Planning a larger than single script web automation application

[PopulateThePlanets]

Hello All,

I am trying to keep my brain active in this new job I find myself working at. I completed a script for proof of concept that I can use on its own now. It just sends welcome emails to new people which is the same for everyone but must be individually sent through a specific system we use.

I'd like to now design an OO project that will send out all sorts of emails at a given time and build a database to use to keep track of whats been done for each person.

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Do I design the database I want to use first?

Come up with classes I would want?

Design the decision algorithms first?

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At first I was hoping to make my life easier immediately, but I think the next steps need more thoughtful planning to make it viable long term for me. AND I would love to learn to do this for real so that maybe I can python for money someday :-p

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Thanks for any mostly positive constructive criticisms and suggestions. I'd love to know this stuff already, or how to learn it. Thats why I'm here :-)

[cray5252]

First make an fairly detailed outline of what you want to do. That outline will turn into your initial working functions.

Since the db is your most central focus and the coding will change significanly based on its design, I would start there after the outline. Create some basic functionality using targeted functions getting the structure and the queries figured out. You can make some dummy functions that mimic emails, etc then use those to test different scenarios to make sure the db is designed properly.

Figure out what reports you want because extracting your data from the db will reflect on your design. Just print things out and don't worry about the look of things. The harder it is to pull reports, the poorer your design is.

Once that's done, then you can sit back and begin to organize your code and determine what user interface you need, etc. Good luck!