I've served as PyCon's volunteer publicity chair the past two years. This year, at my request, the attendee survey had the question, "How did you hear about PyCon?"
Thanks to everybody who took the survey and answered that annoying question. Of course, most answers were along the lines of, "Duh, I've always known about PyCon!"
Basically, the answers helped to confirm that community buzz is what brings most people. (My favorite answer: "Birds.") Problem: not everybody is plugged into the buzz. I know lots of programmers who never read blogs or attend groups, and there are lots more that I don't know because they don't do blogs or groups, or otherwise plug themselves into the community.
What I most need is for everybody who didn't hear about PyCon to answer this question: "Why didn't you hear about PyCon? Where would you have seen a PyCon announcement?" The logistics of doing that survey are tricky, however.
How do you think word spreads among geeks, in this day and age?
Friday, May 29, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Wanted: pictoral Field Guide to Nerds
My grandfather was an amazing man. He seemed to know every living soul in Duluth, Minnesota. He never forgot a face.
I didn't inherit that gene. Remembering faces and names is a huge challenge for me. "Very nice to meet you, Mrs. - wait, have we met before? Oh, Mom! I'm sorry." I can spend fifteen minutes in conversation with someone, and five minutes later be unable to bring their face into my mind. It's frustrating and humiliating. I need technological help.
I'd love a website full of labelled and indexed photos of the inhabitants of geekland, something I could brush up on before a conference, or study afterward to cement the new acquaintances into my memory.
Does something like this exist? Failing that, does anybody have some good ideas for how it could be made? At present, my best idea is for some sort of Flickr mashup.
I didn't inherit that gene. Remembering faces and names is a huge challenge for me. "Very nice to meet you, Mrs. - wait, have we met before? Oh, Mom! I'm sorry." I can spend fifteen minutes in conversation with someone, and five minutes later be unable to bring their face into my mind. It's frustrating and humiliating. I need technological help.
I'd love a website full of labelled and indexed photos of the inhabitants of geekland, something I could brush up on before a conference, or study afterward to cement the new acquaintances into my memory.
Does something like this exist? Failing that, does anybody have some good ideas for how it could be made? At present, my best idea is for some sort of Flickr mashup.
Friday, May 15, 2009
documentation rant
Everybody knows that open-source software documentation sucks.
It doesn't, however, suck nearly as much as big-company proprietary software documentation, which Steve Holden characterizes as
... and so forth... a beautifully-typeset waste of electrons.
The questions we go to docs for are: Can I nardle a threep via SSH? I tried it, but my threep still isn't nardled. I got an "ERROR: Threep nardling failure" message. What now? If those questions aren't addressed, there's really no point.
These days, I do sometimes see open-source docs that address these questions. Most often, of course, you find answers to these questions in the user community.
Anyway, I suggest that, when users run into trouble, this is the preferable order of responses:
1. Change the program so that it acts as the users expected in the first place.
2. Use program interaction and informative error messages to guide users through problems without having to look outside the program.
3. Put the answer in the documentation - and make it easy to find or it doesn't count! Expecting users to comb painstakingly through 400 pages is not realistic.
4. Respond to individual questions via some sort of support process.
Small-to-medium FOSS projects are the best at responding in this order, probably because the same people - or at least people who know each other - are responsible for writing the program, documenting it, and answering user questions. At Big Software Corp., on the other hand, Support, Documentation, and Development are likely to be completely separate groups. The professionalization of documentation is deadly, because you get reams of nearly identical manuals that are pleasantly laid-out and nicely proofread, but completely unaware of realistic user problems. Support is painfully aware of user problems, but they have no process to tell Documentation and Development, "Hey, users keep getting confused here. Can we change the program and the docs to help them? Please? Because we'd really like to quit getting these questions?" (Perhaps some companies do have processes; I can only speculate, but I do know that I don't see evidence of it.)
Oracle, incidentally, only about halfway sucks in these matters, which is pretty good for a company so large. Their docs generally have some good, non-obvious substance, and sometimes - but, alas, only sometimes - troubleshooting information.
In short, I think you need users' pain to efficiently and accurately become developers' and documenters' pain, so that the causes will get fixed. Small FOSS projects have this kind of pain transfer built-in (when the authors publish their email addresses and invite questions). Everybody else should think about how to make it happen for their product.
It doesn't, however, suck nearly as much as big-company proprietary software documentation, which Steve Holden characterizes as
Threep Nardling
To nardle threeps, select the Threep tab and check the Nardling checkbox.
... and so forth... a beautifully-typeset waste of electrons.
The questions we go to docs for are: Can I nardle a threep via SSH? I tried it, but my threep still isn't nardled. I got an "ERROR: Threep nardling failure" message. What now? If those questions aren't addressed, there's really no point.
These days, I do sometimes see open-source docs that address these questions. Most often, of course, you find answers to these questions in the user community.
Anyway, I suggest that, when users run into trouble, this is the preferable order of responses:
1. Change the program so that it acts as the users expected in the first place.
2. Use program interaction and informative error messages to guide users through problems without having to look outside the program.
3. Put the answer in the documentation - and make it easy to find or it doesn't count! Expecting users to comb painstakingly through 400 pages is not realistic.
4. Respond to individual questions via some sort of support process.
Small-to-medium FOSS projects are the best at responding in this order, probably because the same people - or at least people who know each other - are responsible for writing the program, documenting it, and answering user questions. At Big Software Corp., on the other hand, Support, Documentation, and Development are likely to be completely separate groups. The professionalization of documentation is deadly, because you get reams of nearly identical manuals that are pleasantly laid-out and nicely proofread, but completely unaware of realistic user problems. Support is painfully aware of user problems, but they have no process to tell Documentation and Development, "Hey, users keep getting confused here. Can we change the program and the docs to help them? Please? Because we'd really like to quit getting these questions?" (Perhaps some companies do have processes; I can only speculate, but I do know that I don't see evidence of it.)
Oracle, incidentally, only about halfway sucks in these matters, which is pretty good for a company so large. Their docs generally have some good, non-obvious substance, and sometimes - but, alas, only sometimes - troubleshooting information.
In short, I think you need users' pain to efficiently and accurately become developers' and documenters' pain, so that the causes will get fixed. Small FOSS projects have this kind of pain transfer built-in (when the authors publish their email addresses and invite questions). Everybody else should think about how to make it happen for their product.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
managing installation requirements by Python version
I always feel guilty using this blog as my LazyWeb, but it works really well, so here we go again...
I'm trying out Oracle Enterprise Linux 5 - basically a clone of RHEL - and trying to get sqlpython installed on it. OEL5 comes with Python 2.4; sqlpython 1.6.5.1 needs Python 2.5. I could take out the 2.5 dependency in sqlpython, but it uses pyparsing. Pyparsing dropped 2.4 compatibility as of 1.5.2.
[EDIT: It turns out that pyparsing 1.5.2 still works on Python 2.4. It emits a scary error message, during easy_install under Python 2.4 -
but it installs successfully nonetheless. Thanks to Paul McGuire to pointing that out. So my job in this case is simply to release a 2.4-compatible sqlpython 1.6.5.2.]
I could change
I'd like to
Obviously, I could just download a newer Python and install it on my machine, but I'm trying to make sqlpython usable for DBAs who don't have that kind of authority, or who fear to muck around with their environment that way.
I wonder what the smart people do in situations like this?
I'm trying out Oracle Enterprise Linux 5 - basically a clone of RHEL - and trying to get sqlpython installed on it. OEL5 comes with Python 2.4; sqlpython 1.6.5.1 needs Python 2.5. I could take out the 2.5 dependency in sqlpython, but it uses pyparsing. Pyparsing dropped 2.4 compatibility as of 1.5.2.
[EDIT: It turns out that pyparsing 1.5.2 still works on Python 2.4. It emits a scary error message, during easy_install under Python 2.4 -
except ParseException as err:
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
but it installs successfully nonetheless. Thanks to Paul McGuire to pointing that out. So my job in this case is simply to release a 2.4-compatible sqlpython 1.6.5.2.]
I could change
install_requires=['pyparsing>=1.5.1'] to install_requires=['pyparsing==1.5.1'] in setup.py, but that locks everybody into an obsolete pyparsing whether they need it or not. I'd like to
install_requires=(['pyparsing>=1.5.1'] if python.version >= '2.5' else ['pyparsing==1.5.1']), but that's absolutely imaginary syntax.Obviously, I could just download a newer Python and install it on my machine, but I'm trying to make sqlpython usable for DBAs who don't have that kind of authority, or who fear to muck around with their environment that way.
I wonder what the smart people do in situations like this?
Thursday, April 30, 2009
SpeakerRate
I've created a page at speakerrate.com for myself:
SpeakerRate profile
... and populated it with my two upcoming talks.
If you want to use SpeakerRate to give feedback to a speaker, you don't actually have to wait for them to create their own profile - you can enter it yourself.
I don't know if SpeakerRate will grow into the ultimate connecting-to-speakers webtool, but it might. I do know that they support microformats, which is a big plus in my book.
Hope to see some of you at Penguicon (this weekend) or IOUG Collaborate (next week)!
SpeakerRate profile
... and populated it with my two upcoming talks.
If you want to use SpeakerRate to give feedback to a speaker, you don't actually have to wait for them to create their own profile - you can enter it yourself.
I don't know if SpeakerRate will grow into the ultimate connecting-to-speakers webtool, but it might. I do know that they support microformats, which is a big plus in my book.
Hope to see some of you at Penguicon (this weekend) or IOUG Collaborate (next week)!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
right to complaint
(prompted by discussion of porn use at GoGaRuCo - see here, here)
Quick thought: It's not that the community needs to ensure offensive content never happens, or that the community needs to find a single standard of what is appropriate.
The key is the right to complain safely. When complaints are predictably met with accusations of "overreacting", "political correctness", and "intolerance", the resulting message is: Be like us, be silent, or leave.
If you reject the criticism, then try something like, "I think you're wrong, but I accept your right to complain." Complaint is feedback, it's a legitimate part of a community's communication.
(Let me clarify that I've had mostly really good experiences in the software communities I participate in!)
Quick thought: It's not that the community needs to ensure offensive content never happens, or that the community needs to find a single standard of what is appropriate.
The key is the right to complain safely. When complaints are predictably met with accusations of "overreacting", "political correctness", and "intolerance", the resulting message is: Be like us, be silent, or leave.
If you reject the criticism, then try something like, "I think you're wrong, but I accept your right to complain." Complaint is feedback, it's a legitimate part of a community's communication.
(Let me clarify that I've had mostly really good experiences in the software communities I participate in!)
Thursday, April 23, 2009
the expanding reStructuredTextiverse
It seems I'm always coming across new uses for reStructuredText, the plaintext format that goes everywhere. (Really, more of a "set of plaintext conventions" than a format as such.) I'm beginning to imagine a talk reviewing them all for next Fall's Ohio LinuxFest, or maybe a magazine article.
The places you can go with reStructuredText - am I missing any? (I haven't checked these all for viability)
The places you can go with reStructuredText - am I missing any? (I haven't checked these all for viability)
- HTML, XML, pseudo-XML, LaTeX, and S5 (PowerPoint-like presentations), with the conversion utilities in docutils
- rst2a - reStructuredText 2 Anything - docutils conversion utilities, online
- rst2pdf
- rest2web - webpages with templates, navigation structure, etc.
- rst2man - Unix man pages
- Sphinx - easy, multi-page sites for docs or other static content
- epydoc - Automated API documentation
- nabu - ReStructured Text to RDBMS
- rst2odt - Produce files for OpenOffice Writer.
- wiki pages
- Blog clients
- django-rstify - ReStructuredText in Django templates
- Editor support
- rst2word - this would really be the holy grail, for communicating to the unwashed masses. (We in the know can use rst2odt and convert within OpenOffice, but rst2word would get my boss on board.)
- Fuse more templating engines to rst (perhaps not a good idea, violate the readability principle?)
- ReST lexer for Scintilla - this would allow ReST support in WingIDE, too.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
chocolate
We interrupt this blog with a special message from our sponsor.
My friend James has a new business, Two Bears Chocolates, handmaking organic chocolates. They are crazy-good... I've never been a food snob, but James's chocolates have spoiled me to the point where even "gourmet" mass-produced chocolates seem waxy and bland by comparison. They're a diet aid! I have to eat these chocolates so that I won't be tempted by lesser chocolates!
Anyway, they're expensive, but worth it, and a good gift (see: Mother's Day)... or a good way to maximize your yummy-per-calorie ratio.
He's particularly gung-ho to do custom orders. Go ahead, ask him to make a gooseberry-chocolate truffle in the shape of the state of Michigan. He'll love you for the challenge.
So, as James says, "If you love someone, send Two Bears chocolates. If not, bummer."
My friend James has a new business, Two Bears Chocolates, handmaking organic chocolates. They are crazy-good... I've never been a food snob, but James's chocolates have spoiled me to the point where even "gourmet" mass-produced chocolates seem waxy and bland by comparison. They're a diet aid! I have to eat these chocolates so that I won't be tempted by lesser chocolates!
Anyway, they're expensive, but worth it, and a good gift (see: Mother's Day)... or a good way to maximize your yummy-per-calorie ratio.
He's particularly gung-ho to do custom orders. Go ahead, ask him to make a gooseberry-chocolate truffle in the shape of the state of Michigan. He'll love you for the challenge.
So, as James says, "If you love someone, send Two Bears chocolates. If not, bummer."
Monday, April 20, 2009
calm down
Yes, yes. Oracle is buying Sun, which owns MySQL and Java. No, this is not the end of MySQL. You're being silly.
Oracle is about as open-source friendly as a huge proprietary software company can be, and has been since before it was cool. Oracle adores Linux, and started pushing it vigorously since about, hm, 2002? Oracle has been Java-crazy since that time, too. Oracle's marketing strategy has long been against lock-in - it wants to plug easily into a thriving open-standards economy, not to enclose and lock a walled garden. It's also been very easygoing about licensing, eager to see casual, non-paying users gaining familiarity with its products, knowing that those are the seeds that later big-money sales will come from. It doesn't try to catch and squeeze little fish, it feeds them fish food and waits for them to grow into whales. In short, you over there, slapping MySQL on your Linux box for your brother's home business? Oracle doesn't want to shut you down. Oracle loves you, has always loved you, and wants your love and trust for when you get big.
In fact, if anything, I'm a little disappointed that Oracle's (superb) marketing power, name recognition, and corporate respect will all benefit MySQL and Java... which is all fine and good, except that I'd rather see that gust of wind behind PostgreSQL and Python. (OTN's PyCon sponsorship warmed my heart, to be sure, but I wish there was a way to make ORACLE + PYTHON stop-the-presses news all around techland.)
Oracle is about as open-source friendly as a huge proprietary software company can be, and has been since before it was cool. Oracle adores Linux, and started pushing it vigorously since about, hm, 2002? Oracle has been Java-crazy since that time, too. Oracle's marketing strategy has long been against lock-in - it wants to plug easily into a thriving open-standards economy, not to enclose and lock a walled garden. It's also been very easygoing about licensing, eager to see casual, non-paying users gaining familiarity with its products, knowing that those are the seeds that later big-money sales will come from. It doesn't try to catch and squeeze little fish, it feeds them fish food and waits for them to grow into whales. In short, you over there, slapping MySQL on your Linux box for your brother's home business? Oracle doesn't want to shut you down. Oracle loves you, has always loved you, and wants your love and trust for when you get big.
In fact, if anything, I'm a little disappointed that Oracle's (superb) marketing power, name recognition, and corporate respect will all benefit MySQL and Java... which is all fine and good, except that I'd rather see that gust of wind behind PostgreSQL and Python. (OTN's PyCon sponsorship warmed my heart, to be sure, but I wish there was a way to make ORACLE + PYTHON stop-the-presses news all around techland.)
Monday, April 13, 2009
#amazonfail
If you haven't heard about #amazonfail, this article will catch you up quickly.
1. It's a good reminder that giving market dominance to one company in a crucial role in steering our culture is probably unwise. Let's not have a market where a single company can relegate books to obscurity, intentionally or not. Patronize a variety of booksellers.
2. A proper apology would look something like, "Mr. Doofus Middle Manager didn't think through what he was doing, and company management failed to supervise it properly. We feel humiliated and commit to new efforts to keep book culture diverse and uncensored." Amazon's lame, mealy-mouthed "glitch" non-apology suggests that it has fallen prey to Big Corporatosis. Unless, of course, Amazon really has discovered a homophobic computer glitch, in which case this is huge news for artificial intelligence researchers.
3. This is not the only case where the label "adult content" has had a strangling effect. Actions taken under the justification of "adult content" should never be blandly accepted, but should be carefully examined for accuracy, necessity, and bias.
[ EDIT: A final complaint: Labelling a bad policy, sloppily implemented and poorly supervised, as a "glitch", is blaming the company's technologists for a mistake of its management. It says that Amazon's management does not trust, understand, or respect its technologists. In a technology company, this is a strong signal of decline.)
1. It's a good reminder that giving market dominance to one company in a crucial role in steering our culture is probably unwise. Let's not have a market where a single company can relegate books to obscurity, intentionally or not. Patronize a variety of booksellers.
2. A proper apology would look something like, "Mr. Doofus Middle Manager didn't think through what he was doing, and company management failed to supervise it properly. We feel humiliated and commit to new efforts to keep book culture diverse and uncensored." Amazon's lame, mealy-mouthed "glitch" non-apology suggests that it has fallen prey to Big Corporatosis. Unless, of course, Amazon really has discovered a homophobic computer glitch, in which case this is huge news for artificial intelligence researchers.
3. This is not the only case where the label "adult content" has had a strangling effect. Actions taken under the justification of "adult content" should never be blandly accepted, but should be carefully examined for accuracy, necessity, and bias.
[ EDIT: A final complaint: Labelling a bad policy, sloppily implemented and poorly supervised, as a "glitch", is blaming the company's technologists for a mistake of its management. It says that Amazon's management does not trust, understand, or respect its technologists. In a technology company, this is a strong signal of decline.)
Friday, April 10, 2009
Penguicon 7.0
If you're anywhere near Michigan, you need to consider Penguicon. It's an open-source software conference! It's a science-fiction con! It's two great tastes that really do taste great together. There's always a great deal of excellent technical content, and the SF people lend a really healthy sense of relaxation and creativity to the whole thing. Where else can you learn CSS and belly dancing in one weekend?
I'm giving a talk at Penguicon this year: "sqlpython: SQL is fun again". It's sort of a preview of my upcoming SQL*Plus Alternatives talk at IOUG Collaborate... but without the stuff about Oracle-only tools, and with more focus on sqlpython's rapidly developing cross-RDBMS powers, and a healthy plug to pull more people into the project.
In fact, I'm leaving directly from Penguicon to Collaborate. Yikes! It'll be a fun week.
Thursday, April 09, 2009
PyOhio: Call for Proposals
The PyOhio Call for Proposals has been issued!
PyOhio 2009 takes place July 25-26, 2009 at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Much like a mini-PyCon, it includes scheduled talks, tutorials, Lightning Talks, Open Spaces, and room for your own unique ideas. If you can make it to Ohio this summer, please consider participating.
PyOhio 2009, the second annual Python programming mini-conference for Ohio and surrounding areas, will take place Saturday-Sunday, July 25-26, 2009 at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. A variety of activities are planned, including tutorials, scheduled talks, Lightning Talks, and Open Spaces.
PyOhio invites all interested people to submit proposals for scheduled talks and tutorials. PyOhio will accept abstracts on any topics of interest to Python programmers.
Standard presentations are expected to last 40 minutes with a 10 minute question-and-answer period. Other talk formats will also be considered, however; please indicate your preferred format in your proposal. Hands-on tutorial sessions are also welcomed. Tutorial instructors should indicate the expected length
PyOhio is especially interested in hosting a Beginners' Track for those new to Python or new to programming in general. If your proposal would be suitable for inclusion in the Beginners' Track, please indicate so. Organizers will work with speakers and instructors in the Beginners' Track to help them coordinate their talks/tutorials into a smooth, coherent learning curve for new Python users.
All proposals should include abstracts no longer than 500 words in length. Abstracts must include the title, summary of the presentation, the expertise level targeted, and a brief description of the area of Python programming it relates to.
All proposals should be emailed to cfp@pyohio.org for review. Please submit proposals by May 15, 2009. Accepted speakers will be notified by June 1.
You can read more about the conference at http://pyohio.org
If you have questions about proposals, please email cfp@pyohio.org. You can also contact the PyOhio organizers at pyohio-organizers@python.org.
PyOhio 2009 takes place July 25-26, 2009 at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Much like a mini-PyCon, it includes scheduled talks, tutorials, Lightning Talks, Open Spaces, and room for your own unique ideas. If you can make it to Ohio this summer, please consider participating.
PyOhio 2009, the second annual Python programming mini-conference for Ohio and surrounding areas, will take place Saturday-Sunday, July 25-26, 2009 at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. A variety of activities are planned, including tutorials, scheduled talks, Lightning Talks, and Open Spaces.
PyOhio invites all interested people to submit proposals for scheduled talks and tutorials. PyOhio will accept abstracts on any topics of interest to Python programmers.
Standard presentations are expected to last 40 minutes with a 10 minute question-and-answer period. Other talk formats will also be considered, however; please indicate your preferred format in your proposal. Hands-on tutorial sessions are also welcomed. Tutorial instructors should indicate the expected length
PyOhio is especially interested in hosting a Beginners' Track for those new to Python or new to programming in general. If your proposal would be suitable for inclusion in the Beginners' Track, please indicate so. Organizers will work with speakers and instructors in the Beginners' Track to help them coordinate their talks/tutorials into a smooth, coherent learning curve for new Python users.
All proposals should include abstracts no longer than 500 words in length. Abstracts must include the title, summary of the presentation, the expertise level targeted, and a brief description of the area of Python programming it relates to.
All proposals should be emailed to cfp@pyohio.org for review. Please submit proposals by May 15, 2009. Accepted speakers will be notified by June 1.
You can read more about the conference at http://pyohio.org
If you have questions about proposals, please email cfp@pyohio.org. You can also contact the PyOhio organizers at pyohio-organizers@python.org.
Monday, April 06, 2009
geekspeakr.com
geekspeakr.com: connecting tech women speakers with event organizers
Anyway. geekspeakr's are the real deal. w00t! Need more Python and Oracle speakers there, though.
Note to self: just as soon as the PyOhio CFP is out (very soon), do not neglect to spam Pythonistas on geekspeakr! At least, the ones vaguely near Ohio.
Many organisers of technical conferences, meetups, and dinners want to have more gender-balance in their lineups, but they don't know where to find technical women speakers.I'm really glad to see this. I'm even more glad to see, browsing through speakers, that they really are technical women. I've... um, there's no good way to say this... seen other "tech women" groups that quickly became dominated by women networking for their multilevel marketing careers. It's pretty understandable, since they have a much more obvious need to network than us geeks - but, you know, it's really not the purpose.
Enter geekspeakr.com, a simple directory and connections system to help technical women speakers and event organisers to find each other.
Anyway. geekspeakr's are the real deal. w00t! Need more Python and Oracle speakers there, though.
Note to self: just as soon as the PyOhio CFP is out (very soon), do not neglect to spam Pythonistas on geekspeakr! At least, the ones vaguely near Ohio.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Five minutes at PyCon change everything
I gave a five-minute Lightning Talk on sqlpython on Saturday. I hoped it would pique the interest of some people who sometimes use Oracle, and give them a neat example of yet another cool thing being done with Python. It certainly did that, and I got lots of gratifying feedback.
I knew people would ask when it would be available for non-Oracle databases, so I said, tongue-in-cheek, that this was my distant-future ambition for "sqlpython 3000". What I didn't expect was that several of the people buttonholing me over the next two days would ask to collaborate to get multi-RDBMS support in place. Help? Uh, yeah... I guess help would help... I honestly hadn't even been thinking about that...
Brian Dorsey in particular wanted to see the code face-to-face with me, so I put a card on the Open Space board, just in case anybody else wanted to show up, and twittered about it one bare hour in advance.
Nine people came, all of them eager to get going on writing code, bringing great ideas to get started. All this for a project that was basically personal 36 hours before.
Noooo, now other people are going to be exposed to my squiggly code! Now I know what embarrassment-driven development really is.
If I'd had $1 million of startup funding to hire a staff to work on sqlpython, I couldn't have gotten a team that large or that talented. I figure that gives me better than a 1000-to-1 return on my PyCon investment. :)
So anyway, I'm setting up a mailing list for cooperation on sqlpython, and it looks like the far-future dream of multi-RDBMS sqlpython has suddenly become imminent. Stay tuned!
I knew people would ask when it would be available for non-Oracle databases, so I said, tongue-in-cheek, that this was my distant-future ambition for "sqlpython 3000". What I didn't expect was that several of the people buttonholing me over the next two days would ask to collaborate to get multi-RDBMS support in place. Help? Uh, yeah... I guess help would help... I honestly hadn't even been thinking about that...
Brian Dorsey in particular wanted to see the code face-to-face with me, so I put a card on the Open Space board, just in case anybody else wanted to show up, and twittered about it one bare hour in advance.
Nine people came, all of them eager to get going on writing code, bringing great ideas to get started. All this for a project that was basically personal 36 hours before.
Noooo, now other people are going to be exposed to my squiggly code! Now I know what embarrassment-driven development really is.
If I'd had $1 million of startup funding to hire a staff to work on sqlpython, I couldn't have gotten a team that large or that talented. I figure that gives me better than a 1000-to-1 return on my PyCon investment. :)
So anyway, I'm setting up a mailing list for cooperation on sqlpython, and it looks like the far-future dream of multi-RDBMS sqlpython has suddenly become imminent. Stay tuned!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
sqlpython lightning talk follow-up
This morning's lightning talk on sqlpython was an example of what's so great about PyCon - it instantly really good suggestions about how to go onward with sqlpython development, and offers of collaboration. Awesome!
Except that I forgot to show the instant graphs using \b / \l terminators. Rats! That's the most eye-catching part!
I wasn't prepared for the common question, though: "Where's the repository?" Well, it's here:
https://www.assembla.com/wiki/show/sqlpython It is crazy-unstable, and if you're actually trying to use it, use the PyPI version instead.
I mean to get a link to that into the docs as soon as possible, but I don't have Sphinx configured right on this machine, so that may have to wait.
Quick review of the lightning talk:
* Unix-like powers: cat, ls, grep, >, |
* Python interactive session; access to resultsets (`r`) and bind variables (`binds`)
* Special output formats with alternate terminators (see `help terminators`)
* The magic that makes sqlpython work:
- cmd
- cmd2
- pyparsing
- code (for the embedded Python interpreter)
- cx_Oracle
For further reference, see the sqlpython docs, particularly the comparative review of sqlpython vs. SQL*Plus vs. gqlplus vs. Senora vs. YASQL.
Except that I forgot to show the instant graphs using \b / \l terminators. Rats! That's the most eye-catching part!
I wasn't prepared for the common question, though: "Where's the repository?" Well, it's here:
https://www.assembla.com/wiki/show/sqlpython It is crazy-unstable, and if you're actually trying to use it, use the PyPI version instead.
I mean to get a link to that into the docs as soon as possible, but I don't have Sphinx configured right on this machine, so that may have to wait.
Quick review of the lightning talk:
* Unix-like powers: cat, ls, grep, >, |
* Python interactive session; access to resultsets (`r`) and bind variables (`binds`)
* Special output formats with alternate terminators (see `help terminators`)
* The magic that makes sqlpython work:
- cmd
- cmd2
- pyparsing
- code (for the embedded Python interpreter)
- cx_Oracle
For further reference, see the sqlpython docs, particularly the comparative review of sqlpython vs. SQL*Plus vs. gqlplus vs. Senora vs. YASQL.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Ada Lovelace Day: Tech Women I Admire
I will publish a blog post on Tuesday 24th March about a woman in technology whom I admire but only if 1,000 other people will do the same.I can't stop at one; sorry if that breaks the rules.
- As a frequent speaker at conventions and as co-author of the Python Cookbook, Anna Ravenscroft has a great talent for helping people understand problems, even the brain-bending ones.
- Dianne Marsh helps run a company that vigorously fosters good, innovative programming, both among their own developers and throughout the entire region. Her energy and dedication have been crucial to CodeMash, one of the most innovative things to happen in our area, and to several user groups in Michigan.
- Sarah Dutkiewicz, aka the Coding Geekette, is a programmer from northeast Ohio who's done great things in pulling together the geek community and teaching them new technologies (like IronPython on Mono) - often the sort of stuff that requires venturing into dragon-infested realms where the documentation is scattered or nonexistent.
- In her long-time leadership of the OOUG, Coreen Walker has helped make it one of the best Oracle groups around.
PyCon begins...
... well, the tutorials and summits begin tomorrow. But some of the organizers are already in place, getting things set up. I wish I were there! I won't arrive until Thursday afternoon - I had to sacrifice all but the core conference days so that I could make the separate trip to IOUG Collaborate. For me, it feels like arriving at a family Christmas halfway through the gift unwrapping.
Have you seen the list of PyCon sponsors this year? It's amazing! It's practically a Who's Who... if your company isn't sponsoring PyCon, your corporate headquarters is probably roofed with thatch. :) It's a tribute to Van Lindberg, PyCon's sponsorship coordinator, but even more to the growing corporate recognition that Python has become a pillar of the IT world.
Have you seen the list of PyCon sponsors this year? It's amazing! It's practically a Who's Who... if your company isn't sponsoring PyCon, your corporate headquarters is probably roofed with thatch. :) It's a tribute to Van Lindberg, PyCon's sponsorship coordinator, but even more to the growing corporate recognition that Python has become a pillar of the IT world.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Where to host docs?
I'm working on some preliminary sqlpython docs using Sphinx, which is really really nice. No guarantees that they will remain there, though - they need a home without a raw IP address for a URL!
I'm trying to figure out a permanent home for the docs. Here are the possibilities I know of.
I'm trying to figure out a permanent home for the docs. Here are the possibilities I know of.
- Host the files on my own server. Buy a domain name (but not like last time). This is obviously the best option... unless I ever decide to quit paying for the domain, or the server, or forget to, or get hit by a bus. So really, I'd prefer something that wasn't so dependent on, well, me.
- Sourceforge, Assembla, Google Code, and probably everybody else who hosts projects also let you create and host wiki-style documentation. As far as I know, though, there's no way to upload Sphinx documentation into any of them; the wiki form and the Sphinx form are not compatible.
- Google Pages gives you free webpages with a reasonable URL - but no folders. Sphinx depends on a folder structure - it creates folders "html", "doctrees", "_sources", "_static", and maybe more once I get serious.
- Creating a Google App Engine to host the docs - now this is an intriguing possibility. I'm going to check it out. Still, it would be nice if posting the docs for a technical project were not, itself, a technical project.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
sqlpython 1.6.1 puts the "python" in "sqlpython"
I've been asked several times, "Why is it called sqlpython?"
My answer used to be, "Ask Luca [Canali]; he wrote it."
Not anymore. Now, witness the power of this fully armed and operational hybrid SQL/Python working environment.
[EDIT: As of sqlpython 1.6.2, you use quit(), exit(), or Ctrl-D/Ctrl-Z to return from
interactive Python mode. See docs.]
A history of result sets from each query is exposed to the python session as the list `r`; the most recent result set is `r[-1]`. Bind variables are exposed as the dictionary `binds`. All variables are retained each time the python environment is entered (whether interactively, or with one-line `py` statements).
Resultsets in `r` are read-only, but `binds` can be written as well as read, and will be working bind variables in the SQL environment.
Oh, the possibilities...
My answer used to be, "Ask Luca [Canali]; he wrote it."
Not anymore. Now, witness the power of this fully armed and operational hybrid SQL/Python working environment.
[EDIT: As of sqlpython 1.6.2, you use quit(), exit(), or Ctrl-D/Ctrl-Z to return from
interactive Python mode. See docs.]
0:testschema@eqtest> select title, author from play;
TITLE AUTHOR
--------------- -----------
Timon of Athens Shakespeare
Twelfth Night Shakespeare
The Tempest Shakespeare
Agamemnon Aeschylus
4 rows selected.
0:testschema@eqtest> py import urllib
0:testschema@eqtest> py current_season = urllib.urlopen('http://cincyshakes.com/').read()
0:testschema@eqtest> py
Now accepting python commands; end with `end py`
>>> r[-1]
[('Timon of Athens', 'Shakespeare'), ('Twelfth Night', 'Shakespeare'), ('The Tempest', 'Shakespeare'), ('Agamemnon', 'Aeschylus')]
>>> for row in r[-1]:
... print '%s by %s' % (row.title, row.author)
Timon of Athens by Shakespeare
Twelfth Night by Shakespeare
The Tempest by Shakespeare
Agamemnon by Aeschylus
>>> [row.title for row in r[-1] if row.title in current_season]
['Timon of Athens', 'Twelfth Night']
>>> binds['nowplaying'] = [row.title for row in r[-1] if row.title in current_season][0]
>>> end py
0:testschema@eqtest> print
:nowplaying = Timon of Athens
0:testschema@eqtest> select title, author from play where title = :nowplaying;
TITLE AUTHOR
--------------- -----------
Timon of Athens Shakespeare
1 row selected.
A history of result sets from each query is exposed to the python session as the list `r`; the most recent result set is `r[-1]`. Bind variables are exposed as the dictionary `binds`. All variables are retained each time the python environment is entered (whether interactively, or with one-line `py` statements).
Resultsets in `r` are read-only, but `binds` can be written as well as read, and will be working bind variables in the SQL environment.
Oh, the possibilities...
Friday, March 13, 2009
Senora 1.0.1, and mutual FOSS goading
Martin Drautzburg just published version 1.0.1 of Senora, a command-line client for Oracle that makes a very attractive alternative to Oracle's SQL*Plus.
The timing - seven weeks before I present a review of Senora, sqlpython, and others at IOUG Collaborate - is not a coincidence. I asked Martin to review my draft paper submission for the conference. He graciously did, and supplied several crucial corrections and additions regarding Senora.
He also mentioned that he'd been continuing Senora development for in-house use, but that it had been years since he'd released the updates. My upcoming review spurred him to do the release.
And what a release it is - it's full of awesome! Mighty new flag options! Multiple sessions! Automatic generation of Senora commands from SQL scripts!
It sent me to scheming about how I can copy this fresh goodness to sqlpython.
Plus, of course, the paper reminded me painfully of some of sqlpython's shortcomings. I'm starting to use the sqlpython trac seriously now, as a token to myself of my goodwill. This will probably lead to a spurt of Embarrassment-Driven Development before the conference.
FOSS people know what the ancient Romans knew: money is a feeble motivator compared to glory. (Half the time, people only want money so they can buy things that will make them feel glorious...)
The timing - seven weeks before I present a review of Senora, sqlpython, and others at IOUG Collaborate - is not a coincidence. I asked Martin to review my draft paper submission for the conference. He graciously did, and supplied several crucial corrections and additions regarding Senora.
He also mentioned that he'd been continuing Senora development for in-house use, but that it had been years since he'd released the updates. My upcoming review spurred him to do the release.
And what a release it is - it's full of awesome! Mighty new flag options! Multiple sessions! Automatic generation of Senora commands from SQL scripts!
It sent me to scheming about how I can copy this fresh goodness to sqlpython.
Plus, of course, the paper reminded me painfully of some of sqlpython's shortcomings. I'm starting to use the sqlpython trac seriously now, as a token to myself of my goodwill. This will probably lead to a spurt of Embarrassment-Driven Development before the conference.
FOSS people know what the ancient Romans knew: money is a feeble motivator compared to glory. (Half the time, people only want money so they can buy things that will make them feel glorious...)
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