Using filepath method to identify an .html page

[Dave Angel]

On 01/22/2013 09:55 AM, Ferrous Cranus wrote:
> Τη Τρίτη, 22 Ιανουαρίου 2013 4:33:03 μ.μ. UTC+2, ο χρήστης Chris Angelico έγραψε:
>> On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 12:57 AM, Ferrous Cranus <nikos.gr33k at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Τη Τρίτη, 22 Ιανουαρίου 2013 3:04:41 μ.μ. UTC+2, ο χρήστης Steven D'Aprano έγραψε:
>>
>>>
>>
>>>> What do you expect int("my-web-page.html") to return? Should it return 23
>>
>>>> or 794 or 109432985462940911485 or 42?
>>
>>>
>>
>>> I expected a unique number from the given string to be produced so i could have a (number <=> string) relation. What does int( somestring ) is returning really? i don;t have IDLE to test.
>>
>>
>>
>> Just run python without any args, and you'll get interactive mode. You
>>
>> can try things out there.
>>
>>
>>
>>> This counter.py will work on a shared hosting enviroment, so absolutes paths are BIG and expected like this:
>>
>>>
>>
>>> /home/nikos/public_html/varsa.gr/articles/html/files/index.html
>>
>>
>>
>> That's not big. Trust me, modern databases work just fine with unique
>>
>> indexes like that. The most common way to organize the index is with a
>>
>> binary tree, so the database has to look through log(N) entries.
>>
>> That's like figuring out if the two numbers 142857 and 857142 are the
>>
>> same; you don't need to look through 1,000,000 possibilities, you just
>>
>> need to look through the six digits each number has.
>>
>>
>>
>>> 'pin' has to be a number because if i used the column 'page' instead, just imagine the database's capacity withholding detailed information for each and every .html requested by visitors!!!
>>
>>
>>
>> Not that bad actually. I've happily used keys easily that long, and
>>
>> expected the database to ensure uniqueness without costing
>>
>> performance.
>>
>>
>>
>>> So i really - really need to associate a (4-digit integer <=> htmlpage's absolute path)
>>
>>
>>
>> Is there any chance that you'll have more than 10,000 pages? If so, a
>>
>> four-digit number is *guaranteed* to have duplicates. And if you
>>
>> research the Birthday Paradox, you'll find that any sort of hashing
>>
>> algorithm is likely to produce collisions a lot sooner than that.
>>
>>
>>
>>> Maybe it can be done by creating a MySQL association between the two columns, but i dont know how such a thing can be done(if it can).
>>
>>>
>>
>>> So, that why i need to get a "unique" number out of a string. please help.
>>
>>
>>
>> Ultimately, that unique number would end up being a foreign key into a
>>
>> table of URLs and IDs. So just skip that table and use the URLs
>>
>> directly - much easier. In this instance, there's no value in
>>
>> normalizing.
>>
>>
>>
>> ChrisA
>
> I insist, perhaps compeleld, to use a key to associate a number to a filename.
> Would you help please?
>
> I dont know this is supposed to be written. i just know i need this:
>
> number = function_that_returns_a_number_out_of_a_string( absolute_path_of_a_html_file)
>
> Would someone help me write that in python coding? We are talkign 1 line of code here....
>

I gave you every piece of that code in my last response.  So you're not 
willing to compose the line from the clues?


-- 
DaveA