try:
    sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
    try:
        sock.connect((host, port))
        length = len(message)
        lengthOfLength = len(str(length))
        sock.send(chr(lengthOfLength) + str(length) + message)
        return someReturningValue 
    except SocketError, err:
        print "Error: %s\n" % str(err)
finally:
    sock.close()