New Python Computer Science text book

Grok Headline matches for New Python Computer Science text book

Text Processing in Python

Text Processing in Python 10/28/2003 11:06 PM
I'm seeing ever more Python in the social software space. Its suitability to the task of converting napkin pseudocode to equally-readable running code and focus on there simply being at least one reasonable way to do things (as opposed to the Perlish TMTOWTDI) means its often quicker for a social software programmer-to-be to pick up and prototype an idea without all that $_@%# gobbledegook.

/. reviews David Mertz's Text Processing in Python.

"If you have read an introductory book or two about Python programming, but you are far from being an expert, then you will benefit a lot from reading this book. If you are a competent programmer in any other language, you will benefit from this book. If you are an expert Python programmer, you will also benefit from this book."

A Perl hacker myself, I dabbled in Python with the first incarnation of blosxom, the peerkat "personal syndicated data aggregator living on your desktop" back in 2001. While blosxom's come full-circle, sporting all of the ideas and fun(ctionality) of peerkat, it was also a round-trip, programmatically-speaking. I returned to Perl, the language I've come to know and love over the past 7 years. That isn't to say my anal-retentive > 1/2 isn't still drawn to the clean lines of Python. This book's definitely on my wishlist.

TextLite - Python Text Editor

TextLite - Python Text Editor 04/21/2004 02:18 PM
Project Up.

Dive Into Python the book

Dive Into Python the book 07/24/2004 06:07 PM

Mark Pilgrim's Dive Into Python is now available as a printed book. This is the best tutorial for my favorite programming language. I wrote more about the book when Mark announced it back in September of last year.

Comment - TrackBack

Execute selected text as python or perl

Execute selected text as python or perl 03/14/2005 04:29 PM
In writing python code or perl in an editor, I often want to execute a tiny piece of the code in a standalone fashion as a way of debugging it. To facilitate this, I wrote a little perl script that allows me to execute any t...

Powerful New Computer Cluster Will
Tackle Complex Problems In Physics And
Computer Science

Powerful New Computer Cluster Will
Tackle Complex Problems In Physics And
Computer Science 07/24/2004 07:49 PM
Playing the ancient Chinese game of go is among the tasks that awaits a powerful new cluster of Macintosh G5 computers set up at UCSC to tackle complex problems in physics and computer science. By Tim Stephens, UC Santa Cruz Currents (via MyAppleMenu)

DJ Spooky's new book Rhythm Science

DJ Spooky's new book Rhythm Science 07/01/2004 03:58 PM

DJ Spooky (aka Paul Miller), early supporter of Creative Commons, has recently released his new book, Rhythm Science. The subject matter is very Creative Commons in philosphy as he explores ways to think about rebuilding culture. Here's an excerpt from the site:

"Taking the Dj's mix as template, he describes how the artist, navigating the innumerable ways to arrange the mix of cultural ideas and objects that bombard us, uses technology and art to create something new and expressive and endlessly variable."

He's also in the process of releasing Rebirth of a Nation, a remix of D.W. Griffith's 1915 Birth of a Nation. Since the original film is from 1915, it is now in the public domain. More to come on this soon.

Gallery of retro science book covers

Gallery of retro science book covers 07/26/2004 03:50 PM
This gallery of "How and Why" book covers makes me want to go straight to eBay. Link (via The Cartoonist)

Python Computer Graphics Kit

Python Computer Graphics Kit 01/19/2004 05:03 AM
Release 1.1.0

Google has it's eyes on Searching Book
Text

Google has it's eyes on Searching Book
Text 10/29/2003 11:21 AM
Google is definitely on track for trying to work a deal with publishers to allow there search engine to index...

Amazon Full-Text Book Searching

Amazon Full-Text Book Searching 10/29/2003 12:10 AM
Well, this is rather cool, wouldn't you say? A significant extension of our groundbreaking Look Inside the Book feature, Search Inside the Book allows you to search millions of pages to find exactly the book you want to buy. Now instead of just displaying books whose title, author, or publisher-provided keywords match your search terms, your search results will surface titles based on every word inside the book. Using Search Inside the Book is as simple as running an Amazon.com...

In Amazon's Text-Search, a Field Day for
Book Browsers

In Amazon's Text-Search, a Field Day for
Book Browsers 11/06/2003 05:04 PM
Yahoo! via Yahoo! Nov 6 2003 3:21PM ET

Google Working On Full Text Book Search

Google Working On Full Text Book Search 10/29/2003 12:11 AM
Hey sports fans, it looks like Google is not going stand idle while the Alexa/Amazon Duo beat it with a full book search. Rumors rampant that Google is working up a power play of their own.

10th-century Japanese text "The Pillow
Book" becomes a bl0g

10th-century Japanese text "The Pillow
Book" becomes a bl0g 07/27/2004 12:25 AM
A blogger named Simon Cozens is translating the classic Japanese text The Pillow Book (Makura no Soshi) by Sei Shonagon into English and republishing it as a blog. It's easy to forget the fact that these words were written in the tenth century, because the results in this format read -- well, rather like a blog. Some dates are fictitous, and some liberties have been taken to produce a coherent narrative stream in blog format -- but the content is purported to be a faithful translation of the original. Since I speak neither contemporary nor classical Japanese, I'll have to take this blogger (or someone wiser)'s word for it. And no, I'm sorry -- Ewan McGregor has nothing to do with this one. Link (Thanks, Andrew)

French author brings out book -- written
in mobile text message slang (AFP)

French author brings out book -- written
in mobile text message slang (AFP) 01/28/2004 11:19 AM
AFP - A new book claiming to be the first written entirely in the abbreviated slang used in mobile phone text messages has come out in France with an anti-smoking story aimed at teenagers.

IBM goes after computer science students

IBM goes after computer science students 07/20/2004 01:02 PM
ZDNet Jul 20 2004 5:51PM GMT

30 Years of Computer Science

30 Years of Computer Science 12/10/2003 11:22 PM
Scoop Dec 10 2003 10:35PM ET

Students saying no to computer science

Students saying no to computer science 08/11/2004 07:17 PM
With the tech job market weak, undergrad enrollments in computer science departments keep dropping.

DU offers M.Sc in Computer Science

DU offers M.Sc in Computer Science 06/25/2004 09:57 PM
The Hindu Jun 26 2004 1:54AM GMT

Classical Computer Science Texts

Classical Computer Science Texts 08/04/2004 09:28 AM
collection of computer science texts online .. [Details] .. core bits

eberhard-lutz.bei.t-online.de/classics.html
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Great Computer Science Papers?

Great Computer Science Papers? 11/16/2003 08:08 AM

She wishes to specialise in computer
science

She wishes to specialise in computer
science 05/12/2004 08:09 PM
The Hindu May 12 2004 11:59PM GMT

Math And The Computer Science Major

Math And The Computer Science Major 05/05/2004 09:51 AM

Computer science majors decreasing

Computer science majors decreasing 06/17/2005 04:56 PM

The number of computer science majors in American higher education has decreased over the past five years.

Nationwide, the number of newly declared computer science majors has decreased 39 percent from fall 2000 to fall 2004, from 16,000 to about 10,000 declared majors, according to the Computing Research Association ...

The same Association finds first-year college student interest declining as well.

(via ACM TechNews )

Attracting Women Into Computer Science

Attracting Women Into Computer Science 08/12/2004 09:15 AM

Computer science majors no longer hot

Computer science majors no longer hot 07/21/2004 04:10 AM
Big News Network Jul 21 2004 7:48AM GMT

Fewer Computer Science Majors

Fewer Computer Science Majors 08/10/2004 10:20 AM

Fewer, But Better, Computer Science
Students

Fewer, But Better, Computer Science
Students 11/14/2003 08:38 PM
To hear people complaining these days you'd think that there were no more computer science students taking classes any more, and the three or four who were would never find jobs. It seems that's not true. Enrollment in computer science is definitely down, but people say the quality is much higher, as these are students who actually are interested in the topic, as opposed to those boom-year students who just studied it because they thought it would let them ride the wave to dot com riches. The schools also note that it's more difficult to find jobs, but they are placing the majority of their students in tech jobs.

Discussion about computer science
careers

Discussion about computer science
careers 05/17/2004 11:49 AM

For all you Bay Area readers who are interested in a Computer Science career, here's a lecture you may be interested in: It's Never Too Late: Careers in Computer Science.

The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology and Google are pleased to co-sponsor an all-star female panel on education options for entering and re-entering Computer Science and IT on Wednesday, June 2 at 6:00pm at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, CA. Attendance is free but space is limited and you must pre-register.

Look like it should be interesting.

JU computer science students confine
teachers

JU computer science students confine
teachers 09/26/2004 06:52 PM
Bangladesh Daily Star Sep 26 2004 8:54PM GMT

Open-Source Grader in Computer Science

Open-Source Grader in Computer Science 04/18/2004 01:38 PM
New Release: Job Scheduler Example

I am a 1st year student of Computer
science (Diploma). we ar

I am a 1st year student of Computer
science (Diploma). we ar 08/09/2004 04:20 AM
TechTree Aug 9 2004 8:59AM GMT

Computer science school breaks with
tradition

Computer science school breaks with
tradition 08/05/2004 09:38 PM

Hawaii Internationa Conference on
Computer Science

Hawaii Internationa Conference on
Computer Science 10/30/2003 11:47 PM
NetLib Oct 26 2003 1:15AM ET

" Advice for Computer Science College
Students "

" Advice for Computer Science College
Students " 01/04/2005 05:59 PM

Advice for Computer Science College
Students

Advice for Computer Science College
Students 01/04/2005 04:24 AM

joelonsoftware.com/articles/CollegeAdvice.html
track this site | 4 links

Research Institute for Advanced Computer
Science

Research Institute for Advanced Computer
Science 12/07/2003 06:28 PM
Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science - RIACS
http://horus.riacs.edu/

(RIACS) Free access to full-text technical reports in PDF format, covering topics such as automated reasoning for autonomous systems, high performance computing and networking, human-centered computing.

First Java AP Computer Science Exam
Complete

First Java AP Computer Science Exam
Complete 05/05/2004 06:29 PM

Brutal article on declining computer
science enrollments

Brutal article on declining computer
science enrollments 03/08/2004 11:03 PM
Today's New York Times carries an article entitled "Micro soft, Amid Dwindling Interest, Talks Up Computing as a Career" about Bill Gates going around to universities encouraging young people to major in computer science.  The chairman of EECS at MIT worries about the decline in enrollment (10 years ago his predecessor fretted about the explosion in enrollment; sic transit gloria major).  All too close to home...

Survey Reveals Top 10 Online Computer
Science Degrees

Survey Reveals Top 10 Online Computer
Science Degrees 07/21/2004 02:45 AM
GetEducated.com has released their annual survey of the most popular online graduate degrees in the computer science field. [PRWEB Jul 21, 2004]
Grok Description matches for New Python Computer Science text book
GrokA matches for New Python Computer Science text book

Web Programming in Python

Web Programming in Python 09/05/2002 01:17 AM
Unix Review reviews the book:Web Programming in Python: Techniques for Integrating Linux, Apache, and MySQL."On the whole, though, WPIP pleasantly surprised me as a Python tutorial. The authors repeatedly show a knack for communicating the essentials of Python functionality in an understandable and succinct manner."

Socket Programming in Python

Socket Programming in Python 02/19/2004 04:28 AM
In this article I shall discuss socket programming in Python. I have explained the concepts using a sample Python client and a server.

Advanced Python network programming

Advanced Python network programming 02/17/2004 10:41 PM

Understanding Network I/O, Part 2 by George Belotsky (via The Farm) is the best tutorial on the subject of network programming I've seen yet. It provides a detailed explanation of simple threaded network clients, thread pools using the Queue module and asynchronous I/O using both Twisted and Python's asyncore library - then discusses the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.

I've also just noticed that O'Reilly provide RSS 1.0 and Atom feeds for each of their authors. Neat.

Python to drop functional programming
support

Python to drop functional programming
support 06/24/2005 05:11 PM
I was sad to read the news item on slashdot about Python's future, a language that I find satisfying many needs. Very well, Guido rants about dropping reduce() and friends in python. Reading his reasoning, all I can say is that he might be getting behind the times.

Python and XML: XML Namespaces Support
in Python Tools, Part Three

Python and XML: XML Namespaces Support
in Python Tools, Part Three 06/30/2004 07:31 PM
In this month's Python and XML column Uche Ogbuji examines the namespace support in ElementTree, PyRXPU, and libxml.

Python and XML: XML Namespaces Support
in Python Tools, Part Two

Python and XML: XML Namespaces Support
in Python Tools, Part Two 05/13/2004 07:55 PM
In his latest Python and XML column, Uche Ogbuji continues his tour of XML namespaces support in Python tools, focusing this time on 4Suite.

Introduction to Python.

Introduction to Python. 04/12/2005 11:12 AM
Ok, first part is going to be fairly boring, but put up with it. Im just going to go through...

Backporting from Python 2.3 to Python
2.2

Backporting from Python 2.3 to Python
2.2 06/08/2004 11:18 PM

We have a home-grown templating system at work, which I intend to dedicate an entry to some time in the future. We originally wrote it in Python 2.2, but upgraded to Python 2.3 a while ago and have since been evolving our code in that environment. Today I found a need to load the most recent version of our templating system on to a small, long neglected application that had been running the original version ever since it had enough features to be usable.

Unfortunately, this application was running on a server that only had Python 2.2. Installing Python 2.3 would have been somewhat more painful here than on other servers we run for reasons I won't go in to, so I decided to have a go at getting our current code to run under the older Python version.

In the end, I only had to make three minor changes, all at the top of the file in question.

1. I added from __future__ import generators as the very first line of the file. We use generators (with the yield statement) in a few places - this feature was only properly added in Python 2.3, but was made available in Python 2.2 as a "future enhancement" through the aforementioned obscure import.

2. I added True, False = 1, 0 on the next line down. Surprisingly, Python 2.2 had no support for a boolean type and instead used a test for non-zero instead. The above line defines constants that behave enough like Python 2.3's True and False to avoid any problems.

3. I defined an enumerate function, which was introduced for real in Python 2.3. Here's the code I used:

   
   def enumerate(obj):
       for i, item in zip(range(len(obj)), obj):
           yield i, item 
   

All in all it only took around ten minutes to put the above together, after which the script worked just fine. It was interesting to see how our code had grown to rely on Python 2.3 features without us realising it.

Why no 'use strict' in Python? Answer:
PyChecker.

Why no 'use strict' in Python? Answer:
PyChecker. 03/08/2004 11:27 PM
The unanimous response to my question "Why no 'use strict' in Python?" was: PyChecker. Thanks to everyone who pointed me to this excellent tool. ...

Python-SIP 3.9

Python-SIP 3.9 12/08/2003 04:42 PM
A tool to generate Python bindings from C++ code.

MPY (MPi for pYthon)

MPY (MPi for pYthon) 06/26/2004 05:20 PM
MPY Version 0.1 Released

PHP Everywhere: Python vs. PHP?

PHP Everywhere: Python vs. PHP? 03/30/2005 09:12 AM
From PHP Everywhere today:

Python-SIP 4.0.1

Python-SIP 4.0.1 07/06/2004 06:45 AM
A tool to generate Python bindings from C++ code.

Python-SIP 4.1.1

Python-SIP 4.1.1 09/24/2004 03:30 PM
A tool to generate Python bindings from C++ code.

Python 2.3.3

Python 2.3.3 12/30/2003 05:13 PM
A high-level scripting language.

Python 2.3

Python 2.3 10/28/2003 11:06 PM
Python 2.3 was released yesterday... and not a moment too soon. I was just swearing under my breath about this sort of nonsense:

>>> cosmos = technorati.cosmos('http://diveintomark.org/')
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
  File "technorati.py", line 214, in cosmos
    xmldoc = minidom.parseString(rawdata)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.2/site-packages/_xmlplus/dom/minidom.py", 
    line 1605, in parseString
    return expatbuilder.parseString(string)
, in parseString
    return builder.parseString(string)
  File
"/usr/lib/python2.2/site-packages/_xmlplus/dom/expatbuilder.py", 
    line 187, in parseString
    parser = self.getParser()
  File
"/usr/lib/python2.2/site-packages/_xmlplus/dom/expatbuilder.py", 
    line 119, in getParser
    self._parser = self.createParser()
  File
"/usr/lib/python2.2/site-packages/_xmlplus/dom/expatbuilder.py", 
    line 734, in createParser
    parser.namespace_prefixes = True
AttributeError: namespace_prefixes

OS X users, don't be discouraged by the mention of there being no MacPython version yet or daunted by the task of compiling it from source -- MacP ython 2.3 lives and is just a few glorious GUI installer clicks away.

XML with Xen and with Python

XML with Xen and with Python 12/19/2004 03:53 PM
Here is a comment on the paper "Programming with Circles, Triangles and Rectangles" by Erik Meijer et al. Perhaps interesting for XML programmers.

Another look at PHP and Python

Another look at PHP and Python 02/10/2004 02:46 AM
Postscript: Some people have got the impression from this article that I am moving away from PHP. That is far from the truth. I will continue to use PHP extensively today, tomorrow and for the forseeable future.

I find Python harder than PHP.

It could be because we are programming multi-threaded networked servers in Python, and that could be inherently harder than coding dynamic web-sites. Another reason could be lack of familiarity with Python. For example, I couldn't find the equivalent of htmlspecialchars and other functions, so i had to roll my own.

Despite all these issues, we are continuing to develop this in Python because (AFAIK) PHP does not have stable networking frameworks.

So what do I like about Python?

- Neat Syntax

The use of indentation for compound statements discourages deep nesting, and thus more modular code.

- More Safety Checks

In PHP, when you search using a regular expression, an associative array is returned. In Python, a typed object, "match" is returned when a regular expression search is performed, and not a generic dictionary. You cannot perform arithmetic on strings, an explicit cast is required; neither can you concatenate numbers with strings, explicit typecasts are needed.

- Supports Multi-Threaded Apps

There exists a global lock in Python that prevents multi-threading from working effectively on multiple processors - nevertheless Python has reasonable thread support and allows me to develop reasonably responsive servers.

- Python's Compiler is Standard

Python has a standard compiler and byte-code format. There is no such standard in the PHP world, and most ISP's don't support Zend or Turck MMCache encoded PHP. Better still, a debugger is included in the package too.

- Python Fully Supports Unicode

Python 2.0 and later has full support for unicode. For example to convert big5 to unicode is the simple:

    unicode_str = unicode(tw_chinese_string, 'big5')

In contrast, see how complicated it is to perform double-byte to unicode conversions in PHP (see User Notes).

The only issue i had with the unicode support is that it doesn't come with a complete set of double-byte decoders (eg. big5, gb). After a 20 minute google search, i found this set of python cjk decoders.

And what I dislike about Python

- Python Is Not Rapid Enough?

I think that PHP is a better tool for rapid application development, especially for web-sites. Minor type issues are handled for you transparently in PHP. In Python, once a variable is set, stricter type-checking is performed on most operations.

So you can argue that Python is safer. But PHP coding is definitely more rapid.

Another thing i dislike is that Python's import/load facility does not check .py file modification dates. If i modify a .py file, Python's run-time environment will not recompile it until i restart Python, or perform a reload manually from the command-line interpreter.

- Database Access

Python does not have official database drivers, and you have to select and download these drivers yourself. It's easy to get it wrong. For example, only after coding the adodb_odbc module using PythonWin odbc extension did i realize how awful PythonWin odbc was. I then found the mxODBC extension - unfortunately the mxODBC requires commercial licensing ($75 per CPU).

- Python is Not That Popular

Popularity is relative. There are lots of Python programmers - but there are perhaps 3 times more PHP programmers than Python ones. In Malaysia, the ratio of PHP to Python programmers is probably much worse (10:1?). And there are many training centers offering PHP courses. AFAIK, there are no centers in Malaysia offering Python training. A quick search in monster.com reveals the following (numbers might change over time):

PHP: 131 jobs
http://jobsearch.monster.com/jobsearch.asp?q=php&re=0&sort=rv&tm=&fn=6 60&vw=b&cy=US&brd=1%2C1862%2C1863

Python: 41 jobs
http://jobsearch.monster.com/jobsearch.asp?q=python&re=0&sort=rv&t m=&fn=660&vw=b&cy=US&brd=1%2C1862%2C1863

Python-SIP 4.0

Python-SIP 4.0 06/23/2004 12:48 PM
A tool to generate Python bindings from C++ code.

What Python Can Do for the Enterprise

What Python Can Do for the Enterprise 03/20/2003 01:05 PM
With all the attention focused on Java and C#, companies may be missing out on a programming language that might be better suited to their needs. It is called Python, and it is known for its simplicity -- no small feat for a programming language. But can it crack the enterprise market?

Python pie-ing at OSCON

Python pie-ing at OSCON 08/07/2004 05:30 AM
It turns out that the Pythoneers didn't actually wuss out on pie-ing the Perlies at OSCON -- here's the photo-evidence. Lin k

MySQL for Python

MySQL for Python 05/18/2004 01:27 AM
MySQL-python development roadmap revised

Nokia Python

Nokia Python 12/24/2004 12:47 PM

Feet Up!

More Nokia Python

It looks like people haven’t been slow to get using Nokia’s Python project, and Matt Croydon has been collating projects and news on his Pyth on for Series 60 wiki page.

Seeing as there’s no central clearing house(other than Forum Nokia) for Nokia Python projects right now, I reckon this is as good a focal point as any.

The official public release of Python on Series 60 just came out on the 22nd of December. You can get it on Forum Nokia site. Comment - TrackBack

SAX processing in Python

SAX processing in Python 05/26/2004 04:20 AM
An application developer can choose any one of a number of strategies to read and use an XML document. In some very simple examples a script containing a number of regular expressions might do the job, but normally a more rigorous technique is required. The Simple API for XML (SAX) is one of the two key techniques for analysing and processing XML documents (the other is the more complicated Document Object Model (DOM)).

Python-Bytecode-2.7

Python-Bytecode-2.7 07/18/2004 05:43 AM

Python-LDAP 2.0.0

Python-LDAP 2.0.0 05/18/2004 04:41 PM
LDAP modules for Python development/deployment.

"Python for Series 60"

"Python for Series 60" 12/26/2004 11:13 PM

Python-Bytecode-2.6

Python-Bytecode-2.6 07/16/2004 06:53 AM

New Python Computer Science text book

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