can python do some kernel stuff?

[Jimmy]

On May 24, 12:34 am, "Diez B. Roggisch" <de... at nospam.web.de> wrote:
> Jimmy schrieb:
>
>
>
> > On May 23, 11:14 pm, Jimmy <mcknight0... at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> On May 23, 5:53 pm, "Diez B. Roggisch" <de... at nospam.web.de> wrote:
>
> >>> Jimmy schrieb:
> >>>> On May 23, 3:05 pm, Andrew Lee <fiacre.patr... at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>>> Jimmy wrote:
> >>>>>> Hi to all
> >>>>>> python now has grown to a versatile language that can
> >>>>>> accomplish tasks for many different purposes. However,
> >>>>>> AFAIK, little is known about its ability of kernel coding.
> >>>>>> So I am wondering if python can do some kernel coding that
> >>>>>> used to be the private garden of C/C++. For example, can python
> >>>>>> intercept the input of keyboard on a system level? someone told me
> >>>>>> it's a kernel thing, isn't it?
> >>>>>http://wiki.python.org/moin/elmer
> >>>> well, straightly speaking, how can I know a key is pressed on a system-
> >>>> level if
> >>>> using python?
> >>> What has that todo with kernel programming? You can use e.g. pygame to
> >>> get keystrokes. Or under linux, read (if you are root) the keyboard
> >>> input file - I've done that to support several keyboards attached to a
> >>> machine.
> >>> And the original question: no, python can't be used as kernel
> >>> programming language. Amongst other reasons, performance & the GIL
> >>> prevent that.
> >>> Diez
> >> sorry, my aim is not limited to one particular program. Yes, many
> >> library can
> >> permit you to respond to keyboard event, however, what I want is a
> >> universal
> >> function. as long as a key is pressed, no matter where, my program can
> >> repond.
>
> >> I am quite strange with this topic. But according to my understanding,
> >> any event, keyboard event
> >> for example, once triggered, will be dilivered by keyboard driver to X
> >> system, and then
> >> any running program can either choose to respond or ignore. So my
> >> question can be translated to:
> >> how to make my program respond ?
>
> > maybe I'd better elaborate on my question. Back to my original
> > question:
> > intercept keyboard event on a system level. If you are writing program
> > in
> >  emacs, of course, the keyboard inputs are meant for emacs only. What
> > I
> > want is no matter what program you're running, keyboard events can be
> > anyway caught by my program.
>
> > Am I clear with myself? :)
>
> Do you want to intercept the call (prevent that it is passed through to
> e.g. emacs), or are you merely interested in getting it? If the latter,
> you can (as root) access the /dev/input keyboard device and get the
> scan-codes.
>
> The former is more complicated - without research I don't know out of my
> head how to accomplish that. But it must be possible, as e.g. KDE
> observes global key-shortcuts. Most probably a X-server thing.
>
> Diez

thanks, right now I am content with just knowing a key is pressed.
as you said, I checked /etc/input/event1 which seems the input of
keyboard. Then I got some extremely strange code. however, how can
I just simply know a key is pressed?