toy_dispatch.py

class Toy(object):
    def handle_input(self, text):
        command, rest = (text.split(None, 1) + [''])[:2]
        return getattr(self, 'cmd_' + command, self.unknown_command)(command, rest)

    def cmd_foo(self, command, rest):
        print "Foo! %s" % (rest,)

    def cmd_rev(self, command, rest):
        print ''.join(reversed(rest))

    def unknown_command(self, command, rest):
        print "Unknown command: %s" % (command,)


toy = Toy()
toy.handle_input("foo some stuff")
toy.handle_input("rev some stuff")
toy.handle_input("bar some stuff")