I've begun a Python module to provide a complete interface to the Meade LX200 command set: http://rjs.org/Python/LX200.py and would like input from potential users or people interested in developing it further. The code I have online is a very alpha start - it contains all of the command set, parsed from http://www.meade.com/support/LX200CommandSet.pdf reg-exp'd into methods, but few methods are actually complete yet. My thinking is to have it useful for Python command line testing, as well as GUI programs.
History: after searching for such a thing, I had found only: http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:hOgO7H_MUeYJ:phl3pc02.phytch.dur.ac.uk/~jrl/source/source_code.html+lx200.py&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1 from University of Durham, but the code is not available... and http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/projgalileo/lx200/lx200.py?rev=1.4 from the Galileo project, but which only has a subset and is aimed at their needs, mostly. Some of the Galileo code looks useful, and so I might want to make use of at least some of the methodology, even if only to get their interest as well. Current input I would most like is on module structure and Pythonic-ness: -Only one class, or two? I was considering splitting the commands into two classes: Telescope and Library, as either could be used without the other for a scope session. (If you have large libraries on your PC, you do not need the LX one - or if you don't, or have a PDA, then just doing a Library lookup alone might be useful.) If you were to "import LX200", how would you expect it to work? -Should I have module methods, as I do? (Galileo uses some static methods) -What constants might be useful to define? -When should the com port be opened/tested? (I have it on init...) -What about the class names? It is already ~1200 lines code and comments, even without most of the commands actually useful yet, and so I'd like to get a good form started before getting too far along. Is anyone here interested in using such a module, or willing to critique? Thanks, Ray arr-ayy-why-ess at blue-cove.com -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list