root/hodgestar/PythonCode/SmallScripts/ctpug-talk-generator.py

"""Generate topics for CTPUG Talks."""

import feedparser
import random
import datetime

def daily_python_url_entries(oLastTalk):
    """Gather entries from the Daily Python-URL RSS feed that
       are more recent than the last talk.
       
       http://www.pythonware.com/daily/rss.xml
       """
    sFeedUrl = "http://www.pythonware.com/daily/rss.xml"
    oFeed = feedparser.parse(sFeedUrl)
    aEntries = []
    for oE in oFeed.entries:
        oUpdatedOn = datetime.datetime(*oE.updated_parsed[:6])
        if oUpdatedOn.date() >= oLastTalk:
            aEntries.append(oE)
    return aEntries

def speakers():
    """Return a list of available speakers."""
    return [
        "Neil Muller",
        "Neil Blakey-Milner",
        "Jonathan Hitchcock",
        "Simon Cross",
        "Jeremy Thurgood",
    ]

def make_talk(oLastTalk):
    """Randomly select a topic and a talk."""
    aTopics = daily_python_url_entries(oLastTalk)
    aSpeakers = speakers()

    oTopic = random.choice(aTopics)
    sSpeaker = random.choice(aSpeakers)

    print sSpeaker, "will give a talk on:"
    print "----------------------------"
    print oTopic.summary_detail['value']
    print "----------------------------"
    print oTopic.link

if __name__ == "__main__":
    make_talk(datetime.date(2008,5,1))