Getting the Appdata Directory with Python and PEP?

[Eamonn Rea]

I've heard that there is a library that allows you to get the appdata directory for a given OS, but I'd like to do it myself, as a learning experience.

Is there a built in way to get a users Appdata Directory? For example on OS X it's in '~/Library//Application Support/'. I can get the OS just fine (sys.platform and then storing it in my own way; example: darwin = OS X, just for my own readability), and I can get the home directory just fine (expanduser), but I have no idea how to get the appdata directory.

One way I could think of doing it would be to just detect the os and join the string on like so (completely untested, but an idea);

if os == 'OS X':
    appdata_dir = os.path.join(home_dir, '/Application Support/')

But then that arises the problem of cross platform compatibility.

So is here a good, cross platform solution to this problem?

Also, what is PEP, PEP8, etc? Is it like the Python programming layout conventions? Is there more to it than that?

Thanks!