code: def ignore_exception(IgnoreException=Exception, DefaultVal=None):
      
  
      def dec(function):
          def _dec(*args, **kwargs):
              try:
                  return function(*args, **kwargs)
              except IgnoreException:
                  return DefaultVal
  
          return _dec
  
      return dec
docs: Decorator for ignoring exception from a function
      e.g.   @ignore_exception(DivideByZero)
      e.g.2. ignore_exception(DivideByZero)(Divide)(2/0)
      borrowed from: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2262333/is-there-a-built-in-or-more-pythonic-way-to-try-to-parse-a-string-to-an-integer