[Pythonmac-SIG] dumping characters into a list

[Silas Hundt]

I am at wits end.

I need to do something that I would think python almost has automated:

Receive input, cut that string up into individual characters (ALL  
characters, including spaces), put them in order into a list, then  
pull them out in order to convert them to a number.

So... should I go ahead and create a [freeking] translate() table, or  
does anybody else have some better creative answers?

in the mean time, I will work on that table

thanks,
-silas