def initData():
    """ parse and return a country list of (name, captial, area, population) """

    countries = []
    for line in DATA.splitlines():

        # filter out blank lines/comment lines
        line = line.strip()
        if not line or line.startswith('#'):
            continue

        # 4 fields separated by '/'
        parts = map(string.strip, line.split('/'))
        country, captial, area, population = parts

        # remove commas in numbers
        area = int(area.replace(',',''))
        population = int(population.replace(',',''))

        countries.append((country, captial, area, population))

    return countries
 parse and return a country list of (name, captial, area, population) 
recipes/Python/475158_Design_minilanugage/recipe-475158.py