Workflow example for "Distant Reading Alliteration in Latin Poetry". Presented at Word, Space, Time: Digital Perspectives on the Classical World (Digital Classics Association conference) on 4.6.13 @ U. Buffalo.

alliteration_python_sample.py

# !/usr/local/bin/python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# alliteration_python_sample.py

"""
Workflow example for
Distant Reading Alliteration in Latin Poetry
Patrick J. Burns
Fordham University, Department of Classics
Word, Space, Time: Digital Perspectives on the Classical World
Digital Classics Association conference
4.6.13 @ U. Buffalo
"""

# READ
# Source text stored in a string.

source = """Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris
Italiam, fato profugus, Laviniaque venit
litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto"""

# PREPROCESS / DEFORM

import re # Use regular expressions for some deformations
import string # Use string methods translate and encode/decode for some deformations

deformed = source # Make copy of source to work on
deformed = deformed.lower() # Make lowercase
deformed = deformed.translate(None, string.punctuation) # Remove punctuation
deformed = deformed.translate(None, '0123456789') # Remove numbers
deformed = re.sub(r'(\B\w)',r'', deformed) # Remove non-initial characters 
deformed = deformed.translate(None, ' ') # Remove spaces

##### Result for Virgil Aeneid 1.1:
##### 'Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris' -> avctqpao

# SPLIT / STORE

lines = deformed.split('\n') # Split string by newline characters (\n) and store in 'lines'

##### Result for Virgil Aeneid 1.1-3, stored in 'lines':
##### ['avctqpao','ifplv','lmietiea']

# ITERATE / PROCESS
# As a sample process, here I will go through each line (i.e. item in the list 'lines') and alphabetize its contents.

alpha_lines = [] # Make empty list to store processed items

for line in lines: # ITERATE
  alpha_lines.append("".join(sorted(line))) # PROCESS
	
##### Result for Virgil Aeneid 1.1-3, stored in 'lines':
##### ['avctqpao','ifplv','lmietiea'] -> ['aacopqtv', 'filpv', 'aeeiilmt']

# Output processed text
for line in alpha_lines:
    print line