Useless Python: We're the AOL of the Open Source Community 3;->

Useless News and Miscellaneous Oddities:
Thanks all around! It would literally be impossible to credit everyone who has caught spelling errors, suggested style tweaks, pointed out bogus links, etc. over the last several months. A lot of really decent people from the Python Tutor email list and comp.lang.python have provided a good deal of content and editorial assistance. Stingray Productions generously hosted the site without charge during the first several months of operation. Everyone rocks, and anyone who would like to contribute code, graphics, tutorials, opinions, or anything else cool, thanks in advance. I would like to toast Nexband Communications, ASAP Printing, Direct Mail and Computer Services, and the Linux Users Group of Jackson (LUGOJ) for volunteering to help out when technical difficulties bit me recently.
New Graphics! We have finally begun collecting logos and other images on the new Useless Graphics page, so feel free to add some of your own and/or use what you find there. The new logo and quite a few other images were designed by Tesla Coil (using GIMP), who has been involved with Useless Python literally from Day 1 (which was, by sheer coincidence, the first day of 2001).
Apologies and Thanks: In the recent Great Crash around here, we definitely lost some of the material you nifty folk have sent to us recently. If you sent source code, web host recommendations, or ANYTHING, and you can not see it on the site, please sent it again. We have yet to reject a submission, although there were delays of a few weeks recently.
Useless has a new page on Real World Python, featuring a list of Python-friendly Web Hosting Services. Let us know about other Pythonicity you know of.
On a happy note, a quick glance at the log file shows that Useless Python has accumulated 40,000 actual page hits in the few months she's been up. This figure factors out hits from the webmaster's home and office, and does not include hits to the Roadrunner mirror of the site. Just a little more proof that the Python community is actively involved in helping its newbies become veteran Pythonistas.
Rob has been liberated from the rat race by means of a lay-off, so if anyone is in the market for a perfectly good techie slave, please get in touch!
A new page containing a slightly factual account of the creation of Useless Python has been added to the site.
Useless Python was favorably reviewed a few months back by Stephen Figgins Here is the article. We're still proud of it.

And now on with the propaganda....

Bored by all those repositories of source code that you just can't wrap your brain around? Looking for scripts that run but lack any clear reason why? Hoping that some simple examples will help you understand Python a little better? If you are looking for or would like to share...

...then, Welcome to Useless Python, a collection of source code, ideas, and other pointless tidbits submitted for your edification and diversion. Please note that we make no express or implied warranties on the code presented here. Stuff could be wrong, and if you can find any blunders, we would really appreciate you letting us know.

Want to prove you're better than we are by posting code even more useless than ours, or equally useless, but implemented differently? By all means, do! And if you want to submit the next great distributed computing project or a script that proves the Pythagorean theorem, DON'T PANIC, because you won't be rejected for not being *useless enough* or anything.

You are invited to play with the source code you find here. See if you can make these scripts do different things, do the same things better, or explore the same ideas in different ways. Then email us what you've done so we can share it with future visitors. And if you have some source code you can contribute, please do (with our thanks).

One of the best ways to learn any programming language is to find some source code that does something and play with it to make it do something else. The source code here may be used for this purpose, as well as a source for interesting examples of how do do different things. If you wonder how to do something, check to see if we have it here. If we don't have it, and you figure it out, please send it our way.

If you have been looking for some source code you can wrap your brain around, you have come to the right place. The programs here demonstrate simple concepts and how to apply them in a really interesting variety of ways. If you ever thought you had to have an advanced degree to understand computer programming, spend a little time with Useless Python and see that it can be different, simpler, and more fun!