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Python

Submission + - First community made Python Magazine released (python.org.ar)

An anonymous reader writes: Today the first edition of PET: English Translation (Python Entre Todos, Python Among All) magazine, was released, which is a community effort from PyAr, the Argentinian Python User Group (Google translation) to bring to life the first Community Owned Python Magazine. This follows the initial release last month in Spanish of the technical magazine, when the members realized that there was a void not only in Spanish, but also in English, left primarely by Python Magazine, which seems to be pinning for the fjords. The PyAr mailing list was filled with joy for the release. According to Google Translation one of the posts stated: "Our nipples explode with delight".
IT

Submission + - To root or not to root?

anon writes: I'm a working at a big software outsourcing company as a Sr. Software Dev. I am new in this place and I found that most programmers, even me, don't have admin/root access to their own machine. To be honest, I could work without being root, but I feel somehow that I should make some fuzz about this and request full access. Why? The same reason that a convict in prison that must fight the toughest guy the first day even knowing that he will loose just to gain enough respect to have a better stay. What would you do if you were in my shoes?

Submission + - How to learn data structures? 2

stm2 writes: I have more than 15 years of programming experience with high level languages (mostly VB, PHP, Python) and most things I learned were "on the field" working solving client needs (my major is not in CS) and by self-learning. So I not a newbie but my formal education on this area is not strong (to say the least). I want to learn more on data structures (such as binary trees, composites), from a formal point of view. What book or website do you recommend for this task?
Security

Submission + - The Botnet Business (itworld.com)

itwbennett writes: 'Cybercrime is a big business and anyone interested in making money illegally can run them, no matter what your skill level is,' says Matt Watchinski, senior director of the Vulnerability Research Team for network security provider Sourcefire. As Watchinksi explains, 'It typically starts with an expert programmer who will put together an exploit kit. An exploit kit usually consists of two components: a command and control server and a bot client generator. Both can be sold for thousands of dollars to many script kiddies. At this point, the expert programmer is out of the picture because he's accomplished his goal of making a good return on his invested time.' Today, most botnets are 'run by professional crime organizations,' says Bradley Anstis, VP of Technology Strategy for M86 Security. 'They successfully monetize their work through a variety of methods — affiliate programs being one of them. In the case of spam, a company called GlavMed operates the most prominent affiliate program, the 'Canadian Pharmacy' brand. We've also seen Koobface utilizing affiliate programs, particularly those involved in the distribution of Scareware installations. We see the impact ZeuS is having on small to medium businesses. Zeus, while distributed by botnets, does not monetize through selling products, it monetizes by stealing money from those it infects and it is apparent that this methodology nets cyber-criminals a pretty penny.'

Comment This should not be news! (Score 4, Interesting) 204

That is pretty common in a lot of countries.
In Argentina, if you import a device with a plug different from our official plug (in size and shape), the import can be rejected.
Even if you could buy a cheap adapter in order to make it work (provided that the voltage is compatible), you are banner for importing until you request a device with the right plug.
So some people end up paying bribes to enter such a devices.

Comment Best book ever (for CS graduates) (Score 1) 163

I liked this book (at least first ed., the one I read).
This book made me love Python. But I found it too hard for my colleagues at work (most of them biologists who were never exposed to programming), so I decided to write my own book (tinyurl.com/biopython )
I think "Learning Python" is a must have for the seasoned programmer who wants to learn Python.

Comment Re:Too wordy (Score 1) 163

Maybe it is because Python has a large standard library (so called batteries included).
Regarding paying per page, as a book author I can confirm that you are paid per page only if you accept to typeset the book (with LaTeX). That is a one time payment appart from royalties. If you don't typeset, you don't get paid by page, just have to follow the contract that says between xxx and xxx pages (where xxx are limits).

Comment Very common for US troops in foreign soil (Score 2, Informative) 450

In countries like Paraguay, Argentina and others in South America, this is pretty standard. Now (since very few years) with left governments immunity is being revoked.
From 2005 in Paraguay:

"the U.S. troops in Paraguay could not be taken before the International Criminal Court if they were accused of crimes against humanity, genocide or war crimes. "

In Argentina, joint naval exercises like Unitas are cancelled because our government don't want to give immunity to US army.

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