question regarding Guido's main article

[Christopher Baus]

Hi,

I'm new to Python and am learning the languge for writing test scripts for
C++.

I just finished reading this:

http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=4829

article.  Coming from C++ I am a bit confused about the relationship of
the interpreter to main.  I think I understand the __name__ variable, it
just doesn't work as expected.

I implemented a script using the form described in the article.  The then
did:

> python
>>> execfile("myscript.py")

This immediately called my main function, which should have only been
called if __name__ == "__main__".

What I expect was that __name__ would be something other than __main__ and
I would be put back at the prompt for instance...

>>> execfile("myscript.py")
>>> foobar = "foo and a bar"
>>> main(foobar)

That way I could pass any arguments to main or do processing before
calling main.  The article mentions calling main from the interactive
prompt, I just don't see how to do this.

Thanks for your help...

-- 
Christopher Baus
http://www.baus.net/
Tahoe, Wine, and Linux. What more could you ask for?