So, I have some code that queries a data source, and that data source sends me back an XML message. I have to parse the XML message so I can store information from it into a relational database. So, let’s say my XML response looks like this: <xml> <response> <results=2> <result> <fname>Brian</fname> <lname>Jones</lname> <gender>M</gender> <office_phone_ext>777</office_phone_ext>…
What “Batteries Included” Means
When I first got into Python, I read lots of blog posts that mentioned that Python was “the batteries included language”, but those same posts were short on any explanation of what that really meant. A few years and lots of projects later, I think I’m now qualified to at least give a beginner a…
Intro to Python 101 For Beginners
If you code Python already, go somewhere else. I’m only talking to complete and total newbies to the language right now. I want to show them the stuff that I wished someone had put in one nice, neat blog post for easy consumption when I got started with the language. If that’s what you’re looking…
If You Don’t Date Your Work, It Sucks.
I probably get more upset than is reasonable when I come across articles with no date on them. I scroll furiously for a few minutes, try to see if the date was put in some stupid place like the fine print written in almost-white-on-white at the bottom of the post surrounded by ads. Then I…
Head first into javascript (and jQuery)
So, I had to take a break from doing the Code Katas just as I was getting to the really cool one about Bloom Filters. The reason for the unexpected break from kata-ing was that I had a project thrown into my lap. I say “project” not because it was some huge thing that needed…
2009 Python Meme
Heard about this from Tarek, and you can find more of them on Planet Python (where I found Tarek’s post). What’s the coolest Python application, framework or library you have discovered in 2009? Probably Tornado. Tornado is an interesting application, because it blurs the line a bit between a framework like Django and a traditional…
CodeKata 4: Data Munging
I’m continuing to take on the items in Dave Thomas’s Code Kata collection. It’s a nice way to spend a Sunday night, and it’s a good way to get my brain going again before work on Monday morning. It’s also fun and educational 🙂 CodeKata 4 is called “Data Munging”. It’s not very difficult data…
PyYaml with Aliases and Anchors
I didn’t know this little tidbit until yesterday and want to get it posted so I can refer to it later. I have this YAML config file that’s kinda long and has a lot of duplication in it. This isn’t what I’m working on, but let’s just say that you have a bunch of backup…
Python Code Kata 2: Karate Chop (Binary Search)
I’ve decided it’d be fun to go through the Code Kata put together by Dave Thomas, co-author of The Pragmatic Programmer, and co-founder of Pragmatic Programmers, LLC (publishers of the finest tech books on the market right now; they can’t expand their selection fast enough for me). Anyway, the first Code Kata, while being truly…
Python, PostgreSQL, and psycopg2’s Dusty Corners
Last time I wrote code with psycopg2 was around 2006, but I was reacquainted with it over the past couple of weeks, and I wanted to make some notes on a couple of features that are not well documented, imho. Portions of this post have been snipped from mailing list threads I was involved in….