Thanks for the advice. I think I have the dictionary function set up right now although I'm still not clear why it is better than the list.
attributes = {"strength": 0, "health": 0, "wisdom": 0, "dexterity": 0} I think my next task is to set up a while function based on when available_points drops below 0. A little lost on how to do it though. -----Original Message----- From: tutor-bounces+alans=risingrealty....@python.org [mailto:tutor-bounces+alans=risingrealty....@python.org] On Behalf Of Robert Sjöblom Sent: Monday, December 06, 2010 8:04 AM To: tutor@python.org Subject: Re: [Tutor] role playing game - help needed >I am starting with a book called Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner by Michael Dawson. The book has been >pretty good >and up to this point, I have grasped all the concepts it has covered. At the end of each chapter, there are a number of challenges you >need to complete before moving on. Problem is, I have gotten stumped on one in Chapter 5: Lists and Dictionaries. [snip] > attributes = ["strength", "health", "wisdom", "dexterity"] > points = [0,0,0,0] > MAX_POINTS = 30 > available_points = MAX_POINTS - sum(points) Before anyone comments that you can write a function for the points system, which was helpful to me when I asked a question regarding that very chapter: The book doesn't deal with functions until Chapter 6. As for your problem, Alan; I believe Alan already answered it -- you have two different lists, attributes and points, but a dictionary would be easier to handle. Not to say that it couldn't be done the way you're doing it though. A dictionary is built with key:value pairs. Then it's just about figuring out a way to change the value associated with each key when the attribute changes. I don't want to spoil the challenge of working it out yourself, but when I asked I was told to check out how values() and sum() worked. best regards, Robert S. _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor