Q:

What is the lookat matrix multiplication function in python for a dragon superbible opengl example?

I mostly ported over the dragon example from SB OpenGL.  The output gif of the program is below the code.
My question what is what's the lookat function in python?
Supporting files: dragon.zip simply put pydragon.py into the folder 'dragon' and run
Source code of pydragon.py
#!/usr/bin/python3

import sys
import time

sys.path.append("./shared")

from sbmloader import SBMObject    # location of sbm file format loader
from ktxloader import KTXObject    # location of ktx file format loader

from sbmath import m3dDegToRad, m3dRadToDeg, m3dTranslateMatrix44, m3dRotationMatrix44, m3dMultiply, m3dOrtho, m3dPerspective, rotation_matrix, translate, m3dScaleMatrix44

fullscreen = True

import numpy.matlib
import numpy as np
import math

try:
    from OpenGL.GLUT import *
    from OpenGL.GL import *
    from OpenGL.GLU import *
    from OpenGL.raw.GL.ARB.vertex_array_object import glGenVertexArrays, glBindVertexArray
except:
    print ('''
    ERROR: PyOpenGL not installed properly.
        ''')
    sys.exit()

identityMatrix = [1,0,0,0, 0,1,0,0, 0,0,1,0, 0,0,0,1]

clear_program = GLuint(0)
append_program = GLuint(0)
resolve_program = GLuint(0)

class textures:
    color = GLuint(0)
    normals = GLuint(0)

class uniforms_block:
    mv_matrix   = (GLfloat * 16)(*identityMatrix)
    view_matrix = (GLfloat * 16)(*identityMatrix)
    proj_matrix = (GLfloat * 16)(*identityMatrix)

uniforms_buffer = GLuint(0)

class uniforms:
    mvp = GLuint(0)

fragment_buffer = GLuint(0)
head_pointer_image = GLuint(0)
atomic_counter_buffer = GLuint(0)
dummy_vao = GLuint(0)

uniform = uniforms()
myobject = SBMObject()

def length(v):
    return math.sqrt(v[0]*v[0]+v[1]*v[1]+v[2]*v[2])

def normalize(v):
    l = length(v)
    #if (v[0] == 0 and v[1] == 0 and v[2] ==0):
    #    return [0.0, 1/3, 0.0]
    return [v[0]/l, v[1]/l, v[2]/l]

def dot(v0, v1):
    return v0[0]*v1[0]+v0[1]*v1[1]+v0[2]*v1[2]

def cross(v0, v1):
    return [
        v0[1]*v1[2]-v1[1]*v0[2],
        v0[2]*v1[0]-v1[2]*v0[0],
        v0[0]*v1[1]-v1[0]*v0[1]]

def m3dLookAt(eye, target, up):
    mz = normalize( (eye[0]-target[0], eye[1]-target[1], eye[2]-target[2]) ) # inverse line of sight
    mx = normalize( cross( up, mz ) )
    my = normalize( cross( mz, mx ) )
    tx =  dot( mx, eye )
    ty =  dot( my, eye )
    tz = -dot( mz, eye )   
    return np.array([mx[0], my[0], mz[0], 0, mx[1], my[1], mz[1], 0, mx[2], my[2], mz[2], 0, tx, ty, tz, 1])

def scale(s):
    return [s,0,0,0, 0,s,0,0, 0,0,s,0, 0,0,0,1] 

def link_from_shaders(shaders, shader_count, delete_shaders, check_errors=False):

    program = GLuint(0)

    program = glCreateProgram()

    for i in range(0, shader_count):
        glAttachShader(program, shaders[i]);

    glLinkProgram(program);

    if (delete_shaders):

        for i in range(0, shader_count):
            glDeleteShader(shaders[i]);

    return program

def shader_load(filename, shader_type):

    result = GLuint(0)

    with open ( filename, "rb") as data:

        result = glCreateShader(shader_type)

        glShaderSource(result, data.read() )

    glCompileShader(result)

    return result

def load_shaders():
    global clear_program
    global append_program
    global resolve_program
    global uniform

    shaders = [GLuint(0), GLuint(0)]

    shaders[0] = shader_load("fragmentlist_shaders/clear.vs.glsl", GL_VERTEX_SHADER);

    shaders[1] = shader_load("fragmentlist_shaders/clear.fs.glsl", GL_FRAGMENT_SHADER);

    if (clear_program):
        glDeleteProgram(clear_program);

    clear_program = link_from_shaders(shaders, 2, True);

    shaders[0] = shader_load("fragmentlist_shaders/append.vs.glsl", GL_VERTEX_SHADER);
    shaders[1] = shader_load("fragmentlist_shaders/append.fs.glsl", GL_FRAGMENT_SHADER);

    if (append_program):
        glDeleteProgram(append_program);

    append_program = link_from_shaders(shaders, 2, True);

    uniform.mvp = glGetUniformLocation(append_program, "mvp");

    shaders[0] = shader_load("fragmentlist_shaders/resolve.vs.glsl", GL_VERTEX_SHADER);
    shaders[1] = shader_load("fragmentlist_shaders/resolve.fs.glsl", GL_FRAGMENT_SHADER);

    if (resolve_program):
        glDeleteProgram(resolve_program)

    resolve_program = link_from_shaders(shaders, 2, True);

class Scene:

    def __init__(self, width, height):

        global uniforms_buffer
        global fragment_buffer
        global atomic_counter_buffer
        global head_pointer_image
        global dummy_vao
        global myobject

        self.width = width
        self.height = height

        load_shaders()

        glGenBuffers(1, uniforms_buffer)
        glBindBuffer(GL_UNIFORM_BUFFER, uniforms_buffer)
        glBufferData(GL_UNIFORM_BUFFER, sizeof(GLfloat * 16 *3), None, GL_DYNAMIC_DRAW)

        myobject.load("dragon.sbm")

        glGenBuffers(1, fragment_buffer)
        glBindBuffer(GL_SHADER_STORAGE_BUFFER, fragment_buffer);
        glBufferData(GL_SHADER_STORAGE_BUFFER, 1024 * 1024 * 16, None, GL_DYNAMIC_COPY)

        glGenBuffers(1, atomic_counter_buffer);
        glBindBuffer(GL_ATOMIC_COUNTER_BUFFER, atomic_counter_buffer);
        glBufferData(GL_ATOMIC_COUNTER_BUFFER, 4, None, GL_DYNAMIC_COPY);

        head_pointer_image = glGenTextures(1)
        glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, head_pointer_image);
        glTexStorage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 1, GL_R32UI, 1024, 1024);

        glGenVertexArrays(1, dummy_vao);
        glBindVertexArray(dummy_vao);

    def display(self):

        green = [ 0.0, 0.1, 0.0, 0.0 ]
        currentTime = time.time()
        f = currentTime

        zeros = [ 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0 ]
        gray = [ 0.1, 0.1, 0.1, 0.0 ]
        ones = [ 1.0 ]

        glViewport(0, 0, self.width , self.height);

        glMemoryBarrier(GL_SHADER_IMAGE_ACCESS_BARRIER_BIT | GL_ATOMIC_COUNTER_BARRIER_BIT | GL_SHADER_STORAGE_BARRIER_BIT);

        glUseProgram(clear_program);
        glBindVertexArray(dummy_vao);
        glDrawArrays(GL_TRIANGLE_STRIP, 0, 4);

        glUseProgram(append_program)

        model_matrix = (GLfloat * 16)(*identityMatrix)
        model_matrix = scale(6.0)

        view_matrix = (GLfloat * 16)(*identityMatrix)
        view_matrix = m3dLookAt([math.cos(f * 0.35) * 120.0, math.cos(f * 0.4) * 30.0, math.sin(f * 0.35) * 120.0], 
            [0.0, -20.0, 0.0], 
            [0.0, 1, 0.0])

        mv_matrix = (GLfloat * 16)(*identityMatrix)
        mv_matrix = m3dMultiply(view_matrix , model_matrix)

        proj_matrix = (GLfloat * 16)(*identityMatrix)
        proj_matrix = m3dPerspective(m3dDegToRad(50.0), float(self.width) / float(self.height), 0.1, 1000.0)

        glUniformMatrix4fv(uniform.mvp, 1, GL_FALSE, m3dMultiply(proj_matrix , mv_matrix))

        zero = 0;
        glBindBufferBase(GL_ATOMIC_COUNTER_BUFFER, 0, atomic_counter_buffer)

        # next line not working ????
        #glBufferSubData(GL_ATOMIC_COUNTER_BUFFER, 0, sys.getsizeof(zero), zero);

        glBindBufferBase(GL_SHADER_STORAGE_BUFFER, 0, fragment_buffer)

        glBindImageTexture(0, head_pointer_image, 0, GL_FALSE, 0, GL_READ_WRITE, GL_R32UI)

        glMemoryBarrier(GL_SHADER_IMAGE_ACCESS_BARRIER_BIT | GL_ATOMIC_COUNTER_BARRIER_BIT | GL_SHADER_STORAGE_BARRIER_BIT)

        myobject.render()

        glMemoryBarrier(GL_SHADER_IMAGE_ACCESS_BARRIER_BIT | GL_ATOMIC_COUNTER_BARRIER_BIT | GL_SHADER_STORAGE_BARRIER_BIT)

        glUseProgram(resolve_program)

        glBindVertexArray(dummy_vao)

        glMemoryBarrier(GL_SHADER_IMAGE_ACCESS_BARRIER_BIT | GL_ATOMIC_COUNTER_BARRIER_BIT | GL_SHADER_STORAGE_BARRIER_BIT)

        glDrawArrays(GL_TRIANGLE_STRIP, 0, 4)

        glutSwapBuffers()

    def reshape(self, width, height):
        self.width = width
        self.height = height

    def keyboard(self, key, x, y ):
        global fullscreen

        print ('key:' , key)
        if key == b'\x1b': # ESC
            sys.exit()

        elif key == b'f' or key == b'F': #fullscreen toggle

            if (fullscreen == True):
                glutReshapeWindow(512, 512)
                glutPositionWindow(int((1360/2)-(512/2)), int((768/2)-(512/2)))
                fullscreen = False
            else:
                glutFullScreen()
                fullscreen = True

        print('done')

    def init(self):
        pass

    def timer(self, blah):

        glutPostRedisplay()
        glutTimerFunc( int(1/60), self.timer, 0)
        time.sleep(1/60.0)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    start = time.time()

    glutInit()
    glutInitDisplayMode(GLUT_RGBA | GLUT_DOUBLE | GLUT_DEPTH)

    glutInitWindowSize(512, 512)

    w1 = glutCreateWindow('OpenGL SuperBible - Fragment List')
    glutInitWindowPosition(int((1360/2)-(512/2)), int((768/2)-(512/2)))

    fullscreen = False
    many_cubes = False
    #glutFullScreen()

    scene = Scene(512,512)
    glutReshapeFunc(scene.reshape)
    glutDisplayFunc(scene.display)
    glutKeyboardFunc(scene.keyboard)

    glutIdleFunc(scene.display)
    #glutTimerFunc( int(1/60), scene.timer, 0)

    scene.init()

    glutMainLoop()

The output is supposed to appear like the following:

Ported from fragmentlist.cpp found there from the Superbible OpenGL 7th ed.
Current Question:
Any ideas why the texture rendered on the dragon is not translucent as the expected output has it?

A:

The view space is the local system which is defined by the point of view onto the scene.
The position of the view, the line of sight and the upwards direction of the view, define a coordinate system relative to the world coordinate system. The objects of a scene have to be drawn in relation to the view coordinate system, to be "seen" from the viewing position. The inverse matrix of the view coordinate system is named the view matrix. This matrix transforms from world coordinates to view coordinates.  
The code below defines a matrix that exactly encapsulates the steps necessary to calculate a look at the scene:

Converting model coordinates into view system coordinates.
Rotation, to look in the direction of the view.
Movement to the eye position.

Euclidean length of a vector:
def length(v):
    return math.sqrt(v[0]*v[0]+v[1]*v[1]+v[2]*v[2])

Unit vector:
def normalize(v):
    l = length(v)
    return [v[0]/l, v[1]/l, v[2]/l]

Dot product:
def dot(v0, v1):
    return v0[0]*v1[0]+v0[1]*v1[1]+v0[2]*v1[2]

Cross product:
def cross(v0, v1):
    return [
        v0[1]*v1[2]-v1[1]*v0[2],
        v0[2]*v1[0]-v1[2]*v0[0],
        v0[0]*v1[1]-v1[0]*v0[1]]

The following code does the same as gluLookAt or glm::lookAt does:
The parameter eye is the point of view, target is the point which is looked at and up is the upwards direction.
def m3dLookAt(eye, target, up):
    mz = normalize( (eye[0]-target[0], eye[1]-target[1], eye[2]-target[2]) ) # inverse line of sight
    mx = normalize( cross( up, mz ) )
    my = normalize( cross( mz, mx ) )
    tx =  dot( mx, eye )
    ty =  dot( my, eye )
    tz = -dot( mz, eye )   
    return np.array([mx[0], my[0], mz[0], 0, mx[1], my[1], mz[1], 0, mx[2], my[2], mz[2], 0, tx, ty, tz, 1])

Use it like this:
view_matrix = m3dLookAt([0, 0, 20], [0, 0, 0], [0, 1, 0])

