Dan Shafer: Python Scripting

Thu, 31 Oct 2002 20:34:15 GMT

Light-hearted, informative article on user input in Python. Thanks to Mark Pilgrim for a pointer to this delightful piece on Python scripting by Paul Evans.

Tue, 22 Oct 2002 21:00:47 GMT

Same Old Battle, Revisited: Does Open Source Kill Markets?

Yesterday, industry guru Mitch Kapor and his team announced an Open Source initiative to create world-class desktop applications. Their first product, code-named Chandler after the famed detective, is a Personal Information Manager, or PIM. This is an area in which I have a strong personal interest. The news was only a few hours old before Don Park raised the question of whether such an effort would have negative economic consequences for the software business. Soon after that post, my buddy Chuck Shotton chimed in with a vote dissenting from Park's concern. Last week while I was at the Online Community Summit in California's Wine Country, I heard the usual "Nobody makes money off Open Source software" whine. The fact is, that isn't necessarily true. There are viable economic models for making money from Open Source. But even if it were true, the presence of a low-end product without BigCo documentation and support will never threaten a viable commercial product. So I'm with Chuck on this one in large part because it's the side of this debate I've always found myself on. Open Source and/or free software is A Good Thing. It's not a pancea. I choose to use some commercial products where there are decent Open Source equivalents, sometimes because of a key feature I need, sometimes becaue of interoperability concerns with clients and publishers. And there are some Open Source packages I might use if there were any support (even support I had to pay for) available outside the user community. (User support can of course be great but it can also be spotty, inconsistent, and wrong.)

Mon, 21 Oct 2002 07:57:09 GMT

Dan Gillmor on Mitch Kapor's 'Crazy' Software Plan

I've written Mitch Kapor (whom I've never met) an email asking if I can help with the Chandler project. Here's Dan Gillmor's usual on-target assessment of what Kapor and his team are up to. They're using all my favorite technologies, including Zope for the ODB side of things. This is going to be fun even if it isn't hot.

python 222 release

Tue, 15 Oct 2002 18:49:07 GMT

Latest Python Released

"quote" Python 2.2.2 is out. Python 2.2.2 is out. Download mirrors. What's new. (35 words) [dive into mark] "endquote"

Mon, 14 Oct 2002 18:47:50 GMT

Yippee! Pure Python Cocoa Apps Now Possible

This is great news for those like me who worship at the altar of simplification. The (simple to use) Macintosh and the (simple to program) Python can now marry one another in the presence of the flavorful (but not always so simple) world of Cocoa! I'm going to start learning this stuff right now. I've become a Python addict and although I'm more enamored of working in "PythonCard" than in pure Python, this development promises the potential to do some interesting GUI stuff while waiting for the wxPython Macintosh port to become finally usable. Fun, fun, fun! "quote" Some Cocoa-Python Love [MacSlash: A daily dose of Macintosh News and Discussion] "endquote"

Thu, 10 Oct 2002 09:17:04 GMT

If you're into coding or understand it in the least, you'll love this

And now for something completely different. Shelley Powers: The Parable of Languages. Well worth a read. [Sam Ruby]

Python cookbook

Wed, 09 Oct 2002 17:57:41 GMT

Python Cookbook review is fair

The Python Cookbook. Nice2Cats writes "Python is something of a programmer's dream and an author's ... [Slashdot] I've worked through some of this book and looked over its entirety. I agree with Nice2Cats (though I am canine-preferred myself) that this is a useful book if you've learned enough Python to do more than toy stuff. I found the Text chapter particularly fascinating and helpful and I'm about to tackle the one on OOP where Python's implementation is just different enough from my accustomed OO language, Smalltalk, that I need to twist my head about a bit and slam it into a well to get its attention focused.

python-ruby

Wed, 09 Oct 2002 04:03:00 GMT

Put me down for a nice, big, juicy Python!

Jon Udell cites favorably a comment made by Sam Ruby about programming languages. I am in complete agreement, have been for some time. I do not, however, think Ruby has a real shot here. I've looked very closely at it and Python side by side and it seems to me that from the standpoint of syntax, GUI building tools in place, programmer adoption, and all-around quality of the language itself, Python has a pretty big edge. I spent the better part of three days with Ruby and concluded it was just a little too...primitive? clunky?...for my personal tastes. That said, Ruby is light years ahead of Java and C#, and I think these modern languages are the basis for where we go next. (Actually, I'm thinking that a full-blown environment such as Runtime Revolution with a Python-like scripting language to replace the xTalks that are just a tad too chaotic for most serious applications, is where we're really headed. PythonCard, an Open Source project with which I have been associated as a documentor and example builder (among other things) in the past year or so is, I think, the best hope for such a tool.

Jon Udell Sees a Resurgence in Desktop Apps

Fri, 04 Oct 2002 23:50:24 GMT

Jon Udell Sees a Resurgence in Desktop Apps

Jon Udell takes a look at a cool desktop app for net news gathering and sees in it "we are about to enter a golden age of desktop software." He gets more points (not that he gives a crap about whether I give him points or how many, but, hey, you make do with what you've got, right?) for also mentioning wxPython, which is at the heart of my favorite cross-platform serious development tool, PythonCard. I think Jon's right. (And I'm sure he's relieved to hear that!) Web services and P2P networking are going to revive desktop applications. The "killer app" that makes this explode is probably already being worked on. Maybe even by me. Who knows?

Tue, 30 Apr 2002 05:56:18 GMT

Check Out This PythonCard OS X Screen Capture!

See the screenshot!

Thu, 25 Apr 2002 08:08:08 GMT

PythonCard on Mac OS X: A Fresh Mind Breeze

Macintosh programmers, who seem by and large the only ones who actually care about writing cross-platform software, are soon to have a wonderful new tool at their disposal. In my latest article, I describe PythonCard, why I think it's elegant, why I like it so much, and why I think its availability on Mac OS X is such a great boon! (NOTE that I posted a slightly edited version of the article on the morning of April 25 in response to some corrections pointed out by Kevin Altis.) Discuss this subject

Thu, 25 Apr 2002 02:25:33 GMT

PythonCard on OS X Moves Closer to Reality

Well, my favorite new app development environment, PythonCard, is about to meet up with my favorite new operating system, Mac OS X. I have been waiting for this time for quite a few months and at times I despaired that the Open Source model on which PythonCard and its underpinnings are built would be up to the task of tackling the migration. Not that I had any doubts about the technical expertise or dedication of the crew doing the port, but given the relative lack of penetration of OS X, it wouldn't have surprised me if it had been had to marshal enough resources to get the job done. Well, it's not done yet but boy is it ever getting close! I was able yesterday to download and install the infrastructure pieces on which PythonCard is constructed, install them, and then install PythonCard itself. The first time a minimalist PythonCard "stack" came up and ran on OS X, I have to say that I was as excited as I've been by an insensate object in quite some time! Mac developers looking for cross-platform development and deployment strategies in Open Source are about to get their hands on what I have come to believe is one of the most powerful potential dev tools avaiilable. And while PythonCard is still a prototype in many respects, it's a very solid one. Doing real work on it doesn't break stuff. There's functionality planned that isn't there yet, but that's the state of the product. The good news: you can jump in and influence this development process now that it's available on OS X. See for details of where to get the files and basically how to load them up. I'm working on a detailed instruction set and screen shots which I hope to upload to the PythonCard site tonight or tomorrow. Hang on! It's going to get very interesting right soon now! You can talk about PythonCard on the product's Wiki site.

Fri, 12 Apr 2002 22:08:31 GMT

Faisal Jawdat Thinks I'm Right...NOT!

In an email response to Dave Winer's comments on my post about PythonCard vs. Revelation, Faisal Jawdat showed his delightful sense of humor. After saying he agreed with my observation, he added, "Now all that has to happen is for an Open Source development tool which is actually good to get created :)." Ouch. Good one, Faisal.

Fri, 12 Apr 2002 22:05:47 GMT

Was I Thoughtless?

Maybe. In my earlier message about PythonCard vs. Revolution, I commented about the development tools world and suggested that if you aren't Microsoft and you're not one of the Java Jammers, then you probably don't have a shot in the dev tools market against good open source projects. That comment came to the attention of Dave Winer over at scripting.com. He suggested that perhaps I was just being thoughtless in that comment. He also said that "I think we're learning is that it's better if open source and commercial developers work together, Dan." Hmmmm. Off-hand, the only successful project I can think of that has involved the teaming up of open source and commercial developers in this arena is SOAP, a protocol Dave started and Microsoft adopted, helped extend, and then (in at least some peoples' views) managed to break by overloading it with unnecessary garbage syntax and requirements. But SOAP is still eminently usable, so it's not broken, and does provide a good example of cooperation between commercial and open source developers. Are there others? BTW, Dave also said that I had pronounced Revolution as "a goner." I sort of implied as much, but I'm still testing it. The jury remains out. There is stuff in it that isn't lying around on the ground obvious. And if it has anything going for it that's missing in what PythonCard ultimately wants to be, I don't yet see it. What it does have that PythonCard doesn't (yet) have is decent documentation and full cross-platform support. I didn't intend to trash Revolution and, by comparison, build up PythonCard. I really only had a single observation: doing something I thought should be easy in both places turned out not to be in one of them (the commercial product) and a piece of cake in the open source environment. I don't know how far that truth will extend. But it is a truth. Discuss this.

Mon, 08 Apr 2002 08:14:53 GMT

PythonCard Already Better Developed than Revolution

OK, the headline is a little misleading. But for the class of applications I want to build, Revolution, a commercial product, is not nearly so far along as the early pre-release alpha prototype of PythonCard I get to use and help develop every day. I tried to build a simple Revolution stack (it's a HyperCard descendant, so it uses the stack concept) that would just open a Web page and render its text. First effort led to the page's HTML being displayed. Then I found the htmlText property and it displayed some of the HTML fine. But most of it was broken and the links on the page didn't work. Very klunky. In PythonCard, I just put an htmlWindow into an application window, linked up a button and a text field for the URL, and told it to go do its thing. Voila! I think this is another indicator: if you're not Microsoft or maybe IBM/Sun with Java, development tool makers don't stand a chance against good Open Source projects.

Tue, 02 Apr 2002 01:13:08 GMT

I got taken in by a wonderful April Fool's joke today. Simon Michel, the guy behind my favorite discussion board technology, the Zwiki, announced he had decided after much analysis that Zope and Python weren't up to the task of managing such a complex project, so he was switching to Ruby! I nearly gagged. I went to the site and entered my urgent plea not to let this happen without at least handing the project to someone else. Should have looked at the calendar! I love jokes that are this good.

Fri, 15 Feb 2002 18:43:20 GMT

Groovin' on a Zwiki

I've known at least vaguely about Wiki Web stuff for quite some time. Ward Cunningham, one of the guiding lights behind Wikis and the author of the book, "The Wiki Way," has been a Smalltalk colleague for years.

But not until I got my hands on a Zwiki and began digging into it did I grok how really cool and important this stuff is. Combining a Wiki approach to Web creation and maintenance with the immense power of the Zope content management framework is so potent.

I know that on some level at least this kind of power is available through Manila and EditThisPage stuff but I think the user interface and the ease of access to the Zope "stuff" combined with my comfort level with Zope and Python have converged to make me really groove on Zwiki. I am now making my personal site Zwiki-aware. Then I'm going to experiment with moving some or all of my site over toa Zwiki model.

Stay tuned.

Tue, 29 Jan 2002 05:02:30 GMT

A new release of PythonCard is out and it includes a short tutorial I wrote using my now-famous and badly-overworked "Counter" example. I've done this thing now in about 17 skillion languages, I think. This is going to be a truly awesome product when it's done. We need some more people to join us to write docs, create examples, beat up the product, tell us what's missing, take on part of the development (all written in Python using wxWindows as the GUI toolkit under the covers). Click on the "PythonCard Home Page" link on the right to get to the SourceForge site where you can read the docs, download the product (runs on Windows and *nix at the moment until wxWindows completes its Macintosh port), and volunteer to get involved. Kevin added this line from textRouter using a remote machine.

Fri, 11 Jan 2002 04:39:32 GMT

PythonCard

An old colleague of mine, Kevin Altis, has been driving an Open Source development effort called PythonCard in an effort to recreate some of the great functionality and ease of use that HyperCard represented when it debuted. Recently, I've become involved in the project, albeit somewhat peripherally for the moment. I've built a simple "stack" and am in the process of creating a tutorial that will hopefully help make the product more approachable to newcomers. If you're interested in the project, you can visit its SourceForge page. Kevin is always looking for people interested in helping with the project.