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Python Python Basics (2015) Letter Game App Random Item

Posted by Timothy Delahanty
Timothy Delahanty
3,057 Points

What am I missing or not doing correctly?

Can anyone give me a hint as to what I am doing incorrectly? I have tried several variations but the code does not seem to want to work for me.

item.py 
# EXAMPLE
# random_item("Treehouse")
# The randomly selected number is 4.
# The return value would be "h"
import random

def random_item(iterable):
    iterable=input("What do you need: ")
    list_iterable=list(iterable)
    random_number=random.randint(0,len(list_iterable)-1)
        return(iterable[random_number])

2 Answers

Daniel Vargas
Daniel Vargas
29,184 Points
Daniel Vargas
Daniel Vargas
29,184 Points

Hello

Well there are few things you could improve:

  1. You don't need to ask for the iterable with an input() since the method is receiving the variable.
  2. You shouldn't create a list with the iterable since it is already an iterable object.
  3. You should substract 1 to the random number, not to the length itself.

I hope that can help you.

import random

def random_item(it):
    ran = random.randint(0, len(it)) - 1
    return it[ran]
Timothy Delahanty
Timothy Delahanty
3,057 Points

Thanks for the advice!

Oszkár Fehér
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Oszkár Fehér
Treehouse Project Reviewer
Oszkár Fehér
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Oszkár Fehér
Treehouse Project Reviewer

Hi Timothy Eventuallu your code will return the correct value there is just some things in plus

iterable=input("What do you need: ")
list_iterable=list(iterable)

You don't need an input and the iterable it's already a list, you don't need to make it a list The indentantion on the return it's not correct, make sure that you indent correctly The code it should look like this

def random_item(iterable):
    random_number = random.randint(0,len(iterable) - 1)
    return(iterable[random_number])

For best practice try to use the whitespaces where it's needed ex

random_number = random.randint(0, len(iterable) - 1)

I hope this will help you out Happy coding

Timothy Delahanty
Timothy Delahanty
3,057 Points

Thanks for the help! I will take all the advice i can get.