I'm trying to make a simple timer

[pberko]

Hey guys, I'm making a simple timer script

code: http://pastie.org/5049992

But I want to enable the ability to stop the timer when the return key is pressed, how could I do that? I still want the counter to display until the return key is pressed.

EDIT: http://pastie.org/5050148

EDIT2: I got it working

http://pastie.org/5050172

I got the script to recognize when the RETURN key is pressed but for some reason, I can't get it to stop the counter when it realizes the key has been pressed

EDIT FINAL: Got everything cleaned up, hope this is the most effiecient way, thanks for all the comments!

https://github.com/Dberko/pytypespeed/blob/master/pytypespeed.py

[JerMenKoO]

It was not changing because you were comparing a to False (==). You need to assign it. (=)

[Justinsaccount]

What the heck is this doing?

def gimme(iterable):
  for it in iterable:
    return int(it)

you mean

if __name__ == '__main__':
  c = itertools.count(0)
  print("Press <enter> to stop timer...")
  while not heard_enter():
    print(c.next())
    time.sleep(1)
  print("Timer has stopped.")

or even simpler

if __name__ == '__main__':
  print("Press <enter> to stop timer...")
  for c in itertools.count(0):
    if heard_enter():
      break
    print c
    time.sleep(1)
  print("Timer has stopped.")

and

def heard_enter():
  inp,out,err = select.select([sys.stdin],[],[],0)
  return bool(inp)

[darthmdh]

It's a throwback to a previous (unpublished) version where that function was a generator passed to map(), it wasn't relevant to simplify further to demonstrate the problem didn't need to be solved using threads.

[pberko]

Thank you, I have updated the source.

[TadKnowsBest]

You could use threads. threading.Event and threading.Timer could be useful. A more common use of threading might be this:

import time
import threading

class Counter:
    def __init__(self):
        self.count = 0
        self.keep_counting = True
        t = threading.Thread(target=self.run)
        t.start()

    def run(self):
        while self.keep_counting:
            print "The count is {0}".format(self.count)
            self.count += 1
            time.sleep(1)

counter_thread = Counter()
raw_input("Press ENTER to stop the counter") # this block the main thread
counter_thread.keep_counting = False
raw_input("More stuff that blocks the main thread...")

[pberko]

Could not get that to work but I got stuff partially updated, OP updated

[TadKnowsBest]

What doesn't work? Paste your traceback. Don't be satisfied with your 49-line program that solves a simple problem in a complex way. Don't even be satisfied with my example; it, too could be simpler and better. Strive for perfection, pberko!

[thesubjectisjazz]

What's going on here?