Andrew Kuchling asked, because PyCon should be better known. If Python is the technical secret weapon then I believe PyCon is truly the social secret weapon. I know other projects are having good success with community conferences, and would like to have the time to visit some of our sibling foundations' events.

If you attend such an event you will be doing the Python community a service by writing it up for Planet Python. It's not hard to get your blog on the Planet if you do a few good Python posts, and we hear a lot more about the technical than the social normally.

Wow, next year it will be PyCon number eight. Three years after that will be the tenth anniversary of the very first PyCon. It would be terrific if we could go back to DC for that conference. What about it, DC metro area?

Bugzilla Bug?

2009-08-21T07:36:00.001-04:00

Why, when you change the assignment of an issue in Bugzilla, doesn't the default status change to "Assigned"? I so often forget to make that change it's not funny.

Hono(u)r Alan Turing

2009-08-17T15:02:00.005-04:00

Alan Turing was the greatest computer scientist ever born in Britain. He laid the foundations of computing, helped break the Nazi Enigma code and told us how to tell whether a machine could think.

The world might have benefited from his ideas considerably more had the prudish (and, as it turned out, probably hypocritical) authorities at the time not hounded him to an early grave because of his homosexuality.

We should think before we cast the first stone, as we do not know where the universe pivots.

This story has been considerably edited, as I must acknowledge the force of my critics' remarks. The original was intemperate and, well, unoriginal so I decided to remove the call to read and sign a petition and simply make my own statement about how Turing, one of the seminal intellectual leaders of the 20th century, was treated by an unthinking populace allowing the irresponsible authorities to act "in their name". The first paragraph is from the petition.

EveryBlock Acquired by MSNBC

2009-08-17T14:01:00.003-04:00

News today from EveryBlock via Adrian Holovaty that the founders have agreed to let MSNBC acquire their company. Happily Adrian is on record already as expecting a completely unchanged relationship with Django and Python, pointing out that MSNBC is only half-owned by Microsoft.

Advertising the Competition

2009-08-15T17:00:00.005-04:00

Someone asked me why the last two posts had highlighted "competing" classes.

This blog isn't here to sell training. It's a place to learn about training, among other things. Feel free to come here to learn about the competition's classes. It's this blog you're coming to, right?

If I only mentioned Holden Web's classes, and not Enthought's and David Beazley's (and ...), you probably wouldn't consider this blog quite such an impartial source. I don't think it hurts to be on good terms with the competition. It's the Python way, after all.

Python for Systems Hackers

2009-08-15T15:48:00.003-04:00

Given by David Beazley, Chicago. 3 days, August 17-19 (next week). Details here.

Python Training for Scientists

2009-08-15T11:13:00.003-04:00

[Disclosure: Enthought and Holden Web have discussed joint training plans in the past. No commercial agreements are currently in force.]

If you're a scientist and you want to use computers as more that just calculators then you just might want to learn Python. So you could take the Holden Web Introduction to Python class, or you could take two extra days and go to the Python for Scientists class at Enthought.

The Internet is Not the UK

2009-08-14T20:01:00.004-04:00

Without the EFF Western society's relentless march towards 1984 would have concluded by now. Many formerly accepted liberties have been eroded in the first decade of the 21st century. Think about joining.

Burning Man Rip-Off?

2009-08-14T16:24:00.006-04:00

Bother, and I was starting to think Burning Man might be worth attending. Looks like they need to get this silliness sorted out. Hardly appropriate in the 21st century. If I had a ticket they could even make me change this heading!

Which, since second thoughts are proverbially the best, I have done by adding a question mark; I also prefer "silliness" to the former"stupidity". A potentially offensive word was replaced.

Further edit: from the Burning Man web site:

"Use of Images"
I UNDERSTAND AND ACCEPT THAT NO USE OF IMAGES, FILM, OR VIDEO OBTAINED AT THE EVENT MAY BE MADE WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM BURNING MAN, OTHER THAN PERSONAL USE. I understand that I have no rights to make any non-personal use of any image, film, or video footage obtained at the event, and that I cannot sell, transfer, or give the footage or completed film or video to any other party, except for personal use, and I agree to inform anyone to whom I give any footage, film, or video that it can only be used for personal use.

PyCon 2010 Call for Papers

2009-08-13T16:17:00.003-04:00

From Jesse Noller and his colleagues on the PyCon 2010 Program Committee comes the following message. Please consider submitting one or more presentations. PyCon is the largest Python conference in the world, and delegates have a fabulous time.

Call for proposals -- PyCon 2010 -- http://us.pycon.org/2010/

Due date: October 1st, 2009

Want to showcase your skills as a Python Hacker? Want to have
hundreds of people see your talk on the subject of your choice? Have some
hot button issue you think the community needs to address, or have some
package, code or project you simply love talking about? Want to launch
your master plan to take over the world with python?

PyCon is your platform for getting the word out and teaching something
new to hundreds of people, face to face.

Previous PyCon conferences have had a broad range of presentations,
from reports on academic and commercial projects, tutorials on a broad
range of subjects and case studies. All conference speakers are volunteers
and come from a myriad of backgrounds. Some are new speakers, some
are old speakers. Everyone is welcome so bring your passion and your
code! We're looking to you to help us top the previous years of success
PyCon has had.

PyCon 2010 is looking for proposals to fill the formal presentation tracks.
The PyCon conference days will be February 19-22, 2010 in Atlanta,
Georgia, preceded by the tutorial days (February 17-18), and followed
by four days of development sprints (February 22-25).

Online proposal submission is open now! Proposals will be accepted
through October 1st, with acceptance notifications coming out on
November 15th. For the detailed call for proposals, please see:

http://us.pycon.org/2010/conference/proposals/

For videos of talks from previous years - check out:

http://pycon.blip.tv

- Hide quoted text -
We look forward to seeing you in Atlanta!

People Using Python

2009-08-10T21:24:00.003-04:00

The Python Software Foundation has embarked on a mission to find out more about Python users. We want to know as much about the organizations that use Python as possible. If you want to give us information about any Python usage at all (even organizations other than the one you work for) please fill out this form. We don't even need your details, and we'll filter for duplicates.

So please help us to find out as much as we can about who's using Python, and what for!

Google Sorry

2009-08-10T16:36:00.004-04:00

Quite why Google Documents should be giving me this message when Gmail, Blogger, YouTube and various other Google services are all working normally I have no idea. This is particularly frustrating since it's OK for me to look at "documents" and "files", but apparently when it comes to "spreadsheets" I am a botnet and not to be trusted.

Clearly I'm on some sort of blacklist. For how long, who knows? This has been going on for four hours now. And one of the frustrating things about using Google's services is that it's absolutely impossible to get a human being to tell you what the heck is going on, or take some action about it. You can rely too much on automation (but hey, it keeps the margins up).

Going to rethink this one. The document I can't get access to is the PyCon 2010 budget. Google sorry? Google FAIL.

Who Put the "Ass" in Associated Press?

2009-08-04T16:19:00.006-04:00

The recently-publicized Associated Press approach to copyrighting the news includes such stupidities as

Charging people to use their own words, and
Attempting to charge for the use of information in the public domain

To this stupidity it appears that through the inadequacies of the system they have chosen to use for licensing we can now add

Charging people for things that were never said:

This does raise some interesting questions, however. Since I now have a license (purchased for $12.50) from Associated Press to quote these words, are they going to sue me for defamation (against which my defense would be "fair comment") or will they instead fall back on their terms of use, which does not allow me to use licensed material in a way "derogatory to Publisher"?

Given the huge popularity of this blog (not) I suspect this one will sneak under their radar, but if it doesn't (and assuming I am neither subjected to a gag order nor rubbed out by hired gorillas) I shall report back.

UPDATE: About five hours later I received a refund on the grounds that the quoted material was not part of the referenced article:
So it appears that the system isn't quite as asinine as it might at first seem. But Associated Press still need to get a clue, I think.

PSF Associate Memberships?

2009-07-12T08:35:00.006-04:00

When I spoke about The PSF and Us at EuroPython a couple of weeks ago there were some interesting questions, many of which related to how individuals could help the Python Software Foundation. During the discussion I asked how many people would be prepared to support the Foundation by paying for some kind of (non-voting) associate membership, and I estimate at least half the audience's hands were raised.

It appears, therefore, that Python users want to be associated with the Foundation. So now I would like to ask readers (whom I assume will mostly be Python users) a few questions.

Do you think it would be a good idea for the PSF to broaden its membership base in this way? If you aren't a nominated member, would you like to become an associate? If so, why? What would you like to get from an associate membership? What could the Foundation offer in return for some annual payment? What should that payment be? What could (or should) the Foundation be doing for you and Python that it isn't already?

I am looking for some guidance here from an apparently under-served section of the Python community. Your feedback will be invaluable.