Python Basics Exercises: Lists and Tuples (Summary)

@alvesmig At the end of the day, what really matters is that your code works as expected and that it gives you the correct result. Once you’ve tested the code for correctness, you may start thinking of ways to make it better, which is a highly subjective matter. Do you intend to make it run faster, use fewer dependencies, look more concise, or be easier to maintain?

Knowing where to set the boundaries between your functions is a skill that comes through practice. After some time, it starts to feel natural when to define a function and which code to put into it.

As a rule of thumb, defining small functions with clear responsibilities is considered a good practice. That way, you can reuse your functions in different situations and even combine them with others in flexible ways. In contrast, keeping most of your code within a single function or the global scope can make it more difficult to test, understand, and reuse.

Thank you!

I have really enjoyed the site so far. I went beyond the poem and did a MadLib. I created several lists and a general purpose function to return a random of each. Great lessons. I feel like I really understand list. I am not sure how/if I will use Tupel, but I will keep an eye out.

def madlib(type):
    element = random.choice(type)
    return element

# MadLib version

story = ( 
    f"This weekend I am going camping with {madlib(name)}. I packed my lantern, sleeping bag, and\n"
    f"{madlib(noun)}. I am so {madlib(adjective)} to {madlib(verb)} in a tent. I am {madlib(adjective)} we\n"
    f"might see a {madlib(animal)}, they are kind of dangerous. We are going to hike, fish, and {madlib(verb)}.\n"
    f"I have heard that the {madlib(color)} lake is great for {madlib(verb)}. Then we will\n"
    f"{madlib(adverb)} hike through the forest for {madlib(number)} {madlib(time)}. If I see a\n"
    f"{madlib(color)} {madlib(animal)} while hiking, I am going to bring it home as a pet! At night we will tell\n"
    f"{madlib(number)} {madlib(silly_word)} stories and roast {madlib(noun)} around the campfire!!"
    )

print(story)

@johnlukow great MadLib script :D Kudos on taking the exercise and running with it 👏

@martin breuss: I did have one question. If I were to use sample instead of choice in my general function. Would sample “remember” the previous items chosen, or does it only work in the same call? I made sure my lists were long to avoid the duplication discussed in the lesson, but I would further optimize my madlib() function if this worked.

@johnlukow each call to random.sample() is a separate call and there’s no shared state between these function calls:

>>> from random import sample
>>> words = ["Hello", "World!", "I", "am", "a", "person!"]
>>> sample(words, k=2)
['am', 'person!']
>>> sample(words, k=2)
['World!', 'am']

So, while using random.sample() with a k value makes sure that you won’t get the same word twice during one call, it doesn’t do anything like that between multiple calls.

If you want to make sure that your MadLib doesn’t use words from your lists twice, then you’d have to set it up differently—for example with the approach that I show in the lesson where you pick them all out at once and then interpolate each word into the final string.

A lot of fun Thanks

The Poem Generator was fantastic! I’m going to spend a few hours experimenting with this.

I’ve made a simpler version of your code to practise and experiment with. Here is my code for a story generator.

import random

word1 = ['walked', 'ran', 'went', 'flew']
word2 = ['store','park', 'farm', 'city']
word3 = ['brother','sister', 'mother','friend']
word4 = ['ate','shopped','stayed','talked']

words = [word1, word2, word3, word4]

def make_story(words):

    word1 = random.sample(words[0], k = 4)
    word2 = random.sample(words[1], k = 4)
    word3 = random.sample(words[2], k = 4)
    word4 = random.sample(words[3], k = 4)
    story = (f" I {word1[0]} to the {word2[0]} with my {word3[0]} and {word4[0]} until we came home.")
    return story

print(make_story(words))

I’ll use this for an outline and enhance it with articles and maybe paragraphs. I might even experiment with different random functions.

I’m having problems with the formatting again. Why does this happen?

@ajackson54 hi, great that you’re experimenting more with the code :)

For the formatting, like I mentioned in another reply, you’ll need to wrap your code in triple backticks (and optionally add a syntax highlighter) for it to render as fenced code blocks.

That’s just how formatting code works in Markdown. If you don’t use the triple-backticks, then it’ll interpret the indentation as a code block, and that messes up the formatting because indentation has meaning in Python. Try it out in an online Markdown editor!