[Tutor] Pretty and invisible

[kromag@nsacom.net]

I would like to do two things with the following script:

First, I believe it could be made much simpler and prettier: May I have 
suggestions?

I found an example of a phone book script in "Learning Python" that is 
similar, I will begin there, but I get easily lost in inheritance (judging 
from my last post, I would get lost on the way to the bathroom....) :-)


Second, I would like to either not echo or obscure the password raw_input().

I have looked through Learing Python and around the web for examples: I am 
probably missing it! 

**ALERT**ALERT**ALERT**ALERT**ALERT**ALERT**

Mail from this account is sent from a webmail program called TWIG.
TWIG will strip the leading /'s from open('//tmp//filename') and the like.
Thanks!


_________________login.py__________________

import cPickle
import string
import time
import sys
import os

'''login checks a pickled dictionary for usernames/passwords, 
creates new u/p's and rejects mistyped passwords'''

#open password file, grab the dictionary of usernames and passwords, then 
close it.
passwd=open('\tmp\passwd','r')
passlist=cPickle.load(passwd)
passwd.close()

#untrused username password combination
uname=raw_input('Enter Player Name: ')
password=raw_input('Enter Password: ')
untrusted={uname: password}

#check and see if the existing passlist has the username
check=passlist.has_key(uname)

#if there is no existing key in passlist that matches uname, add it and a 
password.
if check==0:
	print 'Name not found. Adding.'
	password=raw_input('Enter new Password for '+uname+': ')
	passlist[uname]=password
	passwd=open('\tmp\passwd','w')
	cPickle.dump(passlist, passwd)
	passwd.close()
	print 'user and password added'
	os.system('\windows\command\edit.com ' +uname)
	sys.exit()

#if the values for the passlist key match the value for untrusted key, start 
app.
elif passlist[uname] == untrusted[uname]:
	print 'user + pass ok '
	os.system('\windows\command\edit.com ' +uname)
	sys.exit()

#if the values for the passlist key do not match the value for the untrusted 
key, kill script
elif passlist[uname] != untrusted[uname]:
	print 'Either the user already exists, or you mistyped the password, 
sorry!'
	#Snooze for a few secs before the connection drops...
	time.sleep(3)
	sys.exit('Access Denied')
#get the hell out of here, regardless! :-)
else:
	sys.exit('Error')

_________________end login.py____________________

Thanks all!