Soundex Encoder

gistfile1.py

from itertools import chain, repeat

drops = 'aehiouwy'

ones = 'bfpv'
twos = 'cgjkqsxz'
threes = 'dt'
fours = 'l'
fives = 'mn'
sixes = 'r'

alpha_list = [(ones, 1), (twos, 2), (threes, 3), (fours, 4), (fives, 5), (sixes, 6)]

code = [zip(letter, repeat(code_number)) for letter, code_number in alpha_list]
code_dict = dict(chain.from_iterable(code))

def soundex(name):
    first = name[0].upper()
    lowered = name[1:].lower()
    
    dupe_less = rm_dupes(lowered)
    dropped = drop(dupe_less)
    encoded = encode(dropped)
    
    return (first + encoded + '000')[:4]

def encode(name):
    code_nums = [code_dict[c] for c in name]
    return ''.join(str(i) for i in code_nums)

def rm_dupes(name):
    if len(name) < 2:
        return name
    elif name[0] == name[1]:
        return name[0] + rm_dupes(name[2:])
    else:
        return name[0] + rm_dupes(name[1:])

def drop(name):
    return [c for c in name if c not in drops]

if __name__ == "__main__":
    name = raw_input("Enter name:")
    print soundex(name)