Subclassed

15 August 2009

Django 1.1 help file CHM version

This is a funny story.

I happen to think Microsoft's proprietary CHM format is lovely. So I went looking for a CHM version of docs for Django, and google found it for me on this blog. I duly downloaded it, tried to to open it and... it wouldn't display. I could only see the TOC, but not the actual documents. I thought this might be a corrupted version, and it was for an alpha release of Django anyway, so I though I'd compile a version myself. After all, these docs are built with Sphinx, which apparently can generate all sorts of formats...

So here's the procedure to compile django's docs:

download and install Sphinx.
```
Easy_install Sphinx
```
was all I needed. Hurrah for Python.

Run Sphinx to generate the initial files:

cd Django-1.1/docs
mkdir _build/html
%PYTHONDIR%\scripts\sphinx-build.exe -b htmlhelp -d _build\doctrees . _build\html

Download and install Htmlhelp.exe from the Microsoft site. This will give you the HTML Help Workshop.
launch the workshop, File -> Compile..., select the file Djangodoc.hhc which should now be in _build/html, and this will produce the chm.
...??? Profit!

... Then I found out the reason that downloaded CHM didn't work was a stupid patch from Microsoft. Ouch.

Anyway, if you need it, here's the file: Djangodocs 1.1 in CHM format. If it doesn't work, make sure you follow this suggested procedure, and save yourself some time...

Labels: chm, django, GeekDiary

posted by GiacomoL @ 10:19 AM 2 comments links to this post

16 September 2008

on PyconUK 2008

Great conference, like last year. Interesting talks, nice people, spotless organization. Go to the PyconUK wiki if you want slides and (in a few days) recorded audio.

Next year the same bunch of great guys will host EuroPython, in June. I'm sure it will be fantastic, but I don't know whether I'll be able to attend, as it will happen during weekdays and I probably couldn't justify the absence from work. Apparently it's all because the French don't go to conferences during weekends; it's always their fault, isn't it ;)

Anyway, it was all good energy to start messing again with Django on a magnatune-inspired project. Also, we'll try to "reboot" Python North-West and see if we can stabilise it a bit. It's all fun :)

Labels: django, GeekDiary, PyconUK, python

posted by GiacomoL @ 12:13 PM 0 comments links to this post

14 September 2008

Fact.

Jacob Kaplan-Moss looks like a young Robin Williams.

Labels: django, GeekDiary

posted by GiacomoL @ 4:24 PM 0 comments links to this post

15 August 2008

django on jython

You can now run Django on Jython, as announced by Leonardo Muñoz. Lovely. I really should go back hacking django a bit.

Labels: django, GeekDiary, Jython, personal, python

posted by GiacomoL @ 4:27 PM 0 comments links to this post

08 April 2008

Google App Engine

Google App Engine. Write applications in Python using a WSGI-compatible application framework, then host them on Google’s highly scalable infrastructure.

(via Simon Willison's Links)

"Holy s**t" was Ryan Tomayko's comment, and my first thought as well. Google is realising the promises of WSGI, and what a sight it is.
On one hand, this is fantastic; it made me think of "J2EE done right". On the other hand, if you use GAE, you are handing your entire infrastructure and data (!) over to Google, which might not be the smartest move for lots of companies (any FTSE100 for example, and probably any NASDAQ-listed as well).

Anyway, Python rocks.

Labels: django, foreverythingelsetherespython, GeekDiary, Google, python, WSGI

posted by GiacomoL @ 12:04 PM 0 comments links to this post

03 October 2007

Post-meeting

I published my django presentation slides on the Files section of the list page (in ODP and PDF).

My notes on the meeting are in the relevant post at Happenings in Python Usergroups.

I certainly enjoyed it, and I hope the other guys did too. The presentation was ok (even though I slightly fudged the demo, and didn't really go too deep into details); I think people enjoyed the overview, and I tried to communicate what django was all about, more than showing clever tricks or how to satisfy obscure requirements.

Who knows, maybe one day I'll actually make a living out of this stuff...

Labels: django, GeekDiary, python, PythonNorthWest

posted by GiacomoL @ 12:25 PM 5 comments links to this post

08 September 2007

Liveblogging Pycon UK 2007 - first notes

Lots of people, fantastic atmosphere, lots of kudos to the Birmingham user group. "Msdn magazine" in the goodie bag sounds like MS really wants to invest in Python, that's probably why Sun decided to go on Ruby instead.

First talk on SQLALchemy by Paul Johnston, very very interesting, too bad it was a bit squeezed, another 15 minutes would have helped. Must investigate the reflection vs autoupdate stuff & migrate (django doesn't manage db changes very well at the moment).

Second talk: Mr. Voidspace (Michael Foorde) on Silverlight & IronPython -- lots of possibilities there, but still very very early. 1Mb of local space is very little for serious usage, there are accessibility issues (but possibly less than Flash) and limitations (1 Canvas only). But having an embedded mini-CLR/DLR in every browser (currently IE/FF/Safari, with Opera in the works) gives me a feeling of "ActiveX done right", something Java should have done 5 years ago.

Made contact with other Manchester pythonistas, it's really true that pythons hide under rocks! Looking forward to build a community in Manc when we go back, people really wants to invest serious time on Python apparently. Oh, and Resolver is hiring, but it's London-based and they do Xtreme (pair) programming, so no telecommuting, but if you are in the area and you fancy "coding the way Guido indented it" give it a go, they seem very nice guys.

Time for Django stuff with Simon Willison!

UPDATE: Simon rocks. Fast as lightning and to the point, lots of goodies for serious django usage, I hope the session was filmed because it was really worth it.

UPDATE: I met Phil Thompson, the creator of PyQt! Jeez, I probably sounded like a fanboy (that I am). And I also met a guy not just from around Manchester -- from Stockport! Astonishing, the world is so small these days. Am now on the PyQt tutorial from Mark Summerfield (who has a book finally coming out on PyQt! fantastic), Trolltech provided some very nice freebies. I feel in geek heaven.

UPDATE: Mark was great, but 2 hours straight are a bit much, so in the end the class was clearly a bit tired. Will definitely go back to his presentation very soon. Break now, then on to the lightning talks -- the list looks endless, might not do them all. Organizers expected about 100 people, got more than 200...

UPDATE: the first lightning talks: Open Spaces (weird, not sure I got it), a lovely chap trying to convert the Hansard (which is getting XML already) in RDF, Jeff Tupholme on putting javascript inside python (crazy) within LiveConnector.

UPDATE: pydoctor statically analyses code to generate docs and then uses a pseudo-wiki interface to correct typos and generate diffs (sounds nice); a lexer parsing thing which went over my head; a freakily-dressed guy from ACCU on how to pitch Python to C(++) shops (use "high-level"!); Software Freedom Day next week (eek! I'm in Oslo)!

Labels: django, GeekDiary, IronPython, LiveConnector, Microsoft, PyconUK, pydoctor, PyQt, python, Silverlight, SQLAlchemy, Trolltech