Author Archives: jcole

pandas support may be coming in PyPedal 2.1

I’ve been experimenting with pandas, a data analysis toolkit that provide an R-like data frame object. I am close to having working code that converts pedigree data into a DataFrame instance, which should make a lot of computations much easier. … Continue reading

Posted in Python | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Update: UniCurses on Windows

A quick update to my earlier post about getting UniCurses working on Windows — for some reason, it works as described with Python 3.1, but not 2.5 (I know, I’m a little behind). I’ll get it sorted out one of … Continue reading

Posted in Articles | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Library Solutions for Homeschoolers

Recently, Misty and I were talking about solutions to one of the perpetual problems faced by homeschoolers: keeping the library organized. (Hint: if you homeschool and do not have a library, you’re doing it wrong.) Anyway, I dug out my … Continue reading

Posted in Articles | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Lyx 2 and Sweave on Windows

Just a quick not to say that I just got Lyx and Sweave working under Windows XP. Maybe I’ll post some links later, but for now I just wanted to say that it was pretty straightforward. I installed R 2.12, … Continue reading

Posted in Articles | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

New Tools Coming to PyPedal

While I sit here on the train I thought I’d let you know what’s going on with PyPedal these days. First, I do not have plans for a Python 3 port at the moment. One of the big blockers on … Continue reading

Posted in Python | Tagged | Leave a comment

What’s the trick to getting UniCurses working on Windows? Promiscuity.

You can’t really make a roguelike without curses, and while Windows makes many of us curse there’s not an official Windows port. There is, however, PDCurses. To keep us Python programmers sane there is UniCurses, “a wrapper for Python 2.x/3.x … Continue reading

Posted in Python | 1 Comment

I guess that nobody has been using that feature (2.0.1 bugfix release)

Today I released PyPedal version 2.0.1, which includes a bugfix to the inbreeding routine. PyPedal will form a numerator relationship matrix (NRM) at the time the pedigree is loaded if you ask it to. and the NRM can then be … Continue reading

Posted in Articles | Tagged , | Leave a comment

What is a secure homeland?

So, I’ve been thinking about what I mean when I talk about homeland security, and apparently I mean something a lot different than a lot of other people. Here are some things that I think lead to a secure country: … Continue reading

Posted in Congress | Leave a comment

Trying to make it here on Capitol Hill

Today is day four of the orientation for my Fellowship, and we’re learning about Appropriation Committees and Congressional Oversight and Investigation. Exciting, I know. What have I been up to? So far, I have spent two full and two half … Continue reading

Posted in Congress | Leave a comment

Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show them.

The day they said would never come has finally arrived — just a few minutes ago I tagged and released the first production version of PyPedal, my pedigree analysis software. This is the end of a seven-and-a-half-year development cycle, which … Continue reading

Posted in Articles | Tagged | 4 Comments