| Chapter 10. Problem Solving - Writing a Python Script | ||
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| Chapter 10. Problem Solving - Writing a Python Script | ||
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Table of Contents
We have explored various parts of the Python language and now we will take a look at how all these parts fit together, by designing and writing a program which does something useful.
The problem is 'I want a program which creates a backup of all my important files'.
Although, this is a simple problem, there is not enough information for us to get started with the solution. A little more analysis is required. For example, how do we specify which files are to be backed up? Where is the backup stored? How are they stored in the backup?
After analyzing the problem properly, we design our program. We make a list of things about how our program should work. In this case, I have created the following list on how I want it to work. If you do the design, you may not come up with the same kind of problem - every person has their own way of doing things, this is ok.
The files and directories to be backed up are specified in a list.
The backup must be stored in a main backup directory.
The files are backed up into a zip file.
The name of the zip archive is the current date and time.
We use the standard zip command available by default in any standard Linux/Unix distribution. Windows users can use the Info-Zip program. Note that you can use any archiving command you want as long as it has a command line interface so that we can pass arguments to it from our script.
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| Summary |  | The Solution |