BayPIGgies: September 9, 7:30pm

The next meeting of BayPIGgies will be Thurs September 9 at 7:30pm.  It
will feature a presentation about pyscheme by Danny Yoo.  Haven't had
time to update the web site, so here's Danny's summary:

    http://hkn.eecs.berkeley.edu/~dyoo/python/pyscheme/

    o  A quick introduction to Scheme, and how it's similar to Python.

    o  A sketch of how pyscheme works.

    o  Demo of the program itself.

    o  Discussion on a core problem when implementing Scheme in Python:
       Recursion!

        - Python's recursion limit.
        - How to deal with it: bouncing functions on trampolines.

    o  Maybe even continuations, if I haven't lost the audience by then.

BayPIGgies meetings are in Stanford, California.  For more information
and directions, see http://www.baypiggies.net/

Before the meeting, some people will meet at 6pm for dinner in downtown
Palo Alto.  Ducky Sherwood is handling that; please send RSVPs
to ducky <at> osafoundation.org by 4pm Thurs.
Discussion of dinner plans is handled on the BayPIGgies mailing list.

Advance notice: The October 14 meeting agenda has not been set.  Please
send e-mail to baypiggies <at> baypiggies.net if you want to make a

cx_Oracle 4.1 beta1

What is cx_Oracle?

cx_Oracle is a Python extension module that allows access to Oracle and
conforms to the Python database API 2.0 specifications with a few
exceptions.

Where do I get it?

http://starship.python.net/crew/atuining

What's new?

  1) Added support for Python 2.4. In Python 2.4, the datetime module is
     used for both binding and fetching of date and timestamp data. In
     Python 2.3, objects from the datetime module can be bound but the 
This is

     internal datetime objects will be returned from queries.
  2) Added pickling support for LOB and datetime data.
  3) Fully qualified the table name that was missing in an alter table
     statement in the setup test script as noted by Marc Gehling.
  4) Added a section allowing for the setting of the RPATH linker
     directive in setup.py as requested by Iustin Pop.
  5) Added code to raise a programming error exception when an attempt is
     made to access a LOB locator variable in a subsequent fetch.
  6) The username, password and dsn (tnsentry) are stored on the
     connection object when specified, regardless of whether or not a
     standard connection takes place.
  7) Added additional module level constant called "LOB" as requested by
     Joseph Canedo.

ANN: PythonDoc 2.1 beta 1 (september 1, 2004)

PythonDoc is a documentation tool for Python, inspired by JavaDoc.

Like JavaDoc, PythonDoc scans your Python code for doc comments,
and generates API documentation in XML and HTML formats.  Python-
Doc supports basic JavaDoc tags like  <at> param and  <at> return, and adds
a few Python-specific tags.  You can use PythonDoc comments to
describe module-level variables and constants, functions, classes,
methods, and attributes.  PythonDoc comes with a standard HTML
generator, but you can plug in your own output handlers, or use XSTL
or other tools to process the PythonDoc XML format.

PythonDoc 2.1 is 2.0 plus support for Python 2.4 decorators, inline  <at> link
and  <at> linkplain tags, and some bug fixes.  See the README file for details.

Brief description and examples (for an earlier alpha release):
    http://online.effbot.org/2003_10_01_archive.htm#pythondoc-20a1

Downloads:
    http://effbot.org/downloads#pythondoc
    http://effbot.org/downloads#elementtree

Documentation:
    http://effbot.org/zone/pythondoc.htm

Sample output (using the default "compact HTML" renderer):
    http://effbot.org/zone/pythondoc-compact.htm

enjoy /F

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RELEASED Python 2.4, alpha 3

On behalf of the Python development team and the Python community, I'm
happy to announce the third alpha of Python 2.4.

Python 2.4a3 is an alpha release.  We'd greatly appreciate it if you
could download it, kick the tires and let us know of any problems you
find, but it is not suitable for production usage.

~    http://www.python.org/2.4

In this release we have PEP-292 string templates, a new syntax for
multi-line imports, and a large number of other bug fixes and
improvements.  See either the highlights, the What's New in
Python 2.4, or the detailed NEWS file -- all available from the
Python 2.4 webpage.

This will hopefully be the last alpha in the Python 2.4 cycle -
a first beta will follow in a few weeks. Once the first beta is
out, we're in feature-freeze mode - so if you've got new things
you want in, make sure you hurry!

Please log any problems you have with this release in the SourceForge
bug tracker (noting that you're using 2.4a3):

~    http://sourceforge.net/bugs/?group_id=5470

Enjoy the new release,
Anthony

Anthony Baxter

final version of PEP-318 "Decorators for functions and methods"

To go along with the 2.4a3 release, here's an updated version of
the decorator PEP. It describes the state of decorators as they
are in 2.4a3.

PEP: 318
Title: Decorators for Functions and Methods
Version: $Revision: 1.34 $
Last-Modified: $Date: 2004/09/03 09:32:50 $
Author: Kevin D. Smith, Jim Jewett, Skip Montanaro, Anthony Baxter
Status: Draft
Type: Standards Track
Content-Type: text/x-rst
Created: 05-Jun-2003
Python-Version: 2.4
Post-History: 09-Jun-2003, 10-Jun-2003, 27-Feb-2004, 23-Mar-2004, 30-Aug-2004,
              2-Sep-2004

WarningWarningWarning
=====================

This document is meant to describe the decorator syntax and the
process that resulted in the decisions that were made.  It does not
attempt to cover the huge number of potential alternative syntaxes,
nor is it an attempt to exhaustively list all the positives and
negatives of each form.

Abstract
========

UPDATE: New 2.4a3 Windows installer and random.py patch available

Due to a goof in the packaging scripts, the Windows installer
that was released on Friday for 2.4a3 broke file associations
for .py files. There's a fixed installer (python-2.4a3.2.msi)
available from the Python 2.4 web page.

There's also a patch for the breakage for random.py on systems
that don't have support for the new os.urandom() call. This is
also available from the Python 2.4 web page.

~    http://www.python.org/2.4/

We apologise to those affected by these bugs, and I'd like to
thank the folks who downloaded the release and let us know about
the problems so promptly.

Anthony Baxter
anthony <at> python.org
Python Release Manager
(on behalf of the entire python-dev team)

Middleware'04 Call for Participation

		   ACM/IFIP/USENIX Middleware 2004

			Call for Participation
		 Renaissance Toronto Hotel at SkyDome
		       Toronto, Ontario, Canada
		      October  18th - 22nd, 2004

	     http://www.eecg.utoronto.ca/middleware2004/

Important Dates:

  Early Registration Rate Ends:        22 September 2004
  Last Day to Pre-Register:            06 October 2004
  Hotel Cut-Off Date:                  25 September 2004
  Hotel room reservations (Canada/US):    1-800-237-1512

Program Summary:

  For details and exact dates see: http://www.eecg.utoronto.ca/middleware2004/

  Keynotes:

    How Wrong Can You Be? Getting Lost on the Road to Massive Scalability
    Werner Vogels, Director of Systems Research, Amazon.com

    Aspect-Oriented Programming - The promise and the controversy
    Gregor Kiczales, University of British Columbia

  Main conference program

ANN: PythonDoc 2.1 beta 2 (september 5, 2004)

PythonDoc is a documentation tool for Python, inspired by JavaDoc.

Like JavaDoc, PythonDoc scans your Python code for doc comments,
and generates API documentation in XML and HTML formats.  Python-
Doc supports basic JavaDoc tags like  <at> param and  <at> return, and adds
a few Python-specific tags.  You can use PythonDoc comments to
describe module-level variables and constants, functions, classes,
methods, and attributes.  PythonDoc comes with a standard HTML
generator, but you can plug in your own output handlers, or use XSTL
or other tools to process the PythonDoc XML format.

PythonDoc 2.1 beta 2 is a bugfix release, which handles 2.4 decorators
a bit better than earlier releases.  For more information on the 2.1 beta
releases, see:

    http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.python.announce/4582

Downloads:

    http://effbot.org/downloads#pythondoc
    http://effbot.org/downloads#elementtree

enjoy /F
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        Support the Python Software Foundation:
        http://www.python.org/psf/donations.html

ANN: pyCallTips 0.6 released

If some pythoner complain that Vim don't support calltips of python,
now I implement it. Try it and enjoy it.
http://vim.sourceforge.net/scripts/script.php?script_id=1074

Intro:
    This script simualate code calltips in a new bottow window of Vim.
    In fact, it display python help doc strings of word under the
cursor
    by scanning the imported modules in the current file.

0.6 changed: 
     1.enhanced 0.5 
     2.fixed some bugs 
     3.you can execute "CT_unmapkeys" to pause the script and
"CT_mapkeys" to resume .
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ANN: WCK for Tkinter 1.1 alpha 1 (september 5, 2004)

The Widget Construction Kit (WCK) is an extension API that allows
you to implement custom widgets in pure Python.  The WCK can be
(and is being) used for everything from light-weight display widgets
to full-blown editor frameworks.

The Tkinter3000 implementation of the WCK supports all recent
versions of Python and Tk/Tkinter.

The 1.1 alpha release adds the ability to change widget controllers,
and also adds an experimental native graphics driver for Windows.

Introduction:
    http://www.effbot.org/zone/wck-1.htm

Downloads:
    http://www.effbot.org/downloads#tkinter3000

Documentation:
    http://www.effbot.org/zone/wck.htm
    http://www.effbot.org/zone/wck-api.htm

enjoy /F
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