automatic python variables

[twohot]

I'm looking for ways to create variables in python3 as needed. E.g

book1 = book(name1) # book is a class
book2 = book(name2)
book3 = book(name3)
book4 = book(name4)
book5 = book(name5)

:
:
:
V

book-n = book(name-n)

I have the names of the book in a list but want to load those into class instances to take advantage off OOP. I could assign five to ten class objects like above but what if I have up a 100 books to deal with. Any way to generate those variables? (Note: Its not a code about books ... the above is a sample scenario)

[bvdet]

If your code is encapsulated in a class instance:

    for i, name in enumerate(book_list):
        setattr(self, "book%s" % (i), name)

If not:

for i, name in enumerate(book_list):
    exec "%s = %s" % ("book%s" % (i), name)

It's better to maintain the list of books in a list or dictionary instead of creating a variable for each one.

[twohot]

And what if you plan to do more than list the books? Say, be able to access each book's properties eg. chapters, publisher, author, genre, revisions. Would a dictionary still do?

Wouldn't it be better to have a list of object 'books' where the enumeration serves as a serial/key. eg book[1],book[2] ....book[n], each managing its own little db? or is SQL better off at this kind of thing?

Just thinking ...:o, Like I said, its really not about books. What I'm doing is more dynamic. The next time the code runs, those serials need not be the same for each item

[bvdet]

You could create a class instance for each book to contain the book data. Maintaining the data in an XML or SQL file may be the best route for significant amounts of data.

[twohot]

That's what I thought ... since I don't anticipate anything more than a few thousands of files-lines (for the properties and not instances .....well, looking at about 10 to 20 instances at most). I'd probably go the 'class' way. I don't really plan to hold much in memory anyway, so the class object overhead shouldn't be significant.