Welcome to issue 131 of Python Weekly. Let's get straight to the links this week.
Articles, Tutorials and Talks
What's New In Python 3.4
This article explains the new features in Python 3.4, compared to 3.3. Python 3.4 was released on March 16, 2014.
Differential Drive Dynamics - Part 1
SymPy is a computer algebra system, capable of performing symbolic calculations that would be too complicated to do by hand. Which makes it perfect for solving the equations needed to generate the equations of motion (EOM) of multibody systems! In this post, the author demonstrates a simple workflow for generating the EOM for a differential drive robot.
The Best Of Both Worlds: Hierarchical Linear Regression in PyMC3
This post shows how a multi-level hierarchical Bayesian model gives the best of both worlds when we have multiple sets of measurements we expect to have similarity. The naive approach either pools all data together and ignores the individual differences, or treats each set as completely separate leading to noisy estimates as shown. By assuming that each individual data set (each county in our case) is distributed according to a group distribution -- which we simultaneously estimate -- we benefit from increased statistical power and smart regularization via the shrinkage effect. Probabilistic Programming in PyMC then makes Bayesian estimation of this model trivial.
Python AsyncIO - Streams - Client and Server
AsyncIO is the new hot topic for Python 3.4 which was just recently released. AsyncIO is a big game changer for Python. Where it makes sense, many libraries are sure to port some or all of their code to take advantage of it. This post shows you a version of a client and server that the author wrote after digesting section 18.5 of the Python documentation and looking at a few examples on the web.
Distributing a Python command line application
This article shows how to create a minimal Python command line application, called 'bootstrap'. It describes how to set it up for publication on PyPI, after which the user can conveniently install it via pip install bootstrap. The installation immediately makes the 'bootstrap' command available to the user -- for convenient invocation on Unix as well as on Windows. The author also shows how to make the example application live within a proper package structure and how to make it callable and testable in different convenient ways.
Analyzing Citibike Usage
A nice post where the author does the analysis on Citibike usage.
Replacing `import` with `accio`: A Dive into Bootstrapping and Python's Grammar
Visualization of complex functions using matplotlib
A Faster Real Time Fourier Transform
Interesting Projects, Tools and Libraries
xo
The exofrills (xo, pronounced 'ex-oh') text editor is designed to just provide the features that you need to program effectively and nothing else. It is ridiculously lightweight and only relies on Python 3, urwid, and pygments.
2048 Game with Kivy
This game has been created from the game 2048 by Gabriele Cirulli, itself based on 1024 by Veewo Studio conceptually similar to Threes by Asher Vollmer. This implementation use only Kivy framework, and can be played on mobile with swipes or desktop with keyboard.
Flask-User
Many web applications require User Account Management features such as Register, Confirm email, Login, Change username, Change password and Forgot password. Some also require Role-based Authorization and Internationalization. Wouldn't it be nice to have a package that would offer these features out-of-the-box while retaining full control over the workflow and presentation of this process? Flask-User aims to provide such a ready-to-use AND fully customizable solution.
Gauged
A fast, append-only storage layer for gauges, counters, timers and other numeric data types that change over time.
google_news_crawler
A utility to fetch news articles from Google News. GNC retrieves the latest items from the Google News feeds and stores them in ElasticSearch or on disk.
Flappy
Flappy (the name stands for FLash-like APi for PYthon) is a cross platform multimedia library with the API very similar to the ActionScript 3 Flash API. Flappy is built on top of the SDL2 library and a slightly modified subset of c/c++ code from the OpenFL-Lime project.
PyFilesystem
PyFilesystem is an abstraction layer for filesystems. In the same way that Python's file-like objects provide a common way of accessing files, PyFilesystem provides a common way of accessing entire filesystems. You can write platform-independent code to work with local files, that also works with any of the supported filesystems (zip, ftp, S3 etc.). Pyfilesystem works with Linux, Windows and Mac.
quickD3map
quickD3map allows you to rapidly generate D3.js maps from data from within the pandas/ipython ecosystem by converting Latitude/Longitude Data in to points
New Releases
Python 3.4.0
Python 3.4 includes a range of improvements of the 3.x series, including hundreds of small improvements and bug fixes.
django CMS 3.0 RC1
After a year of development and 2905 commits since version 2.4.3, django CMS 3.0 release candidate 1 has been released.
Upcoming Events and Webinars
Python on Rails
If you are going to PyCon this year, here is a great way to network with other Pythonistas. Get on a train, filled with everyone from Pythonistas to PyCon first timers, that will go from Toronto to Montreal where this year's PyCon is taking place.
Kivy App Contest 2014
Kivy is organizing its second application development contest! This is a great chance for new and experienced users to show off their skills and compete for prizes. Entries will be judged on a range of criteria accessible to both new and experienced programmers, so don't be afraid to dive in!
Django Boston Meetup March 2014 - Cambridge, MA
Whether you're looking to make your web app run faster or scale better, one great way to achieve both is to simply do less work. How? By using caches, the data hidey-holes which generations of engineers have thoughtfully left at key junctures in computing infrastructure from your CPU to the backbone of the internet. Requests into web applications, which span great distances and often involve expensive frontend and backend lifting are great candidates for caching of all types. We'll discuss the benefits and tradeoffs of caching at different layers of the stack and how to find low-hanging cachable fruit, with a particular focus on server-side improvements.
San Diego Python Meetup March 2014 - San Diego, CA
Chris Hiestand will give a talk on virtualenvwrapper.
PyWeek -- May 2014
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