so ill post a few of my failed examples below along with what I came up with as a fix, and then the actual correct code. I feel like im so close to grasping this, but missing some logic. this is for a hangman game.

one of the failed attempts:

import random
word_list = ["aardvark", "baboon", "camel"]
chosen_word = random.choice(word_list)

#Testing code
print(f'Pssst, the solution is {chosen_word}.')

#Create an empty List called display.
#For each letter in the chosen_word, add a "_" to 'display'.
#So if the chosen_word was "apple", display should be ["_", "_", "_", "_", "_"] with 5 "_" representing each letter to guess.


display = ["_"] * len(chosen_word)


guess = input("Guess a letter: ").lower()

#If the letter at that position matches 'guess' then reveal that letter in the display at that position.
#e.g. If the user guessed "p" and the chosen word was "apple", then display should be ["_", "p", "p", "_", "_"].

for letter in chosen_word:
if guess == letter:
for i in range(len(chosen_word)):
display.insert(i, guess)

print(display)

second:

for letter in chosen_word:
  if guess == letter:
    for i in range(len(chosen_word[letter])):
      display.insert(i, guess)

I ended up just saying screw it and went to this:

display = []
for char in chosen_word:
    if guess == letter:
        display += letter
   else:
    display += "_"

correct way of doing it:

import random
word_list = ["aardvark", "baboon", "camel"]
chosen_word = random.choice(word_list)

print(f'Pssst, the solution is {chosen_word}.')

display = []
word_length = len(chosen_word)
for _ in range(word_length):
  display += "_"
print(display)
  
guess = input("Guess a letter: ").lower()


for position in range(word_length):
  letter = chosen_word[position]
  if letter == guess:
    display[position] = letter

print(display)

so as you can see, i get that I can grab specific parts of a list using indices or slices, but somewhere in my brain my logic is wrong. if you guys have struggled with this before or if you have a good youtube video to help me break it down id be beyond thankful!

  • WillRegex@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I think you’re misunderstanding the insert method. insert keeps everything that was already in the list, including the item at the given index. it just shifts part of it to the right to make room for the thing you’re inserting. Directly changing the list using display[position] = letter instead replaces the item at the index with letter.

    Does that make sense?

    • Osnapitsjoey@lemmy.oneOP
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      1 year ago

      Yeah I figured that one out from the documentation. I with I saved more of my trial and errors so I could show you guys what I needed help with better. I tried the list.insert(x) and then I would do a list.pop(i+1) as well 😂

      I guess what I need help with is I keep messing up where I would put "for x in y: z= y [in position z]

      • potterman28wxcv@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        Instead of blindly trying code until it works I would suggest you to write on paper the distinct steps that are required to solve the problem.

        Imagine you are the computer and you can do nothing else but what Python allows you. How do you solve the problem ?

        Usually people do this exercise on a small example. Then they generalise the approach when they find examples where it does not work.

        • Osnapitsjoey@lemmy.oneOP
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          1 year ago

          Ahhh you know what. This would help me. Because when I’m stumped, I’m definitely just “blindly” trying different orders of things and getting frustrated. Thank you very much for the tip

          • potterman28wxcv@beehaw.org
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            1 year ago

            Yeah sometimes you just have to take a step back and think again. Then you will think more clearly and actually know what you wrote :) good luck!