fidzu : Python

The JetBrains PyCharm team is pleased to announce the start of the Early Access Program (EAP) for PyCharm 3.4 and is ready to introduce the brand-new build 135.763 for your evaluation. It's already here, available for download from the Early Access Preview page. As any new PyCharm 3.x release (starting from PyCharm 3.0), the PyCharm 3.4 EAP build is available in two editions - free/open source PyCharm Community Edition and full-fledged PyCharm Professional Edition. While both of them are available for download and use at no charge, PyCharm Professional Edition has a 30-day evaluation period, which means PyCharm 3.4 Professional Edition EAP build 135.763 comes with a 30-day time-limited license as well.

The PyCharm 3.4 EAP build is not in the final product release stage and might contain severe bugs, so it's supposed to be installed along with your current PyCharm installation for evaluation and checking out new features. No patch update for this EAP build will be available from within the IDE.

We'd like to encourage you to try this brand-new preview build and give us your valuable feedback in our public issue tracker. This will help us make the final release of PyCharm 3.4 more stable and less buggy.

PyCharm 3.4 EAP build 135.763 includes a lot of new features, bug fixes, and improvements in different subsystems. It also delivers a lot of unique PyCharm-specific features. Meanwhile, PyCharm users also have access to a number of recently announced features and benefits from other JetBrains products like WebStorm 8 and IntelliJ IDEA 13.1. For example, advanced built-in AngularJS support and Sublime Text style multiple selection:

So here are the PyCharm-specific features:

• New Python interpreters management process with new UI:

Now you can choose existing, add a new local or remote python interpreter and even create virtualenv right on the project creation stage without any need to sneak into the PyCharm settings.

• New live templates for Python which are now suggested in code completion:

• Improved Vagrant support: Now PyCharm offers to start vagrant instance when remote interpreter is currently not available. It also better handles unique remote interpreters on diverse vagrant boxes
• Additional automatic quick fixes for various code inspections
• Improved navigation: Now 'Navigate | Class' or 'Navigate | Symbol' allows navigating to Python modules (*.py files) and packages ('__init__.py' files)
• Pull members up/down refactorings improved
• Template roots now can be marked right from the project structure view
• A lot of performance improvements in Python code analysis

PyCharm 3.4 EAP also incorporates all new WebStorm 8 features (read more on the What's new in WebStorm 8 page), so from the WebStorm side we are ready to deliver:

• Advanced built-in AngularJS support

• Spy-js JavaScript tracing tool integration
• New Live console in JavaScript and Node.js debugger that allows you to enter commands and code
• Grunt integration
• Bower integration: search through Bower registry, manage components in the IDE
• RequireJS aliases support
• CucumberJS support
• Full support for Sass 3.3 and Less 1.6
• Improvements in support for TypeScript 1.0 and more

And finally, the IntelliJ platform brings us many features including:

• Live templates are now suggested in code completion
• Version control improvements
• Multiple Selection (one of the most requested features in PyCharm)

With Multiple Selection, we can now put a cursor in multiple locations in a file and write code simultaneously in these positions. Press and hold "Alt" on the keyboard and use the mouse to select the locations of the cursors:

Download PyCharm 3.4 EAP build 135.763 for your platform from the project EAP page and please report any bugs and feature request to our Issue Tracker.

Remember to install the .zip & .tar.gz versions into a completely empty folder. Do not just unpack over your previous version!

Develop with pleasure!
-PyCharm team

24 Apr 2014 10:50pm GMT

The JetBrains PyCharm team is pleased to announce the start of the Early Access Program (EAP) for PyCharm 3.4 and is ready to introduce the brand-new build 135.763 for your evaluation. It's already here, available for download from the Early Access Preview page. As any new PyCharm 3.x release (starting from PyCharm 3.0), the PyCharm 3.4 EAP build is available in two editions - free/open source PyCharm Community Edition and full-fledged PyCharm Professional Edition. While both of them are available for download and use at no charge, PyCharm Professional Edition has a 30-day evaluation period, which means PyCharm 3.4 Professional Edition EAP build 135.763 comes with a 30-day time-limited license as well.

The PyCharm 3.4 EAP build is not in the final product release stage and might contain severe bugs, so it's supposed to be installed along with your current PyCharm installation for evaluation and checking out new features. No patch update for this EAP build will be available from within the IDE.

We'd like to encourage you to try this brand-new preview build and give us your valuable feedback in our public issue tracker. This will help us make the final release of PyCharm 3.4 more stable and less buggy.

PyCharm 3.4 EAP build 135.763 includes a lot of new features, bug fixes, and improvements in different subsystems. It also delivers a lot of unique PyCharm-specific features. Meanwhile, PyCharm users also have access to a number of recently announced features and benefits from other JetBrains products like WebStorm 8 and IntelliJ IDEA 13.1. For example, advanced built-in AngularJS support and Sublime Text style multiple selection:

So here are the PyCharm-specific features:

• New Python interpreters management process with new UI:

Now you can choose existing, add a new local or remote python interpreter and even create virtualenv right on the project creation stage without any need to sneak into the PyCharm settings.

• New live templates for Python which are now suggested in code completion:

• Improved Vagrant support: Now PyCharm offers to start vagrant instance when remote interpreter is currently not available. It also better handles unique remote interpreters on diverse vagrant boxes
• Additional automatic quick fixes for various code inspections
• Improved navigation: Now 'Navigate | Class' or 'Navigate | Symbol' allows navigating to Python modules (*.py files) and packages ('__init__.py' files)
• Pull members up/down refactorings improved
• Template roots now can be marked right from the project structure view
• A lot of performance improvements in Python code analysis

PyCharm 3.4 EAP also incorporates all new WebStorm 8 features (read more on the What's new in WebStorm 8 page), so from the WebStorm side we are ready to deliver:

• Advanced built-in AngularJS support

• Spy-js JavaScript tracing tool integration
• New Live console in JavaScript and Node.js debugger that allows you to enter commands and code
• Grunt integration
• Bower integration: search through Bower registry, manage components in the IDE
• RequireJS aliases support
• CucumberJS support
• Full support for Sass 3.3 and Less 1.6
• Improvements in support for TypeScript 1.0 and more

And finally, the IntelliJ platform brings us many features including:

• Live templates are now suggested in code completion
• Version control improvements
• Multiple Selection (one of the most requested features in PyCharm)

With Multiple Selection, we can now put a cursor in multiple locations in a file and write code simultaneously in these positions. Press and hold "Alt" on the keyboard and use the mouse to select the locations of the cursors:

Download PyCharm 3.4 EAP build 135.763 for your platform from the project EAP page and please report any bugs and feature request to our Issue Tracker.

Remember to install the .zip & .tar.gz versions into a completely empty folder. Do not just unpack over your previous version!

Develop with pleasure!
-PyCharm team

24 Apr 2014 10:50pm GMT

24 Apr 2014 9:18pm GMT

24 Apr 2014 9:18pm GMT

24 Apr 2014 8:54pm GMT

24 Apr 2014 8:54pm GMT

def f():
    try:
        return 1
    finally:
        return 2

def f():
    try:
        1/0
    finally:
        return 2

def f():
    while 1
        try:
            continue
        finally:
            break

def f():
    while 1
        try:
            break
        finally:
            continue

24 Apr 2014 8:08pm GMT

def f():
    try:
        return 1
    finally:
        return 2

def f():
    try:
        1/0
    finally:
        return 2

def f():
    while 1
        try:
            continue
        finally:
            break

def f():
    while 1
        try:
            break
        finally:
            continue

24 Apr 2014 8:08pm GMT

I've just released Morepath 0.2! Morepath is your friendly neighborhood Python web microframework with super powers.

Major changes include:

• Python 3 support thanks to a generous contribution by Alec Munro.
• Documented security infrastructure.

And various smaller tweaks. You can also read the changelog.

What makes Morepath special? You can read about its superpowers and read how it compares to other web frameworks, but here are some highlights:

• Route to model, then look up views. This leads to better link generation, better generic views, better reusable code.
• Have apps that can extend other apps, combine apps together. Extend and override anything, even Morepath behavior itself, but don't affect other apps in the same runtime.

It's lots of power contained in a small codebase.

(If you followed the Morepath link above, ignore the 0.1 in the title bar there: those are the 0.2 docs, not 0.1. I've now fixed the doc building configuration to include the version number from the package itself.)

24 Apr 2014 2:38pm GMT

I've just released Morepath 0.2! Morepath is your friendly neighborhood Python web microframework with super powers.

Major changes include:

• Python 3 support thanks to a generous contribution by Alec Munro.
• Documented security infrastructure.

And various smaller tweaks. You can also read the changelog.

What makes Morepath special? You can read about its superpowers and read how it compares to other web frameworks, but here are some highlights:

• Route to model, then look up views. This leads to better link generation, better generic views, better reusable code.
• Have apps that can extend other apps, combine apps together. Extend and override anything, even Morepath behavior itself, but don't affect other apps in the same runtime.

It's lots of power contained in a small codebase.

(If you followed the Morepath link above, ignore the 0.1 in the title bar there: those are the 0.2 docs, not 0.1. I've now fixed the doc building configuration to include the version number from the package itself.)

24 Apr 2014 2:38pm GMT

The following text is in German, since we're announcing a regional user group meeting in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Ankündigung

Das nächste Python Meeting Düsseldorf findet an folgendem Termin statt:

Dienstag, 24.09.2014, 19:00 Uhr
Raum 1, 2.OG im Bürgerhaus Stadtteilzentrum Bilk
Düsseldorfer Arcaden, Bachstr. 145, 40217 Düsseldorf

Neuigkeiten

Bereits angemeldete Vorträge

Charlie Clark
"Status openpyxl, bzw. Lösung neuer Probleme"
"IndexedList - eine Liste optimiert für "in" Abfragen"
"Bericht von der PyCon 2014 in Montreal"

Marc-Andre Lemburg
"Python Code mit lib2to3 modernisieren"
"DDOS Attacken mit Python bekämpfen"
"Bericht von der FOSDEM 2014"

Wir suchen noch weitere Vorträge. Bei Interesse, bitte unter info@pyddf.de melden.

Geänderte Startzeit

Dieses Mal treffen wir uns erst um 19:00 Uhr im Bürgerhaus in den Düsseldorfer Arcaden, da wir keinen Termin für 18 Uhr bekommen haben. Hier eine kurze Beschreibung:

Das Bürgerhaus teilt sich den Eingang mit dem Schwimmbad und befindet sich an der Seite der Tiefgarageneinfahrt der Düsseldorfer Arcaden.

Über dem Eingang steht ein großes "Schwimm'in Bilk" Logo. Hinter der Tür direkt links zu den zwei Aufzügen, dann in den 2. Stock hochfahren. Der Eingang zum Raum 1 liegt direkt links, wenn man aus dem Aufzug kommt.

>>> Eingang in Google Street View

Einleitung

Das Python Meeting Düsseldorf ist eine regelmäßige Veranstaltung in Düsseldorf, die sich an Python Begeisterte aus der Region wendet.

Einen guten Überblick über die Vorträge bietet unser PyDDF YouTube-Kanal, auf dem wir Videos der Vorträge nach den Meetings veröffentlichen.

Veranstaltet wird das Meeting von der eGenix.com GmbH, Langenfeld, in Zusammenarbeit mit Clark Consulting & Research, Düsseldorf:

Programm

Das Python Meeting Düsseldorf nutzt eine Mischung aus Open Space und Lightning Talks, wobei die Gewitter bei uns auch schon mal 20 Minuten dauern können :-)

Lightning Talks können vorher angemeldet werden, oder auch spontan während des Treffens eingebracht werden. Ein Beamer mit XGA Auflösung steht zur Verfügung. Folien bitte als PDF auf USB Stick mitbringen.

Lightning Talk Anmeldung bitte formlos per EMail an info@pyddf.de

Kostenbeteiligung

Das Python Meeting Düsseldorf wird von Python Nutzern für Python Nutzer veranstaltet.

Da Tagungsraum, Beamer, Internet und Getränke Kosten produzieren, bitten wir die Teilnehmer um einen Beitrag in Höhe von EUR 10,00 inkl. 19% Mwst. Schüler und Studenten zahlen EUR 5,00 inkl. 19% Mwst.

Wir möchten alle Teilnehmer bitten, den Betrag in bar mitzubringen.

Anmeldung

Da wir nur für ca. 20 Personen Sitzplätze haben, möchten wir bitten, sich per EMail anzumelden. Damit wird keine Verpflichtung eingegangen. Es erleichtert uns allerdings die Planung.

Meeting Anmeldung bitte formlos per EMail an info@pyddf.de

Weitere Informationen

Weitere Informationen finden Sie auf der Webseite des Meetings:

http://pyddf.de/

Viel Spaß !

Marc-Andre Lemburg, eGenix.com

24 Apr 2014 9:00am GMT

The following text is in German, since we're announcing a regional user group meeting in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Ankündigung

Das nächste Python Meeting Düsseldorf findet an folgendem Termin statt:

Dienstag, 24.09.2014, 19:00 Uhr
Raum 1, 2.OG im Bürgerhaus Stadtteilzentrum Bilk
Düsseldorfer Arcaden, Bachstr. 145, 40217 Düsseldorf

Neuigkeiten

Bereits angemeldete Vorträge

Charlie Clark
"Status openpyxl, bzw. Lösung neuer Probleme"
"IndexedList - eine Liste optimiert für "in" Abfragen"
"Bericht von der PyCon 2014 in Montreal"

Marc-Andre Lemburg
"Python Code mit lib2to3 modernisieren"
"DDOS Attacken mit Python bekämpfen"
"Bericht von der FOSDEM 2014"

Wir suchen noch weitere Vorträge. Bei Interesse, bitte unter info@pyddf.de melden.

Geänderte Startzeit

Dieses Mal treffen wir uns erst um 19:00 Uhr im Bürgerhaus in den Düsseldorfer Arcaden, da wir keinen Termin für 18 Uhr bekommen haben. Hier eine kurze Beschreibung:

Das Bürgerhaus teilt sich den Eingang mit dem Schwimmbad und befindet sich an der Seite der Tiefgarageneinfahrt der Düsseldorfer Arcaden.

Über dem Eingang steht ein großes "Schwimm'in Bilk" Logo. Hinter der Tür direkt links zu den zwei Aufzügen, dann in den 2. Stock hochfahren. Der Eingang zum Raum 1 liegt direkt links, wenn man aus dem Aufzug kommt.

>>> Eingang in Google Street View

Einleitung

Das Python Meeting Düsseldorf ist eine regelmäßige Veranstaltung in Düsseldorf, die sich an Python Begeisterte aus der Region wendet.

Einen guten Überblick über die Vorträge bietet unser PyDDF YouTube-Kanal, auf dem wir Videos der Vorträge nach den Meetings veröffentlichen.

Veranstaltet wird das Meeting von der eGenix.com GmbH, Langenfeld, in Zusammenarbeit mit Clark Consulting & Research, Düsseldorf:

Programm

Das Python Meeting Düsseldorf nutzt eine Mischung aus Open Space und Lightning Talks, wobei die Gewitter bei uns auch schon mal 20 Minuten dauern können :-)

Lightning Talks können vorher angemeldet werden, oder auch spontan während des Treffens eingebracht werden. Ein Beamer mit XGA Auflösung steht zur Verfügung. Folien bitte als PDF auf USB Stick mitbringen.

Lightning Talk Anmeldung bitte formlos per EMail an info@pyddf.de

Kostenbeteiligung

Das Python Meeting Düsseldorf wird von Python Nutzern für Python Nutzer veranstaltet.

Da Tagungsraum, Beamer, Internet und Getränke Kosten produzieren, bitten wir die Teilnehmer um einen Beitrag in Höhe von EUR 10,00 inkl. 19% Mwst. Schüler und Studenten zahlen EUR 5,00 inkl. 19% Mwst.

Wir möchten alle Teilnehmer bitten, den Betrag in bar mitzubringen.

Anmeldung

Da wir nur für ca. 20 Personen Sitzplätze haben, möchten wir bitten, sich per EMail anzumelden. Damit wird keine Verpflichtung eingegangen. Es erleichtert uns allerdings die Planung.

Meeting Anmeldung bitte formlos per EMail an info@pyddf.de

Weitere Informationen

Weitere Informationen finden Sie auf der Webseite des Meetings:

http://pyddf.de/

Viel Spaß !

Marc-Andre Lemburg, eGenix.com

24 Apr 2014 9:00am GMT

I've now been back from PyCon for a week, and I've got some thoughts to share.

Scope

It was huge.

I usually try to memorize everyone's names, and I have some habits that help me with that. But there were so many people, I think that may have fallen apart. :)

A lot of hero worship, as I met, or at least observed from a distance, many people who helped shape my views on software (+Tres Seaver in particular).

Conversely, I managed to avoid running into those attending from my employers (I'm looking at you, +Kenneth Reitz, Sandy Walsh, and probably someone from RIM/BlackBerry).

Diversity

All the promotion of the diversity was terrific. At the same time that it's great to be part of a movement that is markedly more female-friendly then the tech community at large, Jessica McKellar made it clear that we have so much farther to go. As the father of two girls, it's very important to me that we change the culture around technology to emphasize that there's no particular skillset or aptitude that's required for entry.

Software is our world, and we can empower EVERYONE to play a part in shaping it.

Content Overview

I enjoyed the talks that I went to, but I did skip more than I was intending to. I had trouble letting go of work, and there was a lot of content that was relatively beginner focused, or represented tutorials that I knew had high-quality online counterparts, should I need them. I feel like this was a deficiency of my own, and one I hope I handle better if I come back next year.

Meta programming

I've been flirting with creating my own language for a while now, and if I were to do so, it would probably be on top of Python. Thanks to talks by +Allison Kaptur and +Paul Tagliamonte, I feel much more prepared to do so.

Allison provided a brilliant guide to implementing the import mechanism from scratch. Having read +Brett Cannon's blog when he created importlib, I knew there was a huge amount of work that went into getting it right, so it was an intimidating area. Yet in 20 minutes Allison walked us through getting something functional.

Paul's talk on Hy was not quite so accessible, but perhaps even more inspiring. The relative ease with which Hy and Python can co-exist within the same project is just awesome, though mucking around with ASTs remains a bit of a scary idea.

Sprints

While I was skipping talks, I consoled myself in the thought that I would really engage during the Sprints (I had a day and half scheduled for these). But I didn't, and while I think that had more to do with me (once again, I worked), I'll share what I think could have been done better, in case anyone else felt the same way.

Technically Sprints started Sunday evening, but I get the feeling that no one was actually interested in running them Sunday evening (or maybe my timing was off). There were a handful of people there, but no clear organization or plan about what was to be worked on.

Monday morning, it was certainly better attended, but it still wasn't inviting. There was a central chart of what rooms contained what projects, but within the rooms there was no indication of who was working on what. From my limited time being involved in or running other short coding sessions, I was also surprised not to see much use of flipcharts or whiteboards.

I guess how I would do it, if I ran it next year (I'm not volunteering, yet), is provide signs for each project to put at their table, and encourage each of them to write out a list of goals for the sprint in a place where it can be publicly examined and crossed off. Perhaps also provide special shirts/hats/badges to the "leader" of each sprint. The experience I would like is for someone to be able to wander in, examine what each project is doing without actually bothering anybody, and then if they find something they think could fit them, to know who to ask.

Misc.

• Ansible is what we're using at SFX, and while I've had some experience with it, I have a much more robust appreciation for it, thanks to +Michael DeHaan
• Peep should be included in the standard library. Seriously.
• Asyncio makes things most people do easier. Bravo!
• iPython Notebook is cool, and +Catherine Devlins talk about executable documentation has me itching to try it out.

Conclusion

As someone who has been around the block but doesn't find much time to actually code anymore, I may not be the code audience for PyCon. But I'm still delighted to have finally made it to one, and I'm really tempted to make it a family trip next year.

24 Apr 2014 8:43am GMT

I've now been back from PyCon for a week, and I've got some thoughts to share.

Scope

It was huge.

I usually try to memorize everyone's names, and I have some habits that help me with that. But there were so many people, I think that may have fallen apart. :)

A lot of hero worship, as I met, or at least observed from a distance, many people who helped shape my views on software (+Tres Seaver in particular).

Conversely, I managed to avoid running into those attending from my employers (I'm looking at you, +Kenneth Reitz, Sandy Walsh, and probably someone from RIM/BlackBerry).

Diversity

All the promotion of the diversity was terrific. At the same time that it's great to be part of a movement that is markedly more female-friendly then the tech community at large, Jessica McKellar made it clear that we have so much farther to go. As the father of two girls, it's very important to me that we change the culture around technology to emphasize that there's no particular skillset or aptitude that's required for entry.

Software is our world, and we can empower EVERYONE to play a part in shaping it.

Content Overview

I enjoyed the talks that I went to, but I did skip more than I was intending to. I had trouble letting go of work, and there was a lot of content that was relatively beginner focused, or represented tutorials that I knew had high-quality online counterparts, should I need them. I feel like this was a deficiency of my own, and one I hope I handle better if I come back next year.

Meta programming

I've been flirting with creating my own language for a while now, and if I were to do so, it would probably be on top of Python. Thanks to talks by +Allison Kaptur and +Paul Tagliamonte, I feel much more prepared to do so.

Allison provided a brilliant guide to implementing the import mechanism from scratch. Having read +Brett Cannon's blog when he created importlib, I knew there was a huge amount of work that went into getting it right, so it was an intimidating area. Yet in 20 minutes Allison walked us through getting something functional.

Paul's talk on Hy was not quite so accessible, but perhaps even more inspiring. The relative ease with which Hy and Python can co-exist within the same project is just awesome, though mucking around with ASTs remains a bit of a scary idea.

Sprints

While I was skipping talks, I consoled myself in the thought that I would really engage during the Sprints (I had a day and half scheduled for these). But I didn't, and while I think that had more to do with me (once again, I worked), I'll share what I think could have been done better, in case anyone else felt the same way.

Technically Sprints started Sunday evening, but I get the feeling that no one was actually interested in running them Sunday evening (or maybe my timing was off). There were a handful of people there, but no clear organization or plan about what was to be worked on.

Monday morning, it was certainly better attended, but it still wasn't inviting. There was a central chart of what rooms contained what projects, but within the rooms there was no indication of who was working on what. From my limited time being involved in or running other short coding sessions, I was also surprised not to see much use of flipcharts or whiteboards.

I guess how I would do it, if I ran it next year (I'm not volunteering, yet), is provide signs for each project to put at their table, and encourage each of them to write out a list of goals for the sprint in a place where it can be publicly examined and crossed off. Perhaps also provide special shirts/hats/badges to the "leader" of each sprint. The experience I would like is for someone to be able to wander in, examine what each project is doing without actually bothering anybody, and then if they find something they think could fit them, to know who to ask.

Misc.

• Ansible is what we're using at SFX, and while I've had some experience with it, I have a much more robust appreciation for it, thanks to +Michael DeHaan
• Peep should be included in the standard library. Seriously.
• Asyncio makes things most people do easier. Bravo!
• iPython Notebook is cool, and +Catherine Devlins talk about executable documentation has me itching to try it out.

Conclusion

As someone who has been around the block but doesn't find much time to actually code anymore, I may not be the code audience for PyCon. But I'm still delighted to have finally made it to one, and I'm really tempted to make it a family trip next year.

24 Apr 2014 8:43am GMT

Introduction

The mxODBC Connect™ Database Interface for Python allows users to easily connect Python applications to all major databases on the market today in a highly portable, convenient and secure way.

Python Database Connectivity the Easy Way

Unlike our mxODBC Python extension, mxODBC Connect is designed as client-server application, so you no longer need to find production quality ODBC drivers for all the platforms you target with your Python application.

Instead you use an easy to install royalty-free Python client library which connects directly to the mxODBC Connect database server over the network.

This makes mxODBC Connect a great basis for writing cross-platform multi-tier database applications and utilities in Python, especially if you run applications that need to communicate with databases such as MS SQL Server and MS Access, Oracle Database, IBM DB2 and Informix, Sybase ASE and Sybase Anywhere, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SAP MaxDB and many more, that run on Windows or Linux machines.

Ideal for Database Driven Client Applications

By removing the need to install and configure ODBC drivers on the client side and dealing with complicated network setups for each set of drivers, mxODBC Connect greatly simplifies deployment of database driven client applications, while at the same time making the network communication between client and database server more efficient and more secure.

For more information, please have a look at the mxODBC Connect product page, in particular, the full list of available features.

News

The 2.0.5 release of mxODBC Connect includes the following enhancements and fixes:

Security Enhancements

• Upgraded client and server to the most recent eGenix pyOpenSSL Distribution 0.13.3.1.0.1.7 in order to address the recently found Heartbleed bug in OpenSSL 1.0.1 - 1.0.1f. From the eGenix pyOpenSSL Distribution changelog:
  
• • CVE-2014-0160 ("Heartbleed Bug"): A missing bounds check in the handling of the TLS heartbeat extension can be used to reveal up to 64kB of memory to a connected client or server. This issue did not affect versions of OpenSSL prior to 1.0.1. For information, also have a look at the Heartbeet Bug website.

mxODBC Connect 2.0 was released on 2012-08-20. These are the highlights of the new release:

Enhanced API

• mxODBC Connect Server now uses mxODBC 3.2 internally and makes its API available in the mxODBC Connect Client. This is a major step forward from the mxODBC 3.0 version used in mxODBC Connect Server 1.0.
• mxODBC Connect Client comes with all the mxODBC enhancements, including:
• • connection and cursor objects can be used as context managers
  • adjustable parameter styles (qmark or named)
  • connection .autocommit attribute to easily switch on autocommit
    
  • adjustable timestamp resolution
  • new possibilities to set connection and cursor options to adjust the ODBC objects to your application needs, e.g. set a connection read-only or set a query timeout
  • adjustable decimal, datetime and string formats
  • adjustable warning format to be able to handle server warnings without client interaction
  • greatly improved result set scrolling support
  • Unicode support for all catalog methods
  • Access to additional result set meta data via cursor.getcolattribute()

Updated Compatibility

• The server now features all the ODBC driver compatibility enhancements provided by mxODBC 3.2, including improved and updated support for MS SQL Server Native Client, Oracle Instant Client, Sybase ASE, IBM DB2, Teradata and Netezza.
• Native Windows x64 builds with signed executables and a tray app rewritten in C are available for Windows 2008R2, Vista and 7 x64, so you can benefit from better performance, fewer UAC dialogs and smaller memory footprint.

Asynchronous Execution

• mxODBC Connect Client now integrates directly with gevent, allowing client applications to run asynchronous tasks while performing remote database queries.

Better Integration

• mxODBC Connect now uses the official IANA registered port 6632 for both plain text and SSL-encrypted communication.
• mxODBC Connect Client now allows selecting the used SSL module from two available options: Python standard lib ssl module and pyOpenSSL.

For the full set of changes, please check the mxODBC Connect change log.

Upgrading

You are encouraged to upgrade to this latest mxODBC Connect release. When upgrading, please always upgrade both the server and the client installations to the same version - even for patch level releases.

Customers who have purchased mxODBC Connect 2.0 licenses can continue to use their licenses with this patch level release.

Customers who have purchased mxODBC Connect 1.x licenses can request 20% discount coupons for upgrade purchases. Please contact the eGenix.com Sales Team with your existing license serials for details.

Users of our stand-alone mxODBC product will have to purchase new licenses from our online shop in order to use mxODBC Connect.

You can request 30-day evaluation licenses via our web-site or writing to sales@egenix.com, stating your name (or the name of the company) and the number of eval licenses that you need.

Downloads

Please visit the eGenix mxODBC Connect product page for downloads, instructions on installation and documentation of the client and the server package.

If you want to try the package, please jump straight to the download instructions.

Fully functional evaluation licenses for the mxODBC Connect Server are available free of charge.

mxODBC Connect Client is always free of charge.

Support

Commercial support for this product is available directly from eGenix.com.

Please see the support section of our website for details.

More Information

For more information on the eGenix mxODBC Connect, licensing and download instructions, please write to sales@egenix.com.

Enjoy !

Marc-Andre Lemburg, eGenix.com

24 Apr 2014 8:00am GMT

Introduction

The mxODBC Connect™ Database Interface for Python allows users to easily connect Python applications to all major databases on the market today in a highly portable, convenient and secure way.

Python Database Connectivity the Easy Way

Unlike our mxODBC Python extension, mxODBC Connect is designed as client-server application, so you no longer need to find production quality ODBC drivers for all the platforms you target with your Python application.

Instead you use an easy to install royalty-free Python client library which connects directly to the mxODBC Connect database server over the network.

This makes mxODBC Connect a great basis for writing cross-platform multi-tier database applications and utilities in Python, especially if you run applications that need to communicate with databases such as MS SQL Server and MS Access, Oracle Database, IBM DB2 and Informix, Sybase ASE and Sybase Anywhere, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SAP MaxDB and many more, that run on Windows or Linux machines.

Ideal for Database Driven Client Applications

By removing the need to install and configure ODBC drivers on the client side and dealing with complicated network setups for each set of drivers, mxODBC Connect greatly simplifies deployment of database driven client applications, while at the same time making the network communication between client and database server more efficient and more secure.

For more information, please have a look at the mxODBC Connect product page, in particular, the full list of available features.

News

The 2.0.5 release of mxODBC Connect includes the following enhancements and fixes:

Security Enhancements

• Upgraded client and server to the most recent eGenix pyOpenSSL Distribution 0.13.3.1.0.1.7 in order to address the recently found Heartbleed bug in OpenSSL 1.0.1 - 1.0.1f. From the eGenix pyOpenSSL Distribution changelog:
  
• • CVE-2014-0160 ("Heartbleed Bug"): A missing bounds check in the handling of the TLS heartbeat extension can be used to reveal up to 64kB of memory to a connected client or server. This issue did not affect versions of OpenSSL prior to 1.0.1. For information, also have a look at the Heartbeet Bug website.

mxODBC Connect 2.0 was released on 2012-08-20. These are the highlights of the new release:

Enhanced API

• mxODBC Connect Server now uses mxODBC 3.2 internally and makes its API available in the mxODBC Connect Client. This is a major step forward from the mxODBC 3.0 version used in mxODBC Connect Server 1.0.
• mxODBC Connect Client comes with all the mxODBC enhancements, including:
• • connection and cursor objects can be used as context managers
  • adjustable parameter styles (qmark or named)
  • connection .autocommit attribute to easily switch on autocommit
    
  • adjustable timestamp resolution
  • new possibilities to set connection and cursor options to adjust the ODBC objects to your application needs, e.g. set a connection read-only or set a query timeout
  • adjustable decimal, datetime and string formats
  • adjustable warning format to be able to handle server warnings without client interaction
  • greatly improved result set scrolling support
  • Unicode support for all catalog methods
  • Access to additional result set meta data via cursor.getcolattribute()

Updated Compatibility

• The server now features all the ODBC driver compatibility enhancements provided by mxODBC 3.2, including improved and updated support for MS SQL Server Native Client, Oracle Instant Client, Sybase ASE, IBM DB2, Teradata and Netezza.
• Native Windows x64 builds with signed executables and a tray app rewritten in C are available for Windows 2008R2, Vista and 7 x64, so you can benefit from better performance, fewer UAC dialogs and smaller memory footprint.

Asynchronous Execution

• mxODBC Connect Client now integrates directly with gevent, allowing client applications to run asynchronous tasks while performing remote database queries.

Better Integration

• mxODBC Connect now uses the official IANA registered port 6632 for both plain text and SSL-encrypted communication.
• mxODBC Connect Client now allows selecting the used SSL module from two available options: Python standard lib ssl module and pyOpenSSL.

For the full set of changes, please check the mxODBC Connect change log.

Upgrading

You are encouraged to upgrade to this latest mxODBC Connect release. When upgrading, please always upgrade both the server and the client installations to the same version - even for patch level releases.

Customers who have purchased mxODBC Connect 2.0 licenses can continue to use their licenses with this patch level release.

Customers who have purchased mxODBC Connect 1.x licenses can request 20% discount coupons for upgrade purchases. Please contact the eGenix.com Sales Team with your existing license serials for details.

Users of our stand-alone mxODBC product will have to purchase new licenses from our online shop in order to use mxODBC Connect.

You can request 30-day evaluation licenses via our web-site or writing to sales@egenix.com, stating your name (or the name of the company) and the number of eval licenses that you need.

Downloads

Please visit the eGenix mxODBC Connect product page for downloads, instructions on installation and documentation of the client and the server package.

If you want to try the package, please jump straight to the download instructions.

Fully functional evaluation licenses for the mxODBC Connect Server are available free of charge.

mxODBC Connect Client is always free of charge.

Support

Commercial support for this product is available directly from eGenix.com.

Please see the support section of our website for details.

More Information

For more information on the eGenix mxODBC Connect, licensing and download instructions, please write to sales@egenix.com.

Enjoy !

Marc-Andre Lemburg, eGenix.com

24 Apr 2014 8:00am GMT

Wingware has released version 5.0.6 of Wing IDE, our cross-platform integrated
development environment for the Python programming language.

Wing IDE includes a professional quality code editor with vi, emacs, visual studio,
and other key bindings, auto-completion, call tips, goto-definition, find uses, refactoring,
context-aware auto-editing, a powerful graphical debugger, version control, unit testing,
search, and many other features. For details see http://wingware.com/

Changes in this minor release include:

• New auto-editing operation for starting a new block when ':' is pressed while a range of lines is selected. This also auto-enters 'except:' if 'try' is then entered.
• Offer completion on argument names in a def
• New Editor > Block Comment Style preference option to use PEP8 style indented '# ' for commenting out code
• On OS X, Wing no longer quits when the last window is closed, to match the standard for Mac applications
• Restart correctly after downloading patches
• Pick up changes made in the debug dialog when debugging a named entry point
• Avoid hiding file selection auto-completer popup too soon
• Set sys.path[0] correctly in Python Shell on OS X and Linux
• Fix cleanup after auto-invocation that spans multiple lines
• About 15 other bug fixes

For details see http://wingware.com/pub/wingide/5.0.6/CHANGELOG.txt

A summary of new features in Wing 5:

• Redesigned GUI based on Qt and PySide
• Native GUI on OS X (and better overall OS-native look and feel)
• Tools and editors can be dragged around
• Toolbar and editor and Project context menus are configurable
• Optional mode that opens different sets of files in each editor split
• Sharable color palettes and syntax highlighting configurations
• Auto-editing is on by default (except some operations that have a learning curve)
• Named file sets
• Sharable launch configurations
• Named entry points
• More control over unit testing environment
• Lockable editor splits
• Initial preferences dialog for new users
• Support for Python 3.4
• Support for Django 1.6
• Support for matplotlib on Anaconda and with MacOSX backend
• Improved Source Assistant with PEP 287 docstring rendering and return types
• Improved integrated and PDF documentation

For more information on what's new in Wing 5, see http://wingware.com/wingide/whatsnew

Free trial: http://wingware.com/wingide/trial
Downloads: http://wingware.com/downloads
Feature list: http://wingware.com/wingide/features
Sales: http://wingware.com/store/purchase
Upgrades: https://wingware.com/store/upgrade

Questions? Don't hesitate to email us at support@wingware.com.

24 Apr 2014 7:06am GMT

Wingware has released version 5.0.6 of Wing IDE, our cross-platform integrated
development environment for the Python programming language.

Wing IDE includes a professional quality code editor with vi, emacs, visual studio,
and other key bindings, auto-completion, call tips, goto-definition, find uses, refactoring,
context-aware auto-editing, a powerful graphical debugger, version control, unit testing,
search, and many other features. For details see http://wingware.com/

Changes in this minor release include:

• New auto-editing operation for starting a new block when ':' is pressed while a range of lines is selected. This also auto-enters 'except:' if 'try' is then entered.
• Offer completion on argument names in a def
• New Editor > Block Comment Style preference option to use PEP8 style indented '# ' for commenting out code
• On OS X, Wing no longer quits when the last window is closed, to match the standard for Mac applications
• Restart correctly after downloading patches
• Pick up changes made in the debug dialog when debugging a named entry point
• Avoid hiding file selection auto-completer popup too soon
• Set sys.path[0] correctly in Python Shell on OS X and Linux
• Fix cleanup after auto-invocation that spans multiple lines
• About 15 other bug fixes

For details see http://wingware.com/pub/wingide/5.0.6/CHANGELOG.txt

A summary of new features in Wing 5:

• Redesigned GUI based on Qt and PySide
• Native GUI on OS X (and better overall OS-native look and feel)
• Tools and editors can be dragged around
• Toolbar and editor and Project context menus are configurable
• Optional mode that opens different sets of files in each editor split
• Sharable color palettes and syntax highlighting configurations
• Auto-editing is on by default (except some operations that have a learning curve)
• Named file sets
• Sharable launch configurations
• Named entry points
• More control over unit testing environment
• Lockable editor splits
• Initial preferences dialog for new users
• Support for Python 3.4
• Support for Django 1.6
• Support for matplotlib on Anaconda and with MacOSX backend
• Improved Source Assistant with PEP 287 docstring rendering and return types
• Improved integrated and PDF documentation

For more information on what's new in Wing 5, see http://wingware.com/wingide/whatsnew

Free trial: http://wingware.com/wingide/trial
Downloads: http://wingware.com/downloads
Feature list: http://wingware.com/wingide/features
Sales: http://wingware.com/store/purchase
Upgrades: https://wingware.com/store/upgrade

Questions? Don't hesitate to email us at support@wingware.com.

24 Apr 2014 7:06am GMT

The PyCon Australia 2014 CFP is about to close! Last chance to get your proposal in! Quoted:

The conference this year will be held on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 August 2014 in Brisbane. We'll also be featuring a day of miniconfs on Friday 1 August.

The deadline for proposal submission is Friday 25 April, 2014.

PyCon Australia attracts professional developers from all walks of life, including industry, government, and science, as well as enthusiast and student developers. We're looking for proposals for presentations and tutorials on any aspect of Python programming, at all skill levels from novice to advanced.

Presentation subjects may range from reports on open source, academic or commercial projects; or even tutorials and case studies. If a presentation is interesting and useful to the Python community, it will be considered for inclusion in the program.

We're especially interested in short presentations that will teach conference-goers something new and useful. Can you show attendees how to use a module? Explore a Python language feature? Package an application?

Proposals about the Django web framework are very strongly encouraged, and will also be considered for inclusion in DjangoCon AU, to be held on Friday 1 August.

There will also be a Science and Data Analysis miniconf and an OpenStack miniconf held alongside DjangoCon AU. Proposals on either of these topics will be considered for inclusion in these miniconfs.

We welcome first-time speakers; we are a community conference and we are eager to hear about your experience. If you have friends or colleagues who have something valuable to contribute, twist their arms to tell us about it! Please also forward this Call for Proposals to anyone that you feel may be interested.

See you in Brisbane in August!

24 Apr 2014 5:31am GMT

The PyCon Australia 2014 CFP is about to close! Last chance to get your proposal in! Quoted:

The conference this year will be held on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 August 2014 in Brisbane. We'll also be featuring a day of miniconfs on Friday 1 August.

The deadline for proposal submission is Friday 25 April, 2014.

PyCon Australia attracts professional developers from all walks of life, including industry, government, and science, as well as enthusiast and student developers. We're looking for proposals for presentations and tutorials on any aspect of Python programming, at all skill levels from novice to advanced.

Presentation subjects may range from reports on open source, academic or commercial projects; or even tutorials and case studies. If a presentation is interesting and useful to the Python community, it will be considered for inclusion in the program.

We're especially interested in short presentations that will teach conference-goers something new and useful. Can you show attendees how to use a module? Explore a Python language feature? Package an application?

Proposals about the Django web framework are very strongly encouraged, and will also be considered for inclusion in DjangoCon AU, to be held on Friday 1 August.

There will also be a Science and Data Analysis miniconf and an OpenStack miniconf held alongside DjangoCon AU. Proposals on either of these topics will be considered for inclusion in these miniconfs.

We welcome first-time speakers; we are a community conference and we are eager to hear about your experience. If you have friends or colleagues who have something valuable to contribute, twist their arms to tell us about it! Please also forward this Call for Proposals to anyone that you feel may be interested.

See you in Brisbane in August!

24 Apr 2014 5:31am GMT

I have some posts to write about Cantor but first I would like to request a help to KDE packagers of several Linux distros around the world.

I received some mails from users asking "how can I use python in Cantor?" or "where is python support in Cantor?". Well, python2-backend is available in Cantor since KDE 4.12 release. If you is using KDE >= 4.12 but you can not to use python in Cantor, maybe the package was not build correctly.

python 2 development library (commonly packed as python-devel in some Linux distros) is required to build python2-backend. python 2 is required to use Cantor with python 2.

Then if you are a Cantor user and can not to use Cantor with python, please write a bug report in the bug management system of your distro. You can to put a link in the bug report to this post too.

Anyway, if your distro bring or not bring python2-backend, write a comment below and I will make a table with this information.

24 Apr 2014 12:47am GMT

I have some posts to write about Cantor but first I would like to request a help to KDE packagers of several Linux distros around the world.

I received some mails from users asking "how can I use python in Cantor?" or "where is python support in Cantor?". Well, python2-backend is available in Cantor since KDE 4.12 release. If you is using KDE >= 4.12 but you can not to use python in Cantor, maybe the package was not build correctly.

python 2 development library (commonly packed as python-devel in some Linux distros) is required to build python2-backend. python 2 is required to use Cantor with python 2.

Then if you are a Cantor user and can not to use Cantor with python, please write a bug report in the bug management system of your distro. You can to put a link in the bug report to this post too.

Anyway, if your distro bring or not bring python2-backend, write a comment below and I will make a table with this information.

24 Apr 2014 12:47am GMT

pyspotify 2.x is a full rewrite of pyspotify. While pyspotify 1.x is a CPython C extension, pyspotify 2.x uses CFFI to make 100% of the libspotify C library available from Python. It works on CPython 2.7 and 3.2+, as well as PyPy 2.1+.

pyspotify provides a Python interface to Spotify's online music streaming service. With it you can access music metadata, search in Spotify's library of 20+ million tracks, manage your Spotify playlists, and play music from Spotify. All from your own Python applications.

Since the previous release, pyspotify has become thread safe. That is, pyspotify can safely be used from multiple threads. The added thread safety made an integrated event loop possible, which greatly simplifies the usage of pyspotify, as can be seen from the updated example in examples/shell.py. Audio sink helpers for ALSA and PortAudio have been added, together with updated examples that can play music. A number of bugs have been fixed, and at the time of the release, there are no known issues. For more details, see the full changelog.

The pyspotify 2.0.0b1 release marks the completion of all planned features for pyspotify 2.x. The plans for the next releases are fixing bugs as they surface, incrementally improving the documentation, and integrating feedback from increased usage of the library in the wild.

I'd love it if you would give pyspotify 2.x a spin and report any issues you find.

To get started, check out the installation instructions for some help on the C library part of the installation, then continue on with the quickstart guide, and finally the complete API reference.

Happy music hacking!

23 Apr 2014 11:45pm GMT

pyspotify 2.x is a full rewrite of pyspotify. While pyspotify 1.x is a CPython C extension, pyspotify 2.x uses CFFI to make 100% of the libspotify C library available from Python. It works on CPython 2.7 and 3.2+, as well as PyPy 2.1+.

pyspotify provides a Python interface to Spotify's online music streaming service. With it you can access music metadata, search in Spotify's library of 20+ million tracks, manage your Spotify playlists, and play music from Spotify. All from your own Python applications.

Since the previous release, pyspotify has become thread safe. That is, pyspotify can safely be used from multiple threads. The added thread safety made an integrated event loop possible, which greatly simplifies the usage of pyspotify, as can be seen from the updated example in examples/shell.py. Audio sink helpers for ALSA and PortAudio have been added, together with updated examples that can play music. A number of bugs have been fixed, and at the time of the release, there are no known issues. For more details, see the full changelog.

The pyspotify 2.0.0b1 release marks the completion of all planned features for pyspotify 2.x. The plans for the next releases are fixing bugs as they surface, incrementally improving the documentation, and integrating feedback from increased usage of the library in the wild.

I'd love it if you would give pyspotify 2.x a spin and report any issues you find.

To get started, check out the installation instructions for some help on the C library part of the installation, then continue on with the quickstart guide, and finally the complete API reference.

Happy music hacking!

23 Apr 2014 11:45pm GMT

23 Apr 2014 7:41pm GMT

23 Apr 2014 7:41pm GMT

Python has many features which usually stay unknown to many programmers. This time I discovered the dictionary comprehensions. One of the nice features which can make code much cleaner. Let me start with a simple introduction about list comprehensions and collection uniqueness

List Comprehensions

List comprehensions are a much simpler way of creating lists. This is one feature, rather widely used, and I saw this in many examples and source of many libraries.

Imagine you have a function which returns a list of data. A good example of this is xrange(start, end) function, which returns all numbers within the range [start, end). This is a generator, so it doesn't return all numbers at once, but you need to call this function many times, and each time it returns the next number.

Getting all numbers from the range [1, 10] using this function can be done like this:

numbers = []
for i in xrange(1, 11):
    numbers.append(i)

If you want to get only the even numbers, then you can write:

numbers = []
for i in xrange(1, 11):
    if i % 2 == 0:
        numbers.append(i)

List comprehensions can make the code much simpler. The below expression evaluates to a list:

[ expression for item in list if conditional ]

The first example can be then written as:

numbers = [i for i in xrange(1, 11)]

and the second:

numbers = [i for i in xrange(1, 11) if i % 2 == 0]

Of course this syntax can be a little bit strange at the very first moment, but you can get used to it, and then the code can be much simpler.

Removing Duplicates

Another common usage of collections is to remove duplicates. And again there are plenty of ways to do it.

Consider a collection like this:

numbers = [i for i in xrange(1,11)] + [i for i in xrange(1,6)]

The most complicated way of removing duplicates I've ever seen was:

unique_numbers = []
for n in numbers:
    if n not in unique_numbers:
        unique_numbers.append(n)

Of course it works, but there a much easier way. You can use a standard type like set. Set cannot have duplicates, so when converting a list to a set, all duplicates are removed. However at the end there will be set, not list, if you want to have a list, then you should convert it again:

unique_numbers = list(set(numbers))

Removing Object Duplicates

With objects, or dictionaries, the situation is a little bit different. You can have a list of dictionaries, where you use just one field for identity, this can look like:

data = [
  {'id': 10, 'data': '...'},
  {'id': 11, 'data': '...'},
  {'id': 12, 'data': '...'},
  {'id': 10, 'data': '...'},
  {'id': 11, 'data': '...'},
]

Removing duplicates, again, can be done using more or less code. Less is better, of course. With more code it can be:

unique_data = []
for d in data:
    data_exists = False
    for ud in unique_data:
        if ud['id'] == d['id']:
          data_exists = True
          break
    if not data_exists:
        unique_data.append(d)

And this can be done using a thing I discoverd a couple of days ago, this is the dictionary comprehension. It has a similar syntax to the list comprehension, however it evaluates to a dicionary:

{ key:value for item in list if conditional }

This can be used to make a list without all duplicates using a custom field a identity:

{ d['id']:d for d in data }.values()

The above code creates a dictionary with a key, which is the field I want to use for uniqueness, and the whole dictionary as the value. The dictionary then contains only one entry for each key. The values() function is used to get a list only with values, as I don't need the key:value mappings any more.

23 Apr 2014 1:37pm GMT

Python has many features which usually stay unknown to many programmers. This time I discovered the dictionary comprehensions. One of the nice features which can make code much cleaner. Let me start with a simple introduction about list comprehensions and collection uniqueness

List Comprehensions

List comprehensions are a much simpler way of creating lists. This is one feature, rather widely used, and I saw this in many examples and source of many libraries.

Imagine you have a function which returns a list of data. A good example of this is xrange(start, end) function, which returns all numbers within the range [start, end). This is a generator, so it doesn't return all numbers at once, but you need to call this function many times, and each time it returns the next number.

Getting all numbers from the range [1, 10] using this function can be done like this:

numbers = []
for i in xrange(1, 11):
    numbers.append(i)

If you want to get only the even numbers, then you can write:

numbers = []
for i in xrange(1, 11):
    if i % 2 == 0:
        numbers.append(i)

List comprehensions can make the code much simpler. The below expression evaluates to a list:

[ expression for item in list if conditional ]

The first example can be then written as:

numbers = [i for i in xrange(1, 11)]

and the second:

numbers = [i for i in xrange(1, 11) if i % 2 == 0]

Of course this syntax can be a little bit strange at the very first moment, but you can get used to it, and then the code can be much simpler.

Removing Duplicates

Another common usage of collections is to remove duplicates. And again there are plenty of ways to do it.

Consider a collection like this:

numbers = [i for i in xrange(1,11)] + [i for i in xrange(1,6)]

The most complicated way of removing duplicates I've ever seen was:

unique_numbers = []
for n in numbers:
    if n not in unique_numbers:
        unique_numbers.append(n)

Of course it works, but there a much easier way. You can use a standard type like set. Set cannot have duplicates, so when converting a list to a set, all duplicates are removed. However at the end there will be set, not list, if you want to have a list, then you should convert it again:

unique_numbers = list(set(numbers))

Removing Object Duplicates

With objects, or dictionaries, the situation is a little bit different. You can have a list of dictionaries, where you use just one field for identity, this can look like:

data = [
  {'id': 10, 'data': '...'},
  {'id': 11, 'data': '...'},
  {'id': 12, 'data': '...'},
  {'id': 10, 'data': '...'},
  {'id': 11, 'data': '...'},
]

Removing duplicates, again, can be done using more or less code. Less is better, of course. With more code it can be:

unique_data = []
for d in data:
    data_exists = False
    for ud in unique_data:
        if ud['id'] == d['id']:
          data_exists = True
          break
    if not data_exists:
        unique_data.append(d)

And this can be done using a thing I discoverd a couple of days ago, this is the dictionary comprehension. It has a similar syntax to the list comprehension, however it evaluates to a dicionary:

{ key:value for item in list if conditional }

This can be used to make a list without all duplicates using a custom field a identity:

{ d['id']:d for d in data }.values()

The above code creates a dictionary with a key, which is the field I want to use for uniqueness, and the whole dictionary as the value. The dictionary then contains only one entry for each key. The values() function is used to get a list only with values, as I don't need the key:value mappings any more.

23 Apr 2014 1:37pm GMT

I'd like to welcome the four students that were accepted for the GSoC this year:

• Issam: Extending Neural networks
• Hamzeh: Sparse Support for Ensemble Methods
• Manoj: Making Linear models faster
• Maheshakya: Locality Sensitive Hashing

Welcome to all of you. Your submissions were excellent, and you demonstrated a good will to integrate in the project, with its social and coding dynamics. It is a privilege to work with you.

I'd also like to thank all the mentors, Alex, Arnaud, Daniel, James, Jaidev, Olivier, Robert and Vlad. It is a lot of work to mentor and mentors are not only making it possible for great code to enter scikit-learn, but also shaping a future generation of scikit-learn contributors.

23 Apr 2014 5:56am GMT

I'd like to welcome the four students that were accepted for the GSoC this year:

• Issam: Extending Neural networks
• Hamzeh: Sparse Support for Ensemble Methods
• Manoj: Making Linear models faster
• Maheshakya: Locality Sensitive Hashing

Welcome to all of you. Your submissions were excellent, and you demonstrated a good will to integrate in the project, with its social and coding dynamics. It is a privilege to work with you.

I'd also like to thank all the mentors, Alex, Arnaud, Daniel, James, Jaidev, Olivier, Robert and Vlad. It is a lot of work to mentor and mentors are not only making it possible for great code to enter scikit-learn, but also shaping a future generation of scikit-learn contributors.

23 Apr 2014 5:56am GMT

Financial Assistance Programme

In the second round of the EuroPython Financial Assistance Programme we granted an additional sum of 3000 EUR for April which results in a total sum of 8000 EUR so far. There will be a third last round in May. So if you are seeking for financial support for coming to the EuroPython 2014 in Berlin you can still apply for the last round.

We also started the sale of Financial Assistance support tickets last month. You can buy one or more Financial Assistance support tickets for a value of 10, 20, 50 or 100 Euro. With the purchase of Financial Assistance tickets you will support further Python enthusiasts to go to EuroPython 2014 in case they need financial support for a ticket or travel expenses. The EuroPython organization team granted already 5.000 Euro last month in the first of three rounds. Please show your appreciation for the Python community and help us to bring more people to the conference which could not make it otherwise.

Partner programme

We are currently working on the details for a partner & family programme in case you want to bring your better half or your whole family to Berlin. Berlin offers a lot of options for spending the time outside the conference programme like visits to museums, boat trips or guided trips to the Berliner "Unterwelten" and many other places of interest. A survey will be announced and published shortly in order to involve you and your partner into the arrangement and selection of the partner programme.

Diversity at EuroPython

There has been a heated discussion over the last week about the representation of women as speakers at EuroPython 2014 and about diversity in general. You can find the official thread here and the official statement of the EuroPython organizers here. Starting point of the discussion was that PyCon 2014 in Montreal reached an outstanding attendance of about 30% women (both as speaker and attendees).

The EuroPython organizers are committed to diversity by gender, sexual orientation and location. Besides the existing Code of Conduct we are working on an explicit Diversity Statement in order to make the EuroPython 2014 enjoyable for everyone. Making EuroPython more diverse is a long-time process that involves the EuroPython Society, the local organizers and the European Python community as a whole. Diversity and outreach can not be dictated but must be lived in reality on all levels.

Schedule

Therehas been some confusion related to the published preliminary schedule (also under the aspects of diversity). The complete schedule will be announced shortly with roughly additional 50 talks and all trainings. The programme team is currently heavily working on the final version that will also take more diversity aspects into account for choosing the talks. We apologize for the confusion - specially to all persons that submitted a proposal keeping them in an uninformed state. The problem was caused by some internal miscommunication but also by the desire to publish a resilient schedule as early as possible in order to let the speakers make their travel arrangements in time.

23 Apr 2014 5:39am GMT

Financial Assistance Programme

In the second round of the EuroPython Financial Assistance Programme we granted an additional sum of 3000 EUR for April which results in a total sum of 8000 EUR so far. There will be a third last round in May. So if you are seeking for financial support for coming to the EuroPython 2014 in Berlin you can still apply for the last round.

We also started the sale of Financial Assistance support tickets last month. You can buy one or more Financial Assistance support tickets for a value of 10, 20, 50 or 100 Euro. With the purchase of Financial Assistance tickets you will support further Python enthusiasts to go to EuroPython 2014 in case they need financial support for a ticket or travel expenses. The EuroPython organization team granted already 5.000 Euro last month in the first of three rounds. Please show your appreciation for the Python community and help us to bring more people to the conference which could not make it otherwise.

Partner programme

We are currently working on the details for a partner & family programme in case you want to bring your better half or your whole family to Berlin. Berlin offers a lot of options for spending the time outside the conference programme like visits to museums, boat trips or guided trips to the Berliner "Unterwelten" and many other places of interest. A survey will be announced and published shortly in order to involve you and your partner into the arrangement and selection of the partner programme.

Diversity at EuroPython

There has been a heated discussion over the last week about the representation of women as speakers at EuroPython 2014 and about diversity in general. You can find the official thread here and the official statement of the EuroPython organizers here. Starting point of the discussion was that PyCon 2014 in Montreal reached an outstanding attendance of about 30% women (both as speaker and attendees).

The EuroPython organizers are committed to diversity by gender, sexual orientation and location. Besides the existing Code of Conduct we are working on an explicit Diversity Statement in order to make the EuroPython 2014 enjoyable for everyone. Making EuroPython more diverse is a long-time process that involves the EuroPython Society, the local organizers and the European Python community as a whole. Diversity and outreach can not be dictated but must be lived in reality on all levels.

Schedule

Therehas been some confusion related to the published preliminary schedule (also under the aspects of diversity). The complete schedule will be announced shortly with roughly additional 50 talks and all trainings. The programme team is currently heavily working on the final version that will also take more diversity aspects into account for choosing the talks. We apologize for the confusion - specially to all persons that submitted a proposal keeping them in an uninformed state. The problem was caused by some internal miscommunication but also by the desire to publish a resilient schedule as early as possible in order to let the speakers make their travel arrangements in time.

23 Apr 2014 5:39am GMT

Zero to hero

What Prompted me??

I started my third year thinking I should do something that would put me different from the rest and one of my professors suggested me as to why don't I apply for GSoC. I don't know why but I took the suggestion rather seriously, thanks to the bet I had with one of my friend(who is about to complete his MBBS) that whoever earns first will buy the other a "RayBan shades". Well, that's it. I was determined. I started my research early, probably during the start of February(I knew I want to buy my friend, his shades and also buy mine too, in the process).

What experiences I had before??

I started looking at previous years' GSoC projects(having had little experience with Open Source) and started learning how to contribute. I was also very fascinated to the amount of knowledge one could gain just by googling and browsing web pages . I discovered very soon, as to what an immensely great tool , email, through which I could chat with anyone in the open source world and ask seemingly stupid questions and always expect to get a gentle reply back with an answer. Well, that held me spell bound and I knew I want to contribute to Open Source.

How did I begin??

About the middle of March, I discovered that my passion for Python as a programming language increased , after understanding how easy it is as a language. Added to that, my popularity among my fellow classmates increased when I started evangelizing Python(thanks to my seniors for introducing it, I guess I did a decent job popularizing the language). And I started contributing to PSF(Python Software Foundation) , started with a simple bug to fix documentation and slowly my interactivity in IRC increased and I started liking one of the project one of the community member proposed.

A twist in the story??

There I was, still a noob and not knowing how to convince my probable mentor that I could complete the project, given direction. About this juncture, a fellow student(from some university in France) mailed this particular mentor that he was interested in the project . Do, remember, I was part of the mailing list and follow the happenings of it. So, I was furious knowing that I had a competition(having put so much effort) and I was not willing to compromise my project (knowing that this is the one project I actually understood and started researching a little bit too). The other projects require me to have some domain knowledge. I went back to my teachers, seniors, friends and Google and started asking the question , "how would i solve the problem the mentor posted?" . I framed a couple of answers, though very noobish , but at least I could reply the email thread posting my understanding of the problem and how I would solve it and also ask various questions I had in my mind. Well, the mentor replied, immediately to my surprise, and responded back with comments as well as answers to the questions I posed. Again, my nemesis/competitor replied back(he having good knowledge about the problem domain). I knew it was not going to be easy. Hence, I went back again, through all my sources, made further understanding of the problem and posted back again. I guess, about 20 mails in the thread , till we(all three of us) decided we should catch up in IRC and discuss more.

The conclusion:

Well, at IRC , most of senior members from the community were present, and they suggested that they should probably extend the scope of the project(since two students were interested in one project and showed immense passion). Unsurprisingly, over multiple meetings, the project scope was expanded, both the students were given equal important but independent tasks and both the students got opportunity to say they are Google Summer of Code students. Thank goodness, we decided to built the project from scratch giving us more than enough work on our plate.

Movie titles:

1) In the open source world, there is no competition , it is only "COLLABORATION".

2) Why give up, when you can win??

3) From Zero to Hero!!

4) A prodigy in making

p.s. I still owe my friend his shades . *sshole, I am still waiting for him to visit me so that I can buy him his shades and buy mine too. Also, I know its been two years since the story happened, but it is never too late to share, don't you agree??

11 Oct 2013 5:39am GMT