I recommend the example in the Python Library Reference as a better example: http://www.python.org/doc/lib/SMTP-example.html. You can also find the entire description of the smtplib module in the same section (http://www.python.org/doc/lib/module-smtplib.html).
Xah Lee's example is missing: - The login() call needed by SMTP hosts that require authentication. - The 'From:' and 'To:' addresses in the header of the email. They are not mandatory, but you would probably use them. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list