Dict of names and birth dates which prints with age at birthday of current year

As a beginner (Learn Python the Hard Way), I've set myself this exercise with classes and it works but looks very inelegant to me. I'm trying to write classes which could be re-used in other code. I've left long variable names and comments so you can see what I thought I was doing. What should I focus on in my study to develop better practice and where can I slim down the code please?

```
from os.path import exists
from sys import exit
import json
import time

# Create a database of names and birth dates
# Print data to screen with age at birthday of current year
# Edit or delete records
# Save to file

class Filing(object):
# check for file and create if necessary

def __init__(self, filename):
# filename argument is required
self.filename = filename

def check_create(self, filename):
# method checks for existence of file and if not, creates empty file

if exists(self.filename) == True:
print """\nYour data is stored in a file named '%s'\n""" %self.filename
else:
#create file and open in append mode - pointer at end of file
data_file = open(self.filename, 'a+')
print """\nYour data will be stored in a file named '%s'\n""" %self.filename
data_file.close()

def open_file_read_to_variable(self):
# method reads file to dict variable and returns - if file empty an empty dict is returned

try:
unjson_file = open(self.filename, 'r')
self.data = json.load(unjson_file)

unjson_file.close()
return self.data
except ValueError:
self.data = {}
return self.data

def save_data(self, data, filename):
# takes variable dict and target file arguments
self.data = data
self.filename = filename
json_output = open(self.filename, 'w')
json.dump(self.data, json_output)
print "Data stored in file: %s" %self.filename
json_output.close()

class DataHandling(object):

Style

Python has a style guide known as PEP8. You'll find various tools to check your code against it : there is a command-line tool called pep8 but you can also find it online. You'll also find a tool to try to fix the issue automatically : autopep8 but it's definitly worth having a look at the PEP 8 document anyway.

Among the different problems in your code : spacing, line length and comparison to True with ==.

Once this is fixed, your code becomes :

from os.path import exists
from sys import exit
import json
import time

# Create a database of names and birth dates
# Print data to screen with age at birthday of current year
# Edit or delete records
# Save to file

class Filing(object):
    # check for file and create if necessary

    def __init__(self, filename):
        # filename argument is required
        self.filename = filename

    def check_create(self, filename):
        # method checks for existence of file and if not, creates empty file

        if exists(self.filename):
            print """\nYour data is stored in a file named '%s'\n""" % self.filename
        else:
            # create file and open in append mode - pointer at end of file
            data_file = open(self.filename, 'a+')
            print """\nYour data will be stored in a file named '%s'\n""" % self.filename
            data_file.close()

    def open_file_read_to_variable(self):
        # method reads file to dict variable and returns - if file empty an
        # empty dict is returned

        try:
            unjson_file = open(self.filename, 'r')
            self.data = json.load(unjson_file)

            unjson_file.close()
            return self.data
        except ValueError:
            self.data = {}
            return self.data

    def save_data(self, data, filename):
        # takes variable dict and target file arguments
        self.data = data
        self.filename = filename
        json_output = open(self.filename, 'w')
        json.dump(self.data, json_output)
        print "Data stored in file: %s" % self.filename
        json_output.close()

class DataHandling(object):
    # do not create instance of DataHandling until
    # data = filing.open_file_read_to_variable() has run

    def __init__(self):
        self.data = data

    def menu(self, data):

        local_data_work = DataHandling()
        while True:
            x = raw_input(
                "Press Y to add to your database, E to edit, D to display records or any other key to quit: > ")
            if x == "Y":
                self.data = local_data_work.add_data(self.data)
            elif x == "E":
                data_work.edit_data(self.data)
            elif x == "D":
                data_work.print_output_to_screen(data)
            elif x == "Q":
                data_work.print_output_to_screen(data)
                filing.save_data(data, birth_data_file)
                exit()
            else:
                pass

    def get_input_int(self, prompt, min, max):
        self.prompt, self.min, self.max = prompt, min, max
    # check raw_input is an integer of correct length and return
    # takes prompt parameter
        while True:
            try:
                self.num = int(raw_input("%s" % self.prompt))
                if self.min  ")
        self.day = data_work.get_input_int("Date of birth: dd  > ", 1, 31)
        self.month = data_work.get_input_int("Date of birth: mm > ", 1, 12)
        self.year = data_work.get_input_int(
            "Date of birth: yyyy > ", 1900, 2100)

        self.data[self.name] = [self.day, self.month, self.year]
        return self.data

    def edit_data(self, data):

        local_data_work = DataHandling()
        local_data_work.print_output_to_screen(self.data)
        while True:
            x = raw_input(
                "Press 1 to change your data, 2 to delete a record >")
            if x == "1":
                print "Re - enter the name and data"
                local_data_work.add_data(data)
                return data

            elif x == "2":
                del_ = raw_input("Type name to be deleted > ")
                del data[del_]
                return data

            else:
                print "Not understood"
                pass

    def print_output_to_screen(self, data):
        # prints dict keys and data

        self.data = data
        print ""
        for i in sorted(self.data):
            print "%s" % i,
            print "%d   %d  %d Age at birthday this year is %d" % (self.data[i][0], self.data[i][5], self.data[i][6], (int(time.strftime("%Y")) - data[i][7]))

# START

birth_data_file = "birth_data"

filing = Filing(birth_data_file)
filing.check_create(birth_data_file)
data = filing.open_file_read_to_variable()

data_work = DataHandling()

data_work.menu(data)

data_work.print_output_to_screen(data)

filing.save_data(data, birth_data_file)

More tools

You'll find other tools to check how your code looks automatically : pylint, pyflakes, pycheck

StackExchange Code Review Q#64160, answer score: 4