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dConstruct 2008 notes. I missed this year’s d.Construct due to DjangoCon, but from Alastair Campbell’s notes it looks like it was the best one yet.

# 15th September 2008, 3:23 pm / alastair-campbell, conferences, dconstruct

Gearshift. Whoa, a full migrations library written in JavaScript for Gears (which uses SQLite for its data store).

# 15th September 2008, 2:51 pm / gears, gearshift, google-gears, javascript, migrations, sqlite

Kevin Teague explains the Python packaging ecosystem. The distinction between setuptools, PyPI, distutils, eggs, easy_install, pkg_resources and zc.buildout used to make my head spin. Kevin Teague’s outstanding explanation made it all make sense.

# 15th September 2008, 2:06 pm / buildout, distutils, django, easyinstall, eggs, kevin-teague, pypi, python, setuptools

django-batchadmin (via) Seriously classy reusable Django app that adds batch editing (multiple delete by default, with hooks to add your own custom batch actions) to the Django admin changelist screen, using best practice techniques of sub-classing ModelAdmin and hence requiring no patches to Django core itself.

# 15th September 2008, 10:46 am / brian-beck, django, django-admin, djangobatchadmin, modeladmin, python

Google wants your Hotmail, Yahoo and AOL contacts. And they’re using the password anti-pattern to get them! Despite both Yahoo! and Hotmail (and Google themselves; not sure about AOL) offering a safe, OAuth-style API for retrieving contacts without asking for a password. This HAS to be a communications failure somewhere within Google. Big internet companies stand to lose the most from widespread abuse of the anti-pattern, because they’re the ones most likely to be targetted by phishers. Shameful.

# 15th September 2008, 10:39 am / aol, ffs, google, hotmail, oauth, passwordantipattern, phishing, security, shameful, yahoo

Using Python and Stompserver to Get Started With Message Queues. An eminently practical guide to this year’s Hot New Thing (for web developers at least) from Gareth Rushgrove.

# 14th September 2008, 11:39 pm / gareth-rushgrove, message-queues, python, stomppy, stompserver

Goon City. Every internet meme ever, rendered in pixel art. See if you can find the Zeppelin.

# 14th September 2008, 11:09 pm / funny, gooncity, memes, pixelart, somethingawful, zeppelins

I love Zeppelins, and you should too (via) Slides from my PyCon UK lightning talk on Zeppelins. I’ve annotated them using SlideShare comments.

# 13th September 2008, 6:38 pm / airships, lightning-talks, pyconuk, pyconuk2008, slides, speaking, my-talks, zeppelins

djangopony.com (via) “Magic that can’t be removed”

# 13th September 2008, 12:10 pm / django, djangopony, magic, pony

OAuth on the iPhone. Mike from Pownce explains their superbly implemented OAuth flow for the Pownce iPhone app, and how much push-back they got on it from regular users. One interesting point is that an iPhone application could “fake” a transition to mobile safari using core animation as part of a sophisticated phishing attack. This is a flaw in the iPhone OS itself—it does not offer a phishing-proof chrome as part of the OS.

# 12th September 2008, 9:47 pm / iphone, mike-malone, oauth, phishing, pownce, security

The TimeToLead.eu technical stack: Django and Flex. Nice case study of a site using Django’s i18n support along with django-rosetta.

# 11th September 2008, 8:33 pm / django, flex, i18n, jp-stacey, python, rosetta, timetolead, torchbox

Prototype based programming in python. Neat implementation of JavaScript-style prototype inheritance in Python.

# 11th September 2008, 5:50 pm / javascript, prototypal-inheritance, python

The alt=“” attribute from Ian Hickson. In case you were wondering how it all ended, Hixie has a mammoth summary post explaining the facts and the potential alternatives.

# 11th September 2008, 5:45 pm / accessibility, alt-text, html5, ian-hickson

Interview with Ian Hickson about HTML5. Good questions, interesting answers, including an explanation and breakdown of the planned 2022 date for the final recommendation.

# 11th September 2008, 5:29 pm / html5, ian-hickson

Dromaeo: JavaScript Performance Testing (via) This is one classy benchmark. Run it in as many browsers as you like (each run is saved to the server and assigned a run ID), then compare the results by appending ?id=[run1],[run2]... to the URL.

# 11th September 2008, 4:06 pm / benchmarks, dromaeo, javascript, john-resig, performance

Hugely informative thread on multi-db support in Django. I brain-dumped some ideas for a Django multi-database connection API on the developer list, and got a ton of smart push-back from people who’ve been there and have the scars to prove it.

# 10th September 2008, 11:31 pm / databases, django, multidb

The web framework for ponies. At DjangoCon Cal Henderson suggested that Django should get a mascot with “magical powers”. Brian Veloso obliges.

# 9th September 2008, 11:59 pm / brian-veloso, cal-henderson, django, djangocon, ponies

django-html. A small project I’m working on to make Django behave better with regards to HTML v.s. XHTML.

# 9th September 2008, 11:59 pm / django, djangohtml, html, projects, python, xhtml

Django snippets: server with debugging backdoor. Six lines of code that uses spawning to fire up a Django server on port 8000 and a remote interactive interpreter backdoor on port 8001, so you can interogate the state of your server within the same process.

# 8th September 2008, 10:15 pm / debugging, django, python, spawning

Django tickets with keyword “djangocon”. Adrian and Jacob ran an “I want a pony” session during their closing keynote at DjangoCon—I’ve filed the feature requests as tickets tagged with the “djangocon” keyword.

# 8th September 2008, 3:02 am / adrian-holovaty, django, djangocon, djangocon08, iwantapony, jacob-kaplan-moss, python, tickets

Cappuccino Web Framework. Now open source (LGPL)—the Objective-C-in-JavaScript web application toolkit from 280 North, who are speaking at this year’s FOWA in October. Beautiful logo.

# 5th September 2008, 3:27 pm / cappuccino, javascript, lgpl, objectivej, open-source

Think Wize crew celebrates the Django 1.0 release. With a trip to the Django Reinhardt museum at his birthplace in the village of Liberchies, Belgium.

# 5th September 2008, 1:55 pm / belgium, django, djangoreinhardt, thinkwize

The story behind Google Chrome. Superbly researched by Niall Kennedy—a detailed overview of the staff and acquisitions that went in to Google Chrome.

# 4th September 2008, 1:50 am / chrome, google, niall-kennedy

Django 1.0 release notes. What’s new in Django 1.0. Short answer: one heck of a lot.

# 4th September 2008, 1:10 am / django, python, releasenotes

Django 1.0 released! Outstanding. Massive thanks to everyone who contributed. We made it!

# 4th September 2008, 1:08 am / celebration, django, python, release

Low level hooks for multi-database support in Django. As discussed in this sub-thread on reddit: The internal Django Query class has a ’connection’ attribute which can be set by the constructor. This low level hook is the secret to talking to more than one database at once, but higher level APIs have not yet been defined. Jacob Kaplan-Moss: “As a matter of fact, at least a couple high-traffic Django sites are using the new hooks.”

# 3rd September 2008, 11:33 pm / django, jacob-kaplan-moss, multidb, python, query, reddit

dmigrations thread on Django Nashville. The Django Nashville Google Group is currently hosting the most interesting discussion of dmigrations.

# 3rd September 2008, 10:36 pm / django, dmigrations, google-groups, nashville, python

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