Posts by Naufana

P-P-P-Pick up our PENGUIN-POWERED Pi PIPER of Python

Looks neat, but a couple of things...

- You only need a "global" declaration when you intend to assign to a global variable (and that variable is not mutable, like a list, dictionary, or some custom object).

- Using "urlparse" to decode the URL may be a good idea (especially for "setTrack.cmd" and __substitute).

- If you're not going to use a template language, at least use a library like lxml to generate correct, well-formed XHTML (your expression will also be much clearer using lxml's builder syntax).

You could also probably simplify it a little by using cherrypy (or similar) to handle the HTTP server, and separate your jukebox logic into another class (and get rid of all those globals in the process).

Good luck!

STILL TRUE: Facebook and co to handle taxpayers' ID

It seems like a great scheme

The article places too much emphasis on the idea of Facebook as an identity provider -- from what I've seen of the scheme (at a few conferences, and before it was "revealed" in June, 2011), it seems to be a pretty good thing. The government won't be required to create a national database to store user's identity, and there will be a free market for identity providers. Facebook is the example that always seems to be raised, but I imagine other people will want in on the scheme. I believe Logica (or Capita, can't remember which, and maybe both) are selling a platform that can be repackaged by companies wishing to act as identity providers (think Tesco, banks etc.).

I imagine a lot of these providers will make money not from a subscription fee for the scheme, but by using aggregate data for marketing purposes. For the more security conscious (like me), this model creates a great opportunity for somebody to step-up and offer a subscription-based service that guarantees to not resell your data, individually or in aggregate.

It just seems like a government IT project that is well thought through, providing single sign-in authentication without ceding more control to central government (ala New Labour).