My article is finally online

Introduction to Python Decorators is available for you to read after you fill out the annoying registration form.

I have a few ideas for the next article. Do any of these seem interesting?

1. Demystify metaclasses: use metaclasses to add camel-cased aliases for underscored method names, show how to automatically make methods into properties, and build a crude ORM.
2. Explore logging with python, ranging from writing out to local files to setting up a syslog-ng server. Show how to use logging config files and filters.
3. Build a prototype inheritance system into python. I got really interested in prototype inheritance when I studied lua. Prototypes make it really easy to change class-based behaviors at run time.

Finally, the meaning behind the pirates-vs-ninjas debate became clear to me during a recent nitrous-oxide haze (no, not how you think; I was getting my teeth cleaned at the dentist). Anyhow, pirates and ninjas are symbols.

The ninja is a metaphor for the corporate employee. A ninja will get the job done or die trying. A ninja will kill everyone in his own family if he’s ordered to. A ninja has no sense of entitlement or dignity or flex time.

Meanwhile, the pirate is the entrepeneur, or maybe the upper-level executive. He has no sense of duty or honor. He seeks adventure and glory only. He’ll jump ship as soon as possible. He might even maroon his crew-mates on a desert island if it means he gets the treasure to himself.

Pirates love to hire ninjas because a ninja never disobeys. Ninjas love to kill pirates because they can pretend they’re killing their own pirate boss.