Python script for configuring wifi hot spots on FreeBSD

[Chuck Swiger]

Hi, Andrew--

On Aug 20, 2008, at 8:44 AM, Andrew Gould wrote:
> 2. I store data in Python dictionaries.  When I display the  
> dictionaries,
> the numbered options are not in order and I can't
>    figure out how to sort them.  This appears to be a cosmetic issue  
> only;
> but it still bothers me.

If you have a bunch of keys that are sortable, you can do something  
like:

 >>> dict = { 1: 'alpha', 4: 'gamma', 2: 'beta', 3: 'delta' }
 >>> keylist = dict.keys(); keylist.sort()
 >>> for k in keylist: print k, dict[k]
...
1 alpha
2 beta
3 delta
4 gamma

See http://docs.python.org/lib/typesmapping.html for more details:

(3) Keys and values are listed in an arbitrary order which is non- 
random, varies across Python implementations, and depends on the  
dictionary's history of insertions and deletions. If items(), keys(),  
values(), iteritems(), iterkeys(), and itervalues() are called with no  
intervening modifications to the dictionary, the lists will directly  
correspond. This allows the creation of (value, key) pairs using  
zip(): "pairs = zip(a.values(), a.keys())". The same relationship  
holds for the iterkeys() and itervalues() methods: "pairs =  
zip(a.itervalues(), a.iterkeys())" provides the same value for pairs.  
Another way to create the same list is "pairs = [(v, k) for (k, v) in  
a.iteritems()]".

> 3. My knowledge of networking is at a basic level.
>
> I have attached the script -- it is only 4KB.

The mailing list strips off many file attachments.  You'd do better to  
put your script on a website somewhere, and mail out the URL to it...

Regards,
-- 
-Chuck