How am I doing?

[Mike Meyer]

Jason <jason at jasonmhirst.co.uk> writes:

> Please don't laugh, this is my FIRST Python script where I haven't
> looked at the manual for help...
>
> import string
> import random
>
> class hiScores:
>  hiScores=['10000Alpha','07500Beta','05000Gamma','02500Delta','00000Epsilon']
>
>      def showScores(self):
>          for entry in self.hiScores:
>              print entry[0:5]," - ",entry[5:]
>
>      def addScore(self,score,name):
>          newScore=string.zfill(score,5)
>          self.hiScores.append(newScore+name)
>          self.hiScores.sort(reverse=True)
>
>          if len(self.hiScores)==6:
>              del self.hiScores[-1]
>
> a=hiScores()
> print "Original Scores\n---------------"
> a.showScores()
>
> while 1:
>      newScore=random.randint(0,10000)
>      if string.zfill(newScore,5)>a.hiScores[4][0:5]:
>          print "Congratulations, you scored %d " % newScore
>          name=raw_input("Please enter your name :")
>          a.addScore(newScore,name)
>          a.showScores()
>      continue
>
> Anything I could have done differently or any "bad-habits" you think I
> have which could lead to ultimate doom I really appreciate to know.

George already covered a lot of things. I wanted to make a general comment:

The standard idiom is to put all the executable code for a script in a
function, (say "main"), then invoke that function iff your code is run
as a script:

def main():
    a = hiScores()
    ...

if __name__ == "__main__":
   main()

That way your program can be used as a module by other applications,
allowing your classes/functions/etc. to be reused by other
applications without having to copy them out of your program.

             <mike
-- 
Mike Meyer <mwm at mired.org>			http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/
Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information.