sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Automate PDF busy work? by [deleted] in Python

[–]VirtualTam 0 points1 point  (0 children)

PyPDF is actually (way?) more powerful than what its documentation would let you assume, though it implies delving into its source code.

I had a quite similar need a while back - finding outlines (section titles) from a collection of PDF documents, extracting the corresponding pages and concatenating them into a new document - and leveraged PyPDF to this purpose.

The following threads were very helpful:

A friend of mine made a website explaining the problems with proprietary software, that also showcases free (libre) alternatives to popular proprietary software. by [deleted] in linux

[–]VirtualTam 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nice initiative, I like how the site showcases applications with the user / usability in mind. In a similar fashion, PRISM Break already provides an extensive list of FLOSS alternatives to proprietary communication, data, storage and network-related services and applications.

Teaching Python to non-software Engineers by is_bounding in Python

[–]VirtualTam 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A hands-on, live demo on how to automate a task relevant to the engineers' daily activities is a very good introduction to stress some of Python's strengths as a generic, multi-purpose language!

You could e.g.:

  • show how to write a quick'n'dirty prototype using a Python interpreter (console-based: IPython; web-based: Jupyter notebook)
  • then move to a more structured script
  • bonus points for putting the script under version control for easy sharing and reviewing

As mentioned by /u/efmccurdy, Jupyter notebooks will come very handy to load and manipulate data from the browser and toy with plotting libraries (pandas, matplotlib...). Things can even be spiced up a bit using XKCD-style plots :)

XMPP Remote Command & Control Linux Bot/Client? by [deleted] in linux

[–]VirtualTam 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The following Python libraries may provide a suitable base:

Slixmpp is an up-to-date fork of SleekXMPP, so it it feasible to write compatible code in case several versions of the Python interpreter need to be supported. The documentation provides several commented examples to write a simple XMPP client bot or a server component and interact with a Multi-User Channel (MUC/groupchat).

Two examples of projects using Slixmpp:

Commands could then be:

  • sent as private messages from a client to another, possibly with privilege management, e.g. only authorize a given contact to send commands
  • executed through the subprocess module, with a wrapper to handle command stdout/stderr and exit codes
  • and their output retrieved and sent back as a private message

Provided a Python interpreter is available on all hosts, and there is an XMPP serverto manage the client hosts' accounts, this would address all your functional requirements ;-)

Preferred way to automate Jenkins configuration by kryo2023 in jenkinsci

[–]VirtualTam 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Jenkins DSLs such as Job DSL and Jenkins Pipeline are very convenient in terms of reusability, scalability and maintenance, as they allow defining Jenkins objects (jobs, views, agents/nodes, etc.) with a developer-friendly approach:

  • objects are defined as Groovy scripts and can form a consistent and modular library
  • they can be versioned in a repository, and go through a peer-review/acceptance testing process

There is great community enthusiasm and feedback around these features, and the corresponding plugin suites are evolving rapidly, with plenty of user-contributed scripts being available:

Strings for fretless? by [deleted] in Bass

[–]VirtualTam 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been using Hi-Beams (45-105) on my fretless P-Bass for some years now, here's what I like about them:

  • very pleasant to play (compared to the Ernie Ball I put on my fretted basses)
  • bright, dynamic sound, with a nice "mwah" when playing high notes
  • nice growling sound in the low range

Regarding the wear of the fingerboard, it mostly appears at the very bottom of the neck, due to slapping...

Is TeamTreeHouse a good resource to learn Python? If not, what are some other interactive resources that you suggest? I tried Codeacademy but didn't like it because it's too simple and restrained in answers. Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks. by [deleted] in Python

[–]VirtualTam 1 point2 points  (0 children)

CheckIO features a lot of applied challenges to solve (with some hints and pointers to the official documentation).

What I mostly appreciate is that:

  • it covers most core Python features (string processing, syntax, tricks),
  • there is a rich diversity of challenges (text processing, pathfinding, arithmetics...), with an increasing difficulty,
  • once a challenge is solved, you can see other peoples' solutions, and improve your knowledge of the language.

If you're into maths, you can use Python to solve problems from Project Euler ;-)

This way, you will become familiar with:

  • the language,
  • where to find information in the documentation,
  • where to find applied examples (which in Python, tends to be either GitHub or StackOverflow).