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Python Python Basics Functions and Looping Raise an Exception

Posted by Alva Achorn
Alva Achorn
1,581 Points

raise

Do I need to use a try/except sequence?

suggestinator.py 
def suggest(product_idea):
    return product_idea + "inator"
product_idea  = input("Input your product idea: ")
if len(product_idea) < 3:
  raise ValueError("Insufficient Characters")

1 Answer

Peter Vann
Peter Vann
36,425 Points
Peter Vann
Peter Vann
36,425 Points

Hi Alva!

No. But to pass the challenge/task, you need all your code to be part of the function. (So you don't need the input statement - although in the real world it might make sense to use one.)

This passes:

def suggest(product_idea):
      if len(product_idea) < 3 :
          raise ValueError ("Insufficient Characters")
      return product_idea + "inator"

BTW, I tested the code here:

https://www.katacoda.com/courses/python/playground

(Run with >>> python3 app.py, for best results...)

Using:

def suggest(product_idea):
      if len(product_idea) < 3 :
          raise ValueError ("Insufficient Characters")
      return product_idea + "inator"

print( suggest("TM") )

Which prints out:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "app.py", line 6, in <module>
    print( suggest("TM") )
  File "app.py", line 3, in suggest
    raise ValueError ("Insufficient Characters")

(As it should!!! In other words, it raised the ValueError as expected.)

This, however

def suggest(product_idea):
      if len(product_idea) < 3 :
          raise ValueError ("Insufficient Characters")
      return product_idea + "inator"

print( suggest("Term") )

Prints out:

Terminator

Also correct/expected...

You could also do this:

def suggest(product_idea):
      if len(product_idea) < 3 :
          raise ValueError ("Insufficient Characters")
      return product_idea + "inator"

product_name = input("What should we call your product?: ")

print( suggest(product_name) )

Which seems more like how you intended it to behave!?!!

I hope that helps.

Stay safe and happy coding!