| Subcribe via RSS
I'll tell you this much - ever since I watched this screen cast by a guy using it for Python, I've spent a lot more time working on the more interesting language features.
I've added a lot of stuff pertinent to my work in the snippets, tab triggers, etc. I really have not been this happy with an editor in some time.
Really, you should check it out.
This is actually a big thing (that I haven't seen talked about a lot) - someone has posted a working program capable of generating MD5/4 collisions in under 45 minutes on a 2.4 GHZ processor.
This is significant because previously, while everyone knew that MD5 was basically worthless at this point (due to the How to Break MD5 and Other Hash Functions paper, people continues to say "but there's no exploit code!".
Now there is. People need to start using something in the realm of SHA-256 for hashing (SHA-1 is "weaker" then expected) or some other authenticity method, but really, MD5 is worthless, and SHA-1 is going to go down as well.
You can see Bruce Schneier's writing on this as well.
Ran across this app via version tracker: AlmostVPN - Trac
It's interesting - it's an SSH tunneling manager that sits in the Pref. Pane in OS/X instead of being a standalone application. For those of us who have to VPN a lot, but despise things like the official Cisco VPN client (on any damned platform) this might be useful (if you have ssh access into the corporate network).
I use growl on my mac - but I haven't browsed the site in ages. Today, from del.icio.us I found this gem: GrowlNotifier class (Python)
I am going to use the hell out of this. Python bindings for Growl? Heck yeah!
Some notes for myself: Make sure to view the scripts and Extras folders, and also enable "remote notification" in the preference pane.
This will be incredibly useful for tracking network events - also, it'll be kind of cool. I need to make a bugzilla growl plugin to tell me when new bugs hit my queue (but that's redundant with email notifications, I know.)
Taking an OS/X Moment here to share some cool apps I've found recently:
Check Off: A handy little to-do list app. Small, lightweight and simple. Now, if only I could maintain an actual todo list for longer than the time it takes me to think of (or be assigned) a new task. (Free)
Barquee: This is another small app - sits in your bar, and allows you to control iTunes from there. Nice for when I'm not using my iPod, and have another trillion apps running. (10$)
Terminalicious: A nice little app that allows you to launch commands in Terminal - and it keeps a history of the command you've ran. (Free)
TextMate: Ok, so I pimped what I think is the best editor for OS/X again. Sue me.
SQLGrinder: A damned nice SQL client - supports a wide range of functionality, including schema browsing/exporting/etc. Also supports a wide range of databases. A dang fine application.
So, one of the things I am beginning to test the waters on is writing actual GUI applications in Python - designing a GUI is not something I have ever done, nor have I ever had the need. However, as I develop more tools - distributed ones at that, I find that putting a decent UI around them would be handy for other users.
Let's throw in the fact I am also a Mac User. So in reality, I know I want to start with something like wxPython or PyGTK - I know that much at least.
But sitting in my bookmark list is an article (from Apple's site) on using Python to develop Mac application using PyObj - something that's been eating at the back of my head for a few months.
In any case, starting with PyObjC is a little beyond my GUI capabilities at the moment. So, instead I found PythonCard - a GUI construction kit for Py apps using wxPython.
The Python card site has an excellent starter walkthrough here which i figure I'll start chewing on.
I don't know when I'll be able to ramp up on this - right now I'm tapped out with everything else under the sun - but more information is good information.
I ran across this gem from Joel Spolsky about "web 2.0": Architecture Astronauts Are Back
He's dead right about "web 2.0". And hopefully, like him, this will be my last post on the subject. Until I get ran over by some AJAXWEB2.0SEMANTICWEB train and suffer brain trauma.
Yes, I blog. Yes, I read RSS feeds. A technological revolution this is not.
If anyone is doing a lot of Python on the Mac editing - I highly recommend using TextMate it's light, powerful (after you get the python bundle from SVN) and supports projects.
I have it integrated with Perforce, Subversion and CVS with syntax highlinting, custom keys.
Really, everything I look for in an editor. And given you can add your own bundles or extend existing ones, it's simple to add Bicycle Repair man integrations, etc.
The maintainer has a blog and he's been doing frequent nightly builds - each with noticeable improvements.
It's also not very memory intensive (a drag for me with other editors) and very responsive when editing large numbers of files.
Give it a try, buy a license!
pythonmac.org - Mac OS X Python Resources
Ahhh, sweet mac and Python. Tastes like happy.
By now, most of the known world knows about Apple's foray into providing video playback support for the new iPods (hot) - one of the things I was worried about was the ability to drop my own videos (DVDs, Cartoons, etc) onto one of the new iPods, but given I was already familiar with Handbrake I knew it was only a matter of time before someone linked it all together to show how to drop a DVD on there, fully and here we are: HOWTO Rip DVD Movies To Your iPod
