question regarding Guido's main article

[Christopher Baus]

Hi,

I'm new to Python and am learning the languge for writing test scripts for
C++.

I just finished reading this:

http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=4829

article. Coming from C++ I am a bit confused about the relationship of
the interpreter to main. I think I understand the __name__ variable, it
just doesn't work as expected.

I implemented a script using the form described in the article. The then
did:

python

This immediately called my main function, which should have only been
called if __name__ == "__main__".

What I expect was that __name__ would be something other than __main__ and
I would be put back at the prompt for instance...

That way I could pass any arguments to main or do processing before
calling main. The article mentions calling main from the interactive
prompt, I just don't see how to do this.

Thanks for your help...

 

[Bruno Desthuilliers]

Hi,

I'm new to Python and am learning the languge for writing test scripts for
C++.

I just finished reading this:

http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=4829

article. Coming from C++ I am a bit confused about the relationship of
the interpreter to main. I think I understand the __name__ variable, it
just doesn't work as expected.

I implemented a script using the form described in the article. The then
did:



This immediately called my main function, which should have only been
called if __name__ == "__main__".

But then __name__ *was* '__main__'.

What I expect was that __name__ would be something other than __main__ and
I would be put back at the prompt for instance...

For this, you have to use the import statement:

Note that 'myscript.py' must be in the sys.path for import to work
correctly.

HTH
Bruno

 

[Guest]

I implemented a script using the form described in the article. The then

did:



This immediately called my main function, which should have only been
called if __name__ == "__main__".

Because execfile(), without the two additional parameters, executes your
script in the context of the caller, of the __main__ program.

What I expect was that __name__ would be something other than __main__ and
I would be put back at the prompt for instance...

What you need is:

import myscript
foobar = "foo and a bar"
myscript.main(foobar)