midtoad’s mess.ages
excellence in creative mediocrity

I found it surprising that a good number of python programmer’s blogs aren’t written using python - isn’t that like GM employees driving Toyota cars?
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Recently, I switched from Linux to Mac OS X with the purchase of a Mac Mini, and I’ve been busy getting some of my favourite Linux apps running on Mac OS X (for those that don’t know, Mac OS X is effectively a pretty face on top of a customized version of Linux; techies please excuse this simplification). One of the apps I wanted to get running is Skencil, a vector-based graphics program that can create and edit .svg images.
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I see that there are several requests for CompeGPS to export its waypoints to a format that other programs can use, but this feature has not been added. As a temporary solution, I’ve written a small utility to convert .WPT files to .gpx files.

I’m unable to determine what all of the fields in the CompeGPS waypoint record are for, but understand enough of them to be able to generate a valid .gpx file. You can then open that file with, for instance, G7ToWin.

To run my utility, grab this zip file containing the utility (CompeGPS2gpx.exe) and a sample .WPT file (CalgaryAreaAirspace.WPT). Unzip the file into a folder, open a command prompt in that folder, and type:

CompeGPS2gpx.exe CalgaryAreaAirspace.WPT

Naturally, replace the name of the sample file with your own waypoints file.

I tested the utility with Windows XP, Python 2.4.1. I was able to read the generated .gpx file with G7ToWin (and even found a bug in it that the author has already fixed in his latest version A.00.199f).

If you need to convert CompeGPS waypoints to some other obscure format, get a copy of GPSBabel, as it understands more than 40 formats, and can convert the generated .gpx file to just about any format you desire.

The utility in written in Python, and the source code is provided. If you make changes or improvements, please let me know, and provide a copy of your work.

PHP is okay for whipping up something quick, but once I start getting into more complicated stuff, I start to feel lost. I’d rather work in Python. So I’ve begun the job of moving my BikeRoots site over to Python. There were a few things involved…
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First time I’ve written a post that has four categories!

I ran across a cool software project called Leonardoserver , hosted on Sourceforge. It’s a project licensed under the GPL that allows paragliding federations to easily offer on-line contests. You can find one example of such a contest at paraglidingforum.com.
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If you haven’t heard of del.icio.us yet, take a look!

Del.icio.us has an interesting concept, one that I didn’t understand at first even though I was using its service. Each day I open up a browser and point it at del.icio.us/tag/python. I get a page with what looks like an RSS news feed: a listing of a number of links about the Python programming language, some of them with descriptions, but others not. I didn’t understand where these links were coming from, or who can post, and how, on the service. Then I read a post on woyp, and decided to take a closer look.
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Did you know that the Google search engine is available in many different languages? Over 100 were available, at last count. Google has a sense of humour, too. Some of the languages available include the following:

• Bork, bork, bork!
• Elmer Fudd
• Hacker
• Klingon
• Pig Latin

Take a look on their language page.

Two good articles on coding practices that should be good reading for anyone working as a developer:

• How to write maintainable code, by Bram Cohen (creator of BitTorrent)
• The Art of Unix Programming, by Eric S. Raymond

here’s a proposal for a template for coding practices. The two attached modules (written in Python, but applicable to other languages as well) demonstrate the following principles:
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Recently when I started up my PC, fsck checked my /home folder and found a number of errors, including bad blocks. When it was done, I had over 2000 files in my /home/lost+found folder. How to tell if any of them are worth keeping, or are merely duplicates of something else? Can I safely delete them?

Rather than go through all 2000 by hand, I wrote a little script in python to examine the first line of each file, then tell me what it had found. Naturally, as I went along, I made improvements to the file. In the end it was able to check whether any of the files were mail files, html, png, xml, c++ or other files. The ones that I could identify were moved into another folder for safe-keeping.

Here’s the script (.py file saved as .txt) that I used:
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Feeling the urge to be able to write or review Python code while out of the office, I’ve picked up a Toshiba e830 PocketPC, running Windows Mobile 2003 SE. I installed Python 2.3 on the unit, and am now able to code anywhere. Added bonus, there is Tkinter and wxPython also available for this platform.

A number of people commented on the article in GCN that talks about the new Python 2.4 release, and wondered if more could not be done to address the perception of speed. The point is made that although people mention all of the benefits of Python, like ease of use, flexibility, they always come back to making references to its speed. And the question is raised, “what can we do to counter this perception?”. I think the answer lies in a quote by a user in that same article: “At first, Doak was worried a Python-based program would not run simulations quickly enough, however he found performance to be acceptable”.

Let’s turn this around. Forget about trying to create a perception that Python is fast. Compiled languages will always be faster, at least for large applications. Or at least they’ll be perceived that way. So let’s acknowledge that upfront, but say “Python is fast enough for most uses”, but then go on to say “and in addition to its acceptable speed, it offers many advantages like elegance, ease-of-use, flexibility, easy code maintenance (since the code is still understandable 6 months later!) etc.

Marketers of other products have used this same technique successfully. For example, at one time there was a perception that Kellogg’s Corn Flakes were old and boring. Sales were slipping. Rather than refute that, marketers turned the issue on its head by emphasizing that the product had been around a long time because it was good, and good for you. Hence was born the slogan “taste them again, for the first time”. And sales of the product turned around.

Possible slogan for Python: “Fast enough, and better in many ways”.

Hmm, while surfing (i.e. wandering almost aimlessly from one webpage to another linked page to a third page etc, until you’ve lost the original intent) this evening on MovableType’s website, I came across Python Desktop Server, which led me to Python Community Server…
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I wanted this blog to be served up by a Python-based application server like Zope, maybe with Plone or Squishdot running on top of it. But I didn’t want to buy all that complexity, so we’re using MovableType instead.
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