Converting from perl

[Michael Hudson]

sp00fD <sp00fD at yahoo.com> writes:

> I'm converting to python from perl and just created my first python
> program, it's actually a rewrite of a perl program that I had.  It's
> kind of stupid, but I find rewriting things in other languages is one of
> the best ways to learn.  What I'd like is for someone to tell me what's
> screwed up and what I need to work on.  The majority of the script is
> held in a class, but being a newbie to the world of OOP also, I'm not
> sure if the way I've handled things is optimal, so _any_ suggestions
> would be appreciated, as well as any "Why the hell did you create a
> class that way"'s or "You're all screwed up, you need to change
> this.."'s.  Anyway, here it is...

Looks OK to me. A couple of small points...

>         def get_hosts(self):
>                 if self.args() == "AIX":
>                         self.hosts = ("athena", "dev", "detroit", "la",
> \
>                                       "laredo", "miami", "newark",
> "sat", \
>                                       "savannah", "seattle", "titan")
>                 elif self.args() == "SUN":
>                         self.hosts = ("eclipse", "hercules", "scdev", \
>                                       "scprod", "sol")
>                 elif self.args() == "BACKUP":
>                         self.hosts = ("eclipse", "hercules", "scdev", \
>                                       "scprod", "sol", "athena")
>                 else:
>                         self.hosts = self.ask_for_hosts()

It might be easier to do this using a dictionary:

arg2hosts = {
    "AIX":("athena","dev","detroit","la","laredo","miami",
           "newark","sat","savannah","seattle","titan"),
    "SUN":("eclipse", "hercules", "scdev","scprod","sol"),
    "BACKUP":("eclipse", "hercules", "scdev","scprod", "sol", "athena")
}

try:
    self.hosts = arg2hosts[self.args()]
except KeyError:
    self.hosts = self.ask_for_hosts()

Your code could execute self.args() reoeatedly which is unecessary.

> 
>         def copy(self):
>                 _stuff = ()
>                 _stuff = self.files()
> 
>                 try:
>                         for host in self.get_hosts():
>                                 print "Sending %s to %s %s" % \
>                                 (_stuff[0], host, _stuff[1])
> 
>                                 os.system("rcp %s %s:%s" % \
>                                 (_stuff[0], host, _stuff[1]))
>                 except os.error:
>                         print "Error during system() function - oops"

Note that this will not catch errors in executing the command passed
to os.system - you need to look at the return code for that.
 
> c = CopyClass()
> 
> c.copy()

To be honest, I don't see a lot of value in wrapping this up in a
class. For a straight through shell scripty type job like this I
generally don't bother. Python is not about ramming methodologies down
your throat.

> </PRE>
> 
> Hope that PRE works

Hmm, seemed unecessary here...

HTH,
Michael