[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Gerard Flanagan wrote: > > All > > > > would anyone happen to have code to generate Cutter Numbers: > > > > eg. http://www1.kfupm.edu.sa/library/cod-web/Cutter-numbers.htm > > > > or is anyone looking for something to do?-) (I'm under pressure!) > > > > def cutter(lname, fname, book_title): > > > > What do you use lname and fname (author first name and last name?) for? > The page you linked to does not have any information (that I could > see) about first names or last names. >
Sorry, couldn't find a better link, I'm struggling to find anything definitive about this. I'm cataloging a small library and want to generate a unique id (called a 'call number') for each book. This id is composed of: * Dewey 3-digit Subject Classification Number * Dewey Decimal (always 0 for the minute) * Cutter Number * Copy number (multiple copies or volumes) (That Celestial Emporium again...) I haven't researched it much but it seems the Cutter number is used to distinguish between authors with the same name, and between different books written by the same author - so you need last name, first name and title. But it may be as much art as science. > I wrote a script to see if I could capture what the table is doing on > the page you linked to. It gets the Cutter number right about 50% of > the time, otherwise its off by a few digits. > > I am stumped about what to do when the first letter is Q not followed > by U. It says to use numbers 2-29 for the second letters a-t, but that > is obviously not right (for one thing t would be 21, not 29). > > Since you seem a little bit more experienced in library science could > you explain what is going on? :) > > you can find the script here: > http://lost-theory.org/python/cutter.txt > Thanks very much for taking the time - I'll have to go study it now! But I don't think it will be as simple now since the Cutter may depend on books already in the database. Maybe I'll just stick a random string on the end of what your function produces! Thanks again. Gerard -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
