[Twisted-Python] TWN #3!

[Chris Armstrong]

The Twisted Weekly News
=======================

3rd Issue. Monday, July 16, 2001
QOTW:

  <lyn:#lisp> making things fast generally seems to involve trading space for
  time
  <dan`b:#lisp> not so!  you're thinking like a typical lisp programer
  <dan`b:#lisp> you can also trade correctness, like any self-respecting C
  hacker


Welcome to the 3rd issue of the Twisted Weekly News! This issue was slightly
late due to the absent-mindedness and exhaustion of the author.

= Progress =

There have been a few interesting developments this week.

* Twisted 0.9.0: The latest version[1] of Twisted was released early last week!
  congrats to Glyph for doing a *huge* refactoring on the Twisted directory
  hierarchy for this release.
* Twisted IRC: An implementation of a Twisted IRC server slipped between the
  cracks this week, with not very much fanfare. I tested it out, and I could
  log on with x-chat and do some basic IRC things. Very cool!
* The Twisted Philosophy FAQ: Chris Armstrong wrote the Twisted Philosophy 
  FAQ[2] this week. Glyph gave a word of approval on the FAQ and made Chris 
  a very happy boy. ;-)
* Twisted banana ports: Allen Short, in a cloud of smoke, ported[3] banana to
  Mozart/Oz and Common Lisp. This is finally opening up Twisted to be a cross-
  language standard.


= Mailling List Activity =

There's been some interesting activity this week. Here's a summary.

* Is everything speeding up, or am I slowing down?: Glyph posted[4] one of his
  signature long, revealing posts about what's been going on in his life and
  the life of Twisted. He revealed that he is with a company named
  Ninjaneering, and may be using Twisted there in his job. He also said that
  they agreed to leaving the copyright in his name, so us Twisted folks don't
  have to worry about those corporate bastards. ;-) Finally, he requested that
  the Twisted developers start concentrating more on documentation. Twisted is
  coming more into the public eye, and we need to look good.
* Seamless Information Space: Jason Asbahr had a few comments[5] on some
  philosophical[6] ideas behind information management.
* OpenCyc: Jason Asbahr posted[7] about a meeting he had with some of the people
  involved in the OpenCyc[8] project, and what it boils down to is that he wants
  to integrate OpenCyc with Twisted. This would lead to some interesting
  developments, especially for Reality. Chris Armstrong replied[9] with a 
  pointer to another project with interesting Ontological goals that has 
  produced a few papers on ontology in online games.
* twisted.protcols.toc: It seems z3p has been developing a TOC protocol
  implementation for Twisted behind our backs! TOC is one of the protocols that
  the AOL Instant Messenger uses. This is the Cool Thing of the Week, so see
  below for more information.


= Cool Thing Of the Week: =
Twisted TOC

z3p, who usually hangs out on #python at ircnet, has been development a TOC
protocol implementation for Twisted. This is a very interesting and exciting
development. The server portion of the protocol is functional, and after he
irons out some of the issues with that, he'll implement the client part. The
client is of special interest to a few of us Twisted folks, as it will probably
be useful for AIM connectivity through Instance Messenger. The code is
available here[10] (That module belongs in the twisted/protocols directory) and a
unit test here[11] (which goes in twisted/test).

A round of applause for z3p for this unexpected and appreciated contribution!
Ok, that's it for this week. Thanks for reading!

Chris Armstrong[12]

References
[1] http://www.twistedmatrix.com/downloads/Twisted-0.9.0.tar.gz
[2] http://www.twistedmatrix.com/page.epy/twistedphil.html
[3] http://www.twistedmatrix.com/users/washort/
[4] http://www.twistedmatrix.com/pipermail/twisted-python/2001-July/000123.html
[5] http://www.twistedmatrix.com/pipermail/twisted-python/2001-July/000129.html
[6] http://www.twistedmatrix.com/pipermail/twisted-python/2001-July/000131.html
[7] http://www.twistedmatrix.com/pipermail/twisted-python/2001-July/000121.html
[8] http://www.opencyc.org
[9] http://www.twistedmatrix.com/pipermail/twisted-python/2001-July/000122.html
[10] http://www.z3p.f2s.com/download/code/twisted/toc.py
[11] http://www.z3p.f2s.com/download/code/twisted/test_toc.py
[12] carmstro at twistedmatrix.com

-- 
Chris Armstrong                        carmstro at twistedmatrix.com
http://twistedmatrix.com/~carmstro     carmstro at dynup.net