If you are helping the Python developers by testing the 2.6 or 3.0 releases, you will want to download the latest alphas: Python 2.6a3 and Python 3.0a5. The usual caveats apply: Don't use these in production, just testing. If you want to see what's new in each release, check out the bugs file: 2.6a3 and 3.0a5.
This weekend sees PyConFr, the main Python conference for France, to be held at the Cyberbase of the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie in Paris . If you know a Francophone who can make it but has not registered, it is not too late. If your friend cannot make it, the conference will be simulcasted in realtime. Be sure to check the schedule and watch the time difference. For those who are unsure, Paris is one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.
En français:
Ce week-end, 17-18 mai, il y aura PyConFr dans la Cyber-base de la Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie (Paris). Si vous serez là, trouvez la conférence selon cette info. Si vous préférez à regarder en ligne, regardez le flux. Naturellement, il faut parler français pour comprendre l'évènement. Plus d'info est sur le site PyConFr.
Knowing how to use file descriptors, one can use the os
functions to do some substantial system-level tasks. For a brief
overview of many of the other file-handling functions in
os, see "More File Handling Calls", the last step in
using os to handle files in Python. They all tend to
take a file descriptor as an argument, so ensure that you are familiar
with the rest of the series before you try your hand at one of these.
PyOhio, a Python mini-conference is coming up on 26 July. If you find yourself in the Buckeye State, stop by the centrally-located Columbus Metropolitan Library to catch up with other Pythonistas. If you would like to give a talk, see the Call for Papers.
Some protocols communicate data in forms that are less than
human-friendly. Unlike XML, some communication protocols as well as
older data formats can be downright obtuse. It is not unheard of for some to require the
appending of a certain number of signature characters to a particular
point of a data packet, usually the beginning or the end. While jobs
involving these formats typically include building a parser, if one is
not already built, the efficiency with which the packet is parsed
inevitably reflects on you. Rather than read the file in
toto, it may be worth considering a partial read. To affect this
efficiently, use Python's os functions lseek()
and read(). To learn how, see "lseek() and ye can
read()", the latest segment in the series on the os module.
Linux Journal Readers' Favourite Scripting Language of the Year: Python
Linux Journal readers have recently had their say in the magazine's poll on preferred Linux-based applications and technologies. Their favourite interpreted language? Python! You can read the whole article at the LJ site.
Python's os module is responsible for most any system-level call you make from your programs. Without it, Python's portability would be very much hampered. The first step in a new guide on handling file paths in Python looks at how to open a file and read it into memory.
SciPy is coming again to CalTech in Pasadena, California on August 19-24, 2008. This is one of the best conferences for applying Python in scientific arenas. You can learn more about it at SciPy.org. No registration just yet, but keep the dates free if you want to go.
As noted recently, it is a very exciting time to be a Python developer. The demand for superior software developers is outstripping the supply significantly. Some companies that are currently hiring:
If you lack the core Python skills for any of these posts, you can pick up what you lack here. If you lack in soft skills, you may want to check out About.com's Tech Careers or Job Search sites.
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