A number of interesting Python bits and bobs.

• The Ludum Dare 48-hour game writing contest.


• The Python And Zope job market.


• Caught in Python's grip.


• Creating Windows shortcuts.


• Cooking with Python. Naturally, I have bought the Python Cookbook (sample chapter), but I haven't got too far through it yet. Looks good, though. The timbot's sorting FAQ is a delight.


• AMK is back.


• Fame at last! The effbot's blogroll.


• Err...


• That's it.

Security Incidents in the EPA East Building

Man faces charges in guinea pig dissection

Via Fark.

I'm all for war on Iraq - but only if I see the evidence that Saddam is a threat.

David Aaronovitch is often a thought provoking read. He's not a knee-jerk pacifist - war is sometimes necessary. But the justification for an attack on Iraq has not been made public - or does not exist.

Will Blair go along with Bush? Opposition in the U.K. is mounting.

Not that Bush really cares about U.K. opinion, or anyone else's, for that matter, with the exception of his domestic audience.

This ILE business isn't simple. I know a lot of bright people who have had real problems moving across from RPGIII to RPGIV and ILE. So you can imagine the problems that not-so-bright people like me have had.

It's not the RPGIV part that's the problem, on the whole. RPGIV is just RPGIII dragged kicking and screaming into the nineteen-eighties. The thing that people have real problems with is ILE.

You can find a lot of good stuff in Who Knew You Could Do That with RPG IV? A Sorcerer's Guide. The first four chapters are essential reading for RPG programmers.

Adding Subprocedures to a Service Program is a nice little tutorial on binder language. You can use this to avoid the need for mass recompilation when you change a service program. It's knowing things like this which mean the difference between ILE being useful and being a complete nightmare.

Update (Frday) 13th of July: Reader Feedback and Insights: Binder Language clears up a few bits and bobs.