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August 21, 2003

Impromptu Coding

I have a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, but I don't do tons of programming these days. My favorite language is Python, but I haven't had an opportunity to use it at work. However, I've used it for some of my own purposes: prime number generators, playlist generators, and other itch-scratching-type things. But today I coded my first script that generates XML (an RSS 2.0 feed) from a particular web page. Pretty cool. I think that you don't learn much about a programming language until you use it to solve a problem you're interested in. That's how I've come to learn what I know about Python; I wasn't even exposed to object-oriented programming while I was in college.

I don't know how the company whose web page I'm parsing will feel about the feed I'm making, so for now I'm keeping the URL private.

Posted by Alex Harden on August 21, 2003 12:29 PM |

Comments

And impressive coding it is. At least in my opinion. Nice ORIGINAL work. :)

Posted by: Shane | August 21, 2003 1:33 PM

oh! Python + RSS: two great tastes that taste great together!

Does it Validate?

Posted by: Ross | August 21, 2003 1:39 PM

Does it Validate?

It should; I can't get to the validator from work. I'm going to make sure before I publish it tonight.

Ross, if you're interested (you may already know what it is from my posts at nitevilla) drop me an email and I'll send you the URL.

Posted by: aharden | August 21, 2003 2:48 PM

I think it will validate, at quick glance it looked good.

Thanks for the contribution to the league Alex. That definitely saved me a little bit of time and more importantly the effort. I am glad you mentioned that you were doing the project. :)

It is exactly like you said, I usually only code when I get fired up about a project or a task. I sometimes wish that would happen to me a bit more.

Posted by: Scotbuff | August 21, 2003 3:04 PM

The feed validates fine and is now powering an NFL News block I've created here. It's being updated hourly.

Posted by: aharden | August 22, 2003 8:27 AM

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