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Necronymouse

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Nov 30, 2009, 5:14:31 PM11/30/09
to
Hello, I am learning python for about 2 years and I am bored. Not with
python but I have a little problem, when i want to write something I
realise that somebody had alredy written it! So i don´t want to make a
copy of something but i wanna get better in python skills. Don´t you
know what I should do?


---sorry for my english, I ´m from czech rep...

MRAB

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Nov 30, 2009, 5:58:05 PM11/30/09
to pytho...@python.org
Necronymouse wrote:
> Hello, I am learning python for about 2 years and I am bored. Not
> with python but I have a little problem, when i want to write
> something I realise that somebody had alredy written it! So i don�t
> want to make a copy of something but i wanna get better in python
> skills. Don�t you know what I should do?
>
Choose a project that you find interesting. It doesn't matter if someone
has already done something similar because you'll learn more by doing.

When you have something reasonable, compare it to the one that already
exists. Your approach might be better, but if it's not then you can
still see why it isn't and how you could improve.

This way, when you do something that no-one else has done before, you'll
have a better understanding of the language and how best to design and
implement your project.

Jonathan Gardner

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Nov 30, 2009, 6:01:29 PM11/30/09
to
On Nov 30, 2:14 pm, Necronymouse <necronymo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello, I am learning python for about 2 years and I am bored. Not with
> python but I have a little problem, when i want to write something I
> realise that somebody had alredy written it! So i don´t want to make a
> copy of something but i wanna get better in python skills. Don´t you
> know what I should do?
>

Generally, lower-level stuff is already written, but the web apps and
desktop apps that use those lower-level apps need to be written.

I suggest you pick up web dev or app dev in Python. There are a
variety of frameworks. Think of an app you'd like to see, find a
framework, and have fun.

geremy condra

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Nov 30, 2009, 6:51:05 PM11/30/09
to Necronymouse, pytho...@python.org

I'd find a big project and contribute to it. There's a lot more to
being a developer than writing code, and its hard to learn
much about that side of things by working on your own projects
all the time. Plus, it can be very satisfying to make a widely
used piece of software better.

Geremy Condra

Stef Mientki

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Nov 30, 2009, 6:52:24 PM11/30/09
to pytho...@python.org
Well I thought that after 2 years you would know every detail of a
language ;-)

A few ideas ( or better said the things that I'm still missing, and I
guess every one can name a few different ones )
- PyJamas needs a lot of extensions
- Simultanuous recording of camera and sound (and preferable other
signals) is completely missing
- Rich editor or ( embedding of open office)
- a system-wide mind mapper
- graphical design package a la LabView

There's also a Python site, were projects are submitted that needs
something ( some even pay a little),
but I can't remember where it is :-(

cheers,
Stef

John Bokma

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Nov 30, 2009, 7:02:31 PM11/30/09
to
Stef Mientki <stef.m...@gmail.com> wrote:

> There's also a Python site, were projects are submitted that needs
> something ( some even pay a little),
> but I can't remember where it is :-(

OP: A Python program to find it :D

John

Tomasz Rola

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Nov 30, 2009, 6:48:56 PM11/30/09
to pytho...@python.org, Tomasz Rola
Necronymouse wrote:
> Hello, I am learning python for about 2 years and I am bored. Not
> with python but I have a little problem, when i want to write
> something I realise that somebody had alredy written it! So i don�t

> want to make a copy of something but i wanna get better in python
> skills. Don�t you know what I should do?

In other words, you would like to be creative? If this is the case, you
must let your head out of the box. People coding for too long have the
tendency to have a box (say, a cube) on their heads. I think there is
plenty of ideas waiting for someone to turn them into code. Look out the
window. Read a book. Repeat.

Regards,
Tomasz Rola

--
** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature. **
** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home **
** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened... **
** **
** Tomasz Rola mailto:tomas...@bigfoot.com **

Ben Finney

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Nov 30, 2009, 7:20:00 PM11/30/09
to
geremy condra <deba...@gmail.com> writes:

> On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 5:14 PM, Necronymouse <necron...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hello, I am learning python for about 2 years and I am bored. Not
> > with python but I have a little problem, when i want to write
> > something I realise that somebody had alredy written it!

That's great news: it means you can learn by example, and also learn the
more important skills of collaborating with other developers.

> I'd find a big project and contribute to it. There's a lot more to
> being a developer than writing code, and its hard to learn much about
> that side of things by working on your own projects all the time.
> Plus, it can be very satisfying to make a widely used piece of
> software better.

This is good advice.

I would also say that it can be very satisfying contributing on a
*small* project: there is usually less communication overhead since
there are fewer people that need to communicate (the principles explored
in “The Mythical Man-Month”). On a small project, too, you can often
have a bigger impact which for many people is more satisfying.

So, in general: when you realise someone has already written something
you want to use, then start using it! You will quickly find that it
doesn't quite do everything you want, so that's your opportunity to make
improvements and start working with the existing developers.

--
\ “Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code |
`\ will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.” —John |
_o__) F. Woods |
Ben Finney

Stef Mientki

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Nov 30, 2009, 7:24:43 PM11/30/09
to pytho...@python.org
that was the mind mapper I mentioned :-)

Stef
> John
>

Jorge Cardona

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Nov 30, 2009, 8:15:48 PM11/30/09
to Stef Mientki, pytho...@python.org
2009/11/30 Stef Mientki <stef.m...@gmail.com>:
> Well I thought that after 2 years you would know every detail of a language
> ;-)
>
> A few ideas ( or better said the things that I'm still missing, and I guess
> every one can name a  few different ones )
> - PyJamas needs a lot of extensions
> - Simultanuous recording of  camera and sound (and preferable other signals)
> is completely missing
> - Rich editor or ( embedding of open office)
> - a system-wide mind mapper
> - graphical design package a la LabView

I had have a project in mind for several months, a compiler for
Modelica language in python, there is actually two main approach,
openmodelica and jmodelica, both free ( i don't remember the exactly
licences), openmodelica is written in C++ and jmodelica has a
front-end for python, but its core is java based. I had started a
gtkmodelica project, in code google, with c++ and spirit library( i
didn't find at the moment a good library like spirit in python), but
developing in c++ is quite slow (but is really nice), and recently I
found pyparsing, I think is a good tool for the parser, and i create a
repo in github (is empty right now), i wish i could have the enough
time right now, but i got a lot of work right now.

A project like this has a lot of great challenges: parsing,
differential equation solving, a lot about language semantics, the
graphical tool could be like labview, simulink, or maplesim ( I love
flowcanvas library for gtk in c++, but it is quite old right now),
code generation (to use hardware in the loop), real time plotting,
etc... it could be a great project.

I'm using right now some python classes that works as wrapper for
openmodelica, and i use numpy for optimization purpose, and it works
great, but a more natural mix with a native python tool would be just
fantastic.

http://github.com/jorgeecardona/pymodelica
http://drobilla.net/software/flowcanvas/
http://code.google.com/p/gtkmodelica/
http://www.jmodelica.org/
http://www.ida.liu.se/~pelab/modelica/OpenModelica.html

>
> There's also a Python site, were projects are submitted that needs something
> ( some even pay a little),
> but I can't remember where it is :-(
>

> cheers,
> Stef
> --
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
>

--
Jorge Eduardo Cardona
jorgee...@gmail.com
jorgeecardona.blogspot.com
------------------------------------------------
Linux registered user #391186
Registered machine #291871
------------------------------------------------

Bram Mertens

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Dec 1, 2009, 2:42:29 AM12/1/09
to pytho...@python.org
Ben Finney wrote:
> geremy condra <deba...@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 5:14 PM, Necronymouse <necron...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Hello, I am learning python for about 2 years and I am bored. Not
>>> with python but I have a little problem, when i want to write
>>> something I realise that somebody had alredy written it!
>
> That's great news: it means you can learn by example, and also learn the
> more important skills of collaborating with other developers.
>
>> I'd find a big project and contribute to it. There's a lot more to
>> being a developer than writing code, and its hard to learn much about
>> that side of things by working on your own projects all the time.
>> Plus, it can be very satisfying to make a widely used piece of
>> software better.
>
> This is good advice.
>
> I would also say that it can be very satisfying contributing on a
> *small* project: there is usually less communication overhead since
> there are fewer people that need to communicate (the principles explored
> in “The Mythical Man-Month”). On a small project, too, you can often
> have a bigger impact which for many people is more satisfying.
>
> So, in general: when you realise someone has already written something
> you want to use, then start using it! You will quickly find that it
> doesn't quite do everything you want, so that's your opportunity to make
> improvements and start working with the existing developers.
>

How about http://sourceforge.net/search/?type_of_search=soft&words=python ?

Pick a project you like I'd be surprised if you'd be turned down when
offering help to any of these.

Floris Bruynooghe

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Dec 1, 2009, 6:12:02 AM12/1/09
to
On Nov 30, 11:52 pm, Stef Mientki <stef.mien...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Well I thought that after 2 years you would know every detail of a
> language ;-)

Ouch, I must be especially stupid then!

;-)


Floris

Necronymouse

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Dec 1, 2009, 10:08:34 AM12/1/09
to
Thanks for reaction, I will prohably choose some project as you
said...

Stef Mientki

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Dec 1, 2009, 2:39:17 PM12/1/09
to pytho...@python.org
Sorry if I insulted you Floris!
btw, I'm too still learning Python after I started 2 years ago.

cheers,
Stef
> Floris
>
>

r0g

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Dec 3, 2009, 2:28:47 AM12/3/09
to
Necronymouse wrote:
> Thanks for reaction, I will prohably choose some project as you
> said...
>
>
>


If you want to dip your toe in waters of open source contribution it
looks like Gitso could use a little help pushing out their 0.6 release
(which I just happen to quite want but don't have time to get involved
in right now ;)


Roger.

Anssi Saari

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Dec 3, 2009, 3:33:29 PM12/3/09
to
Necronymouse <necron...@gmail.com> writes:

> Hello, I am learning python for about 2 years and I am bored. Not with
> python but I have a little problem, when i want to write something I
> realise that somebody had alredy written it! So i don�t want to make a
> copy of something but i wanna get better in python skills. Don�t you
> know what I should do?

If I may propose something, I'm pretty annoyed that it's so hard to
get contact and calendar data out of my Nokia phone. However, there's
Python available for Symbian phones and the implementation is supposed
to have access to that data on the phone... So a calendar and contacts
sync tool would be a nice thing.

Ognjen Bezanov

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Dec 3, 2009, 6:05:32 PM12/3/09
to Anssi Saari, pytho...@python.org

Also take into account, a lot of open source projects out there would
not mind help! I host two (public) open source projects, and would love
to have more development help from people interested in them!

Find a project which you would find interesting, then ask them if you
can join. You would not get to do something from scratch, but you would
be able to help further develop the project, perhaps even extend it in
some way you want to.


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