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Countdown Timer (Python recipe) by Stephen Chappell
ActiveState Code (http://code.activestate.com/recipes/578363/)

Ever wanted to set a timer that went off after a specified number of hours / minutes / seconds? This Windows recipe runs on the command line and does that with the arguments it accepts. Simple but effective, the program works well for remembering food in the oven among other things.

Python, 26 lines
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try:
    import os
    import sys
    import time
    import msvcrt
    import winsound
except ImportError, error:
    sys.stdout.write('ImportError: %s' % error)
    sys.exit(1)

def main():
    try:
        alarm(*map(float, sys.argv[1:]))
    except:
        sys.stdout.write('Usage: %s <hours> <minutes> <seconds>' % os.path.basename(sys.argv[0]))

def alarm(hours, minutes, seconds):
    time.sleep(abs(hours * 3600 + minutes * 60 + seconds))
    while msvcrt.kbhit():
        msvcrt.getch()
    while not msvcrt.kbhit():
        winsound.Beep(440, 250)
        time.sleep(0.25)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()
Tags: demonstration, sound, timer, utility