GeezerVison

The "Blog" Page: Continued

This page hosts additional posts which originally appeared on the main blog page, but were moved here for space. Some of the oldest may qualify as historical today, but all are still relevant enough to merit a second life here. As on the main page, items below are grouped by category with newer items first (more or less), and ⎋ denotes off-site content.

Newest

More recent posts culled from the main page.

Python

• Tk 8.6 finally comes to Mac OS Python... and promptly crashes
• New on the Python Changes page: 3.6's Windows launcher hokey pokey
• The Python 3.6 string-interpolation story just grew comical

Programs

• New in Android Deltas Sync: backsyncs and exports for the patient
• thumbspage's latest cut adds swipe gestures and config arguments
• thumbspage 2.1 boosts thumbnail quality and debuts dynamic layout
• thumbspage 2.0 sprouts slide shows, full screen, and floating Top
• thumbspage 1.7 pops up info, avoids clips, and learns to love iOS
• A new PyMailGUI gets its headers more in line with practice and spec
• shrinkpix helps you shrink website images for faster (and politer) views
• User guides of major apps here get a mobile-friendly makeover
• Photo-app upgrades: thumbspage galleries, PyPhoto GUI, tagpix organizer
• Get ziptools—the extra features you miss most in Python's zipfile module
• New in programs: the PyGadgets toy box, a new tagpix, and a support page
• Blockbuster program updates: now with apps, exes, and ports to Mac OS (X)
• A new standalone release of PP4E's PyMailGUI email client
• A new Frigcal has "dropped," with text colors, Unicode tweaks, and more

Books

• O'Reilly's "lifetime access" ebook libraries may also be nuked in early 2020
• Beware publishers bearing infringing titles...

Etcetera

• Mail drops do in [email protected] after 26 years
• The Z Fold3 content island—and its deltas-scripts work-around
• ⎋ Dark themes: Fortnite vs Apple greed, Samsung axes its cloud
• Now with narration: tap Note or up-swipe in the training gallery
• learning-python.com: behind the scenes
• Anonymity powered: this website's new privacy policy
• RIP, rmi.net/~lutz: EarthLink pulls the plug after 24 years
• Some anecdotes, quips, and jokes from my Python crusade
• iOS 13 works around Safari's two-tap troubles (sort of)
• This site is now much faster, after moving and shrinking
• Engineers who ignore history... are doomed to repeat zeros?
• Google brands this site a privacy risk; no, really
• Mac OS Sierra hides its cruft (and High Sierra criminalizes FTP)
• Windows 10 turns up the advertising to 11 (and 10 S is worse): kill your PC here
• I've finally ended my 20-year training business—announcement, discussion
• Now public in honor of the prior bullet: training materials, workbook,photos
• ⎋ I gave a short biographical interview
• Your US tax dollars at work—advertising YouTube

Newer

Fairly recent news, weather, and sports.

Python

• The new, scarier Python Changes page has an early preview of Python 3.6
• Python logos (and websites) through the years, at the resources page
• An overview and review of Python 3.5
• The Python 3.X sandbox saga continues: 3.5 coroutines with "asynch" and "await"
• Why proposed type declarations in Python 3.5 are a bad idea

Programs

• This site was relocated and renovated, using genhtml, imapfetch, and this
• frigcal 1.6 loads PNG month images without requiring a Pillow install
• mergeall 2.2 uses Python 3.5's os.scandir() to compare trees 5 to 10 times faster
• mergeall 2.1 has automatic backup and rollback for changes
• frigcal 1.5 does more error handling to avoid startup closes
• New short code example using files and recursion: treesize
• New code example using zipfiles and FTP: pixindex
• The latest release of frigcal — version 1.4, as posted
• A new downloads page (later this) with full source code for mergeall and frigcal

Books

• FAQ: about future editions of my books
• Updated book support pages: LP5E and PP4E
• Revised: how to run PP4E book examples on Python 3.3 through 3.5 (and later)
• A new Programming Python examples screenshots page

Etcetera

• On software's ethical responsibilities
• A postpourri: Windows zipfiles, training notes, author photo
• ⎋ Of note: Python code shows up in the movie Ex Machina (and yes, it's 2.X)
• ⎋ Of note: Google's machine learning library, initially programmed in Python 2.X
• ⎋ Of note: the Calibre ebook reader is written primarily in Python (2.X), using PyQt for its GUI
• Even Python 3.5's Windows docs diss Firefox (see the backstory)
• Seems like old times?... Bing special-cases Firefox
• ⎋ And later this—galaxy-class evil for the sake of a single-digit market share browser
• ⎋ I gave an interview on Dice.com about questions for Python job seekers
• The original version of the prior bullet's article, before cuts and changes
• A word about cloud storage in the conclusion of mergeall's docs
• Some notes on web-based calendars in frigcal's wrap-up
• Joke of the day: seen on Windows 10 preview...

Newish

Some of these go back a handful of years, but so do some of us.

Python

• A note on the pip install tool shipped with Python 3.4
• Changes in Python 3.4 and later
• Changes in Python 3.3 and their impact on book examples

Programs

• New decorator/bytes code example here
• New code examples: frigcal, mergeall (as announced here, here, and here)
• LP5E supplement: classmethods vs staticmethods

Books

• Take 1: early draft of LP's OOP tutorial chapter
• A new purchase-pointers page for all the books, with more on translations
• PyRef5E excerpt: Python's formal inheritance rules
• Recent book translations spotted in the wild: 1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7
• New book: Python Pocket Reference, 5th Edition
• How to run PP4E book examples on Python 3.3 through 3.4
• How a monkey broke PyMailGUI (PP4E Tk Unicode-limit patch)
• ⎋ O'Reilly sampler from LP5E: TOC + Chapter 1 (priorversion)
• New book: Learning Python, 5th Edition
• ⎋ O'Reilly sampler from PP4E: TOC + Chapter 1
• PP4E: Pillow replaces PIL — running PIL image examples on Python 3.2+
• A web version of LP4E's range-testing decorator material

Etcetera

• More cause to use % instead of str.format(): it's faster
• New reader queries: files, map(), iterators, books
• Answers to recent reader queries and FAQs
• ⎋ Great moments in cloud storage: an early outage
• Article: Python's New-Style Inheritance Algorithm
• Article: The new Windows launcher in Python 3.3
• Article: context for true beginners — What's a Programming Language?
• Article: thoughts on Python's evolution — Answer Me These Questions Three...
• Blast from the past: material from an early talk (smileys and all)

And So On

These blog pages' posting lists are occasionally pruned, but this website opened in 1996, and still has lots of additional content not listed here. You can reach all of it from the toolbar, the home page, or search.