Development
Changes in the upcoming Python 2.4 Release
The first alpha release of Python version 2.4 is scheduled for release during July, 2004, according to the Python 2.4 Release Schedule. After several alpha releases and one beta release, the plan is to have Python 2.4 ready to go around September, 2004. A Python 2.4a1 pre-announcement has been sent out:
The purpose of this notice is to give
people a heads up - if you have a bug that you want to see
fixed for 2.4, start looking at it now.
Fixes are welcome through the release cycle, although after
the first beta fixes that result in a change to behaviour
will be much less likely to be accepted.
A.M. Kuchling's What's New in Python 2.4 document details some of the changes that will occur in the language. There are a number of new Python Enhancement Proposals (PEPs) that go with this release. Here are some of the changes:
Two new built-in types, set(iterable) and frozenset(iterable) provide high speed data types for membership testing, for eliminating duplicates from sequences, and for mathematical operations like unions, intersections, differences, and symmetric differences.
PEP 229: Generator Expressions
Now, simple generators can be coded succinctly as expressions using a syntax like list comprehensions but with parentheses instead of brackets. These expressions are designed for situations where the generator is used right away by an enclosing function. Generator expressions are more compact but less versatile than full generator definitions and they tend to be more memory friendly than equivalent list comprehensions.
A new built-in function, reversed(seq), takes a sequence and returns an iterator that returns the elements of the sequence in reverse order.
PEP 237: Unifying Long Integers and Integers is not yet finished, the title is self-explanatory.
The
Other Language Changes section mentions modifications to
these functions:
dict.update() ljust(), rjust(), center(), sort() zip() itertools.izip().
Also, there will be a new string rsplit() function and a
new sorted(iterable) built-in function.
A number of optimizations for lists and tuple operations are also
mentioned.
The New, Improved, and Deprecated Modules section details changes to the Python standard library. Here are some of the changes:
- Transparency support has been added to the curses module,
the bisect module has improved performance, There are now improved
Asian encodings, and a new collections module for various specialized
collection datatypes has been added.
- The ConfigParser and heapq modules have had performance improvements.
The imaplib module has support for the IMAP THREAD command.
The itertools module gained several new functions.
- The POSIX module has a new getsid() function, the operator module
gained two new functions, and the random module can now generate
arbitrarily large random numbers.
- The re (regular expression) module has new conditional expression support, and the weakref module has expanded capabilities.
Finally, the cookielib library now supports client-side cookie handling.
The Porting to Python 2.4 section mentions some issues that developers may want to look at when porting code to Python 2.4.
Writing and testing all of that code should keep the Python developers busy for a while.
System Applications
Audio Projects
Planet CCRMA Changes
The latest changes from the Planet CCRMA audio utility packaging project include the announcement for the first Fedora Core 2 version of Planet CCRMA, and new versions of Specimen, Cinepaint, OpenEXR, Gtkmm2, Ceres3, Faad2, Hyperspec, Cmt, and Pmidi.
Database Software
Berkeley DB Java Edition
Sleepycat has announced a new, Java-oriented version of its Berkeley DB offering. "Berkeley DB Java Edition features full ACID transactions and recovery for high reliability, record-level locking for high concurrency, schema neutrality for data storage in its native format, and zero administration for low cost of ownership. Berkeley DB Java Edition offers the same storage services as the popular Berkeley DB engine, but the new product was completely redesigned in Java to take advantage of Java's portability and services such as deeply integrated threading and NIO." The usual dual licensing applies.
Glom 0.8.1 announced
Version 0.8.1 of Glom, a database table designer GUI, is out. This release features locale handling improvements, menu restructuring, improved internationalization, and more.knoda 0.7-test3 released
Version 0.7-test3 of knoda, a database-frontend for MySQL, PostgreSQL and ODBC, is out. "Knoda has a completely new GUI now, which is much more KDE like".
phpMyAdmin 2.5.7 is released (SourceForge)
Version 2.5.7 of phpMyAdmin is out. "The main reason of this release is to add support for MySQL 4.1.2 in a stable version. It includes also some bug fixes. phpMyAdmin is a tool written in PHP intended to handle the administration of MySQL over the Web."
PostgreSQL 7.4.3 Now Available
Version 7.4.3 of the PostgreSQL database is available. "After several fixes were backpatches to the 7_4_STABLE branch, we have now released a 7.4.3. As the list of Changes since 7.4.2 is quite small, they are included in this email".
PostgreSQL Weekly News
The June 15, 2004 edition of the PostgreSQL Weekly News is available. "Well the big news for the week was the release of PostgreSQL 7.4.3 today."
Also, see this correction concerning the article on PostgreSQL 7.4.3.
Libraries
Botan 1.3.14 is out
Version 1.3.14 of Botan, a library of cryptographic algorithms, has been released. "This is the first release candidate for 1.4.0. Please report any bugs or problems as soon as possible. The new AEP engine is available, along with many portability fixes, minor optimizations, and so on."
Mail Software
Bogofilter 0.91.2 released
Version 0.91.2 of Bogofilter, an email spam filter, is out with bug fixes.Milter.org news
The milter.org site has moved to a new server and features a new look. New mail filter software includes milter-spamc/0.19, milter-gris/0.3, milter-bcc/0.1 and milter-sender/0.56.The Evolution of Perl Email Handling (O'Reilly)
Simon Cozens covers Perl email handling issues on O'Reilly. "There are many modules on the CPAN for slicing and dicing email, and we're going to take a whistlestop tour of the major ones. We'll also concentrate on an effort started by myself, Richard Clamp, Simon Wistow, and others, called the Perl Email Project, to produce simple, efficient and accurate mail handling modules."
Web Site Development
ht://Dig version 3.2.0b6 released
Version 3.2.0b6 of ht://Dig, a web site search engine, is out. "It fixes several bugs from 3.2.0b5, and runs somewhat faster, although still much slower than 3.1.6 (no significant speed improvements are expected in the near future, although we are working on it). Calling this release a "beta" simply means that exhaustive testing, especially on non-Linux platforms, is not yet complete. However, we consider it stable enough for most production use."
Tiki 1.8.3 -Polaris- released (SourceForge)
Version 1.8.3 of Tiki, a CMS/Groupware package, has been announced. The change summary says: "This release further stabilizes the Polaris 1.8.x Many bugs fixed, a few features & plugins added."
Yaws 1.48 released
Version 1.48 of Yaws, an Erlang-based web server and applications server, is out. "This release contains both bugfixes as well as some minor new features. There was also a fairly ugly security hole in the example code which describes file uploads found and fixed".
ZopeMag Weekly News
The June 10, 2004 edition of the ZopeMag Weekly News is online with more Zope and Plone articles.
Miscellaneous
WASTE v1.5 beta 1 released (SourceForge)
Version 1.5 beta 1 of WASTE is out. "WASTE is a software product and protocol that enables secure distributed communication for small (on the order of 10-50 nodes) trusted groups of users."
"WASTE reaches a new milestone with the new v1.5 beta 1 released today. It
both marks WASTE's re-entry into beta, as well as starts the new line of
v1.5.
"
Desktop Applications
Accessibility
GOK 0.11.4 is here!
Version 0.11.4 of GOK, the GNOME Onscreen Keyboards Suite, is out with bug fixes and new user override features.
CAD
Fifteenth release of PythonCAD now available
Release fifteen of PythonCAD is available. "This release includes several more undo/redo improvements. The addition and removal of points on a polyline can now be undone or redone, and assorted other editing operations have improved undo/redo handling as well. A variety of bug fixes have also been added in this release."
Desktop Environments
GNOME Development Release 2.7.2
Development Release 2.7.2 of the GNOME desktop environment is available. "We're doing something a bit different with this release - finally splitting up the Desktop, Platform and Bindings suites, and releasing them all in one hit. Enjoy!"
GNOME System schedule configurator 0.0.1 announced
Initial version 0.0.1 of the GNOME System schedule configurator is out. "System-config-schedule is a GUI for configuring a users crontab. It was made for Vixie cron whom comes with Fedora Linux, but should work with other cron servers aswell if the format of the config file is similar."
gnome-bluetooth 0.5 and libbtctl 0.4 released
New releases of gnome-bluetooth 0.5 and libbtctl 0.4 have been announced. "gnome-bluetooth is a suite of tools for managing Bluetooth devices and sending/receiving data under the GNOME desktop. libbtctl is a GObject-based library for the Bluetooth and OBEX operations on Linux. It comes with Python and Mono language bindings."
GNOME CPU Frequency Scaling Monitor 0.2 is out
Version 0.2 of the GNOME CPU Frequency Scaling Monitor is available. Changes include new display modes, a GTK+ 2.4 port, and more.GDM 2.6.0.3 (stable) released
Stable version 2.6.0.3 of GDM, the GNOME Display Manager, is out. "I have uncovered the evil incarnate that hides in the deepest parts of the GDM code. Yes. The evil so horrible, we may have to go to war with some country (to be picked by a reality tv show). An evil so disgusting, so vile, that it is worse then Stalin, Saddam, Ivan the Terrible and Britney Spears combined. Yes, I am talking about the antichrist, the anti-<insert your favourite prophet name>, the cause of all that is bad (such as industrial pollution and cheese that was left on the sone just a bit too long). I am talking about blinking cursors on the login screen."
KDE 3.2.3 released
KDE 3.2.3 is out; see the announcement for details. This is a maintenance release, concentrating on bug fixes and improvements to translations.KDE-CVS-Digest (KDE.News)
The June 11, 2004 KDE-CVS-Digest is available. Here's the content summary: "More Enriconian optimizations to Konqueror. Qt only KJSEmbed made easier. Kolourpaint adds zoom. Kitchensync adds ability to sync calendar resources. KOrganizer adds a journal editor. Digikam adds image editor plugins. KOffice continues work on OASIS file format save and load. amaroK adds streaming support using GStreamer. KDevelop adds win32 Qt templates."
Planet KDE Discovered (KDE.News)
KDE.News looks at the new Planet KDE site. "Planet KDE is an aggregation of public weblogs written by contributors to the K Desktop Environment. The opinions expressed in these weblogs and hence this aggregation are those of the original authors."
Electronics
gEDA News
The latest releases from the gEDA project include new versions of the Icarus Verilog electronic simulation language compiler and PCB, the printed circuit CAD program.
Games
Mapacman .02 released
Version .02 of Mapacman, a multi-player game in the style of Pac-Man, is available on the Pygame site.Alpha PCGen 5.7.2 is Available (SourceForge)
Alpha version 5.7.2 of the PCGen character generator for role-playing games is available. "Normally we list all the fixed items since the previous release, but it's been a while since our last release. Many of the trackers that were closed were related to the 5.6.1 release and separating out the trackers is a bit tricky if not impossible. The GMGen area (available only under the full download) has received a *lot* of attention - check it out and let us know what you think!"
GUI Packages
FLU 2.11 is out
Version 2.11 of FLU, the FLTK Utility Widgets, has been announced. Changes include a new Flu_Dual_Slider widget, and improvements and bug fixes to other components.GTK+-2.4.3 released
Version 2.4.3 of GTK+ has been released. "This is a bug fix release and is source and binary compatible with 2.4.0. The main reason for this quick followup release is a problem with the button size allocation logic in 2.4.2, which showed up in the Gimp. A number of other bugfixes have been included as well."
Gtk2-Perl 2.6.2 announced
Stable version 2.6.2 of Gtk2-Perl, the Perl bindings to GTK+, has been announced. Changes include improved portability, better documentation, bug fixes, and more.gob2 2.0.8 released
Version 2.0.8 of gob2, a GTK+ object generator, is out. Changes include better documentation, a new --output-dir switch, and bug fixes.The Python GUI API Project
The PyGUI project is developing a cross-platform GUI API for Python. Version 1.3 of PyGUI was just released. "This version includes two implementations, one for MacOS X built on Carbon, and one for X11 built on Gtk. Python 2.3 or later is required. The MacOS X version should work on a standard installation of MacPython. The X11 version requires PyGtk-2.2.0 or later, plus the Gtk library itself (Gtk+-2.2 or later)"
Interoperability
Wine Traffic
The June 11, 2004 edition of Wine Traffic has been published. Take a look for the latest WINdows Emulator news.
Mail Clients
Mozilla Thunderbird 0.7 released
The Mozilla Foundation has announced the release of Thunderbird 0.7. New features include improved IMAP support, and new extension and theme managers.
Medical Applications
Tkfp 56 released (SourceForge)
Version 56 of Tkfp, a Family Practice management system, has been announced. Here is a project summary: "For Family Physicians, Pediatricians, Internists or Primary Care. Used in a 4 doctor group for 5 years. Network enabled. Tk GUI and web browser based interfaces. HCFA1500 claim form." The latest release adds support for connecting Tkfp clients to a Tkfp database server.
Music Applications
MusE 0.7pre3 released
Version 0.7pre3 of MusE, a MIDI/Audio sequencer, has been released. Changes include new shortcuts, a new logo and icons, lots of bug fixes, and more.
Office Applications
GENIUS 0.6.1 released
Version 0.6.1 of Genius, a GNOME calculator, has been released and features a long list of improvements.
Office Suites
Native postgresql driver for OpenOffice.org
Version 0.6.0 of the native postgresql driver for OpenOffice.org has been announced. "The current version 0.6.0 contains some major improvements compared to 0.5.0, but it can still be considered to be in a alpha state. About 80 % of the features a professional driver should have, are implemented now. Beside the missing features, there are some known bugs. The main purpose of this version is to collect input from the community in an early development stage."
PDA Software
Evolusync 1.1 released (SourceForge)
Version 1.1 of Evolusync, an application that can synchronize an Evolution address book with IR and Bluetooth-based mobile devices, is available. "New features include BlueTooth support, OBEX or GSM mobile device phonebook compatibility, and more."
Guikachu 1.5.0 released
Version 1.5.0 of Guikachu, the GNOME Resource editor for PalmOS projects, is out. "This is a GNOME 2 port of Guikachu 1.4, no new features are implemented yet."
Peer to Peer
Gnomoradio 0.13 announced
Version 0.13 of the Gnomoradio peer to peer music playing system is out. "Version 0.13 fixes many things involving the downloading and caching of music. A download status indicator, advanced search criteria, and other interface improvements were added."
Web Browsers
Epiphany 1.2.6
Version 1.2.6 of Epiphany, the GNOME browser, is out with support for Mozilla 1.7 and lots of bug fixes.Epiphany Extensions 0.9.1
Beta version 0.9.1 of the Epiphany Extensions are available. This release adds support for Mozilla 1.7.Mozilla Firefox 0.9 released
It's official: Firefox 0.9 is now available. "Faster, more secure, easier to use and sporting a new look, this latest Firefox release sets a new standard for web browser innovation."
There is also a Thunderbird 0.7 release candidate available for testing.
Independent Status Reports (MozillaZine)
The Mozilla Independent Status Reports for June 14, 2004 are online. "The latest set of status reports includes updates from Checky, MozillaBook, Mozilla Archive Format, Enigmail, MozManual, the Mozilla-Delphi Project, wmlbrowser and Firefox Help."
Minutes of the mozilla.org Staff Meeting (MozillaZine)
The June 7, 2004 mozilla.org staff meeting minutes are available. "Issues discussed include Mozilla 1.7 final, Mozilla Firefox 0.9, Mozilla Thunderbird 0.7, CVS over SSH, MPL translations and merchandise status."
Miscellaneous
Alexandria 0.2.0 released
Version 0.2.0 of Alexandria, a book collection management application for GNOME, is out with lots of new features and bug fixes.GNOME Network Tool 0.99.1
Version 0.99.1 of the GNOME Network Tool, a GUI wrapper for ping, whois, traceroute, etc, is out. "Version 0.99.1 is feature complete, and will be released as 1.0 after some testing period."
Languages and Tools
C++
C++ const Correctness (Linux Journal)
Dave Berton looks at C++ const and related topics on Linux Journal. "Even thorough this article is titled "C++ const Correctness", we're not going to talk about const yet. Instead, we're going to start by talking about functions and their parameters."
Java
JOFFAD 2.0 released ! (SourceForge)
Version 2.0 of JOFFAD has been released. JOFFAD is a blank J2EE project for JOnAS that integrates a simple project structure, a generic Ant script, and open source tools like XDoclet or StrutsQuartz 1.4.0 released (SourceForge)
Version 1.4.0 of Quartz, a J2EE Application Job Server, is out. "This is release contains feature enhancements, performance improvments, and bug fixes. There are a few backward compatibility issues that you should pay attention to, which are listed in the change-list."
Replacing reflection with code generation (IBM developerWorks)
Dennis Sosnoski compares Java reflection to code generation on IBM's developerWorks. "Dennis Sosnoski wraps up his Java programming dynamics series by demonstrating how you can use runtime classworking to replace reflection code with generated code that runs at full speed ahead."
JSP
Improving JSF by Dumping JSP (O'ReillyNet)
Hans Bergsten looks at issues with JavaServer Faces (JSF) 1.0 on O'Reilly. "In this article, I focus on one specific area of the JSF specification that I feel is riddled with problems: namely, the use of JavaServer Pages (JSP) for creating JSF views. I also discuss alternatives to JSP that you can develop today and that I hope will make it into a future version of the specification."
Perl
This Week on perl5-porters (use Perl)
The June 7-13, 2004 edition of This Week on perl5-porters is available. "This week, a small summary is better than no summary at all."
This Week on Perl 6 (O'Reilly)
The June 6, 2004 edition of This Week on Perl 6 is out. Take a look for the latest Perl 6 issues.Cultured Perl: Managing Linux configuration files (IBM developerWorks)
Teodor Zlatanov uses perl and CVS to manage system configuration files on IBM's developerWorks. "The average developer spends more time navigating, learning, and debugging configuration files than you'd expect. But you can save that time -- and loads of energy and frustration -- with one of the tools you probably use every day: your CVS tree. Take these tips on backing up, distributing, and making portable your peskiest Linux (and UNIX) config files."
PHP
Bif 3 0.3.11 released
Version 0.3.11 of Bif 3 is available. "Build it Fast (BIF) is a PHP Framework. It contains several classes that help you develop complex Web applications in a short amount of time. It brings the concept of the 'widget' to Web development. It features Cascade Skins and transparent session management."
PHP Weekly Summary for June 9, 2004
The PHP Weekly Summary for June 9, 2004 is out. Topics include: Error handling changes to both PHP versions, preparations for RC3.PHP Weekly Summary for June 10, 2004
The PHP Weekly Summary for June 10, 2004 is out. Topics include: 4.3.7 released, 5 RC 3 still in preparation.PHP Weekly Summary for June 14, 2004
The PHP Weekly Summary for June 14, 2004 is out. Topics include: PHP 5 RC3 released; DIO support for win32; memory leak fixed in tidy; old build systems never die.
Python
Dr. Dobb's Python-URL!
The June 14, 2004 edition of Dr. Dobb's Python-URL! is available with the latest Python article links.
Tcl/Tk
Dr. Dobb's Tcl-URL!
The June 15, 2004 edition of Dr. Dobb's Tcl-URL! is out with the latest Tcl/Tk article links.
XML
Describe open source projects with XML, Part 3 (IBM developerWorks)
Edd Dumbill continues his IBM developerWorks series with part three of describe open source projects with XML. "In this installment of XML Watch, Edd Dumbill continues the development of a vocabulary for describing open source software projects, presenting a schema for the new vocabulary and example project descriptions."
Improve XML transport performance, Part 2 (IBM developerWorks)
Dennis M. Sosnoski has written part two of his IBM developerWorks series on improving XML transport performance. "Dennis Sosnoski presents actual size and processing overhead comparisons for text, gzip, and XBIS representations of a range of XML documents. He concludes with a look at the growing movement toward standardization of non-text representations for XML."
IDEs
Java Development on Eclipse, Part 1 (O'ReillyNet)
O'Reilly has published part one of a two part book excerpt series by Steve Holzner. "Steve Holzner contends that Eclipse makes it easier to create Java code from scratch. In this excerpt from Chapter 2 of his book, Eclipse, Steve shows how Eclipse makes it easy to create new methods, classes, and packages, as well as how to build and run the code."
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