Global dictionary or class variables

[Matimus]

On Oct 24, 1:44 pm, Mr.SpOOn <mr.spoo... at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
> in an application I have to use some variables with fixed valuse.
>
> For example, I'm working with musical notes, so I have a global
> dictionary like this:
>
> natural_notes = {'C': 0, 'D': 2, 'E': 4 ....}
>
> This actually works fine. I was just thinking if it wasn't better to
> use class variables.
>
> Since I have a class Note, I could write:
>
> class Note:
>     C = 0
>     D = 2
>     ...
>
> Which style maybe better? Are both bad practices?

It really depends on how you plan to use them. I might use a
dictionary if I'm likely be handling the notes as characters. If they
are just constants that I plan to use in my program, I would probably
just define a set of global names. The best practice I have found is a
combination.

NOTES = C,D,E,F,G,A,B = "CDEFGAB"
note_2_step = dict(C=0, D=2, E=4, F=5, G=7, A=9, B=11)

This allows you to do both. There are schemes where you might want to
use a class, but without more information it doesn't really seem
necessary. Globals are frowned upon, but constant tend to be just
fine.

Matt