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Python Dates and Times in Python (2014) Let's Build a Timed Quiz App Timestamp Ordering

I tested this in a shell and it appears to be working as intended. Can anyone offer insight?

def timestamp_oldest(timestamp_args):
  max_time = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(timestamp_args[0])
  for current_time in timestamp_args:
    if datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(current_time) < max_time:
      max_time = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(current_time)
  return max_time  

I guess I should mention the error I'm getting. I'm paraphrasing but it says that timestamp_oldest takes 1 argument but 8 given.

I was going to delete this post but I figure just in case someone else has any trouble it'll be here. I need to take some additional time to understand the packing and unpacking of tuples. I added an '*' so that the function definition essentially starts with

```def timestamp_oldest(*timestamp_args)

I totally guessed that though (shot in the dark) so I need to understand why that worked.
Anthony Liu
Anthony Liu
11,374 Points

In the prompt it states "any number of POSIX timestamp arguments" because the number of arguments is unknown we add "*" in front of the argument to denote any possible number of arguments.

1 Answer

Kenneth Love
STAFF
Kenneth Love
Treehouse Guest Teacher

Yeah, the "any number of" is the clue that you need to accept an unknown number of items. I'll try to make that a bit more clear. Glad you figured out the answer!

Got ya! Thanks to both Anthony Liu and Kenneth Love. I must have dozed while that was being covered. I'll remember that going forward. Thanks again guys