Who uses Python?
walterbyrd
I have heard of some DBAs who use a lot of python.
I suppose some scientists. I think python is used in bioinformatics. I
think some math and physics people use python.
I suppose some people use python to learn "programming" in general.
Python would do well as a teaching language.
I would think that python would be a good language for data analysis.
Anything else? Finance? Web-analytics? SEO? Digital art?
kyos...@gmail.com
We use it for login scripts, locking down PCs, automating backups,
GIS, and more.
Mike
Grant Edwards
> Anything else? Finance? Web-analytics? SEO? Digital art?
Electrical engineering. It's pretty handy for writing programs
to talk to embedded systems using various protocols/interface
(async-serial, ethernet, etc.). It's also good for analyzing
communications, analyzing performance tests for analog
instruments, and so on.
--
Grant Edwards grante Yow! Edwin Meese made me
at wear CORDOVANS!!
visi.com
sjde...@yahoo.com
Presumably most of the above are "programmers" when they're writing
programs in Python, right? It's a general purpose language that can
be used for a very wide range of domains.
FWIW, I do use it for digital art (music visualization). It's
excellent for data analysis (I've done everything from stats on lines
in an SQL database to mining flat text files of data for statistical
projections of MLB baseball player performance). I know a couple of
people who sell a double-entry accounting system written in Python,
which is presumably "finance". Web analytics is very common (I've
seen several such projects).
I know at least one group using python as a control language in
embedded systems (at least at one point a few years back they had
opted for Stackless, but Python nonetheless); they're doing some cool
home-automation style stuff.
I've also written my window manager, various text editor extensions,
numerous web applications, one-off data analysis scripts, several GUI
applications, etc in Python (or mostly Python). The apps I've worked
on range from one-offs at the command line to midrange scripts to
multiple-hundreds-of-thousands of lines of code projects worked on by
many developers.
Thomas Jollans
news:1180985830.2...@q69g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
>[...] programmers, and web-site developers?
Broadly speaking, everyone who uses python programs in it and may thus be
considered a "programmer". Python is a fully-fledged programming language
and as such used for loads of things, like any other language.
Thomas Jollans
Adam Pletcher
Python more and more for our development needs.
Although I'd say our primary use is on the tools and data-mining
front... only indirectly relating to creation of digital art. It's
closer to why a programmer or sysadmin would use Python, I suppose.
--
Adam Pletcher
Senior Technical Artist
Volition / THQ www.volition-inc.com
supercooper
that slurp data into MySQL/SQLServer from text files (ALOT), batch
processing of daily mindless tasks like copying files and backups, and
filing/cataloging/EXIF-IPTC metadata editing on digital photos - to
name a few. I took Mark Lutz's python course last year and he summed
it up with "Anything you can do on a computer, you can do with
Python".
Ahmed, Shakir
>> I use for GIS Data automation in the backend and gradually replacing
all old VBA application with the Python scripts.
Mark Carter
> Anything else? Finance? Web-analytics? SEO? Digital art?
I played with NodeBox a little while ago:
http://nodebox.net/code/index.php/Home
"NodeBox is a Mac OS X application that lets you create 2D visuals
(static, animated or interactive) using Python programming code and
export them as a PDF or a QuickTime movie. NodeBox is free and
well-documented."
Pretty trippy stuff.
Mark Carter
> Broadly speaking, everyone who uses python programs in it and may thus be
> considered a "programmer".
A woman from a job agency 'phoned me up the other day, and asked me if I
was any good with "algortihms". I told her that all programs are
algorithms, so the question didn't make that much sense.
Needless to say, I wasn't offered an interview ;)
Wildemar Wildenburger
> A woman from a job agency 'phoned me up the other day, and asked me if I
> was any good with "algortihms". I told her that all programs are
> algorithms, so the question didn't make that much sense.
>
>
if you were good with algorithms to which you replied that all programs
are algorithms. Maybe so, but that's not what she asked. The question
makes perfect sense, however your answer doesn't, unless you also added
something along the lines of "And since I'm good with programs I am good
with algorithms".
/W (these days appearantly standing for "What a nitpicker" ;))
DaveM
I'm a hobbyist. No, that's not right - I run a course and I learnt the
language writing a program to allocate tutors and students to tutorial
groups over a three day course I run. I don't know what that makes me - and,
no, I don't want any helpful answers!
DaveM
Bjoern Schliessmann
> Anything else? Finance? Web-analytics? SEO? Digital art?
We're using Python for a computer-controlled railway simulation
system at a german university. It consists of a rather large model
railway network, constructed with realism concerning railway
operations, coupled to realistic railway control centre technology.
Uses are education of students, training of railway employees,
teaching of railway basics to career changers and managers, and
simulation of new operating procedures.
Python (2.5.1) is used here for
- the main database where all states are kept (signal aspects, given
and actual turnout states, track occupation ...). It's a simple
binary protocol using TCP; the server maintains string:int pairs in
a Python dict. It's made with Twisted and running under twistd.
- the automatic drive controlling software of the model trains. It
listens for changes of signals and track occupation and controls
the model trains using a commercial digital model railroad
controller attached to /dev/ttyS0. Also using Twisted/twistd, and
pyserial.
- various helper scripts and little servers for small functional
units (tramway reverser, level crossings)
Momentarily, I'm working on a program that simulates a german relais
rail control centre of a certain type (also using Twisted). We
already have it in C++, but it's difficult to maintain and needs a
rewrite because of various bugs. Starting to use combined
wxPython/Twisted apps in the near future is likely.
We're mainly using Debian Sarge as OS. pylint is also recently used
to check the code. Right now, we use Python for approx. 2 years.
Other languages used are C, C++, and Perl (ugh :) ), for other core
applications and the microcontrollers (interfacing with the railway
components). We mainly have "low-end" computers (100-800 MHz), but
the performance suffices absolutely. The source code is maintained
using Subversion.
Regards,
Björn
--
BOFH excuse #404:
Sysadmin accidentally destroyed pager with a large hammer.
Cody Brown
(I've hear of it, but never used it).
Now starting to work in an Research Lab Seismic processing of data, we
use it all the time! That and Madagascar pyton interface.
~code
Maurice LING
I use Python for my bioinformatics work, mainly in text analysis and
transcriptome analysis.
ML
Eric_...@msn.com
I am using python for csound.. You can use it inside of csound as
well as using it on csound files... python makes text files very
easy... I have to say that the price was very good and that is very
important because I don't get funding from anywhere. You can also get
programmers at a good cost for simple problems when you get stuck...
through getacoder.com I was offered a $10 bid to solve one (I fixed it
befour the bid was finished though)
http://www.stormpages.com/edexter/csound.html
Hendrik van Rooyen
> Anything else? Finance? Web-analytics? SEO? Digital art?
Industrial control and alarm annunciation
- Hendrik
Hongtian
Python is a very good script language and can be very easy to embed
into our server. It is great!
Maria R
are, in a sense, a programmer :o)
But seriously, we use Python for controlling fully automated logistics
solutions (conveyors and stacker cranes), for generating PLC code etc
etc.
We are also about to start using FactoryCAD (a thingy from UGS to run
on top af AutoCAD) in which we have "intelligent" objects. These
objects have action code and FactoryCAD contains an embedded Python
interpreter. Our mech engineers thus write (although a bit simple but
still..) Python to make things work :o)
We further have generators of mechanical assemblies in SolidEdge. We
use a rule based approach and both the configuration files and the
rule base are in Python. Our Mech engineers maintain that too.
My two cent..
monty...@gmail.com
purposes. i'm also working on some neat data mining tools written in
python (called orange, in case someone's interested)
walterbyrd je napisao/la:
Maurice LING
> i use it for text mining, processing large text corpora for scientific
> purposes. i'm also working on some neat data mining tools written in
> python (called orange, in case someone's interested)
>
Hi,
I am very interested with your use of Python. I am into text mining as
well. Perhaps we can communicate more on this...
I am also interested in your data mining tools, orange... Care to give
more details.
Thanks in advance
Maurice
Neil Cerutti
> developers?
I manage the database application, data integration, and
reporting for a financial aid office, and I use Python every day.
Though I only seldom have to write new programs or update my old
ones.
I use it to shuffle and sort important files around, to convert
reports into formats necessary for various import and export
functions, to reconcile data between database systems, and to
maintain little text databases for various business processes.
The only "programming language" I use more often is Excel
(VLOOKUP and Pivot Tables specifically). Python can replace any
individual Excel application, but I use Excel for a bunch of
one-timers, for which I find it more convenient. Python enters
the picture when I find something that I need to do frequently,
and with similar data inputs and outputs.
--
Neil Cerutti
walterbyrd
> I tend to agree with some earlier poster that if you use Python you
> are, in a sense, a programmer :o)
>
Yes, in a sense. But, in another sense, that is sort of like saying
that people who post on message boards are "writers."
I should have been more clear, when I posted "programmers" I meant
"professional programmers" i.e. people who develop software
applications for a living.
I am getting the idea that most python "programmers" use python more
like a tool, rather than as their primary specialization. In other
words, python is usually not the primary specialization. I think this
is different than other languages, such as Java, or even PHP. Few
python users are specifically "python programmers" rather, they are
data analysts, scientists, etc. who use python in the same way that
some might use excel - as a tool.
BTW: I am seriously impressed with the stuff that many here are doing
with python. And I would like to thank those who responded to my
post.
sjde...@yahoo.com
> On Jun 5, 3:01 am, Maria R <Maria.Reinham...@accalon.com> wrote:
> > I tend to agree with some earlier poster that if you use Python you
> > are, in a sense, a programmer :o)
> >
>
> Yes, in a sense. But, in another sense, that is sort of like saying
> that people who post on message boards are "writers."
>
> I should have been more clear, when I posted "programmers" I meant
> "professional programmers" i.e. people who develop software
> applications for a living.
>
> I am getting the idea that most python "programmers" use python more
> like a tool, rather than as their primary specialization. In other
> words, python is usually not the primary specialization. I think this
> is different than other languages, such as Java, or even PHP.
Good professional programmers don't have a single language. That's
true even of Java programmers. PHP is an odd case; there are good PHP
programmers, but there's also a large group of people who aren't
really trained as programmers at all (despite writing PHP for a
living) for whom it's the only language they kind-of know. The same
thing exists in other languages, but in my experience it's a fair bit
more common in the PHP world.
> Few python users are specifically "python programmers" rather, they are
> data analysts, scientists, etc. who use python in the same way that
FWIW, the majority of my paid work day is spent developing Python code
(or doing ancillary work common to all software projects--gathering
requirements, design, testing, etc), and it's the 3rd job in a row
(going back to 1999) where I've done a significant amount of Python
coding for work. The prior two also involved a fair amount of C,
Java, and Perl as well.
I wouldn't call myself specifically a "Python programmer", but I
wouldn't have called myself specifically a "C programmer" 10 years
ago--and when I'm hiring, it's much more important to me to find a
good programmer than to find a programmer who knows Python (or
whatever other system is in use). Programming as a skill is largely
independent of any single language, but that's not a Python-centric
statement.
Cameron Laird
.
.
Python can be *great* in these roles. A couple of us launched
<URL: http://www.engcorp.com/acf/RecentChanges > to promote
co-operation in the area. While the Wiki has been moribund this
year, it would take little to bring it alive again.
Stef Mientki
> On Jun 5, 3:01 am, Maria R <Maria.Reinham...@accalon.com> wrote:
>> I tend to agree with some earlier poster that if you use Python you
>> are, in a sense, a programmer :o)
>>
>
> Yes, in a sense. But, in another sense, that is sort of like saying
> that people who post on message boards are "writers."
>
> I should have been more clear, when I posted "programmers" I meant
> "professional programmers" i.e. people who develop software
> applications for a living.
I've heard that 80% of what google is doing, is done in Python ;-)
I use Python as a replacement for MatLab,
and intend to use it as replacement for Delphi, AutoIt, PHP, VB.
And I'ld love to use it as a replacement for micro controller programming.
The hardest to replace language is Delphi.
And all the work I perform with these languages is paid ;-)
The compagnies that only uses Python is growing.
cheers,
Stef
Klaas
> I mean other than sysadmins, programmers, and web-site developers?
>
>
> I suppose some scientists. I think python is used in bioinformatics. I
> think some math and physics people use python.
>
> I suppose some people use python to learn "programming" in general.
> Python would do well as a teaching language.
>
> I would think that python would be a good language for data analysis.
>
Large-scale distributed systems...
-Mike
Steve Howell
--- walterbyrd <walte...@iname.com> wrote:
> I am getting the idea that most python "programmers"
> use python more
> like a tool, rather than as their primary
> specialization. In other
> words, python is usually not the primary
> specialization.
I'm one of the exceptions to this rule. My primary
work product is Python code. I'm not using Python
code to solve scientific problems, model data, etc.,
Instead, I'm writing code that will hopefully execute
without failure long after I've written it.
I'm basically writing Python code that moves the data
from here to there much faster than a human could move
the data.
Which isn't to say that I don't also use Python as a
tool. I do write plenty of throwaway Python programs
where working Python code is not the end goal; it's
the data analysis, getting an invoice out, etc. that
really matters.
Also, I'm lucky enough to specialize in Python now,
but like many of the previous folks that replied to
you, I have backgrounds in other languages. At my
current job I still spent about 3 to 5 percent of my
time maintaining legacy C/C++ code.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Choose the right car based on your needs. Check out Yahoo! Autos new Car Finder tool.
http://autos.yahoo.com/carfinder/
tleeuw...@gmail.com
I know loads of people doing Real Software Development, myself
included, who work primarily with Python on a professional basis.
(loads means > 10 here) In fact, most programmers I know personally
use Python.
I am lucky enough to work exclusively in Python.
Cheers,
-T
Vijayendra Bapte
Python is a rapid application development language..we uses it every
where..
in web application development..GUI development..Automation/Regression
test-suite
development..Text/XML processing..website Scrapping/
Scrawling..Gaming..etc..
Grant Edwards
> Python is a rapid application development language..we uses it
> every where.. in web application development..GUI
> development..Automation/Regression test-suite
> development..Text/XML processing..website Scrapping
Boy, do I know some web sites that need to be scrapped. ;)
--
Grant Edwards grante Yow! Am I accompanied by
at a PARENT or GUARDIAN?
visi.com
half.i...@gmail.com
Thanks for the link. Neato.
whe...@gmail.com
walterbyrd ha scritto:
> I mean other than sysadmins, programmers, and web-site developers?
>
> I have heard of some DBAs who use a lot of python.
>
> I suppose some scientists. I think python is used in bioinformatics. I
> think some math and physics people use python.
>
> I suppose some people use python to learn "programming" in general.
> Python would do well as a teaching language.
>
> I would think that python would be a good language for data analysis.
>
> Anything else? Finance? Web-analytics? SEO? Digital art?
We use it for everything from automated tape handling and cleaning
systems to driving encoders and specialized TBCs as well as
controlling creaky old video decks. The core logic of our system is
also in python which using a little bit of Twisted ties together the
FreeBSD and Windows machines that the various daemons run on.
Though that doesn't answer your question since I guess that makes us
"programmers" whom I am sure own the lion's share of python usage.
anthro398
> I mean other than sysadmins, programmers, and web-site developers?
>
> I have heard of some DBAs who use a lot of python.
>
> I suppose some scientists. I think python is used in bioinformatics. I
> think some math and physics people use python.
>
> I suppose some people use python to learn "programming" in general.
> Python would do well as a teaching language.
>
> I would think that python would be a good language for data analysis.
>
> Anything else? Finance? Web-analytics? SEO? Digital art?
I use Python to automate GIS vector and raster processing, to generate
and translate metadata, and to build repository ingest objects to feed
a digital archive. I'm a librarian and coordinate a federally funded
research project, http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/ncgdap/ We also have
another Python developer in the library who use it to process data and
metadate for various library catalog functions.
Cousin Stanley
> I mean other than sysadmins, programmers, and web-site developers?
You might try the Python Success Stories
for a good source for finding a wide variety
of Python users and usage ....
http://pythonology.org/success
--
Stanley C. Kitching
Human Being
Phoenix, Arizona
----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Unrestricted-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----
brad
> I mean other than sysadmins, programmers, and web-site developers?
> Anything else? Finance? Web-analytics? SEO? Digital art?
IT Security Analysts use it... see code and screenshots... these are not
professional programmers:
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/rtilley/public/find_ssns/mac/index.html
myt...@gmail.com
We used Python with wxPython GUI Toolkit to build this simple image
uploader:
http://www.mytago.com/uploader/
Even with no previous Python or wxPython experience at all, we could
get it working in a very short time.
Hendrik van Rooyen
"Stef Mientki" <S.Mi......am@mailbox.kun.nl> wrote:
> I use Python as a replacement for MatLab,
> and intend to use it as replacement for Delphi, AutoIt, PHP, VB.
> And I'ld love to use it as a replacement for micro controller programming.
If you have a little sub - 64k micro this is not really practical.
What we have done is to define a limited virtual machine with
a simple "assembler" language and used Python to write the
"compiler" for it.
Then you have to write the interpreter for the virtual machine
in the native micro's code - Either using C or assembler, and
you are away from the hardware, into a useful layer of abstraction.
... well sort of - in such a small thing, you are never really far from
the hardware, as that is what its supposed to be controlling - but
what it definitely buys you is that your apps written in your special
language become portable between disparate processors like say
an ARM at the upper end and an 8031/8051 at the lower...
Such "interpreters" are surprisingly little code, and they work
well - faster than what one would expect. - often outperforming
C code that does pass by value...
- Hendrik
Hendrik van Rooyen
Thanks - had a quick look around and will have a decent look later
- seems a good idea
- Hendrik
Cameron Laird
Amen! That is, while it is indeed easy to construct examples
where Python computes a numerical result only a hundredth as
fast as the corresponding C code, what I find far more interesting
to discuss are the (surprisingly frequent) cases where Python and
litte languages result in solutions which are *faster* at run-time,
along with being more maintainable and quick to develop.
Yet more chatter on a role for Python with specialized hardware ap-
pears in <URL: http://www.unixreview.com/documents/s=9133/ur0404e/ >.
Stef Mientki
I use even smaller micro controllers (PIC) and
as I'm just writing a functional simulator for it in Python,
(see http://oase.uci.kun.nl/~mientki/data_www/pic/jalcc/python/jal_simulation.html
and even a small movie: (600 kB) http://oase.uci.ru.nl/~mientki/download/jal_simulator1.htm
I would love to see your code,
not directly to use it (I want JAL),
but it might give me some good ideas.
cheers,
Stef Mientki
kirby...@gmail.com
> I mean other than sysadmins, programmers, and web-site developers?
>
I use Python to teach mathematics and analytical thinking to both
children and adults. The OO way of casting a problem has a lot
of power.
I'm working in the CP4E tradition (Computer Programming for
Everybody), an initiative launched by Guido in the early days
of Python. And yes, I actually get paid for this work (some
of it -- I volunteer my time too).
http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/cp4e.html
I'm also a database programmer, use other languages besides
Python, use Python for other tasks besides teaching.
Kirby
PS: my background is philosophy, my major at Princeton (famous
philo guy Richard Rorty was my thesis advisor and one of my
best teachers -- his obit is in today's New York Times).
Vern...@gmail.com
> Thomas Jollans wrote:
> > Broadly speaking, everyone who uses python programs in it and may thus be
> > considered a "programmer".
>
> A woman from a job agency 'phoned me up the other day, and asked me if I
> was any good with "algortihms". I told her that all programs are
> algorithms, so the question didn't make that much sense.
>
> Needless to say, I wasn't offered an interview ;)
The guy who got the job replied "Yeah, I use them all the time".