Python411 Show Notes, Links and Discussions

Links mentioned in show:

Mike McGurrin’s web app Meeting Clock:
http://www.mcgurrin.com/meetingclock.htm

My own Decision Analysis web app:
DecisionAnalysis

Hello all,

Here is a short autobiographical sketch by Vim Toutenhoofd, the interviewee for this episode. Please leave your comments, questions and observations!

I am a 75 year old glider pilot. I made my first solo flight 58 years ago in The Netherlands, which is the country I was born and grew up in. I represented my country 3x in the World Soaring Championships. I came in 6th in the Standard Class in 1961,
I received a PhD degree in theoretical nuclear physics from the University of Melbourne, Australia. After completing my work for that degree I did no more work in nuclear physics. Instead I became the sailplane pilot / scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder Colorado. I worked there 13 years in the Cloud Physics program and flew their instrumented sailplane through large clouds near thunder and hail storms. As part of my work at NCAR I learned to program in FORTRAN. My code, written on punch cards, ran on a Cray super computer.
I placed an order for an IBM PC soon after it was announced and I think that it is possible that I was (one of) the first to get one delivered in Colorado. Prior to that I owned a SOL personal computer (with huge box containing a hard disk).
After I left NCAR I helped establish a commune in Oregon. I contributed income as a computer programmer consultant writing code in UCSD Pascal. The commune dissolved 9 years later.
I lost most of my assets in the commune adventure. I went into early retirement and now live on a very small annuity and a little social security income.
Since approximately 1987 I have written no code except, in the last 2 years a total of perhaps about 50 lines of Python. I read Mark Lutz’s Learning Python and a few chapters of Hans Petter Langtangen’s Python Scripting for Computational Science. And I think that it was after I heard your interview with Shai Vaingast that I read Beginning Python Visualization. The book Rapid GUI Programming with Python and Qt has 19 chapters. I’m currently reading Chapter 5.
About 10 years ago I took up flying hang gliders. At the time I had not flown for perhaps 15 years. I did not fly hang gliders since 2005 except recently I made a few flights in my Swift’Light powered hang glider. I intend to be flying more actively in the future.
Since I worked at NCAR I have had an idea about an instrument which would make it easier for glider pilots to utilize updrafts. I am studying Python with the purpose of making such an instrument. I own a Nokia N900. It may well become the core of the prototype of that instrument and my major task will be to write open source Python code which should produce a display which will help glider pilots utilize updrafts more efficiently than they probably would without my instrument. I hope to start a business which will market such an instrument as well as other instruments for ultralight aircraft.
I have the impression that MeeGo is the system software which will best support Python on hand held computers in the foreseeable future. My confidence is 70%.
I expect that I will have no answer, or vague answers, for most questions you can come up with relative to Python, MeeGo, Qt, and the N900.
I am shy, and slow with my words, spoken with a Dutch accent.
I spend about one hour per day on my project.
My mind works less efficient than it did when I was younger.
As you say sometimes in your podcasts: “there you have it”. I am pleased with your response to my email. Let me repeat: I will not be insulted if you decide to do the podcast by yourself. Vim

An interview with Gerald Spreer and Ian Barrow about The Maker, an open source Content Management System for websites, coded in Python. We also discuss Gerald’s new iPhone game Color Rush.

Any comments?

Ian Barrow’s web site is an excellent example of what can be done with the Maker.

Ian’s site

Elements that it includes are:

– Full use of all of the Maker features (extensive use of maker dynamics)
– Integration with wordpress.
– Integration with greybox Javascript libs for image slideshows.
– Integration with .mac image galleries.
– Adding latest Tweets using the twitter API
– HTML code generated via:
txt2tags (another Python Project): http://txt2tags.sourceforge.net/
and Markdown: http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/
(both of the above can be managed from the Maker and just provide a simpler way of generating HTML from plain text.)

The Maker is very simple to use, but can scale up to meet the needs of many, so if you do want to migrate your current site to the Maker, we would be more than happy to help.

the Maker Home Page

Please click here to open the online application
Which Mobile Operating System is Right for You?

and then leave your comments…

Please comment on the interview with John Graves and on Open Allure.

Links:

Download Open Allure from Google Code

Google Discussion Group for Open Allure

Youtube videos

Open Allure videos on Vimeo

Open Allure Ning Site

Here are John’s notes on the interview:

Notes on Interview of John Graves by Ron Stephens / Python411 — May 31, 2010
http://bit.ly/9jKUzF

A Intro - Very Special Interview
B Open Allure voice and vision enabled educational software uses Python modules, shown on YouTube
C Vinge Rainbows End
D NLTK Natural Language Toolkit
E Video showing use in cooking
F Sixth sense TED talk - Open Allure uses standard webcam
G PyPong
H Webcam interface at MIT is 3D
I Open Source Python Code
J Like HTML, but one step further
K Python No Hands
L Source code available now at openallureds.org
M Grade school teacher could author Open Allure script as easily as multiple choice test
N Math parser understands 2+7 and NLTK allows dictionary lookup
O Open Allure in Context - text is meant to be heard
P Ron’s interest in communications
Q Microsoft NATAL, Siri
R Open Allure is an on-ramp because Python is so accessible
S Vinge’s book: augmented reality, gestures and voice
T Background on Wall Street
U Python code accessibility: pyreport, literate programming
V Open up hood and tinker — whether cars or iPhones
W Power of open source paradigm: put control in the hands of people that need to accomplish something.
X Isn’t just a solution for software — solution for many of world’s most serious problems
Y Need to be addressed at grassroots level by informed people, particularly in China and India
Z More Chinese on the Internet than Americans

A Enormous potential in Asia using UNICODE
B Android — face recognition, more open
C Very exciting, seeking feedback
D Open source allows collection of ideas from periphery
E Wall Street Journal: Why Humans Triumphed http://bit.ly/aogZaM
F Glitch in recording
G Ron’s explanation of glitch
H ShowMeDo helped learn Python
I Kahn Academy http://www.khanacademy.org/
J Second-by-second feedback on teaching effectiveness http://www.khanacademy.org/faq.jsp
K Continuous process improvement in educational space
L Singularity University http://singularityu.org
M History
N Being presented in open way on YouTube
O Innovation happens with mix of right people
P Clay Shirkey: Here Comes Everybody
Q Dan Pink: Drive — master something new
R No one can
S Thank you. Come to http://bit.ly/openallure
T Ron’s plans for blog, mobile phones
U Check out John’s videos

A 00:00:00.00
B 00:01:52.16
C 00:04:41.79
D 00:05:19.00
E 00:09:04.87
F 00:10:08.10
G 00:12:41.11
H 00:13:13.06
I 00:13:29.03
J 00:14:22.43
K 00:15:20.48
L 00:15:47.67
M 00:16:29.10
N 00:16:52.84
O 00:17:43.43
P 00:19:15.82
Q 00:20:51.36
R 00:22:03.81
S 00:22:37.24
T 00:23:37.89
U 00:24:25.33
V 00:26:01.65
W 00:26:37.40
X 00:26:47.33
Y 00:27:32.06
Z

00:27:59.75

A 00:28:22.30
B 00:29:04.75
C 00:31:10.92
D 00:31:50.72
E 00:33:06.99
F 00:35:12.20
G 00:35:35.38
H 00:36:41.48
I 00:37:12.87
J 00:38:10.12
K 00:39:33.47
L 00:40:08.48
M 00:41:03.01
N 00:42:43.82
O 00:44:03.07
P 00:45:52.50
Q 00:47:31.32
R 00:48:32.00
S 00:49:38.69
T 00:50:25.25
U 00:52:06.22

This blog is primarily for show notes, comments and discussion, and links supporting the Python411 podcast series.