[Tutor] Turning a "script" into an "application"

[Christian Wyglendowski]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: tutor-bounces at python.org 
> Subject: RE: [Tutor] Turning a "script" into an "application"
> 
> Christian,
> 
> If you want to be able to control your sniffer from a variety 
> of front ends (command-line, GUI, web app) then you probably 
> have to write it as a separate process with some kind of 
> socket interface. If you can pick a single UI, and you are 
> happy to have the UI running at the same time as the sniffer, 
> you could make the sniffer a separate thread in the same 
> application as the GUI.

So I guess it is breaking down like this:
	o Threads for an all-in-one approach
	o Sockets for a more modular approach
 
> If you decide to build a separate sniffer process, I suggest 
> you build the communications protocol on top of an existing 
> standard. 

.
. (snipped)
. 

> For example you could use XMLRPC to talk to the sniffer. 
> Using xmlrpclib on the client side and SimpleXMLRPCServer on 
> the sniffer side it is easy to set up. The client then makes 
> procedure calls on the server through a proxy. The advantage 
> of this method is it is easy to set up and it gives you a 
> very pythonic interface on the client side. The disadvantage 
> is that it is not easy to use the interface without writing a program.

This sounds promising.  I spent some time with the Python Cookbook last
night and happened to look over some of the XMLRPC recipes.  Considering
that I want to keep things pretty loose as far as the
interface<-->backend ties go, a socket based approach using XMLRPC looks
pretty good right now.

.
. (more snipping)
.

> I suggest you start with the first version - GUI and sniffer 
> in one application. It is a good first step even if the 
> eventual goal is to have a separate sniffer process. Keep a 
> strong separation between the two parts so if you decide 
> later to split them it won't be too hard.

I might wind up doing this eventually for a lightweight, easy to
distribute application.  Plus, I think I eventually need to get my hands
dirty when it comes to threads.  For now I think I am going to start
digging into XMLRPC and using multiple processes.  Thanks a lot for the
insight and information.

Christian
http://www.dowski.com