Measure WPM on free-form text

wpm.py

import time

def main():
	print "Starting test now: begin typing free-form text."
	print "Press enter to send. Send an empty message to exit."

	avg = 0
	tests = 0
	try:
		avg = wpm_test()
		tests = 1

		while True:
			wpm = wpm_test();
			tests += 1
			avg = (avg + wpm) / 2

	except (KeyboardInterrupt, EmptyWPMTest):
		pass

	finally:
		print "\nAverage of %d WPM over %d messages" % (avg, tests)

class EmptyWPMTest(Exception):
    pass

def wpm_test():
	start = time.time()
	text = raw_input('\n> ')
	end = time.time()
	if text == '':
		raise EmptyWPMTest
	elapsed = end - start
	wpm = calculate_wpm(text, elapsed)
	return wpm

def calculate_wpm(text, seconds):
	length = len(text)
	print "Took", int(round(seconds)), "seconds to type", length, "characters"
	words = float(length) / 5
	minutes = seconds / 60
	wpm = words / minutes
	print "WPM:", int(round(wpm))
	return wpm

if __name__ == '__main__':
	main()