News (38)
Python gets faster
The 'Need for Speed' coding sprint aimed to make various improvements in Python's execution speeds. Read more »
Flaws found in open source codes
A project funded by the US Department of Homeland Security has praised improvements in open source security, while outlining some common errors. Read more »
Python 2.6 released, marches towards 3.0
The Python Software Foundation today released version 2.6 of the popular language, a release that lays the groundwork for the language-changing Python 3.0 release. Read more »
Getting ready for the Python breakage
If Google starts behaving oddly later this year, it might not be due to too many YouTube videos of Britney Spears losing it or a stealth attack by Microsoft's minions, but because of a forthcoming change to the Python programming language. Read more »
PHP, Python, Samba get security tick of approval
Perl, PHP, Python and Samba have been commended for improving security in a report analysing over 250 open-source projects. Read more »
Google open sources 'Protocol Buffers'
Google has open sourced an internal development tool called 'Protocol Buffers', a data description language that forms a basic part of the operation of the company's vast computing cluster. Read more »
PHP, Perl and Python pass Homeland Security test
Coverity, which creates automated source-code analysis tools, announced late Monday its first list of open-source projects that have been certified as free of security defects. Read more »
Greenpeace goes open source in collaboration push
Greenpeace is developing an online collaboration platform to mobilise climate change, based entirely on open-source technologies. Read more »
BBC opens up its code
Software developed by the broadcaster's researchers has been collated in a new section of the BBC's Web site. Read more »
Microsoft's CodePlex joins the online collaboration game
CodePlex will provide programmers with access to the source code of Microsoft's products. Read more »
Features (50)
Huffman coding in Python
We'll show you how to implement Huffman encoding, which is useful when dealing with small sets of items, such as character strings, in Python. Read more »
Pick up some Python with this script walk-through
In Python, loops and flow control statements aren't terminated, which can get a little confusing. Here is a script walk-through from Builder.com to help you with Python. Read more »
Java on Google App Engine? Not yet
Reports out of a Google developer conference in India indicated that Google was primed to add support for Java programs running on its presently Python-only Google App Engine. Read more »
Generating functions rather than lists in Python
There are situations where list comprehensions are useful, but also situations where you're better served by using some other form. In this article we'll take an example of where a function factory is the better choice. Read more »
Python in the enterprise: Pros and cons
Python has developed quite a following among a small-but-growing cadre of self-described Pythonistas. This article highlights the pros and cons of building enterprise-class application in Python. Read more »
A Quick Start to Python
With the final release of Python 2.5 we thought it was about time Builder AU gave our readers an overview of the popular programming language. Builder AU's Nick Gibson has stepped up to the plate to write this introductory article for beginners. Read more »
Python priority queues - the heapq module
The heap is an integral component in many algorithms -- a data structure that keeps elements organised so that it is always easy to find the smallest value. We'll show you how you can use the heapq module to implement heaps in Python in just a few lines of code. Read more »
Partial function application in Python
Python is not an inherently functional language, but with the help of the functools library you can write some programs in a functional style. One of the key tools do to writing functional code is partial function application, which is available through the functools module. Read more »
Parsing data from the Web in Python
Builder AU's Nick Gibson runs through the development of a quick program to parse data from the Web. Read more »
Reading zip archives in Python
Zip is the name of a popular file compression algorithm, which lets you both combine multiple files into a single archive and store them on disk using less space. We'll show you how you can open and read zip files in your Python scripts. Read more »
Blog (10)
'Tis the season for Python hacking
-- Python founder and benevolent dictator Guido van Rossum, now of Google, announced on the Python developer lists the second annual Python Sprint at Google. The result should be an initial alpha of the Python 3000 interpreter. Read more »
AppEngine: Google's Python boost
-- I'm sure I am not the only person who will be learning a thing or three about Python due to AppEngine curiosity -- for that, Python should give Google thanks. Read more »
No, you can't have private attributes in Python
-- Is the lack of privacy a real shortcoming of the language, or is our judgment clouded by the old conventions of C++ and Java? Why do we need private variables anyway -- at what point does defensive programming become paranoia? Read more »
Make money from free code
-- The Open Source Developers conference began Wednesday morning at Monash University in Melbourne. Read more »
Bloated code is bad for working families
-- It's hard to argue with large and bloated as adjectives, but streamlined is debatable. MinWin comes in at a hefty 25MB and for that price you don't even get graphical output. Read more »
CodeGear Q&A
-- CodeGear is the new name for Borland's developer tools business. Builder AU spoke to CodeGear about the handover and direction of the developer tools business under the new banner. Read more »
Azure: A matter of trust
-- Ray Ozzie hit the nail on the head when he said Azure's success will hinge on trust. Who outside (and inside) the core circle of ISV trust Microsoft? Read more »
Do you trust data in the cloud?
-- Cheap hosted storage, app engines, and hosted code libraries. Can you really trust your data, or your client's data in the magical Web 2.0 cloud? Read more »
How to manage a team of geniuses
-- Hiring a team of developers and techies that are smarter than you is inevitable. As a manager how do you cope with this and keep things on track? Read more »
Aussies bringing Ruby to .NET
-- Developers at the Queensland University of Technology are currently working on an innovative project to create a compiler for the Ruby language that runs on the .NET Common Language Runtime. Read more »
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This blog post covers some of the technologies available for creating applications for the Semantic Web. Read more »
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Bridging the gap between programmers and the visionA successful project will have a hard time flying if you don't walk through the game plan before writing a line of code. Read more »
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Social news start-up Streem shuts downSydney social news start-up Streem will shut down this afternoon, according to a heartfelt notice posted on the site this morning by its founder Elgar Welch. Read more »
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How to Reset Windows passwords
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Five things to consider when choosing a Linux distribution
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Cyber-terrorism 'a big threat'
2008/12/01 12:43:32
What's on?
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Space pr0n, patent karma and Yang out -- Club Builder
On Club Builder this week: how NASA plans to get the Internet into space, Jerry Yang is out the door at Yahoo and Brendan Eich discusses javascript engine competition.

