Re: [pygame] "Try" For World Loading

[Laura Creighton <lac@xxxxxxxxxx>]

In a message of Sun, 20 Nov 2005 07:36:36 +0100, Laura Creighton writes:
>In a message of Sun, 20 Nov 2005 07:30:23 +0100, Laura Creighton writes:
>>In a message of Sun, 20 Nov 2005 00:16:57 EST, Kris Schnee writes:
>>>I'm working on a system for loading parts of the game world as "zones" 
>>>with names determined by coordinates. If the player moves outside a 
>>>zone, the game will look for a zone with a certain name to load it. But
> 
>>>the file for that zone might not exist. I'm about to write the function
> 
>>>so that it uses the "try" statement to look for the file. Is that bad 
>>>for some reason, or even "bad form?" Is there a reason to do things a 
>>>different way, namely looking at a list of all files and saying "if 
>>>desired_filename in list_of_files, load?"
>>>
>>>Kris
>>
>>The first way you suggested is the preferred form, the second way
>>is 'not Pythonic'.  see: http://groups.google.se/group/comp.lang.python/
>b
>>rowse_thread/thread/66083a5d944ceb9b/a0dd5e0ae60efdce?lnk=st&q=%22Look+B
>e
>>fore+you+leap%22+author%3AAlex+author%3Amartelli&rnum=16&hl=sv#a0dd5e0ae
>6
>>0efdce
>>
>>(or go to Google groups and Google comp.lang.python for 
>>'Look before you Leap'.  Alex Martelli likes talking about why this is
>>usually not such a good idea.)
>>
>>A good reason to do it would be that what you are wrapping your try arou
>n
>>d
>>takes such an enormous long time to fail that it makes your game
>>lurch around like a zombie.  If you aren't looking for your files on
>>a local disk, say, but have to make an request over the internet,
>>this could be a problem for you, depending on how fast it takes the
>>other end to serve up the files.
>>
>>Laura
>
>Actually, I meant 'depending on how fast it takes the other end
>to serve up the message: that file is not here', thus validating the
>principle that posts to the internet made before your first cup of
>tea in the morning are never correct.
>
>sorry about that,
>Laura 

And now with a cup of tea in me:

perhaps os.path.exists and friends are really what you are looking
for ...
http://docs.python.org/lib/module-os.path.html

Laura