A clean way to program an interface

[rh0dium]

Hi all,

I got this new radio scanner (toy!!) this weekend and I can access it
via a serial cable. I want to write a interface around it but I am
looking for some suggestions.  I thought at first I would simply class
the Scanner and write the various methods as attibutes similar to
below..  But then I thought about it and I don't like it for a couple
of obvious reasons - there isn't any data checking, and it's terribly
repetitive.

So I started searching on google - and I think it might be better to
use a (sub)class for each function ( class STS, PRG, etc.). where the
attributes are accessible as both dict items and lists - which
ultimately go and "set" the scanner.

I guess my question is this.

I have a function SIN which when one argument is given does an
effective "get" from the scanner - this returns some 10+ values.  When
some 10+ parameters are given it does an effective "set" to the
scanner.  Given that I can't remember all 10+ parameters I attempted
below to represent them as a dict where the key tells me what the heck
the parameter is supposed to represent.  So a simple translation
occurs on both the set and get which splits the list into a named dict
and vice versa.   Question 1 - I think I should be checking the data
before a set - is this a smart thing or should I just do a try/
except?  Question 2 - Since I only want to do this once (ok twice)
should I represent each function as a class or should I keep the code
I have below?

Thanks



==  My garbage.. ==

class Scanner():

    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
 
self.uniden=UnidenConnection.UnidenConnection(port=kwargs.get('port',
PORT), bps=kwargs.get('bps', 115200), loglevel=self.loglevel)

    def STS(self):
        return self.uniden.write("STS")

    def PRG(self):
        """Go into programming mode"""
        if self.uniden.write(sys._getframe().f_code.co_name)[0]=="OK":
            return True
        else: return False

    def PRGWrite(self,command):
        data = self.uniden.write(command)
        if data[0] == "NG":
            if self.PRG():
                data = self.uniden.write(command)
            if not self.EPG():
                raise IOError, "Unable to exit programming
mode"
        if data[0] == "ERR":
            raise IOError, "Error when running command %s" % command
        return data

    def EPG(self):
        """Get out of programming mode"""
        if self.uniden.write(sys._getframe().f_code.co_name)[0]=="OK":
            return True
        else: return False

    def SCT(self):
        """Get the system count"""
        self.systems =
int(self.PRGWrite(sys._getframe().f_code.co_name)[0])
        return self.systems

    def SIH(self):
        """Get the site index head"""
        self.sih = int(self.PRGWrite(sys._getframe().f_code.co_name)
[0])
        return self.sih

    def SIT(self):
        """Get the site index tail"""
        self.sit = int(self.PRGWrite(sys._getframe().f_code.co_name)
[0])
        return self.sit

    def FWD(self,idx):
        """Get the next site index"""
        fwd = int(self.PRGWrite("%s,%s" %
(sys._getframe().f_code.co_name,idx))[0])
        return fwd

    def SIF(self, idx, args=None):
        """Get / Set Site Info"""
        if args is None:
            p=self.PRGWrite("%s,%s" %
(sys._getframe().f_code.co_name,idx))
            t={}
 
t["site_type"],t["name"],t["quick_key"],t["hld"],t["lout"],t["mod"], \
            t["att"],t["c-
ch"],t["apco"],t["threshold"],t["rev_index"],t["fwd_index"], \
 
t["sys_index"],t["chn_head"],t["chn_tail"],t["seq_no"],t["start_key"],
\
 
t["latitude"],t["longitude"],t["range"],t["gps_enable"],t["rsv"]=p
            delitems=[]
            for item in t:
                if t[item]=="": delitems.append(item)
            for x in delitems: del t[x]
            if len(t.keys())==0:
                raise IOError, "Unable to program %s - Returned
Nothing" % (sys._getframe().f_code.co_name)
            else:
                return t
        else:
            args["rsv"]=""
 
s=[ args["index"],args["name"],args["quick_key"],args["hld"],args["lout"],args["mod"],
\
                args["att"],args["c-
ch"],args["apco"],args["threshold"],args["start_key"], \
 
args["latitude"],args["longitude"],args["range"],args["gps_enable"],args["rsv"]]
            p=self.PRGWrite("%s,%s" %
(sys._getframe().f_code.co_name,",".join(s)))
            if p[0] != "OK":
                raise IOError, "Unable to program %s - Returned %s" %
(sys._getframe().f_code.co_name,p[0])
            else: return True

    def SIN(self, idx, args=None):
        """Get / Set System Info"""
        if args is None:
            p=self.PRGWrite("%s,%s" %
(sys._getframe().f_code.co_name,idx))
            t={}
            t["sys_type"],t["name"],t["quick_key"],t["hld"],t["lout"],
\
 
t["dly"],t["skp"],t["rsv"],t["rsv"],t["apco"],t["threshold"], \
 
t["rev_index"],t["fwd_index"],t["chn_grp_head"],t["chn_grp_tail"], \
 
t["seq_no"],t["start_key"],t["record"],t["latitude"],t["longitude"], \
            t["range"],t["gps enable"],t["rsv"]=p
            delitems=[]
            for item in t:
                if t[item]=="": delitems.append(item)
            for x in delitems: del t[x]
            if len(t.keys())==0:
                raise IOError, "Unable to program %s - Returned
Nothing" % (sys._getframe().f_code.co_name)
            else:
                return t
        else:
            args["rsv"]=""
 
s=[ args["index"],args["name"],args["quick_key"],args["hld"],args["lout"],args["dly"],
\
 
args["skp"],args["rsv"],args["rsv"],args["apco"],args["threshold"],args["start_key"],
\
 
args["record"],args["latitude"],args["longitude"],args["range"],args["gps_enable"],args["rsv"]]
            p=self.PRGWrite("%s,%s" %
(sys._getframe().f_code.co_name,",".join(s)))
            if p[0] != "OK":
                raise IOError, "Unable to program %s - Returned %s" %
(sys._getframe().f_code.co_name,p[0])
            else: return True