Somewhere in there you may find that dictionary dispatching is something worth doing. I don't know. This whole sort of problem is sort of grating, in that it is trying to replicate one of the most irritating user experiences on the planet ...
>From python3: Patterns, Recipes and Idioms http://www.google.se/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CEUQFjAEahUKEwiJv4CtxPTHAhVqvnIKHY68Bec&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpython-3-patterns-idioms-test.readthedocs.org%2Fen%2Flatest%2FMultipleDispatching.html&usg=AFQjCNG0UFOKpxJNVDSCt9dtAJ55SC_zEA The guts of the thing is a simple dictionary: outcome = { (Paper, Rock): Outcome.WIN, (Paper, Scissors): Outcome.LOSE, (Paper, Paper): Outcome.DRAW, (Scissors, Paper): Outcome.WIN, (Scissors, Rock): Outcome.LOSE, (Scissors, Scissors): Outcome.DRAW, (Rock, Scissors): Outcome.WIN, (Rock, Paper): Outcome.LOSE, (Rock, Rock): Outcome.DRAW, } Which, in this case, plays the child's game rock, paper, scissors with 2 players. But you could use a tuple with 10 values. If a lot of your outcomes are going to arrive at the same answer 'Stick the device in a box, print off this shipping label, and send it via UPS to our repair service centre.' then this approach will have more appeal. Sometimes what you want is to dispatch on a set of functions with arguments, and you can stick that in your dictionary as well. outcomes = { (a,c,d) : (function1_name, (arg1, arg2, arg3)) (a, b, d) : (function2_name, (arg1,))} But whether this is going to help or not really depends on your data. If you find yourself itching for a case statement, then it probably will. But I am not sure that this was your intent in the first place. Laura -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
