Matt Croydon::Postneo

Day: January 30, 2003

  • Class

    Long live in-classroom weblogging!

  • Python in PHP

    Keith points out Python in PHP:

    To that end, I’ve written a Python extension for PHP. In short, this extensions allows the Python interpretter to be embedded inside of PHP (think of PHP as the parent language with Python as its child). This allows native Python objects to be instantiated and manipulated from within PHP. There is also initial support for accessing PHP functions and data from within the embedded Python environment.

    I’ll take two.

  • Washington Technology has a story about Linux in Space:

    On board the shuttle, which circles the planet at approximately 150 miles in the atmosphere, an embedded PC module holds a 233-megahertz processor with 128 megabytes of random access memory and a solid-state 144-megabyte hard drive disk. The computer runs a commercial Linux operating system, Red Hat version 6.1, according to Frank Hallahan, a Computer Science Corp. employee, who is a member of the OMNI team.

    [via NewsForge]

  • Matt: Climbing the Charts on Google

    From the navel-gazing dept:

    I’ve jumped from the 40-somethingth Matt on Google to the twenty-somethingth Matt (23rd!) on Google.

    I’m suprised that nobody else has mentioned the most recent google shift.  I swear I don’t look myself up every day.  Really!

  • NetBSD 1.6.1 Release Process Has Begun

    From NetBSD.org:

    The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce that NetBSD 1.6.1 has been branched and the release engineering process has begun. NetBSD 1.6.1 is a maintenance (or patch) release for users of NetBSD 1.6, not to be confused with NetBSD-current (which will become the next major release). As a patch release, it is not branched off the head of the CVS source tree, but instead includes all security fixes and patches applied to the 1.6 branch.

    Looks like we’re looking at a RC followed by a release in the near future.

  • How Many Langues Will Fit in my Head?

    I’m going to one of my classes for the first time tonight.  It looks like I’ll be working almost exclusively in .NET and C#.  For kicks, I thought I’d wear my Linux Rocks tshirt to class.  We’ll see if people have a sense of humor or not.

    Now all I have to do is find a Microsoft shirt to wear to my Saturday morning class in which I’ll be working almost exclusively in Java.

    Java in the morning, C++ in the afternoon, C# in the evening.  If you count my recent Python on the side (and in the middle of the night), you could explain my current headache.  I’ll blame it on a lack of caffeine, though.

  • Smalltalk (and Python?) in Education

    James Robertson:

    I’m building client tools for posting to the blog, and for editing existing items already posted. On top of that, I will be teaching a Smalltalk class – I use Squeak with 8-10 year olds. They have a blast, and there’s no way I could get anywhere using something like Java with this age group.

    I remember the good old days (possibly different than your good old days) when Pascal was the only thing available (besides Logo) to teach basic programming principles.  Nowadays I’d make the argument that Python might be well suited to take over this role.  For an example, check out the Python in Education SIG at python.org.

    I don’t have any experience in Smalltalk to comment on how well it might be used in education.  However, if you can make it stick with a group of 8-10 year olds, you’ve got to be doing something right.

  • dotnetweblogs.com/sgentile

    Sam Gentile has migrated from Radio to an ASP.NET weblog.  His RSS feed has also changed.  I’ve updated my links and feeds appropriately.  My old pointers to his weblog will still point to his old blog, and will eventually rot.

  • Using Informative Blog Entry Titles +1

    Jeremy Zawodny:

    If you’re using a cute title rather than one which summarizes your post, I’m unlikely to click and read it. You probably don’t care, but I wanted to mention it.

  • CLIX.EXE

    Tomas Restrepo has been diving into the rotor source, starting with CLIX.EXE.  I can’t wait to hear more.

  • Groove 2.5

    I upgraded to Groove 2.5 this morning.  Thanks go out to Paresh Suthar for mentioning it.

  • Ximian Desktop 2.0

    NewsForge notes that Linux and Main‘s Dennis Powell actually fit inside that tiny little hut (along with other people!) at the Ximian booth at LinuxWorld.  He also managed to sneak a peek at Ximian Desktop 2.0.

  • Dumpster

    Here’s another reason why I love Kuro5hin:

    Dumpster diving, rather than the physical diving implied by its name, is actually more along the lines of fishing – it is as relaxed or competitive as desired, follows many seasonal trends and localizations, is an excellent social activity, and may just leave you with something interesting or tasty. Dumpster diving consists largely of rummaging about through others’ trash. It at once allows you to challenge and take advantage of the fact that people as a whole are very, very wasteful. And while poking through your neighbor’s trash this very moment would be a perfectly acceptable, if perhaps somewhat awkward, dive, there is a fair amount to know in order to keep the diving experience safe, enjoyable, and fruitful. For many, the thought of going anywhere near a smelly dumpster, let alone touching, wearing, or eating something from inside of it, is revolting. If you find yourself with interests duly piqued and revulsion to a minimum, then read on for a guide to the excellent world of dumpster diving.

    And a quick note to Chris Heilman: I believe that it’s pronounced Kuroshin, as if the ‘5’ were a l33t ‘s’.  Beware, though, I have heard it referred to as Kuro-five-in.  Congrats on 365 of 101-365!

  • ReiserFS

    Linux Orbit goes over ReiserFS basics. [via Linux Today]

  • Interview with Alan Cox

    ZDNet OZ has a quick interview with Alan Cox. [via NewsForge]

  • How to be a Programmer

    Earlier today, Slashdot pointed to How to be a Programmer: A Short, Comprehensive and Personal Summary.  It’s well written and makes a lot of sense.

  • AOL–

    This CNet headline just about sums it up:

    AOL loses Ted Turner and $99 billion.

    File that under ‘O’ for ‘Oops!’

  • tblib in Action

    Here’s a shot from the trackback section of a MovableType weblog I have running behind the firewall:

    tblib

    For the record, implementing these functions in Python was trivial.  The source for tblib is pretty darn short even with a bunch of comments.  I could compress it a bit, but I’d like to keep it as readable to the newbie as possible.  Perhaps grokking the source to tblib would be the next logical step for a newbie after reading my ftplib example.  After they read Dive Into Python, of course.

  • tblib 0.1.0 Released!

    I managed to pick up tblib this evening and start working on it again.  I implemented some basic error checking and autodiscovery.  (Yay!)  The previous version of tblib would just consume the XML that resulted from a trackback ping.  Now it parses the xml with a really simple regular expression (thanks Steve!).  If it was a successful ping, self.tbErrorCode will be 0 (which is a good thing) and self.tbErrorMessage will be None.  If something went wrong, self.tbErrorCode will be 1 and self.tbErrorMessage will hopefully help you a bit.

    Here’s an example for you:

    >>> import tblib
    >>> tb = tblib.TrackBack()
    >>> tb.autodiscover('http://Queue/weblog/matt/archives/2003_01.html#000007')
    >>> print tb.tbUrl
    http://Queue/weblog/mt-tb.cgi/7
    >>> tb.blog_name = 'My Weblog'
    >>> tb.title = 'This Post Will Ping That Weblog Entry'
    >>> tb.url = 'http://postneo.com'
    >>> tb.excerpt = 'I released tblib 0.1.0 today.  It supports autodiscovery...'
    >>> tb.ping()
    >>> print tb.tbErrorCode
    0

    Here’s the source: tblib-0.1.0.py.txt.  To use it, save it (as tblib.py) to a directory, create a script in that directory, and put import tblib at the top.  It doesn’t use anything bleeding edge, but I’m pretty sure you’ll need Python 2.x.  See my original tblib weblog post for additional info.  It is currently licensed under the GPL, though if that is stopping you from including it in your project, email me and I can dual-license it or something.  Also use that email link to send me any questions or comments.

    Eventually, I’ll code a setup script for tblib, and I still owe you a command line trackback client using tblib.