Although I've been programming in Python for a few years now, it keepssurprising me with little bits and pieces. Here's a neat Python languagefeature that I recently used for the first time (discovered originallythrough Bram Cohen's LiveJournal).

A common programming pattern is 'search for a something to work on, butstop if you don't find anything'. In Python one might write it somethinglike this (taken more or less from DWiki 's source):

found = False

Every HTTP reply from a web server can include a Last-Modified: header, which theoretically tells interested parties when the web pagewas last modified. This is really something that works best when theweb server is just sending out static files; when it is generatingdynamic content, like DWiki does, things get interesting.

The major use of Last-Modified: is to decide when a browser already hasa current copy of the web page and doesn't need to fetch it again. Thus,with dynamic pages