Neil Schemenauer's Web Log

Apparently Windows Messenger spam is becoming a big problem. I'm missing out since I normally don't run Windows. When I do, it's behind a firewall (a real one, not a piece of software). Anyhow, to disable the Messenger service on Windows 2000:

1. click on [Start][Settings][Control Panel][Administrative Tools][Services]
2. scroll down and highlight [Messenger]
3. right-click the highlighted line and choose [Properties]
4. click the STOP button
5. select Disable in the [Startup Type] scroll bar
6. click OK

For Windows XP:

1. click [Start][Control Panel]
2. click [Performance] and [Maintenance]
3. click [Administrative Tools]
4. double click [Services]
5. scroll down and highlight "Messenger"
6. right-click the highlighted line and choose [Properties]
7. click the STOP button
8. select Disable or Manual in the [Startup Type] scroll bar
9. click OK

For Windows 98/ME:

1. click on [Start][Control Panel][Network configuration]
2. remove or disable the [file and printer sharing] item

I found these instructions on Guillaume Dargaud's no spam page. There are also some (slightly confusing) instructions on Microsoft's site.

An old post from Tim Peters on the python-dev nicely explains generators, co-routines, and continuations.

<monty python>I'm not dead yet.</monty python>

GCL is a Lisp implementation with a long history. For a while the project seemed to have stalled. Now it looks like great progress is being made. From the 2.5.1 release announcement

• Compilation to native object code. Lisp disassembly shows intermediate C source and native assembler.
• Can save its running memory image to a file on all systems where native object code relocation is supported, thus producing standalone executables.
• Compiles Lisp function calls to C function calls with inlined arguments, when function proclamation/declamations are made.
• Quite fast, particularly if one pre-allocates memory to be commensurate with that typically available on modern computer systems. (see below)
• A foreign function interface as flexible in principle as the C interface.
• Socket support via streams
• An ANSI mode on Unix systems which passes approximately 97% of the ANSI compliance tests currently developed for the project.

No time to play with it now. :-(

Guido's put up his photos from PyCon. He has a good one of Anton Benard, Jeremy Hylton, and I hacking on the new AST compiler. I think we were trying to make the compiler understand class definitions. Notice my EFF shirt and the two cans of Coke (giving us the quick energy we needed :-).

PyCon 2003 was a success. It was cheap, pretty well organized and quite well attended. Hopefully we will have more.