This code looks very ugly. except(AttributeError): doesn't follow code style widely used for Python.
And getattr(sys, "argv", None) is enough for fixing this.

But sys.argv has another problem. I'll remove automatically checking sys.argv.

Good luck with your preferred approach.

For my information, @methane can you elaborate on what makes the code ugly for you - the lack of whitespace and/or using parenthesis for only one argument?

• First of all, as I mentioned above, getattr(sys, "argv", None) is simplest.
• except(AttributeError): -> except AttributeError:
• try-except block must be small as possible; only getattr should be in try block.

Thanks for explanation and the try-except block size optimization, I hadn't thought of that one.

Another better code is:

try:
    program_name = sys.argv[0]
except (AttributeError, IndexError):
    pass