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Tyrone Kappenhagen
504 PointsPutting the "Fun" Back in "Function" Understanding my solution
I successfully solved the both parts of the challenge; however, I would love a better explanation of what exactly is going on in #Part 1 of my code. Specifically, why did I need to define total and set it =0?
Code:
Part 1
def add_list(lst): total = 0 for item in lst: total += item return total
Part 2
def summarize(lst): return("The sum of {} is {}.".format(lst, add_list(lst)))
3 Answers
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,441 PointsLooking the values each time through the loop, the addition line can be thought of as:
# increment old_total to make new_total
new_total = old_total + item
# before start of next loop:
# save the previous value as old_value
old_total = new_total
The loop would unroll like this:
total_1 = total_initial + firs_item
total_2 = total_1 + second_item
total_3 = total_2 + third_item
# which becomes, in the case of [1, 2, 3]
total = 0 + 1
total = 1 + 2
total = 3 + 3
# total now equals 6
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,441 PointsIn the code:
def add_list(lst):
total = 0
for item in lst:
total += item
return total
# the line ...
total += item
# is equivalent to
total = total + 1
When this line is evaluated on the first pass through the for loop
the right-hand side is evaluated be before the left. Also at this point
"total" doesn't yet have a value, so total + 1 can't be done. This will throw an undefined variable
error. By setting "total" to 0 before the loop, the initial value is set for
the first pass through the loop.
Does that make sense?
Tyrone Kappenhagen
504 PointsThat actually does make sense and I completely overlooked the fact that I was looping the code (i.e. "for.."). So each time 'item' loops through it's the same as:
total = 0 +1
total = 0 +2
total = 0 + 3
am I correct in thinking this?
Thus, the 2nd half of the code returns
def summarize(lst):
return "The sum of {} is {}.".format(lst, add_list(lst))
#OR
return "The sum of [1, 2, 3] is 6"?
[MOD: added ```python formatting. -cf]
Tyrone Kappenhagen
504 PointsMakes perfect sense! Thank you again.