HELP!...Google SketchUp needs a Python API

[r]

Let me clear up a few things. Sometimes when you read a post you can
mis-interpret the posters feelings(i have been guilty of this myself,
I took Chris's post the wrong way when he was clearly not being rude)

1.) Do i personally like Ruby? No
2.) Do i want to remove Ruby from the world? No
3.) Do i want to remove Ruby from SketchUp? No
4.) Do i find Python easier to learn than Ruby? IMHO, Yes
5.) Do i think other non-programmers will agree that Python is eaiser
to learn? IMHO, Yes
6.) Do i want to do away with ANY languge? No
7.) Do i want to promote Python, my favorite language? Yes

I now see how the remarks in my OP could be mis-interpreted the same
way i mis-interpreted Chris's reply to my OP. I hope from the above
Q&A will better convey my goals. All my goals are pure here. I simply
just wanted to submit a list of Python API advocates to the SketchUp
feature request forum. I admit that my wording could've been better.
No one is perfect. I am just passionate about Python.
Thanks

 

[Ross Ridge]

Given three or four mis-spellings just in the "from:" header data...

Which were obviously intentional.

This doesn't even pass as an attempt at humor...

I found it midly amusing, which is more than can be said for any other
post in this thread.

Ross Ridge

 

[r]

Arron, i give you an A++ just for writing a longer post than me =D

 

[r]

Look what you made the BDFL do!! Now he is sending Python to hell!

 

[Aaron Brady]

Arron, i give you an A++ just for writing a longer post than me =D

Hey wow, lucky me. Maybe someone will read it too.

 

[r]

After careful consideration and much pondering of the subject, I will
NOT retract my words. And I will give you truthful answers for my
reasons.

People have said that i ripped Ruby in my promotion of Python. This
just IS NOT True. Lets go over the facts here, and let them speak
louder than words.

a.) does ruby include a redundant end statement? YES
b.) is print clearer than puts? YES, and sounds less 3rd graderish!
c.) is input clearer than gets? YES, again 3rd grade
d.) is elif more compact than elsif? YES, and your fingers will thank
you!
e.) is None clearer than nil? abso-freaking-lutly!
f.) should highlevel languages tow the load? YES
g.) should any language be cryptic? NO, use perl if your a
obstufaction nut!
h.) should you have to use funny symbols to access a varible, or
index? NO, use perl!
i.) should people react with thought and not emotion to usenet post?
YES
j.) if a language is easy to learn and uses the most simple and clear
syntax does that mean it is bad, or somehow less than another? NO,
that means it is innovative, smart, and Python

the only thing I honestly could see about Python that someone would
not like is the mandatory use of self. I personally did not like it at
first and lamented about it. But have gotten very use to it now. If
Guido removes this will i cry like a baby...NO, if he doesn't will i
leave Python...NO, where else would i go, there IS no competition to
Python!

As you can see every point I made about Ruby is true, I did NOT
falisfy any thing about the Ruby language, I don't need to it speaks
for it's self. No one can argue with the above stated facts unless YOU
are just a rabid fanboy for Ruby. Facts are Facts.

Wait there is probably one thing i should change though so my post is
more appropriate for this audiance.
the first line : Hello fellow Python Advocates!
should read : Hello fellow Ruby Advocates!

And think about this friends. If Guido thought Ruby was worth a crap
he would of adopted Rubys quarks, but Guido is no moron! You are the
kind of people who write unmaintainable code just so you can keep your
job. No one else wants to debug your garbage. Try instead to adopt a
quality mind set and you will never be short of work!

PS Arron, i DID read your entire post

 

[greg]

I for one would love to see a Python scripting interface
for Sketchup. I carried out a fairly major Sketchup
scripting exercise recently [1], and while it was fun,
I would have enjoyed it more if I'd been able to use
Python.

However, I think it's going to be a fairly tall order
to persuade the Sketchup developers to do this, since as
has been pointed out, it would cost them considerable
time and effort, and they would need to perceive a
correspondingly large benefit. I suspect it would take
either (a) a *lot* of people asking for it, or (b)
someone who is already enthusiastic about Python
joining the development team.

I wouldn't count on Guido being able to help much,
since he probably has little to no contact with or
influence over the people responsible for setting the
direction of Sketchup development. Google is a big
company, and AtLast is a subsidiary, not a part of
Google itself.

However, it might be possible for us to help ourselves
if we could embed a Python interpreter into a Ruby
extension module, and create our own Python wrappers
around the Ruby API. I'd be happy to discuss this idea
if you'd like to take it further.

[1] http://www.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz/greg.ewing/marathup/index.html

 

[r]

Greg,
You have made my week friend!
I had given up hope that anybody cared about Python!

 

[Lie]

To think...that I would preach freedom to the slaves and be lynched
for it...IS MADNESS!

Not one vote for Python, not a care. I think everyone here should look
deep within their self and realize the damage that has been done
today! I hope Guido's eyes never see this thread, for he may lose all
hope in humanity. He only spent the last 18 years of his life pursuing
this thing called Python. Maybe 1,2,3, years from now someone will see
this thread and post a vote for Python. Maybe as simple as "I will
fight for Python" , "I am not scared to go up against the status quo".
For that day will be a glorious day. That day shall be Python Day!
I will never give UP!

+1 for python to be used more
+1 for python to be used as scripting language on another app
+1 for python to be used as scripting langauge on a Google program
+1 for python to be used as scripting language on Sketchup
-4 for any sort of fanboyism

 

[Lie]

r, i am with you! i will back Python!!!$B!!(Bwe MUST spread
Python throughout the world! sketchup is the first step,
only the first step.

First step? Really? AFAIK, Python is already used in: OpenOffice.Org,
Blender, GIMP, Inkscape, Scribus, etc. I've never used these tools,
but I heard they also have python interface: AbiWord, Gnumeric.

Definitely not first step.

 

[r]

The "first step" simply meant..."within this movement"...Not that
there exist no "other" Python API's.

 

[Aaron Brady]

r, i am with you! i will back Python!!!$B!!(Bwe MUST spread

First step? Really? AFAIK, Python is already used in: OpenOffice.Org,
Blender, GIMP, Inkscape, Scribus, etc. I've never used these tools,
but I heard they also have python interface: AbiWord, Gnumeric.

Definitely not first step.

The "first step" simply meant..."within this movement"...Not that
there exist no "other" Python API's.

That's circular: Sketchup is the first step within the Sketchup
movement.

 

[r]

That's circular: Sketchup is the first step within the Sketchup
movement.

Dear God...I have entered the twilight zone! This is the Python
movement(comp.lang.python)? get it? To move you must first take a
step. Lest you never move.

"I" am the BDFL of the SketchUp-Python integration, So "I" will name
the movement. Unless Guido trumps me .

step 1. get Python into SketchUp
step 2. make stupidity painful
step 3. ...

PS At least you kept it short and sweet this time. =D

 

[cptnwillard]

Don't feed the troll.

 

[Richard Riley]

Don't feed the troll.

Yet you did and made the previous post visible to me.

If you don't want people to feed the troll, do not do it yourself.

 

[r]

Rome is Burning!
Pay particular attention to the second paragraph.


Narcissistic culture

Main article: The Culture of Narcissism
Historian and social critic Christopher Lasch described this topic in
his book, "The Culture of Narcissism",[3] published in 1979. He
defines a narcissistic culture as one in which every activity and
relationship is defined by the hedonistic need to acquire the symbols
of spiritual wealth, this becoming the only expression of rigid, yet
covert, social hierarchies. It is a culture where liberalism only
exists insofar as it serves a consumer society, and even art, sex and
religion lose their liberating power.

In such a society of constant competition, there can be no allies, and
little transparency. The threats to acquisitions of social symbols are
so numerous, varied and frequently incomprehensible, that
defensiveness, as well as competitiveness, becomes a way of life. Any
real sense of community is undermined -- or even destroyed -- to be
replaced by virtual equivalents that strive, unsuccessfully, to
synthesize a sense of community. It can mean also many other things.

Contrary to Lasch, Bernard Stiegler argues in his book, Aimer,
s’aimer, nous aimer: Du 11 septembre au 21 avril, that consumer
capitalism is in fact destructive of what he calls primordial
narcissism, without which it is not possible to extend love to others.

-food for thought-

 

[alex23]

In such a society of constant competition, there can be no allies, and
little transparency. The threats to acquisitions of social symbols are
so numerous, varied and frequently incomprehensible, that
defensiveness, as well as competitiveness, becomes a way of life. Any
real sense of community is undermined -- or even destroyed -- to be
replaced by virtual equivalents that strive, unsuccessfully, to
synthesize a sense of community. It can mean also many other things.

Right. Like we're going to take lessons in "community" from someone
who has done nothing to understand the one he's currently
antagonising.

-food for thought-

I sincerely hope you choke on it.

 

[ajaksu]

r, you could just calm down, stop your trolling and wait to see if
more people like greg are able to see a good idea behind your awful
delivery.

Seriously, you're talking nonsense to people that have actively
promoted, taught, developed with and helped develop Python for years.
You're mistaking lack of support for your plea (to your format and
Ruby-bashing, mostly) for something completely different.

I wouldn't get a lot of supporters to the call of "HELP, Opera needs
to support Python in webpages", and would need to be crazy(ier) to
take any offense in that. So, you sound like a loony when you face
that situation with a "I'll fight for FREEDOM, against all you
turncoats, and I don't hate Ruby, that Satan spawn!".

Just pretend to be normal a little harder (many of us do it [like me
{and myself}]) and you'll be all set.

I'd like to try hacking some form of Python to work in SketchUp (on
top of Ruby, that is). Now, why won't I try to? I'm a Linux user and
we don't get a SU version. So much for FREEDOM. BTW, some things in SU
have encrypted Ruby code behind them

Anyway, if I could hack on it, I'd try to get the Ruby API talking to
Python. The main thing would be checking what RPy[0] and RubyPython[1]
can offer, hoping that Bridge[2] can still work its magic with the new
versions of SU. Given that people get WxRuby[3] and DLLs[4] working
with SU-Ruby, Python sounds feasible.

Good luck to anyone trying to get the software done

Cheers,
Daniel

[0] http://rubyforge.org/projects/rpy/
[1] http://rubypython.rubyforge.org/
[2] http://plugins.ro/labs/bridge_tut.htm
[3] http://wxsu.sourceforge.net/
[4] http://tinyurl.com/6h28rb

 

[Aaron Brady]

Rome is Burning!
Pay particular attention to the second paragraph.

Narcissistic culture

Main article: The Culture of Narcissism
Historian and social critic Christopher Lasch described this topic in
his book, "The Culture of Narcissism",[3] published in 1979. He
defines a narcissistic culture as one in which every activity and
relationship is defined by the hedonistic need to acquire the symbols
of spiritual wealth, this becoming the only expression of rigid, yet
covert, social hierarchies. It is a culture where liberalism only
exists insofar as it serves a consumer society, and even art, sex and
religion lose their liberating power.

In such a society of constant competition, there can be no allies, and
little transparency. The threats to acquisitions of social symbols are
so numerous, varied and frequently incomprehensible, that
defensiveness, as well as competitiveness, becomes a way of life. Any
real sense of community is undermined -- or even destroyed -- to be
replaced by virtual equivalents that strive, unsuccessfully, to
synthesize a sense of community. It can mean also many other things.

Contrary to Lasch, Bernard Stiegler argues in his book, Aimer,
s’aimer, nous aimer: Du 11 septembre au 21 avril, that consumer
capitalism is in fact destructive of what he calls primordial
narcissism, without which it is not possible to extend love to others.

-food for thought-

Off-topic post, defer. I'll take the summary to be true to Lasch's
original.

He states, "it is a culture where liberalism only exists insofar as it
serves a consumer society". But liberalism serves a consumer society
to a large, large extent.

He states, "...and religion lose their liberating power." But
religion has no liberating power.

The second sentence in the second paragraph presumably states, "The
threats [in such a society]...". If so, it states, In a society of
constant competition, competitiveness becomes a way of life; which is
trivial.

"The threats to acquisitions of social symbols are so numerous, varied
and frequently incomprehensible, that defensiveness, as well as
competitiveness, becomes a way of life."

Is the following also true? That is, the same of goods in general?

The threats to acquisitions of goods (presumably durable goods) are so
numerous, varied and frequently incomprehensible, that defensiveness,
as well as competitiveness, becomes a way of life.

If not, then define social symbols as distinct from goods,
specifically that the threats to their acquisitions are more numerous,
varied, and incomprehensible; or conclude the original is false, or
that defensiveness and competitiveness aren't bad.

Not to mention, you have to contrive the definitions in order to have
defensive( x ) and competitive( x ) both true.

Reminds me of Foucault... in the bad way.

 

[James Mills]

This is my first post to this particular topic
and my good friend alsex32 will know that
I tend to steer away from large pointless
conversation topics (for obvious reasons).

@OP: Listen ...

The best way you can support Python is to use Python.
The best way you can promote Python is to encourage others to try it.

Python is a fantastic language and development environment.
Enough said.

Just remember thought that if you threat Python like a
hammer, suddenly everything will look like a bail.

cheers
James