QOTW: "If I feel the need for languages that enforce my design decisions, I know where to find them." - Mike Meyer
"There's ... unavoidable complexity involved in managing a software distribution composed of third party software packages. At the very least, you've got the original sources and the copy in the distribution package, which leads to a synchronization problem." - Jeremy Hylton Python's big enough and serious enough that "put X in the core" has more consequences than a naive observer might first realize. *Not* having things there, or, worse, a flawed standard library, also have their costs: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/e095cc79d1efb99/ Michael P. Soulier observes that, though "Object finalization and cleanup" happens to be written in Javan, it fully applies to Pythonia: http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-06-1998/jw-06-techniques_p.html Mike Meyer, Kent Johnson, and others detail how to get object orientation and Python to team up ("manipulate the class rather than the attributes") to serve successful application development (rather than any of the other reverses): http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/8df795b928a75a5/ There are several ways to "read Excel". Some of them don't even require Windows: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/8c93f90a2ce6c8fc/ Paul McGuire provides a sermon on portability, Python examples, learning trajectories, run-time libraries, and more: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/msg/d762399b1687c05f bonono, Gerald Klix, Nick Craig-Wood, Bengt Richter, Magnus Lycka, and others provide correct code and anlysis for model "tails". Tail is paradigmatic; it exemplifies many common requirements: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/41545f457f06e9be/ ======================================================================== Everything Python-related you want is probably one or two clicks away in these pages: Python.org's Python Language Website is the traditional center of Pythonia http://www.python.org Notice especially the master FAQ http://www.python.org/doc/FAQ.html PythonWare complements the digest you're reading with the marvelous daily python url http://www.pythonware.com/daily Mygale is a news-gathering webcrawler that specializes in (new) World-Wide Web articles related to Python. http://www.awaretek.com/nowak/mygale.html While cosmetically similar, Mygale and the Daily Python-URL are utterly different in their technologies and generally in their results. For far, FAR more Python reading than any one mind should absorb, much of it quite interesting, several pages index much of the universe of Pybloggers. http://lowlife.jp/cgi-bin/moin.cgi/PythonProgrammersWeblog http://www.planetpython.org/ http://mechanicalcat.net/pyblagg.html comp.lang.python.announce announces new Python software. Be sure to scan this newsgroup weekly. http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_ugroup=comp.lang.python.announce Steve Bethard, Tim Lesher, and Tony Meyer continue the marvelous tradition early borne by Andrew Kuchling, Michael Hudson and Brett Cannon of intelligently summarizing action on the python-dev mailing list once every other week. http://www.python.org/dev/summary/ The Python Package Index catalogues packages. http://www.python.org/pypi/ The somewhat older Vaults of Parnassus ambitiously collects references to all sorts of Python resources. http://www.vex.net/~x/parnassus/ Much of Python's real work takes place on Special-Interest Group mailing lists http://www.python.org/sigs/ Python Success Stories--from air-traffic control to on-line match-making--can inspire you or decision-makers to whom you're subject with a vision of what the language makes practical. http://www.pythonology.com/success The Python Software Foundation (PSF) has replaced the Python Consortium as an independent nexus of activity. It has official responsibility for Python's development and maintenance. http://www.python.org/psf/ Among the ways you can support PSF is with a donation. http://www.python.org/psf/donate.html Kurt B. Kaiser publishes a weekly report on faults and patches. http://www.google.com/groups?as_usubject=weekly%20python%20patch Cetus collects Python hyperlinks. http://www.cetus-links.org/oo_python.html Python FAQTS http://python.faqts.com/ The Cookbook is a collaborative effort to capture useful and interesting recipes. http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python Among several Python-oriented RSS/RDF feeds available are http://www.python.org/channews.rdf http://bootleg-rss.g-blog.net/pythonware_com_daily.pcgi http://python.de/backend.php For more, see http://www.syndic8.com/feedlist.php?ShowMatch=python&ShowStatus=all The old Python "To-Do List" now lives principally in a SourceForge reincarnation. http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=355470&group_id=5470&func=browse http://python.sourceforge.net/peps/pep-0042.html The online Python Journal is posted at pythonjournal.cognizor.com. [EMAIL PROTECTED] and [EMAIL PROTECTED] welcome submission of material that helps people's understanding of Python use, and offer Web presentation of your work. del.icio.us presents an intriguing approach to reference commentary. It already aggregates quite a bit of Python intelligence. http://del.icio.us/tag/python *Py: the Journal of the Python Language* http://www.pyzine.com Archive probing tricks of the trade: http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_ugroup=comp.lang.python&num=100 http://groups.google.com/groups?meta=site%3Dgroups%26group%3Dcomp.lang.python.* Previous - (U)se the (R)esource, (L)uke! - messages are listed here: http://www.ddj.com/topic/python/ (requires subscription) http://groups-beta.google.com/groups?q=python-url+group:comp.lang.python*&start=0&scoring=d& http://purl.org/thecliff/python/url.html (dormant) or http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_q=+Python-URL!&as_ugroup=comp.lang.python There is *not* an RSS for "Python-URL!"--at least not yet. Arguments for and against are occasionally entertained. Suggestions/corrections for next week's posting are always welcome. E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> should get through. To receive a new issue of this posting in e-mail each Monday morning (approximately), ask <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> to subscribe. Mention "Python-URL!". -- The Python-URL! Team-- Dr. Dobb's Journal (http://www.ddj.com) is pleased to participate in and sponsor the "Python-URL!" project. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list