Just back from the ACCU Conference. Good sessions on OOP in Python 2.2+ [text], Game development, C++ Templates, PsyCo [screenshot], and even publishing.

Interesting job openings with CMed (Python on Linux for clinical systems). C++ Threading slides available at www.curbralan.com, and Organic Programming at (d’oh) www.organicprogramming.com. The OOP in Python talk looked at Descriptors, and how they are used (since 2.3) in everyday normal method calls: they sit between the caller and the returned method object, a bit like Delegates/Remoting in .NET. Or in fact, standard properties in C# and Delphi, though a little more complex. Essentially, Descriptors allow for ‘behind-the-scenes’ side effects. It is possible to ‘decorate’ classes so that for certain sorts of attributes, special actions will be performed. Read-only attributes can be implemented by having __set__ raise an exception. There was also some stuff about Method Resolution Order, given that Python supports multiple inheritance.

Incidentally, PyGame was described by several people os one of the best games dev packages around.