My Python port of Zack Holman's spark shell script: https://github.com/holman/spark

spark.py

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

"""My Python port of Zack Holman's spark shell script: https://github.com/holman/spark

This:

    you@computer:~$ python spark.py 100 20 80 40 60

Should return this:

    ▇▁▅▂▃
"""
import sys
bars = u'▁▂▃▅▇'

def spark(vals):
    """Takes a list of values and displays them as a spark"""
    values = [float(v) for v in vals]
    low, span = min(values), max(values) - min(values)
    return u''.join([bars[int(round((val-low)/span*(len(bars)-1), 0))] for val in values])

if __name__ == '__main__':
    vals = sys.argv[1:]
    if len(vals) > 0:
        print spark(vals)
    else:
        print "No values entered."