JoeNotCharles

#!/usr/bin/env python
import sys

# map of candidate names to candidate numbers
candidates = {}

# the highest candidate number seen so far
maxCandidateNum = 0

# contents of the ballots file
ballots = []

# open ballots.txt for writing
with open("ballots.txt", "w") as ballotFile:

    # loop through all command-line args except the first (the program name)
    for filename in sys.argv[1:]:

        # start an empty ballot for this file
        ballot = []

        # open the file for reading and loop through all lines in it
        with open(filename, "r") as currentFile:
            for line in currentFile:

                # the current candidate is the line with all leading and trailing whitespace stripped
                candidateName = line.strip()

                # if the candidate has already been seen, get its number
                # otherwise, assign a new number to it
                if candidateName in candidates:
                    candidateNum = candidates[candidateName]
                else:
                    maxCandidateNum += 1
                    candidateNum = maxCandidateNum
                    candidates[candidateName] = candidateNum

                # add the candidate number to the current ballot
                ballot.append(candidateNum)

        # write the current ballot, as one line with > between each candidate number
        ballotString = " > ".join(str(num) for num in ballot)
        ballots.append(ballotString)

    # write the -cands and -tie parameters
    candsString = " ".join(str(num) for num in sorted(candidates.values()))
    ballotFile.write("-cands " + candsString + "\n\n")
    tieString = " ".join(str(candidates[name]) for name in sorted(candidates.keys()))
    ballotFile.write("-tie " + tieString + "\n\n")

    # write all the ballots to the ballot file
    for ballot in ballots:
        ballotFile.write(ballot + "\n\n")

# now that we've read all candidates from all files, write candidates.txt
with open("candidates.txt", "w") as candidateFile:

    # define a comparison function which, given two candidate names, returns the one with the lower candidate number
    def candidateNumberSort(name1, name2):
        num1 = candidates[name1]
        num2 = candidates[name2]
        return cmp(num1, num2)

    # use this function to loop through the candidate map in order of number, and write the name
    candidateNames = candidates.keys()
    for candidateName in sorted(candidateNames, candidateNumberSort):
        candidateFile.write(candidateName + "\n")