Article on Embedding Python...

I’ve been spending a lot of time lately on the Python Wiki trying to figure out if there is material, advice, basically anything that could help me start a Python Users Group. I happened to be running through an area trying to collect articles/useful information in a format suitable for conferences and user groups, when I ran across an article about embedding python. It’s actually a very good article, despite being 8 years out of date. And, to be honest it’s exactly how you would embed Python today, except you may want to use Py_InitializeEx() to keep Python from attaching signal handlers. I wish I knew of this article the first time I tried embedding Python. Might have saved me from reading a lot of source code.

Feeling Pain

So, one opinion I’ve upheld for a long time was the idea that you should feel the pain of your design decisions. Why? Simple: you learn about the consequences of those design decisions. On the surface, it may appear that you made some excellent trade-offs, while in reality it turned out to be less than ideal.

Rewiring your brain...

I’ve always been amazed by the human brain, and its capacity to learn. So when I ran across a video on Google Talks by Dr. Michael Merzenich on rewiring your brain, I had to watch it. If you’re at all interested in how the human brain works, then consider watching. I’ve linked it below for your convenience.

A long time in the making...

This story started years ago over some software for model trains. It looks like it finally went to court, and was a huge win for Free Software. The short form: open source licenses stand up in court. A company stole a developer’s work, patented it, and then tried to invoice the original developer. It’s really worth a read, and a huge win for Open Source licenses.