NOTE: The information in this post applies to Python 2.x only. See this post for Python 3.x support.

While working on Qprompt (a Python CLI based user input libary), I wanted to write some tests to check for regressions. The following lambda function allows stdin to be programmatically set:

import StringIO, sys
sys.stdin = StringIO.StringIO()
setinput = lambda x: [sys.stdin.truncate(0), sys.stdin.write(x), sys.stdin.seek(0)]

The following …

This trick is neat and potentially useful although maybe not very Pythonic:

txt = "two"
val = (
        1 if txt == "one" else
        2 if txt == "two" else
        3 if txt == "three" else
        0)
print val

The following form can be used instead:

txt = "three"
val = \
        1 if txt == "one" else \
        2 if txt == "two" else \
        3 if txt == "three" else \
        0
print val

Last January, I made a resolution to walk 3 million steps during the year. With the help of a cheap step counter and a spreadsheet, I am happy to say it may have been the first New Years resolution that I actually completed! While preparing a list of resolutions for 2016, the following criteria will help guarantee success:

• Progress must be measurable! - Keep track of your progress periodically to make sure you will hit your …

I was raised during a generation where writing on a computer was virtually synonymous with using Microsoft Word (little has changed since). However, as I grew versed in the landscape of software development utilities, I knew there had to be a better way to write. For me, the perfect writing toolchain needed the following qualities:

• Content should be portable.
• Content should play nice with version control and diff tools.
• Content should be grep-able.
• Structure emphasized …

Python is an excellent multipurpose language. However, when writing scripts (in the shell script sense), a decent command-line user interface is necessary. Qprompt is a library of simple command-line interface functions that should simplify common tasks. For example, to ask the user for an integer between 1 and 100, simply use the following:

qprompt.ask_int(vld=range(1,101))

Menus are straightforward as well:

menu = qprompt.Menu()
menu.add("1", "Item 1")
menu.add("2 …

This one is kind of silly but sometimes you just want messages to use the proper plural case. Here is an example in Python 2 (with a little help from Qprompt):

import qprompt
num = qprompt.ask_int("How many beers?", vld=[1,2,3])
print "Okay, %u %s." % (
        num,
        "beer" if num == 1 else "beers")

Style guides are an important part of the software development process. They keep code consistent across projects and help maintain a level of cleanliness and professionalism. A few years ago, I realized there were no (to my knowledge) guides for general file and directory naming so I started one. Over time, I gradually updated it and eventually named it the Unified Style Guide with the lofty goal of one day expanding it to programming languages …

Just a couple of Python related picks this week.

Podcasts:

• Talk Python To Me - Relatively new podcast all about Python. Excellent and informative!

Software Development:

• Unofficial Windows Binaries for Python Extension Packages - This site is an occasional lifesaver! Sometimes it can be tricky getting a third-party Python library running on a PC. This site provides pre-built libraries that are ready to install.