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Python

Posted by Elizabeth McInerney
Elizabeth McInerney
3,175 Points

Python Collections/Dictionaries/Word Count

The following code works in Workstation but gives me the following error in the course "Bummer! isinstance()arg2 must be a type or a tuple of types." 

string = "I am that I am"
dict = {}
def word_count(string):
  string2 = string.lower()
  list = string2.split()
  for word in list:
    dict[word]=0
  for word in list:
    if word in dict:
      dict[word] += 1
word_count(string)

1 Answer

Brian Fuller
Brian Fuller
6,699 Points

You should avoid using variable names that are keywords in Python. This will often trip up the Python interpreter. You did this twice, with the variable names dict and list, which are the names of Python types. Use names like my_dict or m_dict and my_list or m_list instead, and the interpreter should like your code.

Elizabeth McInerney
Elizabeth McInerney
3,175 Points

Thanks so much. That did the trick. I keep forgetting to return the thing my function created, but once I also added a return statement, along with your suggestions, it worked!