What Is TurboGears (Hint: Python-Based Framework for Rapid Web Development)  TurboGears is a Python-based framework that enables you to quickly build database-driven, ready-to-extend web applications. In this article, Matthew Russell takes you inside this framework for a look at its internal mechanisms, then introduces you to its creator, Kevin Dangoor.   [Mac]

Testing Web Apps Effectively with twill  There's a real drive toward testing these days. If you develop any sort of application seriously, you've likely heard recommendations to write comprehensive automated tests. Is that really useful? Michele Simionato explores the arguments for and against automated testing, and shows how to automate web app testing using Python and the twill utility.   [Python]

Interactive Debugging in Python  Debugging with print statements is alive and well. It's not the only way to do it, though. Python has a powerful interactive debugger that can let you get to the heart of your problem faster and more easily--if you know how to use it. Jeremy Jones shows off the features you absolutely must know.   [Python DevCenter]

Python and XML: Should Python and XML Coexist?  In his latest Python and XML column, Uche Ogbuji claims that the costs of using XML as a little language in a Python application may outweigh the benefits of doing so.   [XML.com]

Cooking with Python, Part 2  Recipes from part one of this two-part series of excerpts from Python Cookbook, 2nd Edition covered how to handle international text with Unicode and how to select elements from an unsorted sequence. In today's recipes, learn how to implement a ring buffer and how to compute prime numbers.   [ONLamp.com]

Cooking with Python, Part 1  In these sample recipes from Python Cookbook, Second Edition, learn how to use Unicode to handle international text strings that include non-ASCII characters, and how to select the nth smallest element of a sequence. Check back here next week for two more recipes on implementing a ring buffer and computing prime numbers.   [ONLamp.com]

Writing Google Desktop Search Plugins  Google recently released the source code of Kongulo, a plugin for the Google Desktop Search utility. Kongulo is useful on its own, but it's even better as an example of how to write your own plugins for GDS. Jeremy Jones explores the code and explains how it interacts with GDS.   [O'Reilly Network]

Important Notice for Python DevCenter Readers About O'Reilly RSS and Atom Feeds  O'Reilly Media, Inc. is rolling out a new syndication mechanism that provides greater control over the content we publish online. Here's information to help you update your existing RSS and Atom feeds to O'Reilly content.  [Python DevCenter]

Python Standard Logging  Tracking down what your application does seems easy; just add a few print statements here and there. Unfortunately, effectively tracing a program is more difficult. That's where Python's standard logging module comes in. Jeremy Jones demonstrates how to make it work for you.   [ONLamp.com]

Python on Your (S60) Phone  Nokia recently released a Python distribution that runs on Series 60 phones. Sure it's cool, but is it useful? John Littler walks through the available packages and the installation process, as well as some example Python code.   [ONLamp.com]

More Test-Driven Development in Python  The goal of test-driven development is not to produce tests; they're merely a helpful by-product. The real goal is to produce elegant, working code. Jason Diamond demonstrates how test-driven development can improve the design of code.   [ONLamp.com]

Enhanced Interactive Python with IPython  An interactive programming environment can be a powerful tool to assist in writing programs. Python has one as part of its standard distribution. Yet IPython, "an enhanced Interactive Python shell," is a far superior replacement. Jeremy Jones demonstrates.   [ONLamp.com]

Design by Wiki  Is your project drowning in a sea of useless, out-of-date, and irrelevant documentation? Or is your project foundering with no map whatsoever? Before you shell out time and money for a proprietary package, consider that a humble wiki may solve most of your woes. Jason Briggs explains how his team uses MoinMoin to track its project documentation--and diagrams.   [ONLamp.com]

Python-Powered Templates with Cheetah  It's true; XSLT isn't the be-all, end-all of templating and transformation systems. If you use Python, consider instead Cheetah, a template engine based on Python. Andrew Glover demonstrates its simplicity and power for producing text in all kinds of formats.   [ONLamp.com]

Test-Driven Development in Python  The goal of test-driven development is not to produce tests; they're merely a helpful by-product. The real goal is to produce elegant, working code. Jason Diamond demonstrates how test-driven development works using Python and PyUnit to create a sample event-tracking utility.   [ONLamp.com]

Open Source Content Management with Plone  Publishing web sites is easy for geeks. When you're tired of your users asking you to make tiny changes that they could easily handle themselves, it's time to consider a content management system (CMS). If you're a Python or Zope fan, you may have heard of Plone, a powerful and easy-to-use CMS. If not, let Brad Bollenbach convince you to give it a try.   [Python DevCenter]

A Python Quick Reference to Useful Commands  Plucked from the pages of Python in a Nutshell and Learning Python, 2nd Edition, these excerpts, available for download as a PDF (55K), offer a quick reference to useful Python commands, covering methods, common file operations, and much more. Print it out to keep by your keyboard as you program.   [ONLamp.com]

Python and XML
Decomposition, Process, Recomposition  In Uche Ogbuji's latest Python and XML column he explores a pattern for handling very large XML files easily and efficiently.   [XML.com]

Inside Mitch Kapor's World  Mitch Kapor has had a huge influence on the software world, being the founder of Lotus and a driving force behind 1-2-3. Now his Open Software Applications Foundation is working on Chandler, an open-source PIM written in Python. Steve Holden interviewed Mitch after the recent PyCon about his life and career, the OSAF, Chandler, open source, and Python.   [Python DevCenter]

Python and XML
XML Namespaces Support in Python Tools, Part Three  In this month's Python and XML column Uche Ogbuji examines the namespace support in ElementTree, PyRXPU, and libxml.   [XML.com]

Python and XML
XML Namespaces Support in Python Tools, Part Two  In his latest Python and XML column, Uche Ogbuji continues his tour of XML namespaces support in Python tools, focusing this time on 4Suite.   [XML.com]

Panther, Python, and CoreGraphics  Mac OS X Panther includes many updated developer tools. Among them is an enhanced version of Python 2.3 with its own SWIG-based bindings to the CoreGraphics library. Here's a look at the capabilities of the module and examples of how to use CoreGraphics to rescale and decorate images for publication on the Web.   [MacDevCenter.com]

Mod_python's PSP: Python Server Pages  For simple web sites, inlining code in the pages themselves is shockingly effective. For more complex sites, it can even work with good MVC design. Fear not, Pythonistas, mod_python's PSP brings the power and clarity of Python to web programming. Grisha Trubetskoy explains.   [Python DevCenter]