Mark Smith - Writing Awesome Command-Line Programs in Python Command-Line programs can have a lot to them - usually more than you think, yet often suffer from a lack of thought. This is a tour through how to structure your code, tools in the standard library and some 3rd party libraries. Take your command-line programs to the next level! ----- Python is a great language for writing command-line tools - which is why so much of Linux is secretly written in Python these days. Unfortunately, what starts as a simple script can quickly get out of hand as more features are added and more people start using it! The talk will consist of a tour through various useful libraries and practical code showing how each can be used, and include advice on how to best structure simple and complex command-line tools. Things to consider when writing command-line apps: * Single-file vs Multiple-file * Standard library only vs. 3rd party requirements * Installation - setup.py vs. native packaging The different parts of a command-line program: * Option Parsing: * Libraries: getopt, optparse, argparse, docopt * Sub-commands * Configuration: * Formats: Ini file, JSON, YAML * Where should it be stored (cross-platform); * Having multiple configuration files, and allowing user config to override global config * Output: * Colour - colorama * Formatting output for the user * Formatting output for other programs * How do you know when your output is being piped to another program? * Managing logging and verbosity * Managing streamed input * Exit values: What are the conventions? * Interactive apps - REPL * Structuring a bunch of programs/commands around a shared codebase. * Command-line frameworks: clint, compago & cliff * Testing command-line apps * Writing command-line tools in Python 3 vs Python 2