Slashdot Mirror

crookedvulture writes "It has been quite a while since Slashdot last covered multi-monitor gaming. A lot has changed in the interim. Monitors prices continue to fall, and improved AMD Eyefinity and Nvidia Surround implementations make creating multi-display arrays incredibly easy. Graphics cards have gotten faster, allowing high-end models to handle the latest games at the ultra-high resolutions that multi-screen setups enable. Developers are doing a better job of supporting those resolutions, too, although HUD placement and single-screen cinematics are still problematic in some titles. Even in the games that do have niggling flaws, the wider perspective of a triple-screen config can offer a more engaging and immersive experience. As stereoscopic 3D implementations fail to catch on, multi-screen setups look like the best upgrade for PC gamers."

crookedvulture writes "It has been quite a while since Slashdot last covered multi-monitor gaming. A lot has changed in the interim. Monitors prices continue to fall, and improved AMD Eyefinity and Nvidia Surround implementations make creating multi-display arrays incredibly easy. Graphics cards have gotten faster, allowing high-end models to handle the latest games at the ultra-high resolutions that multi-screen setups enable. Developers are doing a better job of supporting those resolutions, too, although HUD placement and single-screen cinematics are still problematic in some titles. Even in the games that do have niggling flaws, the wider perspective of a triple-screen config can offer a more engaging and immersive experience. As stereoscopic 3D implementations fail to catch on, multi-screen setups look like the best upgrade for PC gamers."

sighted writes "New images from the robotic spacecraft Cassini show the ongoing formation of a massive vortex in the atmosphere of Saturn's planet-sized moon Titan. (See also this animation.) The same moon has recently provided tantalizing hints of an underground ocean as well. Future missions, if any are ever funded, will have plenty to explore."

The presumed discovery of the Higgs boson may be one of the most important scientific discoveries ever, but it did bring out quite a bit of "strange" science reporting. In addition to blogs, many mainstream news sites jumped on the crazy headline bandwagon. The ability to soon travel at the speed of light, the building of a Star Trek style transporter, and many stories of the particle proving God doesn't exist have made the rounds in the past week. Is the particle's discovery just on the fringe of common scientific knowledge and therefore prone to wild speculation, or does this all come down to having the most sensational headline?

DerekduPreez writes "Sellers on Amazon's retail site are increasingly using high-speed algorithmic trading tools to automatically set prices, which could lead to a malfunction similar to the 2010 flash crash. According to the Financial Times, prices on Amazon's website change as often as every 15 minutes, where sellers are using tools traditionally developed by data miners at banks to ensure that their prices are always below their rivals'. Third-party software is allowing sellers to detect a competitor's price and automatically undercut that price by, for example, £1. However, this could lead to a situation similar to the U.S. flash crash, where algorithmic trading was blamed for stock prices falling to near zero and then bouncing back within 20 minutes." At Slashdot's sister site for Business Intelligence, Nick Kolakowski has some more information on this possibility.

theodp writes "Back in 2006, a post on Jeff Han's multi-touch screen technology — a real TED crowd-pleaser — gave Slashdot readers a taste of the iPhone and iPad future. Han spun off his NYU Research into a company called Perceptive Pixel which, among other things, gave the world CNN's Amazing Magic Wall. On Monday, Steve Ballmer announced that Microsoft is acquiring Perceptive Pixel, which not only means you'll be able to run Windows 8 on an 82-inch touchscreen, but that the Apple v,. Motorola Mobility lawsuit is about to get more interesting!"

New submitter xSander writes "Is anyone really surprised by this? ACTA may have been rejected by the European Parliment, but it is far from dead yet. Apparently, the EU is trying to revive ACTA through the Canada-EU Trade Agreement (CETA)." The article contains a handy side-by-side comparison of the CETA clauses that are nearly identical to ones found in ACTA.

Nerval's Lobster writes "IT security writer Steve Ragan writes: 'The word "cloud" is sometimes overused in IT—and lately, it's been tossed around more than a football during a tailgating party. Be that as it may, organizations still want to implement cloud-based initiatives. But securing assets once they're in the cloud is often easier said than done.' He then walks through some of the core concepts of cloud security, along with the companies operating in the space."

First time accepted submitter Udigs writes "You might have heard of the Google LunarX Prize. It's a competition where private, often non-profit organizations race to build a vehicle capable of completing a short mission on the moon. But one of the problems facing these private teams is the issue of raising money to make the trip. However, one Florida team is taking an interesting approach: they are offering to send your DNA to the moon for a price. For the inclined, they've started a kickstarter page."

jfruh writes "In the wake of its decision to cede control of its Linux distro to its community, Mandriva is trying a tricky balancing act: offering Linux products based on two different code bases. Desktop and OEM offerings will be based on the Mandriva distro, while server products will be based on the traditional Mageia codebase." Update: As babai101 points out the codebases were reversed in the original post.

judgecorp writes "Shanghai Zhizhen Network Technology is suing Apple in China, claiming Siri infringes its voice technology patent. Zhizhen claims to have 100 million users for its Xiao iRobot software which responds to voice questions and commands. From the article: 'The move came only days after Apple Inc paid $60 million to Proview Technology (Shenzhen) to end a protracted legal dispute over the iPad trademark in China. Zhizhen's patent covers "a type of instant messaging chat robot system", according to the database of the country's State Intellectual Property Office. It was filed on Aug 13, 2004, and got approved on Feb 15, 2006. '"

The Associated Press (as carried by the Washington Post) reports that the controversial report of arsenic-based life-forms in a California lake (much hyped by NASA) look suddenly less controversial, but in a way that will disappoint those who hoped that such an unexpected thing had actually been found on earth. Instead, the journal Science "released two papers that rip apart the original research. They 'clearly show' that the bacteria can't use arsenic as the researchers claimed, said an accompanying statement from the journal." USA Today's version of the story points out that the claim, and subsequent considered rejection of that claim as unsupportable, "looks like a case study in how science corrects its mistakes."

The Associated Press (as carried by the Washington Post) reports that the controversial report of arsenic-based life-forms in a California lake (much hyped by NASA) look suddenly less controversial, but in a way that will disappoint those who hoped that such an unexpected thing had actually been found on earth. Instead, the journal Science "released two papers that rip apart the original research. They 'clearly show' that the bacteria can't use arsenic as the researchers claimed, said an accompanying statement from the journal." USA Today's version of the story points out that the claim, and subsequent considered rejection of that claim as unsupportable, "looks like a case study in how science corrects its mistakes."

The Associated Press (as carried by the Washington Post) reports that the controversial report of arsenic-based life-forms in a California lake (much hyped by NASA) look suddenly less controversial, but in a way that will disappoint those who hoped that such an unexpected thing had actually been found on earth. Instead, the journal Science "released two papers that rip apart the original research. They 'clearly show' that the bacteria can't use arsenic as the researchers claimed, said an accompanying statement from the journal." USA Today's version of the story points out that the claim, and subsequent considered rejection of that claim as unsupportable, "looks like a case study in how science corrects its mistakes."

beefsack writes "Miniand have demonstrated how to control Linux using a Samsung Galaxy S2. Using an MK802 with the ARM build of Droidmote server bundled into an MK802 Lubuntu image with uinput enabled, Miniand demonstrates (video) using an Android phone as a keyboard, mouse, and gamepad over Wi-Fi to the device." Update: 07/10 00:07 GMT by U L : reader ancienthart pointed toward Premotedroid, an (possibly, I could find no license in the code but the code is there) open source alternative.

Since you're reading this here, you're probably already aware that in the early hours of Monday, lots of DNS calls are going to fail as the FBI turns off servers from which Windows machines infected with DNSChanger have been served. New submitter SuperCharlie adds a reminder of the impending shutdown, and adds: "The FBI has a step-by-step method for you to see if you are infected in this PDF document, or you can go to dcwg.org for an automated check if you are so inclined."

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In one of the many BitTorrent download cases brought by pornographic film makers, the plaintiff — faced with a motion to quash brought by a "John Doe" defendant — has filed its opposition papers. Interestingly, these included a declaration by its 'forensic investigator' (PDF), employed by a German company, IPP, Limited, in which he makes claims about what his technology detects, and about how BitTorrent works, and attaches, as an exhibit, a 'functional description' of his IPTracker software (PDF)."

1sockchuck writes "While Facebook and Apple are investing in huge data cathedrals, AOL has decided to go in a different direction: a distributed network of rack-sized server huts that live outdoors. AOL is taking the concept for its unmanned data center and shrinking it into a 'micro data center.' AOL envisions a distributed network of these units, allowing it to quickly roll out new IT capacity for hyperlocal news sites and create its own content distribution network."

New submitter smugfunt writes "A number of incidents at schools in Afghanistan, especially girls' schools, have been attributed to poisoning by the Taliban. The World Health Organization has investigated 32 of them but found no poison. "Mass Psychological Illness is the most probable cause," they conclude, the Telegraph reports. The Taliban has consistently denied poisoning schools and have even consented to allow the education of girls in a deal with the government which allows significant Taliban control over the curriculum."

New submitter smugfunt writes "A number of incidents at schools in Afghanistan, especially girls' schools, have been attributed to poisoning by the Taliban. The World Health Organization has investigated 32 of them but found no poison. "Mass Psychological Illness is the most probable cause," they conclude, the Telegraph reports. The Taliban has consistently denied poisoning schools and have even consented to allow the education of girls in a deal with the government which allows significant Taliban control over the curriculum."

An anonymous reader writes "It's easy to forget that the Raspberry Pi currently shipping is the more expensive model of the board. It is actually called the Model B as it sports more features than the $25 Model A. The main differences [compared to the B model] include a lack of an Ethernet port and the associated networking chip, as well as the presence of only one USB port instead of two. There was originally going to be less memory on the Model A (128MB instead of 256MB), but the Raspberry Pi Foundation managed to make enough cost savings during a redesign to increase the amount to 256MB on the cheaper version. With all the focus being on the Model B, we haven't actually seen the (near) final Model A board yet. But that changes today, as Eben Upton has just shown off the $25 board."

tripleevenfall writes "Best Buy has cut approximately 650 jobs from its Geek Squad division, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The cut represents about 4% of Geek Squad's total workforce. The consumer electronics giant said the workers primarily service televisions and appliances in consumers' homes. Best Buy's performance has struggled to keep up with changes in consumer electronics, as the weight of its big-box format inhibits it from fending off competitive pressure of online retailers."

Michael J. Ross writes "Veteran computer programmers — adept with languages such as PHP, Perl, and JavaScript — typically have no trouble learning an additional language, often just by reading online tutorials and stepping through sample code. But for those new to programming, that approach can prove difficult and frustrating. Yet nowadays there appears to be growing interest among such people for learning how to write programs in Python, especially as it is seeing increasing use by Google and other organizations, and is often chosen as the primary teaching language in schools. For such budding programmers, one possible starting point is the book Head First Python." Read on for the rest of Michael's review. Head First Python author Paul Barry pages 494 pages publisher O'Reilly Media rating 6/10 reviewer Michael J. Ross ISBN 978-1449382674 summary A gentle introduction to the Python programming language. The book's author Paul Barry, is an experienced programmer and lecturer in computing science. The book was published by O'Reilly Media, on 7 December 2010, under the ISBN 978-1449382674. On the publisher's page, visitors can learn more about the book and its author, see feedback from readers, peruse the discussion forum, and read the errata identified so far (many of which appear to be fixed in the most recent printing). The book's example code is available from Head First Labs. It is packaged into a large Zip archive file, containing directories for all the chapters. Additional resources — such as test data — can be downloaded from a page on the website of the school where the author teaches, The Institute of Technology, Carlow in Ireland. (But don't bother trying to use the site's search functionality to find more information about him, because no search results are returned, as of this writing. Hmm, what is the Goidelic word for "fail?")

The book's material, spanning 494 pages, is organized into 11 chapters, plus a supplementary section for more advanced topics. In the first chapter, "Everyone loves lists," the author briefly explains how to find and install on one's computer Python and its IDLE development environment, if necessary. Oddly, he assumes that if it is already present on a Windows machine, then it will be found in the directory c:\Python31; this is repeated in the second chapter as well. More importantly, he mentions the (command-line) command to start the Python shell, but then immediately begins describing IDLE, without mentioning how to get it running. Most of the chapter explains how Python supports lists and functions, although the coverage of the latter topic is much too brief, considering how critical functions are in any programming language, including Python.

The second chapter shows how to bundle up functions into modules, and make them available to other developers through distribution utilities. This may be an important topic, yet it is inconceivable to me as to why, so early in the book, the author dives into the rather involved details of registering with PyPI and distributing a Python module to the rest of the world, before even introducing such language basics as input/output, files, and objects. (More on that later.)

If the reader perseveres through all the flaws in the first two chapters, then she will likely find that the quality of the narrative gradually improves throughout the rest of the book. An example of this is the third chapter, which addresses basic file access and exception handling. The following chapter, which focuses on data persistence, extends the discussion of how to save in-memory data in files, including the use of the standard library "pickle" for dumping and later loading any type of data. The next few chapters introduce the reader to increasingly complex ways of representing data, in the form of lists (again), dictionaries, and (object-oriented) classes. The discussion is fairly clear, except readers familiar with other object-oriented languages may be confused on page 194, where class attributes are being defined in the constructor only. In fact, the author does not fully explain where attributes can be defined, and what their resultant scope would be.

The seventh chapter roughly marks the halfway point in the book, and also is where the focus shifts from developing Python programs to releasing them to the public. The author begins by incorporating techniques presented earlier in the book, to build a Python-based web app, using the popular Model-View-Controller (MVC) paradigm. The next chapter shows how to port those web apps to mobile devices. Chapter 9 extends these topics, by demonstrating how to query for and accept user data in HTML forms on web pages, and in similar dialogs on Android phones — as well as how to store that data in an SQLite database. The next logical step is to learn how to make Python apps scalable, as well as cloud-based, in this case using the Google App Engine (GAE). Readers are also introduced to Django, for form validation. The final chapter, and the appendix, cover a number of miscellaneous topics, such as how to spreadsheet-type data storage, development IDEs, variable scope, unit testing, and regular expressions.

Most readers should find that the relaxed writing style makes this book approachable, though fairly lengthy. Like most if not all of the other books in the Head First lineup, this one is made more palatable with a sense of humor that is not silly — a welcome improvement to any programming book. The best parts are in the "fireside chats," which are fictional and sometimes pointed conversations, oftentimes between two similar components of Python.

Yet the narrative is far from perfect. Some of the phrasing is ponderous, e.g., "Perform the edits to your code" (page 113); why not just "Edit your code?" A few concepts are used without explanation, e.g., the Python value of "None" (page 80). Some technical slang terms are used quite early in the book, yet with no definitions or explanations for the neophyte — e.g. "app" and "webapp" (both on page xvi). Admittedly, most readers of this book will be programmers or other techies, who feel comfortable with those terms. But the Head First series is intended for people just getting started, and thus all such terms should be explained up front, if only briefly.

There are numerous errata not found in the aforesaid list (on the O'Reilly Media website): "tools to for accepting" (page xviii), "design user-friendly websites" (xxvii; should be "learn Python"), "try and" (14, 84 twice, and 188; should be "try to"), "As your plan to" (37; "you plan" was likely intended), "utilities" (49), "users that" (50; should be "users who"), "argument" (52), "a iterable" (53 and 54), "the the list on screen" (64), "the your latest version" (65), "a argument" (71), "gives you with a chance" (88), "file's contents" (123; incorrect plural possessive), "the facilities pickle" (134; probably should be "the pickle facilities"), "your were" (170), "it's new mode" (185; no apostrophe in "its"), and at this point I ceased recording errata. These flaws, plus the 119 already reported, suggest that the author and O'Reilly copy editors did not perform enough quality control when working on the manuscript.

One glaring problem with the material is the dramatic unevenness in the depths of coverage, from one topic to the next. For instance, even though the book is aimed at readers who already know another programming language (page xxiv), an entire section is devoted to establishing the (obvious) non-scalability of having to use an individual print() statement for every item in a list, and the superiority of instead iterating through the list (page 15). Yet in the same chapter, only a couple pages (29-30) are provided to explain functions, with no discussion of topics important to any programmer, such as whether one can set parameters to default values, or how to pass arguments by reference, if it's even possible. Some of this unevenness is due to the book's goal of presenting technical information in an easily-digestible form; for instance, in Chapter 7, the reader is told how a web server returns a web page, but later faces the minefield of invoking Python's built-in web server on a CGI server.

A second significant problem is the often-illogical ordering of material — both high level and low. Chapter 2 illustrates both cases: The author recommends that the reader release her code to the public (in the form of modules) after presumably having learned only one chapter's worth of material, when such code would undoubtedly be unready for public consumption. At a much lower level, the first "There Are No Dumb Questions" entry in the chapter briefly discusses various editors that could be used for writing Python code. This information should have been presented at the beginning of the first chapter, or even in the introduction — not after the reader has already chosen whatever editor seemed most convenient at the moment, and probably saved at least one file of code. A third variation of this problem, is when the reader is tested on concepts not previously presented — such as the "Who Does What?" section on page 53, which quizzes the reader on half a dozen functions, none of which the reader has presumably even seen before, and some of which are never mentioned again in the book!

In terms of the typography of the print version of the book, I found the font face and size to be problematic, especially on those pages where the text appears to have been printed a bit too lightly — at least in the review copy of the book kindly provided to me by the publisher. For instance, all of the code on page 227 is practically unreadable. Throughout the book, in the snippets of code, the comments are a light gray making them quite difficult to read — probably because these are screenshots of IDLE sessions, in which comments are by default displayed in green, which apparently does not translate well to grayscale illustrations.

Overall, this book appears to have received less oversight and editing than is typical in the Head First series. If you are a veteran programmer searching for a concise treatment of Python, then this book is not optimal for you. Yet if you seek an engaging and highly visual introduction to an elegant programming language, then Head First Python can be a worthwhile place to start your journey.

Michael J. Ross is a freelance web developer and writer.

You can purchase Head First Python from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

Michael J. Ross writes "Veteran computer programmers — adept with languages such as PHP, Perl, and JavaScript — typically have no trouble learning an additional language, often just by reading online tutorials and stepping through sample code. But for those new to programming, that approach can prove difficult and frustrating. Yet nowadays there appears to be growing interest among such people for learning how to write programs in Python, especially as it is seeing increasing use by Google and other organizations, and is often chosen as the primary teaching language in schools. For such budding programmers, one possible starting point is the book Head First Python." Read on for the rest of Michael's review. Head First Python author Paul Barry pages 494 pages publisher O'Reilly Media rating 6/10 reviewer Michael J. Ross ISBN 978-1449382674 summary A gentle introduction to the Python programming language. The book's author Paul Barry, is an experienced programmer and lecturer in computing science. The book was published by O'Reilly Media, on 7 December 2010, under the ISBN 978-1449382674. On the publisher's page, visitors can learn more about the book and its author, see feedback from readers, peruse the discussion forum, and read the errata identified so far (many of which appear to be fixed in the most recent printing). The book's example code is available from Head First Labs. It is packaged into a large Zip archive file, containing directories for all the chapters. Additional resources — such as test data — can be downloaded from a page on the website of the school where the author teaches, The Institute of Technology, Carlow in Ireland. (But don't bother trying to use the site's search functionality to find more information about him, because no search results are returned, as of this writing. Hmm, what is the Goidelic word for "fail?")

The book's material, spanning 494 pages, is organized into 11 chapters, plus a supplementary section for more advanced topics. In the first chapter, "Everyone loves lists," the author briefly explains how to find and install on one's computer Python and its IDLE development environment, if necessary. Oddly, he assumes that if it is already present on a Windows machine, then it will be found in the directory c:\Python31; this is repeated in the second chapter as well. More importantly, he mentions the (command-line) command to start the Python shell, but then immediately begins describing IDLE, without mentioning how to get it running. Most of the chapter explains how Python supports lists and functions, although the coverage of the latter topic is much too brief, considering how critical functions are in any programming language, including Python.

The second chapter shows how to bundle up functions into modules, and make them available to other developers through distribution utilities. This may be an important topic, yet it is inconceivable to me as to why, so early in the book, the author dives into the rather involved details of registering with PyPI and distributing a Python module to the rest of the world, before even introducing such language basics as input/output, files, and objects. (More on that later.)

If the reader perseveres through all the flaws in the first two chapters, then she will likely find that the quality of the narrative gradually improves throughout the rest of the book. An example of this is the third chapter, which addresses basic file access and exception handling. The following chapter, which focuses on data persistence, extends the discussion of how to save in-memory data in files, including the use of the standard library "pickle" for dumping and later loading any type of data. The next few chapters introduce the reader to increasingly complex ways of representing data, in the form of lists (again), dictionaries, and (object-oriented) classes. The discussion is fairly clear, except readers familiar with other object-oriented languages may be confused on page 194, where class attributes are being defined in the constructor only. In fact, the author does not fully explain where attributes can be defined, and what their resultant scope would be.

The seventh chapter roughly marks the halfway point in the book, and also is where the focus shifts from developing Python programs to releasing them to the public. The author begins by incorporating techniques presented earlier in the book, to build a Python-based web app, using the popular Model-View-Controller (MVC) paradigm. The next chapter shows how to port those web apps to mobile devices. Chapter 9 extends these topics, by demonstrating how to query for and accept user data in HTML forms on web pages, and in similar dialogs on Android phones — as well as how to store that data in an SQLite database. The next logical step is to learn how to make Python apps scalable, as well as cloud-based, in this case using the Google App Engine (GAE). Readers are also introduced to Django, for form validation. The final chapter, and the appendix, cover a number of miscellaneous topics, such as how to spreadsheet-type data storage, development IDEs, variable scope, unit testing, and regular expressions.

Most readers should find that the relaxed writing style makes this book approachable, though fairly lengthy. Like most if not all of the other books in the Head First lineup, this one is made more palatable with a sense of humor that is not silly — a welcome improvement to any programming book. The best parts are in the "fireside chats," which are fictional and sometimes pointed conversations, oftentimes between two similar components of Python.

Yet the narrative is far from perfect. Some of the phrasing is ponderous, e.g., "Perform the edits to your code" (page 113); why not just "Edit your code?" A few concepts are used without explanation, e.g., the Python value of "None" (page 80). Some technical slang terms are used quite early in the book, yet with no definitions or explanations for the neophyte — e.g. "app" and "webapp" (both on page xvi). Admittedly, most readers of this book will be programmers or other techies, who feel comfortable with those terms. But the Head First series is intended for people just getting started, and thus all such terms should be explained up front, if only briefly.

There are numerous errata not found in the aforesaid list (on the O'Reilly Media website): "tools to for accepting" (page xviii), "design user-friendly websites" (xxvii; should be "learn Python"), "try and" (14, 84 twice, and 188; should be "try to"), "As your plan to" (37; "you plan" was likely intended), "utilities" (49), "users that" (50; should be "users who"), "argument" (52), "a iterable" (53 and 54), "the the list on screen" (64), "the your latest version" (65), "a argument" (71), "gives you with a chance" (88), "file's contents" (123; incorrect plural possessive), "the facilities pickle" (134; probably should be "the pickle facilities"), "your were" (170), "it's new mode" (185; no apostrophe in "its"), and at this point I ceased recording errata. These flaws, plus the 119 already reported, suggest that the author and O'Reilly copy editors did not perform enough quality control when working on the manuscript.

One glaring problem with the material is the dramatic unevenness in the depths of coverage, from one topic to the next. For instance, even though the book is aimed at readers who already know another programming language (page xxiv), an entire section is devoted to establishing the (obvious) non-scalability of having to use an individual print() statement for every item in a list, and the superiority of instead iterating through the list (page 15). Yet in the same chapter, only a couple pages (29-30) are provided to explain functions, with no discussion of topics important to any programmer, such as whether one can set parameters to default values, or how to pass arguments by reference, if it's even possible. Some of this unevenness is due to the book's goal of presenting technical information in an easily-digestible form; for instance, in Chapter 7, the reader is told how a web server returns a web page, but later faces the minefield of invoking Python's built-in web server on a CGI server.

A second significant problem is the often-illogical ordering of material — both high level and low. Chapter 2 illustrates both cases: The author recommends that the reader release her code to the public (in the form of modules) after presumably having learned only one chapter's worth of material, when such code would undoubtedly be unready for public consumption. At a much lower level, the first "There Are No Dumb Questions" entry in the chapter briefly discusses various editors that could be used for writing Python code. This information should have been presented at the beginning of the first chapter, or even in the introduction — not after the reader has already chosen whatever editor seemed most convenient at the moment, and probably saved at least one file of code. A third variation of this problem, is when the reader is tested on concepts not previously presented — such as the "Who Does What?" section on page 53, which quizzes the reader on half a dozen functions, none of which the reader has presumably even seen before, and some of which are never mentioned again in the book!

In terms of the typography of the print version of the book, I found the font face and size to be problematic, especially on those pages where the text appears to have been printed a bit too lightly — at least in the review copy of the book kindly provided to me by the publisher. For instance, all of the code on page 227 is practically unreadable. Throughout the book, in the snippets of code, the comments are a light gray making them quite difficult to read — probably because these are screenshots of IDLE sessions, in which comments are by default displayed in green, which apparently does not translate well to grayscale illustrations.

Overall, this book appears to have received less oversight and editing than is typical in the Head First series. If you are a veteran programmer searching for a concise treatment of Python, then this book is not optimal for you. Yet if you seek an engaging and highly visual introduction to an elegant programming language, then Head First Python can be a worthwhile place to start your journey.

Michael J. Ross is a freelance web developer and writer.

You can purchase Head First Python from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

Back in May we discussed using Python, R, and Octave as data analysis tools, and compared the relative strength of each. One point of contention was whether Python could be considered a legitimate tool for such work. Now, Bei Lu writes while Python on its own may be lacking, Python with packages is very much up to the task: "My passion with Python started with its natural language processing capability when paired with the Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK). Considering the growing need for text mining to extract content themes and reader sentiments (just to name a few functions), I believe Python+packages will serve as more mainstream analytical tools beyond the academic arena." She also discusses an emerging set of solutions for R which let it better handle big data.

Back in May we discussed using Python, R, and Octave as data analysis tools, and compared the relative strength of each. One point of contention was whether Python could be considered a legitimate tool for such work. Now, Bei Lu writes while Python on its own may be lacking, Python with packages is very much up to the task: "My passion with Python started with its natural language processing capability when paired with the Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK). Considering the growing need for text mining to extract content themes and reader sentiments (just to name a few functions), I believe Python+packages will serve as more mainstream analytical tools beyond the academic arena." She also discusses an emerging set of solutions for R which let it better handle big data.

An anonymous reader writes "A year ago, we discussed this on Slashdot: E-Voting Reform In an Out Year?. The point was that due to the hoard of problems with electronic (and mechanical) voting, it is best to approach reform in an out year, when it is not on everyone's mind yet too late to do anything about it. Well, we failed, didn't we? Another election year is upon us, and our vote is less secure, less reliable, and less meaningful than ever. To reference the last article, we still have no open source voting, no end-to-end auditable voting systems and no open source governance. So don't complain if this election is stolen. You forgot to fix the system."

judgecorp writes "Telefonica has added some detail to the Firefox OS picture, following the announcement of phones by two manufacturers earlier this week. The Qualcomm-built handset shown by Telefonica in London ran the HTML5 OS and showed multitasking as well as a range of HTML5 applications. Firefox-maker Mozilla receives a lot of funding from Google, but Telefonica sees Firefox OS as a way to achieve independence from Google. It will be more open than Android, and will run on lower-specification hardware, according to the company's director of products." A common reaction to Firefox OS over the past few days has been to say that it's doomed from the start. But Mozilla's stated goals are to 'promote openness, innovation, and opportunity on the Web for users and developers,' rather than to compete with Android and iOS. What do you think they need to do in order to achieve that in a meaningful way?

sfcrazy writes "The Free Software Foundation recently published a whitepaper criticizing Ubuntu's move to drop Grub 2 in order to support Microsoft's UEFI Secure Boot. The FSF also recommended that Ubuntu should reconsider their decision. Ubuntu's charismatic chief, Mark Shuttleworth, has responded to the situation during an interview, and explained the reason they won't change their stand on dropping Grub 2 from Ubuntu. Shuttleworth said, 'The SFLC advice to us was that the FSF could require key disclosure if some OEM screwed up. As nice as it is that someone at the FSF says they would not, we have to plan for a world where leaders change and institutional priorities change. The FSF wrote a licence that would give them the rights to take specific actions, and it's hard for them to argue they never would!'"

Dr. Ramsey Faragher graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2004 with a first-class degree in Experimental and Theoretical Physics. He then completed a PhD in 2007 at Cambridge in Opportunistic Radio Positioning under the direction of Dr. Peter Duffett-Smith, a world expert in this field. He is now a Principal Scientist at the BAE Systems Advanced Technology Centre specializing in positioning, navigation, sensor fusion and remote sensing technologies in the land, air, sea and space domains. We recently covered his NAVSOP project, an advanced positioning system that exploits existing transmissions such as Wi-Fi, TV, radio and mobile phone signals, to calculate the user’s location to within a few meters. Dr. Faragher has graciously agreed to answer any questions you may have about NAVSOP, the future of GPS, or what a theoretical physicist puts on his business card. Ask as many questions as you like, but please confine your questions to one per post.

Dr. Ramsey Faragher graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2004 with a first-class degree in Experimental and Theoretical Physics. He then completed a PhD in 2007 at Cambridge in Opportunistic Radio Positioning under the direction of Dr. Peter Duffett-Smith, a world expert in this field. He is now a Principal Scientist at the BAE Systems Advanced Technology Centre specializing in positioning, navigation, sensor fusion and remote sensing technologies in the land, air, sea and space domains. We recently covered his NAVSOP project, an advanced positioning system that exploits existing transmissions such as Wi-Fi, TV, radio and mobile phone signals, to calculate the user’s location to within a few meters. Dr. Faragher has graciously agreed to answer any questions you may have about NAVSOP, the future of GPS, or what a theoretical physicist puts on his business card. Ask as many questions as you like, but please confine your questions to one per post.

An anonymous reader writes "Everyone is talking about the recent Higgs boson announcement by the scientists at CERN, but another significant scientific discovery was revealed this week as well. In a study published online in the journal Nature on Wednesday, scientists show that they have successfully found the first dark matter filament."

redletterdave writes "It appears that Google is no longer alone in exploring the realm of wearable tech solutions. Apple was granted a patent on Thursday in relation to 'peripheral treatment for head-mounted displays.' While Google Glass places a piece of smartglass right above the user's eye, Apple's solution uses two peripheral lights to show two different images to each eye 'to create an enhanced viewing experience for the user.' Apple's patent also attempts to address the biggest problems with head-mounted displays (HMDs), particularly tunnel vision and motion sickness."

An anonymous reader writes "Last year, Japan criminalized virus creation and just saving a virus on [one's] own computer. According to Yomiuri Shimbun, Kyoto police have arrested a 13-year-old (Japanese language original), second grade of junior high school student from Tokyo, for allegedly creating a computer shutdown virus and operating an exchange board of hackers. Kyoto police also arrested a 23-year-old construction worker for allegedly teaching how to make a virus on their board and saving a virus on his computer."

Google is retiring the iGoogle page, but on a much shorter time scale, Apple is shutting down an iService of its own: the cloud-storage site iWork.com (linked to Apple's office apps suite iWork) is slated to go offline at the end of this month. Says the article, over at SlashCloud: "As of that date, 'you will no longer be able to access your documents on the iWork.com site or view them on the Web,' reads Apple’s note on the matter, followed by a recommendation that anyone with documents on iWork download them to the desktop." Both of these announcements remind me why I covet local storage for documents and the ability to set my own GUI prefs.

Google is retiring the iGoogle page, but on a much shorter time scale, Apple is shutting down an iService of its own: the cloud-storage site iWork.com (linked to Apple's office apps suite iWork) is slated to go offline at the end of this month. Says the article, over at SlashCloud: "As of that date, 'you will no longer be able to access your documents on the iWork.com site or view them on the Web,' reads Apple’s note on the matter, followed by a recommendation that anyone with documents on iWork download them to the desktop." Both of these announcements remind me why I covet local storage for documents and the ability to set my own GUI prefs.

1sockchuck writes "A plan to build data centers on ships is now defunct. Startup IDS, whose ambitions to convert cargo ships into server farms prompted debate on Slashdot in 2008 and 2010, is in bankruptcy. Google filed a patent for a water-based data center, but it's not clear that the company ever took the concept seriously, and has even spoofed the idea."

1sockchuck writes "A plan to build data centers on ships is now defunct. Startup IDS, whose ambitions to convert cargo ships into server farms prompted debate on Slashdot in 2008 and 2010, is in bankruptcy. Google filed a patent for a water-based data center, but it's not clear that the company ever took the concept seriously, and has even spoofed the idea."

1sockchuck writes "A plan to build data centers on ships is now defunct. Startup IDS, whose ambitions to convert cargo ships into server farms prompted debate on Slashdot in 2008 and 2010, is in bankruptcy. Google filed a patent for a water-based data center, but it's not clear that the company ever took the concept seriously, and has even spoofed the idea."

PhunkySchtuff writes "OK, so we're all hearing the news that they've found the Higgs boson. What are some of the more practical implications that are likely to come out of this discovery? I realize it's hard to predict this stuff — who would have thought that shining a bright light on a rod of ruby crystal would have lead to digital music on CDs and being able to measure the distance to the moon to an accuracy of centimeters? If the Higgs boson is the particle that gives other particles mass, would our being able to manipulate the Higgs lead to being able to do things with mass such as we can do with electromagnetism? Will we be able to shield or block the Higgs from interacting with other particles, leading to a reduction in mass (and therefore weight?) Are there other things that this discovery will lead to in the short to medium term?"

First time accepted submitter fotoguzzi writes "Garden State Fireworks is investigating how the entire Fourth of July show was launched after a signal was sent to the barges that would set the timing for the rest of the show after the introduction. Can anyone suggest how such a trivial step could go so disastrously wrong?" It's not the first time such a thing has happened, either.

eldavojohn writes "A report by China Securities Journal claims that China is now stockpiling rare earths although it has not indicated when this stockpiling started. Many WTO members have complained about China's tightening restrictions on exports of rare earths while China maintains that such restrictions are an attempt to clean up its environmental problems. A WTO special conference scheduled for July 10th will hopefully decide if China's restrictions are unfair trade practices or if the US, the EU and Japan are merely upset that they can't export their pollution and receive rare earths at low prices. Last year, China granted its mining companies the right to export 30,200 tons but in actuality only 18,600 tons were shipped out of country."

An anonymous reader writes "In a move that is likely to have wide-ranging implications for patent rulings around the world, a High Court Judge in the UK has ruled that HTC did not infringe on a number if Apple's patents. 'He said Apple's slide-to-unlock feature was an "obvious" development in the light of a similar function on an earlier Swedish handset.' Two other patents that Apple had claimed were infringed were ruled invalid, while a third was found not to apply to HTC. A statement from the Taiwanese firm said: 'HTC is pleased with the ruling, which provides further confirmation that Apple's claims against HTC are without merit. We remain disappointed that Apple continues to favour competition in the courtroom over competition in the marketplace.' Apple declined to comment on the specifics of the case. Instead it re-issued an earlier statement, saying: 'We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.'" This after a similar victory for HTC in a different venue, when Apple's request for an injunction on some HTC devices was rejected in the U.S.

bs0d3 writes "Voyager 1 is expected to reach interstellar space soon. It will be the first made made object to cross the heliosphere, which is the final stop in our solar system. Voyager 1, famously contained a gold phonographic record. The record was filled with iconic sights, images, and sounds from earth, and the prevailing message, "we come in peace". The disc was [composed] by a man named Carl Sagan, and it contained many pieces of art, songs, and images, that are all copy-written. According to NASA, 'Most of the material they used was copyrighted by the creators/owners and Sagan had to get copyright releases in order to assemble the original record. Subsequently, Warner Multimedia was able to obtain copyright releases for the 1992 version of "Murmurs of Earth" .. Unfortunately, the book and CDROM are no longer being published and are hard to find as a set.'"

Hugh Pickens writes "The LA Times reports that the Food and Drug Administration has approved the first over-the-counter HIV test kit, allowing people to test themselves in private at home and get preliminary results in less than 30 minutes. The test, which works by detecting antibodies in a swab from the gums, should not be considered final — in trials, the test failed to detect HIV in 1 in every 12 patients known to be infected, and returned false positives in 1 in 5,000 cases. The new at-home test, called OraQuick, will be sold in supermarkets and pharmacies and manufacturer, OraSure, has not said how much the test will cost, only that it will be more than the $18 cost for the professional kit. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that of the 1.2 million people in the U.S. with HIV, 1 in 5 is not aware of the infection and that a disproportionate number of the 50,000 new cases of HIV each year is linked to people who have not been tested. Chip Lewis, a spokesman for Whitman-Walker Health, which provides AIDS care in Washington, says at-home testing could reach some people who didn't want to go to a clinic but removing medical professionals from the process could cause problems. 'It's not like a home pregnancy test,' says Lewis. 'You need really a lot of information about how to read the test, how to use the test properly.'" Back in May, we reported that a panel of FDA experts recommended approval of an over-the-counter HIV test.

MarkWhittington writes "The probable discovery of the Higgs Boson particle is greeted as bittersweet news in Texas. Had the Superconducting Super Collider, at one time under construction in Waxahachie, Texas, not been cancelled by Congress in 1993 the Higgs Boson might have been confirmed a decade ago, some believe, and in America."

Stirling Newberry writes "Icelandic MP Birgitta Jónsdóttir details more of the evidence for what she calls a 'judicial vendetta' against WikiLeaks and its volunteers, including attempts to gain access to her Twitter account. Her efforts to block the National Defense Authorization Act were discussed here previously. The story was taken up last year by Glenn Greenwald and Wired. As a result, the International Parliamentarian Union adopted a resolution on her case. What's new? She asserts that there is a grand jury investigation into WikiLeaks and related organizations, and is calling on Sweden to provide assurances that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange not be re-extradited to the U.S. She says, 'There is no doubt that the U.S. wants to get even with WikiLeaks.'"

nk497 writes "The FBI is set to pull the plug on DNSChanger servers on Monday, leaving as many as 300,000 PCs with the wrong DNS settings, unable to easily connect to websites — although that's a big improvement from the 4m computers that would have been cut off had the authorities pulled the plug when arresting the alleged cybercriminals last year. The date has been pushed back once already to allow people more time to sort out their infected PCs, but experts say it's better to cut off infected machines than leave them be. 'Cutting them off would force them to get ahold of tech support and reveal to them that they've been running a vulnerable machine that's been compromised,' said F-Secure's Sean Sullivan. 'They never learn to patch up the machine, so it's vulnerable to other threats as well. The longer these things sit there, the more time there is for something else to infect.'"