Input processing/state machine function

Question

I'm making a Mario clone in pygame and I have just wrote a function proccesses inputs and acts as a state machine for Mario. Everything is working just as I want it, but I was wondering if you can think of any more efficient way to write this code.

A note that these methods are all a part of a class called mario.

def __init__(self):
    #The inputs currently binded to each of marios actions.
    self.keybinds = {
        'right': K_RIGHT,
        'left' : K_LEFT,
        'jump' : K_z,
        'spd'  : K_LSHIFT
    }

    # The current state mario is in.
    # Valid states: 'stand', 'air', 'death'.
    self.state = 'stand'

    # The current action mario is doing.
    # Valid actions: 'none', 'walk', 'run', 'jump'.
    self.action = 'none'

    # The current direction mario is facing.
    # Valid values: 'r', 'l'.
    self.faceDir = 'r'

    # The direction that the user wants mario to be moving in
    self.des_dir = 'n'

    # The current speed mario is moving at.
    # Valid speeds: 'norm', 'fast'.
    self.spd = 'norm'

    # A boolean based on whether a character instance can jump.
    self.canJump = True

    self.crnt_mdx = 2.7 # The current max x velocity mario can move at.

    self.slow_dx = 2.7 # The max x velocity mario can move at when he is walking.
    self.fast_dx = 4.7 # The max x velocity mario can move at when he is running.


def processInput(self, keys, keyup):
    #keys = a list of all keybord keys currently being pressed.
    #I have imported a module that has a bunch of variables that represent each key.
    #keyup = the current key that was just released, if any.

    if keyup == self.keybinds['jump']:
        self.canJump = True

    if self.state == 'stand' or self.state == 'air':
        if keys[self.keybinds['right']]:
            self.moveHorz('r')
            self.accelerate('r')
            self.set_crnt_acc('r')
            self.faceDir = 'r'
            self.des_dir = 'r'
        elif keys[self.keybinds['left']]:
            self.moveHorz('l')
            self.accelerate('l')
            self.set_crnt_acc('l')
            self.faceDir = 'l'
            self.des_dir = 'l'
        else:
            if self.state == 'stand' and self.horzDir != 'n':
                self.slowDown()
            self.des_dir = 'n'

    if self.state == 'stand':
        if keys[self.keybinds['spd']]:
            self.crnt_mdx = self.fast_dx
        else:
            self.crnt_mdx = self.slow_dx

        if keys[K_z] and self.canJump:
            self.canJump = False
            self.action = 'jump'
    else:
        pass

Answer 1

Style

The style for naming in Python is as follows.

• Variables should be in snake_case.
• Constant variables should be in UPPER_SNAKE_CASE.
• Functions should also be in snake_case.
• Classes should be in PascalCase.

You should also replace comments in functions like this:

#keys = a list of all keybord keys currently being pressed.
#I have imported a module that has a bunch of variables that represent each key.
#keyup = the current key that was just released, if any.

To docstrings, like this:

"""Brief description of the function/class.

More detailed description of function/class.

Keyword Arguments:
argument -- Argument description.
...
"""

---

Design

There's not much about your design that I can nitpick, the only thing I'd really suggest is shortening these two blocks of code:

self.moveHorz('r')
self.accelerate('r')
self.set_crnt_acc('r')
self.faceDir = 'r'
self.des_dir = 'r'

And:

self.moveHorz('l')
self.accelerate('l')
self.set_crnt_acc('l')
self.faceDir = 'l'
self.des_dir = 'l'

To a shortened method, like this:

def change_direction(self, direction):
    if direction == "l" or direction == "r":
        self.moveHorz(direction)
        self.accelerate(direction)
        self.set_crnt_acc(direction)
        self.faceDir = direction
        self.des_dir = direction
    else:
        print("Direction must either be \"l\" or \"r\"")

This is especially useful if you need to repeat this code in many places.

On a side note, you should get rid of the magic values 'l' and 'r' and do something like this:

LEFT = 'l'
RIGHT = 'r'

You could also use integers to represent this as well:

LEFT = 0
RIGHT = 1

Or if you're feeling really adventurous, you can use an Enum, like this:

class Directions(Enum):
    LEFT = 0
    RIGHT = 1