I do not disagree with any of that Rick, but it misses the point: hardcoding plate information is not great as it a) requires contributors to be python programmers with access to a repository, superuser permissions, and time on their hands etc, and b) requires others to update their code in order to use new (other people’s) plates - which makes it harder on you to have a stable release for a while.
If such definitions would be in a database, or separate file, you can start thinking about crowdsourcing such info, or ask vendors if they can supply it in a certain format, independently of any ongoing coding work.
Cheers,
w