what's the use of sel.open('/') statement in this code?

Question

Why we are using sel.open('/') command?

sel = selenium('localhost', 4444, '*firefox', 'http://www.google.com/')
sel.start()
sel.open('/')
sel.wait_for_page_to_load(10000)
sel.stop()

Can someone explain whats going on in these 5 statements (I mean explanation/working of each line) and what are main advantages of using this technique over below given one (I mean using driver)

browser = webdriver.Firefox()
browser.get('http://www.google.com')

Answer 1

Answering your first question

Why we are using sel.open('/') command?

It looks like you have a method called open, this method is like a 'setup' step where you create a browser and tell it to use the before mentioned parameters passed in the line:

sel = selenium('localhost', 4444, '*firefox', 'http://www.google.com/')

Now, as for your second question

what are main advantages of using this technique over below given one

The main advantage for the first set of code is to make things like your setup (start(), open() or stop()) in one easily managed method. Instead of typing it 100 times (or copying and pasting) into the beginning and end of all of your tests you can call the method that holds all of the necessary selenium methods. I use this in our Java structure currently at my company.

Without looking at more of the structure of your project this is the best answer I can give.

Hope this helped.

This link will compare the Differences in RC and WebDriver: Differences Between RC and Webdriver

Answer 2

They are two entirely different versions of Selenium. The first one is based on Selenium RC, which is deprecated and you should not be using. The second is based on Selenium WebDriver, which you should not be using.

There is no advantage of using one "technique" but more that Selenium RC is ancient technology. The whole concept was revamped, recreated and reintroduced as Selenium WebDriver.

This topic has been covered elsewhere, such as here.