Pickling in python

is so easy compared to Java. In fact almost everything is easier than Java. List comprehension is a big win. Dealing with files is as you'd expect it to be. Even a primitive REPL wins over jikes any day.

Gotta wonder what Java has over Python (other than easy deployment via jar files)? Here's a tentative list:

1. J2ME for small devices


2. VM that has been tested for grande problems (cf JavaGrande)


3. Lots of distributed computing technology stacks: JMX, Jini, Jiro, JCache, etc


4. Better IDE and tools (until Jython finds its way into Eclipse)


5. (So far) huge commercial backings

What else?

Python in python

Was the first python cooked following a recipe from Python Cookbook? Silly joke. Never mind!

p4rss 2.0

Recently I made a few changes to p4rss to generate RSS 2.0 and to preserve description formatting of the original change lists.

Note that p4 review works just fine for what p4rss does if your mailer deals with RSS.

Scripting Java

Rhino or Jython?

Again another bad mark for Java...

Emulate (just a note to myself)

Write (when N is small).

Digital video camcoder - a must have for computer users

Dave Faber posted to Interesting People about his trouble with XP tablet machine. It flashed some error code for a fraction of a second leaving him unable to find what the error code was, let alone what it meant. Rich Wiggins replied:

I feel your pain. When my trusty reliable Thinkpad running Windows
2000 failed in a similar way, I tried to capture the error code
by using a digital camera, attempting to snap a shot at the precise
moment of the failure. But it flashed by too fast to catch --
digital camera latency is too great.

So I whipped out my DV camcorder and zoomed in on the corner of
the screen where the failure code flashes. While viewing the
tape on a TV, I was able to freeze frame on the error code,
which Google searches helped me diagnose.

Another essential tool for computer users: a digital video camcorder for recording error code...

For high throughput, nothing beats sneakernet

Jim Gray on TeraScale SneakerNet and infinite and intelligent storage (from ACM Queue). The idea of infinite storage has been used in practice in Plan 9 -- see venti and other papers from Bell Labs. See also storage systems from the current issue of IBM Systems Journal.

One thing Java does better than others

Deployment using jar files. Name them as you please, drop them in anywhere, read them from anywhere, replace them on the fly. Jar files are like containers that made modern international trade possible.

Update on 2003-08-01 -- newly released Python 2.3 has 'import from zipfile' feature. Neat.

CDATA saves

Problem: Put some data (with \n and and some raw HTML fragments) inside an XML element.
When the XML is XSLT'ed to HTML, \n should become <br/>.

Answer: Stuff the data into good old CDATA, and run substitution code from http://www.dpawson.co.uk/xsl/sect2/break.html. Note to self: Admire the concise way XSLT uses parameters and recursion. Be grateful I didn't have to write that code. When in doubt, CDATA saves the day.

Unfortunately three RSS aggregators I tried get CDATA wrong. They all either zap <br/> as an empty XML element or render <br/> as HTML invisible newline. Interestingly both IE and Mozilla render CDATA br correctly as <br/> via their own XSLT processors. XML Is annoying.