cowspam

A small, silly, screen-cluttering Python library derived from Cowsay. By Ian Rodriguez.

Cowsay was originally created by Tony Monroe, and its Python port by multiple contributors is available as a GitHub repo. The purpose of cowspam is a personal challenge to see how far I can go with making a derivative of such a small, niche library.

Requires pip and Python 3.12 or later. From the project directory, build with these commands:

python -m pip install .
cowspam --help

Or build a distributable package:

python -m pip install build
python -m build

Library

from cowspam import Cow, make_cow_text, run_kilobytes

cow = Cow("Bessie")
cow.moo()

text, is_normal = make_cow_text()
counts, bytes_generated = run_kilobytes(1, write_output=False) # Generates 1 KB of cowsay spam

• COWSAY_CHARS - List of alternate characters for anomalous cows (the regular cow isn't in this list).
• Cow - Fundamental dataclass of this silly little library. Set its name and optionally its age; .moo() prints a moo (and the age for normal cows), while .speak(str) prints your message.
• clear_screen() - Clear the screen to make room for another Cow.
• main() - Carries the CLI; by default, prints out 100 Cows to terminal.
• make_cow_text() - Build a Cow with a random name, then return its moo text and whether it's normal. By default, normality is random; set normal_only=True to guarantee a normal cow.
• print_tally() - Print a tally from a Counter object.
• rand_cow_name() - Pick a random cow name from the bundled name list.
• run_kilobytes() - Generate cows until at least the requested number of kilobytes is produced; optionally, write them to standard output.

CLI Commands

• -h / --help - View commands
• (loops) - Positional argument; enter a number of cows to generate, either to terminal or piped to a file. Default: 100.
• -a / --auto - Run without a 1-second delay between cowsay prints; automatic for piped
• -f / --flash - (Epilepsy warning) Clear the screen for each cow print, creating a flashing effect
• -k / --kb / --kilobytes X - Alternative to loops: generate cowsay prints until X amount is generated in kilobytes.
• -n / --normal - Only generate normal cows