1. What, if there is, the equivalent of SendMessage() in Python?
2. How do you make calls to DLLs written in C++ and, if possible, VB6?
3. What library is used for socket work? (hard to phrase... see: mswinsck.dll from VB6)
4. Are optimizations automatically done by the interpreter?

I'm pretty sure I can answer question 2 for you, but don't take it as canon.

C++ DLLs are specialized DLLs -- linkers have to do special work to import them.  This is because, to avoid overlap in function names, they're mangled in a very specific way.  You most likely can't import C++ DLLs unless they expose COM through ATL, which leads me to my response about VB6.  Unless Python provides a way to access COM, you're out of luck with VB6, since VB6 doesn't compile traditional PE DLLs.

[quote author=Topaz link=topic=14983.msg152487#msg152487 date=1147685501]
1. What, if there is, the equivalent of SendMessage() in Python?[/quote]

Well, Python can interface with the Windows API.

[quote author=Topaz link=topic=14983.msg152487#msg152487 date=1147685501]
2. How do you make calls to DLLs written in C++ and, if possible, VB6?[/quote]

http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/ctypes/

[quote author=Topaz link=topic=14983.msg152487#msg152487 date=1147685501]
3. What library is used for socket work? (hard to phrase... see: mswinsck.dll from VB6)[/quote]

Python has it's own socket library which is very easy to use.

[quote author=Topaz link=topic=14983.msg152487#msg152487 date=1147685501]
4. Are optimizations automatically done by the interpreter?[/quote]

I believe so, I'm no Python expert.

[quote author=Yegg link=topic=14983.msg152509#msg152509 date=1147721968]
http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/ctypes/
[/quote]
He said C++.  Meaning, he wants to use C++ classes.  C DLLs and C++ DLLs are very different.

[quote author=MyndFyre[vL] link=topic=14983.msg152510#msg152510 date=1147723570]
[quote author=Yegg link=topic=14983.msg152509#msg152509 date=1147721968]
http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/ctypes/
[/quote]
He said C++.  Meaning, he wants to use C++ classes.  C DLLs and C++ DLLs are very different.
[/quote]

I havn't used ctypes in quite some time, but does it not support both types of DLLs? Also, what makes the two DLLs different?

[quote author=Yegg link=topic=14983.msg152509#msg152509 date=1147721968]
[quote author=Topaz link=topic=14983.msg152487#msg152487 date=1147685501]
1. What, if there is, the equivalent of SendMessage() in Python?[/quote]

Well, Python can interface with the Windows API.

[quote author=Topaz link=topic=14983.msg152487#msg152487 date=1147685501]
2. How do you make calls to DLLs written in C++ and, if possible, VB6?[/quote]

http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/ctypes/

[quote author=Topaz link=topic=14983.msg152487#msg152487 date=1147685501]
3. What library is used for socket work? (hard to phrase... see: mswinsck.dll from VB6)[/quote]

Python has it's own socket library which is very easy to use.

[quote author=Topaz link=topic=14983.msg152487#msg152487 date=1147685501]
4. Are optimizations automatically done by the interpreter?[/quote]

I believe so, I'm no Python expert.

[/quote]

Would you like to specify, instead of just giving yes or no answers?

1. If you've downloaded the win32 extensions for Python (and I'm sure you have, they're usually installed automatically, http://starship.python.net/crew/mhammond/):
[code]
import win32api
win32api.SendMessage(...)
import win32con # for constants
[/code]

2. You'll probably want to use ActiveX. See http://www.python.org/windows/win32com/QuickStartClientCom.html . You also might want to wrap a C library around it and use ctypes, which is included in Python 2.5, and available at the link above.

3. Most people just use the built-in socket library ("import socket") and maybe non-blocking I/O ("import select"). If you want to access HTTP URLs, "import urllib2", or if you want to serve up web pages, "import SimpleHTTPServer". If you're looking for a hardcore (and I mean hardcore) networking framework built on Python, see www.twistedmatrix.com.

4. Yeah. If you need any more, Psyco is your man (http://psyco.sourceforge.net/). All you have to do is:
[code]
import psyco
psyco.full()
[/code]

Thanks!

I'll continue to add questions as I run into problems:


5. What is / how would I use arg? I've seen it around, but I can't find any documentation on it (checked MSDN, Google - just code involving it, no explanations).

[quote author=Topaz link=topic=14983.msg152674#msg152674 date=1147932031]
5. What is / how would I use arg? I've seen it around, but I can't find any documentation on it (checked MSDN, Google - just code involving it, no explanations).
[/quote]
Not sure if this is what you ment, but I'll take a stab.

If you mean 'arg' as-in 'argc/argv', eg:
[code]int main(int argc, char *argv[]);[/code]
Then argc is an integer containing the amount of arguements (determined by spaces) that are in the command line, and argv[] would be a character array with each part.

Eg, If you did ran the program like "yourprogram.exe Hello Something -c -bla"
argc would be 4, argv[0] would be "Hello", argv[1] = "Something", argv[2] = "-c" and argv[4] = "-bla".

[EDIT] Eh, that was C++. Anyway 'arg' essentially stands for "Command Line Arguments". This will explain it better for Python.

[code]
import sys
print sys.argv
[/code]

[quote author=FrOzeN link=topic=14983.msg152676#msg152676 date=1147934678]
[quote author=Topaz link=topic=14983.msg152674#msg152674 date=1147932031]
5. What is / how would I use arg? I've seen it around, but I can't find any documentation on it (checked MSDN, Google - just code involving it, no explanations).
[/quote]
Not sure if this is what you ment, but I'll take a stab.

If you mean 'arg' as-in 'argc/argv', eg:
[code]int main(int argc, char *argv[]);[/code]
Then argc is an integer containing the amount of arguements (determined by spaces) that are in the command line, and argv[] would be a character array with each part.

Eg, If you did ran the program like "yourprogram.exe Hello Something -c -bla"
argc would be 4, argv[0] would be "Hello", argv[1] = "Something", argv[2] = "-c" and argv[4] = "-bla".

[EDIT] Eh, that was C++. Anyway 'arg' essentially stands for "Command Line Arguments". This will explain it better for Python.
[/quote]You're almost correct.  In C/++, argv[0] is always how the program name.  IE: if you did 'yourprogram.exe Hello Stuff', argv[0] would be "yourprogram.exe", but if you did 'yourprogram Goodbye Moo', argv[0] would be "yourprogram".

Thanks, everyone.

[quote author=rabbit link=topic=14983.msg152699#msg152699 date=1147977197]You're almost correct.  In C/++, argv[0] is always how the program name.  IE: if you did 'yourprogram.exe Hello Stuff', argv[0] would be "yourprogram.exe", but if you did 'yourprogram Goodbye Moo', argv[0] would be "yourprogram".
[/quote]

You too, are almost correct. :)  argv[0] is chosen by the calling application, just as all other argv[] values are.  It's traditional for shells to place the program's name in argv[0], but they're not required to do so.

Windows does it, and based on what's been said, that's the primary platform, so that's what I went with.

No, Windows does not do it.  Even on Windows, it's traditional, but not mandatory for argv[0] to be the program's name.  My Windows programs routinely pass junk in argv[0] (a dash, a letter, an underscore - something easy to hardcode).

6. What is the equivalent of the switch/select case statement in Python?

(Python is great so far, but I've been needing to read a lot of documentation as well as code so I know how to use so-so function :))

[quote author=rabbit link=topic=14983.msg152721#msg152721 date=1147999683]
Windows does it, and based on what's been said, that's the primary platform, so that's what I went with.
[/quote]

http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2004/01/14/58579.aspx

[quote author=Topaz link=topic=14983.msg152745#msg152745 date=1148019799]
6. What is the equivalent of the switch/select case statement in Python?

(Python is great so far, but I've been needing to read a lot of documentation as well as code so I know how to use so-so function :))
[/quote]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=python+switch&btnG=Google+Search

[quote author=Topaz link=topic=14983.msg152745#msg152745 date=1148019799]
6. What is the equivalent of the switch/select case statement in Python?
[/quote]

The equivalent is a lot of elif's :).

[quote author=Yegg link=topic=14983.msg152794#msg152794 date=1148063681]
[quote author=Topaz link=topic=14983.msg152745#msg152745 date=1148019799]
6. What is the equivalent of the switch/select case statement in Python?
[/quote]

The equivalent is a lot of elif's :).
[/quote]

Thanks.


7. What is the equivalent of the 'SendMessageByString' API? It's not available in the win32gui or win32api libraries - it merely posts text to a specified handle.

SendMessageByString is a just a declaration (used in Visual Basic) of SendMessage with either the LPARAM or WPARAM defined as a string.  You can just use SendMessage and pass a pointer of the appropriate type.

Python has no switch statements? Eww?

Edit: After looking into this furthur, I guess that map method (thats what its called? dictionary map or something?) isn't that bad.

AFAIK, if/elif does essentially the same thing as a switch statement, in terms of operation.

8. How would I go about making my code look like this

[code]insertString 'string'[/code]

instead of the present

[code]insertString('string')[/code]

[quote author=Topaz link=topic=14983.msg153149#msg153149 date=1148525437]
8. How would I go about making my code look like this

[code]insertString 'string'[/code]

instead of the present

[code]insertString('string')[/code]
[/quote]

You wouldn't.

EDIT: though you can use operator overloading to achieve similar results:

[code]
mybuffer << "string"
[/code]

Play around with adding a __lshift__ method to your code.