Programming Python, 3rd Edition

Step 3: Stepping Up to OOP

Let’s step back for a moment and consider how far we’ve come. At this point, we’ve created a database of records: the shelve, as well as per-record pickle file approaches of the prior section suffice for basic data storage tasks. As is, our records are represented as simple dictionaries, which provide easier-to-understand access to fields than do lists (by key, rather than by position). Dictionaries, however, still have some limitations that may become more critical as our program grows over time.

For one thing, there is no central place for us to collect record processing logic. Extracting last names and giving raises, for instance, can be accomplished with code like the following:

>>>import shelve
>>> db = shelve.open('people-shelve')
>>> bob = db['bob']
>>> bob['name'].split( )[-1]             # get bob's last name
'Smith'
>>> sue = db['sue']
>>> sue['pay'] *= 1.25                  # give sue a raise
>>> sue['pay']
75000.0
>>> db['sue'] = sue
>>> db.close( )

This works, and it might suffice for some short programs. But if we ever need to change the way last names and raises are implemented, we might have to update this kind of code in many places in our program. In fact, even finding all such magical code snippets could be a challenge; hardcoding or cutting and pasting bits of logic redundantly like this in more than one place will almost always come back to haunt you eventually.

It would be better to somehow hide—that is, encapsulate—such bits of code. Functions in a module would ...