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Python Python Basics (Retired) Shopping List Lists and Strings

Posted by billadama
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
billadama
Python Web Development Techdegree Student 5,251 Points

On task 3/3 I keep getting the message that task one is no longer passing although I've done nothing to change it

Can you clear this up?

greeting_list.py 
full_name = 'Daniel Strong'
name_list = full_name.split()
#greet = "Hi, I'm" + full_name[0]
greeting_list = "Hi, I'm" + name_list[0].split() #+ name_list[0].split() #+ full_name[0].split()
greeting = ''.join(greeting_list)

2 Answers

Mikael Enarsson
Mikael Enarsson
7,056 Points
Mikael Enarsson
Mikael Enarsson
7,056 Points

You are going about this in the wrong way. Outlining the tasks in the challenge:

  1. Create a string with your name and split it into a list. This one is fine.

  2. Split the string "Hello, I'm X" on the spaces. You aren't doing this in your code.

  3. Insert your name in the position that X has in greeting_list and join it into a string, This is where you went wrong, I think you went back and replaced the code from task two with

greeting_list = "Hi, I'm" + name_list[0].split()

trying to concatenate a string with a list item (which is apparently not allowed, and thus a syntax error, which is why you got "Task 1 no longer passing").

What they want you to do is take the greeting list you created earlier, and replace 'X' with the first item in name_list (by assigning the value at the first position in name_list to the list position in greeting_list that holds 'X'). You're almost there, by the looks of it.

The rest is fine, mostly.

Oh, and sorry if I sound a bit gruff, but it's late-ish over here. I hope you can forgive me ^^

Kenneth Love
Kenneth Love
Treehouse Guest Teacher
Kenneth Love
Kenneth Love
Treehouse Guest Teacher

Adding a list item to a string, assuming the item is a string itself, is fine. The problem is the order these actions are done in.

Here's how Python sees it.

  1. Oh, hey, a string. OK. "Hi, I'm"
  2. Oh, wait, they want to add something to it
  3. Agh! They want to split the thing they're adding. OK, let's do that (this creates a new list)
  4. Now to add these things together....waitaminute! I can't add a list to a string!
  5. Give up and cry.

Now doing it with an explicit order-of-operations would make it work.

greeting_list = ("Hi, I'm " + name_list[0]).split()

Also, you want a space before the string ends, so I've added that in.

Mikael Enarsson
Mikael Enarsson
7,056 Points
Mikael Enarsson
Mikael Enarsson
7,056 Points

Aah, of course, I should have seen that! I still have some way to go, it seems.

billadama
seal-mask
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
billadama
Python Web Development Techdegree Student 5,251 Points
billadama
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
billadama
Python Web Development Techdegree Student 5,251 Points

Thank you so much, Mikael and Kenneth! That worked great and was surprisingly easy.