Archive 28. August 2013

Anaconda. Hmm, had I already? No idea. It is a Python installation that comes with a stack of scientific modules (NumPy, Matplotlib, PyLab and the like) and also delivers a number of useful modules. Plus IPython with the usual tools - so notebooks and QTConsole - and a command line tool for package management. The nice thing: the installation goes into its own path, so it does not necessarily affect another Python installation.

Meet RegExpBuilder: Verbal Expressions rich, older cousin - The Changelog. I'm an old Snobol and Icon fan - and one of the features of both languages was the quite readable sublanguage for text patterns. What is usually done today with then rather compact to cryptic regular expressions. So I'm happy to come across a project that compiles the much more readable expression forms as usual in Icon into regular expressions. Ok, the goal-oriented execution in Snobol and Icon and the inherent backtracking is of course missing, so it's only syntactic. Still nice.

Trusted Computing: Federal government warns against Windows 8. As long as Microsoft does not also remove the article from the network, like the same article in the Zeit. TLDR: TCP offers more and more control over computers to people who are not the owners - and increasingly restricts the rights of the owner to protect themselves from it. Which is why the BSI warns the government (the title is somewhat misleading) against using systems that use TCP in newer versions. Whereas the NSA is very enthusiastic about the new possibilities. Which gives the whole thing even more background in the current Prism discussion.