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Is it Python past cheetah already?

When my son was young, we had a clock with animals rather than numbers around the dial at each hour, and we used to refer to times like tiger past zebra, rather than twenty past twelve. In retrospect, ...

Handling nasty characters - Perl, PHP, Python, Tcl, Lua

Are your writing or maintaining a web based application that uses forms? If so, you have better be aware of some of the nasty characters that are around! The < character, when echoed back from a ...

Learning PHP, Ruby, Lua and Python - upcoming courses

The following programming courses are all booking well, but still have good availability: PHP - starting 6th July Ruby - starting 14th July Lua - starting 10th August Python - starting 17th August ...

Using Python with OpenOffice

The Python-UNO bridge can be used to call up pieces of Python code from within OpenOffice. The source code of a "hello world" example can be found at ...

Weekday or Weekend PHP, Python and Perl classes?

Should we run training courses during the week, or at weekends? Our 'traditional' business has been 80% + employees of companies, government organisations and educational establishments who have ...

Learning to program in PHP, Python, Java or Lua ...

... or in Ruby, Tcl, C, C++ or Perl Are you new to computer programming? Is it so long since you programmed that you feel very rusty and would like to start again from basics? If you've said "yes" to ...

Learning Python - many new example programs

I ran a public Python course earlier this week ... and (as I usually do!) wrote a number of short examples during the class to show the delegates not only how something is done, but also how the ...

UnboundLocalError - Python Message

What does THIS mean? UnboundLocalError: local variable 'taxrate' referenced before assignment It means that you have tried to modify the value of a variable - perhaps in a function - before you have ...

Python - a truly dynamic language

In Python everything is an object - and that includes functions which are objects which contain blocks of code. And this means that you can define different functions of the same name depending on a ...

wxPython - Introduction and sample

Python has a number of GUIs ... and these days wxPython is the most popular. As one of the latter sessions of yesterday's Python Programming Course, I introduced the GUI and talked a little about how ...

Discount Training Courses - PHP, Perl, Python

Here's an email I wrote in answer to a request for a discount earlier today. Many training companies quote high(er) prices, with the full anticipation that they can offer a wide range of discounts to ...

Best source to learn Java (or Perl or PHP or Python)

An impossible question - there is no best way - yet it's one that I'm asked from time to time. [["Hello. I'm doing a b.tech. My friends like ur site very much. Plz help us in Java programming - plz ...

Dynamic code - Python

When I learned to program, named blocks of code (subroutines and functions) were built into each program and weren't things you could change at run time. But these days, in some languages like ...

Pascals Triangle in Python and Java

There are certain "party pieces" that I have during courses ... and on my Java Courses, a program to generate Pascal's Triangle in an array of arrays is one of them. One of my delegates on today's ...

Python Regular Expressions

Python supports string pattern matching to regular expressions, using Perl style regular expressions. The re module - loaded via   import re brings the appropriate elements into your ...

What are exceptions - Python based answer

How do you check for run time errors in your program? You'll include tests with if statements in almost every program you write, to ensure that user entered data is reasonable / as you would expect ...

List Comprehensions in Python

How do you perform an operation on every member of a list, producing a new list? A List Comprehension in Python is a structure in which a for loop is written within a list's square brackets. Its ...

Optional and named parameters in Python

When you're calling a named block of code (either a function or a method in Python terms), you'll pass in a number of parameters. Some of those will be mandatory - needed every time. Some will be ...

Anonymous functions (lambdas) and map in Python

Why do you name variables? So that you can use them again later. But if you don't want to use them more than once, why bother with a name at all? Most programming languages create temporary or ...

The road ahead - Python 3

A couple of days ago, I mentioned Python 3 in general terms - and today I'm starting to flesh out the road ahead. print The print operator in Python was always a bit curious, with the trailing ...

Sharing variables with functions, but keeping them local too - Python

""" One of the big issues with any programming language is how in shares (scopes) variables between blocks of code. On one hand there's a desire to have variables easily accessible without a lot of ...

Looking for a value in a list - Python

In any scripting language, avoiding loops makes for easier to write and faster to run code. One example is Pythons if .. in construct, where you can avoid a loop to test whether a value matches any ...

Python 2 to Python 3 / Python 3000 / Py3k

There's a new release of Python on the horizon. Well - it's rather closer than the horizon, as there are beta test releases around, and a final production release is due within the month. It has been ...

Global - Tcl, PHP, Python

PHP, Python, Tcl and a number of other languages have a global keyword. And it's a misnomer in most (if not all) cases. To the un-initiated, "Global" means "worldwide" or "shared all around". So ...

Q - Should I use Perl or Python?

An interesting question posed to me today - and not for the first time. And not for the first time, my answer had to be "tell me more about your application, and about the people who will be writing ...

Saying NOT in Perl, PHP, Python, Lua ...

"Isn't there one standard way to say NOT?" asked one of my delegates on today's course - and it's an excellent question. But the answer to a question about a negative subject is itself in the negative ...

Python in an afternoon - a lecture for experienced programmers

Last Friday afternoon I was set a challenge - to present Python in three hours to a group of 20 very experience programmers who, however, knew nothing about this particular language. The session was ...

Equality, sameness and identity - Python

Is the number 7.0 the same as the number 7.00000? A trick question, because it depends on how you look at it. It has the same value, but it is not identical. And if eachof them is held in computer ...

Using a utility method to construct objects of different types - Python

When you call an object's constructor method, you'll be allocating memory to hold the information about that object and the method will return an instance variable - a reference with which you can ...

Tektronix 4010 series / Python Tuples

The Tektronix Storage Tube was a cathode ray screen across which a beam of electrons could be swept directed, leaving a trail behind it rather like the plume behind an aircraft (technology note). ...

Underlining in Perl and Python - the x and * operator in use

Perl's x operator - yes, that is the letter x - is used to replicate the string on the left the number of times given to the right. "What use is THAT" I have been asked in the past, by delegates ...

Advanced Python, Perl, PHP and Tcl training courses / classes

This item is adapted from an answer that I have just written by email - but the question / conundrum as to what to do with fractured advanced training requirements is a common one, so the answer is ...

Python - formatting objects

If you're going to be printing out objects from within Python, simply provide an __str__ method in the class and it will do all the work for you. Indeed - why not create classes and objects for ...

Perl, PHP or Python? No - Perl AND PHP AND Python!

"Which language is best for xxx task" I am often asked. And I'll listen to the questioner's description of his application, his background, and the sort of support he'll have at his place of coding ...

Perl, PHP, Python, Tcl, Linux, MySQL, Ruby courses ...

What's this list got in common (apart from all being countries?) BelgiumEnglandFinlandFranceGermanyGuernseyIrelandNetherlandsNorwaySaudi ArabiaScotlandSloveniaSwedenUSAWales They're all countries ...

Python Script - easy examples of lots of basics

Here's a Python script which is pretty imperfect, but shows a whole lot of the basic facilities of the language in use - a sort of "you can do it this way" crib sheet for newcomers. Written during ...

Python - input v raw input

If you use input, then the data you type is is interpreted as a [b]Python Expression[/b] which means that you end up with gawd knows what type of object in your target variable, and a heck of a wide ...

Question on division (Java) - Also Perl, PHP, Python ...

Q: What's the difference between % and /? A: / returns the result of a division % returns the remainder when you do a division. Divide 18 by 7 you get 2, with a remainder of 4 (i.e. 4 left over). ...

Integer v float - Python

If you had f failures in s samples, what proportion failed? .6666666666 you might correctly say - but Python might not come up with that answer if you have two integer counts >>> s = 6 >>> f = 4 ...

Python v Ruby

I've been asked for a comparison! • Both are object oriented scripting languages - or rather claim to be scripting languages, but are really compile-and-run via their own virtual machines, in ...