After fiddling around writing applettes (not applets!) with PyQt, I've taken the plunge and started writing a small database-backed (using gadfly at this point, what a cool python hack!) personal expenditure program, somewhat like cbb at this point. This serves me in a few ways:

• Find the strengths and limitations of PyQt
• Doing some real KDE hacking after a long interval
• If it turns out to be a killer app (heh heh) it may lead to PyQt and PyKDE being accepted as a viable alternative to writing serious applications for KDE.

This last one is of particular interest to me, because I feel many of the smaller applications written for KDE could be written with PyQt in a fraction of the time (I've empirically tested this theory so feel free to take my word for it). However like most language bindings it will take larger, compelling applications for users to accept the need to install these extra libraries, and for python-based applications to be accepted as a standard part of a KDE install. Hence my little financial programming distraction.

Off to Sydney tomorrow morning! whew if there is a better excuse to take 5 days off work than heading to Australia's biggest geek party yet, I've yet to hear of it. I might even get some time to play with PyQt when I'm not basking in Linux Gods' light.

And when I get back, it'll be almost time for my big day out! Hmm let's see... Bizkit, Rammstein, PJ Harvey, Superheist, Powderfinger etc... etc .. Carl Cox and the good old Melbourne doof-doof music mainstay, Phil K in the hothouse. Choices, choices... if anyone reading this is going, remember to TAKE LOTS OF BOTTLED WATER - the punters were paying 4 bucks for a bottle of water last year. I'm sure there's some sort of law against that.