I was just re-reading the entire thread at https://www.mail-archive.com/tutor@python.org/msg77864.html And I have asked similar questions previous to that thread. I still do not have a satisfactory answer for the subject line's question that both makes sense to me and seems to be good programming practice. And that works for any OS that the program suite is installed under.
A constantly recurring situation I am having is a programming project with a nested directory structure. Usually I will have "tests" and "data" folders nested under the top level project folder. There may be others as well depending on the complexity of the project I am attempting. As far as I can tell, I cannot make any assumptions about what the current working directory is when a user starts the program. So how can one of my programs *know* what the absolute path is to, say, the top level of the program suite? If I could always reliably determine this by my program's code, every other location could be determined from the known nested structure of the program suite. [But I have a dim recollection that either Ben or Cameron thought relying on the "known nested structure" is brittle at best.] So far the best method I've come up with is to make use of "__file__" for the initiating program file. But from past discussions I am not certain this is the *best* way. Is the *best* way going to get me into best techniques for installing and distributing programs? If so, this strikes me as a huge mess to dive into! TIA! -- boB _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor