Daily Life in an Ivory Basement

This TDD anti-pattern catalogue is truly excellent!

--titus

I'd like to find an MSU student to report semi-monthly on python-dev. The student would be responsible for monitoring the python-dev mailing list and active PEPs, summarizing substantive discussions in a public forum, and integrating feedback from the community. This would be a 1 credit CSE independent study course (CSE 490). Additional effort (for more credits) could be applied towards building and maintaining a CMS site to store and reference past and present summaries, or integrating reviews of new modules.

The ideal student would be someone who communicates well in writing, is interested in technical reporting, and has some basic experience with programming. Python experience (CSE 231) is a plus.

Please send a brief summary of interests together with a sample of writing to ctb@msu.edu.

--titus

Apparently the ipaddr module in Python 3.1 is disliked by some, and there was a reasonably robust discussion on python-dev about how it's wrong, wrong, wrong. Guido finally ruled: ixnay on the addr-pay.

This is pretty relevant given the twitstorm caused by Zed Shaw's ludicrously self-confident rants about how he always knows best and is a kickass programmer and oh, by the way, the Python stdlib is kinda lousy in places. I think the thing to take away from Zed's rant is that the Python module addition process is, in fact, moderately FUBARed, with some people able to add perhaps ill-considered modules while others have to struggle to get the time of day. (Aahz's solution is good -- require a PEP.)

It's relevant personally, too, as I dig my way through some of pygr's modules. It's way easier to add code than it is to refactor it, especially if you don't have a lot of unit tests; if you want to retain backwards compatibility, you're basically doomed. DOOOMED, I say! And that's why the Python stdlib has so many issues.

(Incidentally, nothing against Zed Shaw -- obnoxiousness is his public persona, and he's definitely worth listening too -- but it is funny to realize that all his articles contain arguments that boil down to "he always knows best and is a kickass programmer." I especially liked his statistics rant.)

--titus

OK Folks, I know that planet.python.org and planetpython.org underwent a merger, and during the merger a new, or patched, or somehow upgraded version of planet went into effect on both. However, I cannot find a link to the info post any more.

I would like to put the latest stable version of PlanetPlanet into effect on the Google Summer of Code/Python site but I am wary of using the devel repo without any inside info. (I am currently running 2.0, which is the latest official release.)

Should I use the dev repo, or should I track down whatever version planet.python.org is using?

thanks!

--titus

Just submitted this on Thursday:

Next generation sequencers are beginning to impact agricultural biology. Over the next few years, next generation sequencing will produce incredibly large datasets that will address structural (e.g., SNPs, CNVs, indels, methylation, translocations) and functional (e.g., RNA expression, transcription factor binding sites) variation in genomes that will provide detailed insights that could explain phenotypic variation. Despite this immense power, next generation sequencing in agricultural animals will not be used effectively due to the lack of easy-to-use computational tools to support data analysis, and the unique needs of agricultural animal genomes. We propose to build an easy-to-use Web interface that incorporates several existing mapping and post-mapping analysis programs for next generation sequencing data that will greatly empower agricultural researchers. We will also provide solutions to issues such as unfinished and unannotated assemblies, private data sets, private annotations, etc. Our tools will give individual investigators or small groups with no computational support the power to utilize and interpret next generation sequencing data.

Any guess as to the funding agency? Yep....

The exciting life of a professor continues!

--titus