<quote> I know you were just joking (the smiley gave it away) but there is a tidy solution to the "endless if" problem. Make a dict[] of names->functions. This makes the whole thing rather modular and tidy. </quote> I don't see why you need a huge "if block" or a dict map to do this? Either way you end up with hard coded mappings. The best way to do this is with a plugin system that uses a dynamic class/module loader. See: http://mjoc.sig.lt/python/py_plugins.html - This method uses exec. or http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python/Recipe/223972 - This uses __import__() (I like the second one better) Basically you have a class/module per [command] which you instantiate based on the value of [command] and pass all the subsequent arguments too. The core yum main() entry code doesn't even have to know what commands are available. Adding new commands would be a case of dropping in new classes/modules with the catch-all set to spew out the usage/list of valid command options. You don't need an if block or a dict at all - hell you can even build it in such a way that the command documentation is dynamically pulled from the class the command is in: bash$ yum list help # calls commands.list.usage() <quote> GIVEN A LONG LIST of name->function pairs, how do we more cleanly deal with them? </quote> Answer: you don't have a long list. You use introspection/reflection. Why build a mapping when you can derive it at runtime? Carwyn
