New to Python Would like debug advice

2007-12-17 Thread PatrickMinnesota
Yep, I'm new to the language, it's been a couple of months.

I opted for gvim and console window for developing on a Windows XP
box.  I'm not a huge fan of IDEs except for when I need some
debugging.  I've done my googling and see a bunch of options out there
for a debugging solution for Python on Windows.

I've used Eclipse for a few years for Java development and I
understand there is a Python module for it that might make sense.

What I'm looking for is advice on what to use to debug general Python
programs at the source level, some will be graphical.  If the eclipse
route is the way to go, that's fine, but I'm wondering what other
options people have good luck with.  Keep in mind I will probably
continue to use Vi/Emacs and a console window for my main development.

Thanks.
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2D Game Development in Python

2007-12-20 Thread PatrickMinnesota
I like to do fun stuff when learning a new language.  I've been
working with Python for a little while on real world problems mostly
fixing bugs and writing a simulator for work.

I was thinking as a hobby project developing a simple 2d game (think
Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, LoadRunner) and mentioned this to my 14
year old nephew.  About a week later I got a full write up for a game
that he wrote and would like to play.  So I figure why not take his
write up and turn it into a game as an exercise in fun and learning
more about Python?

I think I need at least this:  2D graphics, sound, input (kbd, mouse,
joystick maybe), some IPC might be nice (Stuff like: Sockets, TCP,
UDP, pipes, msg queues, shared memory).  The IPC stuff would only be
used if I decide to allow some multi-player over a network.

I've been playing with Pygame some in my late night hobby time.  I'm
wondering what else I should be looking at since I'm not all that
impressed with Pygame so far.  Maybe it is the right library, but
maybe it's not.  Please don't point me to a list of choices.  I've
seen all the lists.  I've done my reading.  What I don't have is
actual testimonials by people who have used a chunk of code to program
an animated 2D game and had a great experience.

I am mainly developing on Windows XP using Python 2.5.1.  I also have
multiple Linux boxes that I am migrating my life to and so any game
needs to be platform independent because I'll be on Linux full time
soon.  If it's going to run on Windows and Linux, I think it should
run on Mac too.

I've been developing systems and programs for over 20 years.
Languages I'm an expert in include C, C++, Java.  I have a strong
working knowledge and have developed non-trivial software in Smalltalk
and Lisp.

Thanks if you can help.  And no, writing some graphics library myself
is not an option, I need the leverage, this is a hobby.
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Re: cloud computing (and python)?

2008-01-01 Thread PatrickMinnesota
On Jan 1, 3:26 pm, Aaron Watters <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> So, in between skiing runs I noticed
> a Business Week cover story on
> "cloud computing".  The article had
> lots of interesting information in it like
> about how somebody's mom used to
> be an airline stewardess and the
> interior decor of various office spaces.
> It was a truly excellent piece of
> journalism.
>
> However it gave me no idea what
> "cloud computing" is and how it
> could be used to solve a computational
> problem.
>
> Could anyone on this list
> which usually has highly informed
> readers give me a clue at some
> level of technical detail what cloud
> computing is about and how it could
> be used.  Bonus points if you mention
> Python in the response!
>
> An actual example would be great,
> if it's not web scraping and searching.
>
>   - Aaron Watters
>
> ==http://www.xfeedme.com/nucular/pydistro.py/go?FREETEXT=snow

Examples of applications in the cloud:  Google apps, Zoho.com

Examples of cloud storage and bandwidth:  Amazon's S3 for scalable
storage, Amazon's EC2 for scalable serving

The idea is that your data and applications are on the net, rather
than your local hard drive.
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Re: cloud computing (and python)?

2008-01-01 Thread PatrickMinnesota
On Jan 1, 3:26 pm, Aaron Watters <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> So, in between skiing runs I noticed
> a Business Week cover story on
> "cloud computing".  The article had
> lots of interesting information in it like
> about how somebody's mom used to
> be an airline stewardess and the
> interior decor of various office spaces.
> It was a truly excellent piece of
> journalism.
>
> However it gave me no idea what
> "cloud computing" is and how it
> could be used to solve a computational
> problem.
>
> Could anyone on this list
> which usually has highly informed
> readers give me a clue at some
> level of technical detail what cloud
> computing is about and how it could
> be used.  Bonus points if you mention
> Python in the response!
>
> An actual example would be great,
> if it's not web scraping and searching.
>
>   - Aaron Watters
>
> ==http://www.xfeedme.com/nucular/pydistro.py/go?FREETEXT=snow

Oh, and I forgot to mention Python for points.

Python combined with a framework like Django is used with Amazon's
cloud services in various applications.  www.Pownce.com is an example.
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Re: cloud computing (and python)?

2008-01-01 Thread PatrickMinnesota
On Jan 1, 7:12 pm, Neil Hodgson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Cloud computing is mostly about scalability. You do not need to be
> concerned so much about low level infrastructure details such as
> purchasing servers, configuring and maintaining them, hiring space in
> data centres, linking up data centres, etc. It converts a lot of fixed
> costs into lower recurring costs so makes it easier for a start up with
> limited capital to start operating.
>
> There are Python libraries for accessing some of the cloud computing
> services and you can also host Python application code on some services
> that allow code execution. This includes services that can run arbitrary
> code on virtual machines such as EC2 and more restricted computational
> services like Hadoop which can run Jython.
>
> Neil

I would say that cloud computing to an implementor or company
providing cloud
computing is all about scalability and stuff like S3 and EC3.  There
are
other options for this BTW.

But to the end user, it's about having your data and applications on a
disk
served by a network and server that is somewhere out there on the net
and
accessible from anywhere that you have connectivity. You might travel
with
a laptop, but generally, when in Hong Kong, you'll be screwed if a
chunk of
data is sitting on a disk inside a desktop in your home office and
isn't on
your laptop.  With the 'cloud' concept, it wouldn't matter where you
are,
as long as you have a connection to the internet, you can run the apps
and
access the data.

Issues:  and yes, they are big, who has control over the data, is it
being
backed up and protected, and is your private data being mined without
your approval. Oh,
and what happens if you use Zoho's system and they go out of
business?
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Re: cloud computing (and python)?

2008-01-02 Thread PatrickMinnesota
On Jan 2, 9:33 am, Aaron Watters <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > I must admit I feel a hint of amusement though at your comment above, when
> > it's sent from precisely the sort of setup you appear bemused by - since
> > you appear to have already bought into it without realising ! :-D
>
> Ok, so if we include yahoo mail and gmail in "cloud computing" then I
> guess
> usenet is also cloud computing.  How about ftp?  ssh? nfs? Oh I get
> it.  It's
> another meaningless marketing buzz phrase.
>
> I mean, really, I've been using web-mail and various varieties of
> remote
> storage for over a decade.  What is *new* about the concept?  (I see
> some
> hints above, but it's mixed in with a lot of other stuff...)
>
>   -- Aaron Watters
>
> ===http://www.xfeedme.com/nucular/pydistro.py/go?FREETEXT=fud

Aaron -

I would say that the biggest difference between what people have been
doing
for decades and what is now being referred to as 'cloud computing' is
the applications.

The idea of the cloud is that the application, like a word processor
for instance, is
not running or installed on your computer.  It's running on Google's
servers, or
Zoho's servers etc.  Your data is also stored on their servers.  So
yeah, it's kind of
like the old diskless X-Terminal setup and is totally contrary to how
companies like
Microsoft would like the world to work.  The other main difference
seems to be that
'cloud computing' runs under a different revenue model than
traditional applications
like Microsoft Office.  Google Apps, in it's most basic form is free
and so are most
of the others.  They are monetizing in a different way than Microsoft
does when it
sells you Office for $500 or whatever.
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Pygame w/ GUI

2008-01-09 Thread PatrickMinnesota
I know this isn't strictly a Python question, but I'm betting some
here might be able to give me a hint.

I have a few graphical programs doing some 2D data visualization using
simple Pygame code for pseudo real-time animation.   It's running
under windows XP right now, but eventually it'll need to be cross-
platform.  As it is right now, it probably is, I just haven't tried it
anywhere but XP.

Now I want to wrap some simple GUI functions around it.  I'm looking
for some buttons, a text field or two and file system selection of
data files.  I figure many have done this and there is a better
solution than to use Pygame constructs to implement such things.

My question:  I'm not seeing much support in Pygame for that stuff.
It seems I should build buttons and file browsing in some other
toolkit.  Is that true?  Or am I just to early on in the Pygame docs
to see solutions?

If I should use something else, am I going to be able to use Tkinter
or WxPython in conjunction with my Pygame code?  Or is there something
else I should be looking at?

Oh, and I'm running Python 2.5.1

Thanks for any thoughts.
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Passing functions around and executing

2008-05-14 Thread PatrickMinnesota
I've been reading the docs and looking for an answer and seem stuck.
I'm either not looking in the right places or not understanding what
I'm reading.

I have a bunch of functions.  I want to put them in a list.  Then I
want to pass that list into another function which does some setup and
then loops through the list of passed in functions and executes them.
Some of them need arguments passed in too.

Can someone point me to where to read about this?  I know it's do-able
since it's basically doing something like a callback would do.

Thanks for any pointers.
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