Online Resources

Ant: A Java-oriented build tool that uses XML files instead of Makefiles. (Viewed 2006-02-20.)

Apache: The main site for the most widely-used web server in the world. (Viewed 2005-07-26.)

Bitten: A tool for running builds continuously in the background across multiple machines. (Viewed 2005-09-01.)

Boost.Python: A C++ library that enables interoperability with Python. (Viewed 2006-04-28.)

Bugzilla: An industrial-strength issue tracking system that is widely used in open source projects. (Viewed 2006-03-01.)

CollabNet: A software project management portal used in both commercial and open source projects. (Viewed 2006-03-01.)

CruiseControl: A framework for managing continuous builds. Each time you update something in your version control repository, CruiseControl recompiles your code, re-runs your tests, and lets you (and your teammates) know if you've broken anything. (Viewed 2005-07-26.)

CVS: A version control system that has been the backbone of the open source movement almost since its inception. Subversion is slowly replacing it. (Viewed 2006-02-17.)

Cygwin: A Linux-like environment for Windows, which brings with it a lot of other tools (like SSH and GNU Make). (Viewed 2005-07-26.)

DB2: A high-end commercial databse management system from IBM. (Viewed 2005-02-24.)

DDD: The Data Display Debugger is a graphical front end for a variety of debuggers, including GDB and the Python debugger. (Viewed 2006-04-23.)

Dive Into Python: The complete text of [Pilgrim 2004] available on-line. (Viewed 2005-09-06.)

Django: A Python web application development framework with some of the same capabilities as Ruby on Rails (but not as many users, or as much documentation). (Viewed 2006-04-30.)

Docutils: Python's documentation utilities, which are designed to convert plain text documentation (such as docstrings) into HTML and other formats. (Viewed 2006-04-28.)

DrProject: An entry-level software project management portal derived from Trac that has been tailored for classroom and small-team use. (Viewed 2006-03-01.)

Eclipse: Originally developed by IBM for Java development, Eclipse is the biggest open source development environment around these days. There are literally hundreds of plugins for it, and hundreds of thousands of users. It's not for the faint of heart (and it definitely won't be happy on a four-year-old hand-me-down machine), but it's one of the real power tools of modern programming. (Viewed 2005-08-10.)

ElementTree: An alternative XML manipulation library for Python that pays more attention to the philosophy of the language than to standards like DOM. (Viewed 2006-04-28.)

F2PY: An open source tool to connect Python and Fortran code. (Viewed 2006-04-28.)

Firefox: The best web browser around, where “best” means “nicest interface”, “most extensible”, and “least insecure”. (Viewed 2005-07-26.)

GDB: The GNU Project debugger is a program that watches and manipulates other programs. It works with many languages, on many platforms; when combined with DDD, it's actually not that hard to use. (Viewed 2006-04-23.)

Gnumeric: A cross-platform open source spreadsheet. (Viewed 2006-04-08.)

Internet Groupware for Scientific Collaboration: While it is now several years old, Udell's examination of what the web could be, and how it could help scientists collaborate more effectively, is still as thought-provoking as it was when it first appeared. (Viewed 2005-07-26.)

JUnit: A unit testing framework for Java that has inspired many workalikes and extensions. (Viewed 2006-02-22.)

Kid: An HTML templating system for Python. (Viewed 2006-03-06.)

Make: The standard build tool for Unix. Users describe dependencies in a Makefile, along with the actions that must be executed to update a file if it is older than any of its dependencies. Make then determines which actions need to be executed, and an order in which they may safely be run. (Viewed 2006-03-01.)

Microsoft Visual Studio: A full-featured IDE for Microsoft Windows development. (Viewed 2006-02-20.)

MySQL: The most popular open source database around (though many discerning users prefer PostgreSQL). (Viewed 2005-07-29.)

Oracle: A high-end commercial database system produced by a company of the same name. (Viewed 2006-02-24.)

Politics and the English Language: A brilliant description of how turgid language is often used as a substitute for thought. The particular examples may be a little dated, but Orwell's writing never is. (Viewed 2006-04-28.)

PEP-008: Python Style Guide: A semi-official guide to Python coding conventions. (Viewed 2005-07-26.)

Perforce: An excellent commercial version control system. (Viewed 2005-11-25.)

PostgreSQL: The main site for an advanced open source relational database. It may not be as popular as its main competitor, MySQL, but most people who have used both have found PostgreSQL easier to work with. (Viewed 2005-07-26.)

PyAmazon: A simple Python library for fetching data from Amazon.com. (Viewed 2006-04-23.)

PyChecker: A code checking tool for Python that complements PyLint. (Viewed 2005-09-06.)

Pyfort: An open source tool to connect Python and Fortran code. (Viewed 2006-04-28.)

PyLint: A code checking tool for Python that complements PyChecker. (Viewed 2005-09-06.)

Python: The main site for all things Python. (Viewed 2005-07-26.)

Python Cookbook: An ever-growing collection of Python tips and tricks. (Viewed 2005-07-29.)

Python Software Foundation: A non-profit organization devoted to advancing open source technology related to Python, and the main financial sponsor of this course. (Viewed 2005-07-26.)

RapidSVN: A cross-platform GUI for Subversion. (Viewed 2005-09-13.)

Roundup: A bug-tracking system in which each ticket automatically becomes a self-maintaining mailing list. (Viewed 2006-04-28.)

Ruby: A scripting language with many of the same capabilities as Python. (Viewed 2006-04-30.)

Ruby on Rails: A third-generation web application framework that simplifies programmers' lives by emphasizing convention over configuration. (Viewed 2006-04-30.)

SCons: A powerful Python-based build management tool. (Viewed 2005-07-28.)

Seamonkey Code Reviewer's Guide: A simple set of guidelines for code reviews from the Mozilla Foundation. (Viewed 2006-03-01.)

SQLObject: An object-relational mapping package for Python. (Viewed 2006-03-01.)

Software Carpentry: The permanent home for these notes. (Viewed 2006-08-22.)

SourceForge: A software project management portal whose main installation is a clearing house for thousands of open source projects. (Viewed 2006-02-19.)

SQLite: A small, simple, and very fast relational database that can be run on its own, or integrated into other applications. (Viewed 2005-07-26.)

Subversion: The main site for Subversion is aimed more at Subversion's developers than at its users; if you're looking for a how-to, [Mason 2005] is a good place to start. (Viewed 2005-07-26.)

SWIG: A tool for generating Perl, Python, and other bindings for C programs. (Viewed 2006-04-03.)

The Absolute Minimum Every Software Developer Absolutely, Positively Must Know About Unicode and Character Sets (No Excuses!): Joel Spolsky's 15-minute guide to character set encodings, and what you have to do to deal with the fact that most of the world doesn't use the standard American alphabet. This article is reprinted in [Spolsky 2004]. (Viewed 2005-07-26.)

TortoiseSVN: A cross-platform GUI for Subversion. (Viewed 2005-09-13.)

Trac: An entry-level software project management portal that is much easier to install, administer, and use than full-sized alternatives like CollabNet and SourceForge. (Viewed 2006-03-01.)

TurboGears: A Python web application development framework with some of the same capabilities as Ruby on Rails (but not as many users, or as much documentation). (Viewed 2006-04-30.)

University of Toronto: Canada's biggest university, and the host institution for much of this work. (Viewed 2005-07-26.)

Version Control with Subversion: A free on-line version of Collins-Sussman et al's [Collins-Sussman et al 2004]. (Viewed 2006-01-11.)

WingIDE: A commercial IDE targeted solely at Python developers. (Viewed 2005-07-29.)

YesLogic: Makers of Prince, the document formatter and generator used to produce the PDF version of these notes. (Viewed 2005-10-05.)