This is a DecimalProperty class, which will allow you to add Python decimals as properties to your App Engine models. If you want to create your own property types then I strongly suggest reading Rafe's article on Extending Model Properties, which is what I followed when creating DecimalProperty. Just a bit of code I needed for a project. Posted here if others need it: from google.appengine.ext import db from decimal import Decimal class DecimalProperty(db.

When trying to port Robaccia to App Engine the hard part has been finding anything to do. If you remember from my previous write-up I started with choosing the components to build on, but in the case of App Engine the model classes are already provided and the development kit already provides Django templates, which have become a favorite of mine, so there's little to choose except for a library to dispatch incoming requests.

I had to write some Automake and Autoconf scripts from scratch yesterday and came across this in the documentation: Automake is a tool for automatically generating Makefile.ins from files called Makefile.am. Each Makefile.am is basically a series of make variable definitions, with rules being thrown in occasionally. The generated Makefile.ins are compliant with the GNU Makefile standards. The GNU Makefile Standards Document (see Makefile Conventions) is long, complicated, and subject to change.

Caden, looking over my wife's shoulder as she is watching a video she just took on the camera: Reilly, come see this, mommy made a YouTube!

I have, for reasons that will become obvious in a week or so, been looking at text editors and what happens when you save a file. For example, if we are editing the file filename.txt, different things will happen when you save the file depending on which editor you are using. VIM is fairly straight forward in that it renames the original file to filename.txt~, writes the modified contents to filename.

I'm writing, not in seeking pity (well, a little pity wouldn't hurt), but as an explaination of why you may not have gotten a response from me for the past few months, or why if you did get a response it may have been weeks or even months in coming. It all started three months ago when Lynne started having some health problems, which became a cancer scare, which it turns out she didn't have, but still ended up in her having two surgeries.

The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks My review rating: 4 of 5 stars This was a really wide ranging book filled with lots of interesting ideas and musings, some on what a species that evolved in a gas giant would look and act like, how an interstellar civilization would operate, etc. The downside was that most of the aliens weren't very alien, you'd see larger differences between different groups of humans than what you saw between the differing alien races.

Computer Science, at a deep and fundamental level, is broken, and that applies not only to software but to hardware. One of the reasons that I have this feeling is that after programming for the past 25 years the field hasn't really changed. The conversations aren't any different. You could substitute 'Windows API' or 'Borland CGI' for 'HTML and CSS' and you'd be having the same exact conversations I had 15 or 20 years ago.

Yogurt Oreo Do we now see the dawn of SSEO: Speech Search Engine Optimization? "Speech" Posted by Zac on 2008-11-18 D'oh. Fixed. Thanks. Posted by Joe Gregorio on 2008-11-18

App Engine Fan: Last month, I wrote I would not post the sql connector's source code until it was a little more functional. Guess what? I changed my mind: you can find all the code at http://code.google.com/p/gae-sqlite/. From the code.google.com project page: This is a module that will allow you to run Google's App Engine development server with an SQLite backend. The concept is intended to be generic enough that other databases (mysql, SQL Server, Oracle.

I will be at the Google offices in Ann Arbor, MI for the App Engine Hackathon on Nov 17th. Here's the details and the signup page if you can make it. Oh, hey - right in my backyard! I'll have to make sure to come out. Posted by l.m. orchard on 2008-11-07 Right in my backyard as well - but I'll be in California that week. Wish I could make it.

I've just started as a Developer Advocate for Google App Engine and there's been a lot of talk of "lock-in" recently. Google will have more to say officially in the future, as obviously my blog isn't the place to read about Google's official position, but I would like to point out the following things that have come up in conversation that people didn't know: The development kit is open sourced.

Things I have done for the first time this election season: Donated to a campaign during a primary Donated to a campaign during the general election Put a campaign sign on my blog Put a campaign sign in the yard Put a campaign sign on the car Canvassed Many people have put the case for Barack Obama more eloquently that I ever could, so I'll simply ask you to get out and vote.

New York Times: After losing $18.8 billion in the first half of this year and facing more red ink for months to come, G.M. is now trying to salvage its future through a possible merger with Chrysler, another deeply troubled American automaker. I wonder if raising CAFE standards five or ten years ago would have avoided this situation. We can all rest easy knowing that all the money spent by GM on lobbying has paid off so handsomely.

I haven't really commented on the financial meltdown except to point out the failure of the Free Market Fairy believers, but now it appears that even they themselves are pointing out the obvious, including Alan Greenspan: "Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders' equity, myself included, are in a state of shocked disbelief," he told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Recently I commented that a Bloom Filter would be a good choice for a resource representation in response to Roy's comments on Evan and Kellan's presentation at OSCON. If you aren't familiar with Bloom filters, the description from Wikipedia is a good start: The Bloom filter, conceived by Burton H. Bloom in 1970, is a space-efficient probabilistic data structure that is used to test whether an element is a member of a set.

How to make a proper glass of sweet tea. Bring 250ml of water to a vigorous boil. Steep two Lipton tea bags in the water for four minutes. Remove the tea bags from the water. Stir in four heaping teaspoons of sugar. Pour into a large mug full of ice. Stir. Drink. Notes: All steps must be done quickly; the tea bags must be in the water seconds after you remove it from the stove or microwave, don't go toddling off the bathroom and letting the water cool even a degree; the tea bags must be removed at four minutes sharp, etc.

I wonder if Phil Gramm will become the financial sector's Thomas Midgley, Jr. If you aren't familiar with Thomas Midgley, Jr., he's the chemist that invented both leaded gasoline and chlorofluorocarbons. How's that for a legacy? From the wikipedia article: One historian remarked that Midgley "had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth history." Phil Gramm isn't to far behind in terms global financial mass destruction.

Can you explain REST in under 15 minutes? I gave it a try: Very nice explanation indeed, Joe. Thank you very much. I should have tried to fully understand what REST represents some time ago, but always forgot to research, your video is a nice starting point. Now I'm heading to the "Further Reading" items. :) Posted by Gabriel Gilini on 2008-10-08 Great explanation, this will be a worthwhile post to link to for those needing a better understanding of the benefits of REST.

I have been absent for the majority of the past three weeks due to various family medical issues. Everyone is OK now and I'm back to work. Part of the time I was out was because I had surgery, a septoplasty and turbinate reduction. Let me tell you about that surgery. Oh, if you are squeamish you should stop reading now. Really, just stop now. You've been warned.