Question

I have a script that I had originally left as one long function.

#! /usr/bin/env python
import mechanize
from BeautifulSoup import BeautifulSoup
import sys
import sqlite3

def dictionary(word):
    br = mechanize.Browser()
    response = br.open('http://www.dictionary.reference.com')
    br.select_form(nr=0)
    br.form['q'] = word 
    br.submit()
    definition = BeautifulSoup(br.response().read())
    trans = definition.findAll('td',{'class':'td3n2'})
    fin = [i.text for i in trans]
    query = {}
    word_count = 1
    def_count = 1
    for i in fin: 
        query[fin.index(i)] = i
    con = sqlite3.connect('/home/oberon/vocab_database/vocab.db')
    with con:
        spot = con.cursor()
        spot.execute("SELECT * FROM Words")
        rows = spot.fetchall()
        for row in rows:
            word_count += 1
        spot.execute("INSERT INTO Words VALUES(?,?)", (word_count,word))
        spot.execute("SELECT * FROM Definitions")
        rows = spot.fetchall()
        for row in rows:
            def_count += 1
        for q in query:
            spot.execute("INSERT INTO Definitions VALUES(?,?,?)", (def_count,query[q],word_count))
            def_count += 1
    return query

print dictionary(sys.argv[1])

Now, I wanted to practice OOP form by creating a class. I thought it would be best to separate this into at least a couple of functions too.

I came up with:

#! /usr/bin/env python
import mechanize
from BeautifulSoup import BeautifulSoup
import sys
import sqlite3


class Vocab:
    def __init__(self):
        self.word_count = 1
        self.word = sys.argv[1] 
        self.def_count = 1
        self.query = {}

    def dictionary(self,word):
        self.br = mechanize.Browser()
        self.response = self.br.open('http://www.dictionary.reference.com')
        self.br.select_form(nr=0)
        self.br.form['q'] = word 
        self.br.submit()
        self.definition = BeautifulSoup(self.br.response().read())
        self.trans = self.definition.findAll('td',{'class':'td3n2'})
        self.fin = [i.text for i in self.trans]
        for i in self.fin: 
            self.query[self.fin.index(i)] = i
        return self.query

    def word_database(self):
        self.con = sqlite3.connect('/home/oberon/vocab_database/vocab.db')
        with self.con:
            self.spot = self.con.cursor()
            self.spot.execute("SELECT * FROM Words")
            self.rows = self.spot.fetchall()
            for row in self.rows:
                self.word_count += 1
            self.spot.execute("INSERT INTO Words VALUES(?,?)", (self.word_count,self.word))
            self.spot.execute("SELECT * FROM Definitions")
            self.rows = self.spot.fetchall()
            for row in self.rows:
                self.def_count += 1
            for q in self.query:
                self.spot.execute("INSERT INTO Definitions VALUES(?,?,?)", (self.def_count,self.query[q],self.word_count))
                self.def_count += 1



Vocab().dictionary(sys.argv[1])

I know that on the last line when I call Vocab().dictionary(sys.argv[1]) this is only going to run the dictionary method. I am trying to figure out how to invoke the word_database method everytime I run the script still.

Is this the wrong way to go about this? Should I of just left these methods as just one large method?

Answer 1

It looks fine as a script to me. The only real question is why you do

for row in rows:
        word_count += 1

instead of

word_count += len(rows)

As for your question, you call word_database by doing

self.word_database()