On 20/04/19 4:41 AM, Rob Gaddi wrote:
On 4/19/19 12:23 AM, Sayth Renshaw wrote:
On Friday, 19 April 2019 17:01:33 UTC+10, Sayth Renshaw wrote:
Set the first item in the list as the current largest.
Compare each subsequent integer to the first.
if this element is larger, set integer.
def maxitwo(listarg):
myMax = listarg[0]
for item in listarg:
if item > myMax:
myMax = item
return myMax
When you understand what it is you intend to write (barring DL Neil's
comments), and THEN write it, you write the correct thing. Thus endith
the lesson.
+1, Rob's guidance saves time and embarrassment...
Upon opening a new module in one's text-editor/IDE one of the first
steps should be to write an explanatory docstring. Similarly, after
typing the letters "def" or "class"!
On the basis of this conversation, you might also benefit from reading
about the use of doctests! (seeing we're talking docstrings - can always
move to other test methods later)
I find this a useful habit, particularly if I am outlining an entire
module or class, and only later coming back to flesh-out the code.
Further reading: Test-Driven Development
Of course all the comments in the world won't help if code != comment!!!
Before congratulating ourselves that the code 'works': did you spot the
difference in the better-developed 'English' description and the
implementation in Python?
Regarding 'testing': Start with the scope and your objectives [as yet
unstated, so we can only imagine what they might be]. When should it
work, eg data-types. Why doesn't the code work with string data? Does it
work if the list mixes different data-types? Should it work if a list
element is itself a collection/class?
Regarding 'optimisation': rather than 'disappearing' into high-volume
and 'exotic' situations (see earlier comment), why not stick with the
simple stuff? For example, once 'max' is initialised, is there a need to
compare max with 'list[ 0 ]'?
Extension: if, instead of merely finding the largest value in the list
(cf which element of the list is the largest!), what if the code also
'moved' that element to the end of the list? Then, what if that function
was called again but this time to operate on all of the list EXCEPT the
last (which we already know is the largest) - and if this 'outer loop'
were repeated 'len( list )' number of times (either by loop or (perhaps
a later coding exercise) by recursion; what would be the final condition
of the 'list'?
--
Regards =dn
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