Welcome to the Treehouse Community

The Treehouse Community is a meeting place for developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels to get support. Collaborate here on code errors or bugs that you need feedback on, or asking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project. Join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today. (Note: Only Treehouse students can comment or ask questions, but non-students are welcome to browse our conversations.)

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and a supportive community. Start your free trial today.

Python Python Basics (2015) Letter Game App Random Item

John Morris
John Morris
4,752 Points
Posted by John Morris
John Morris
4,752 Points

Random Item

I am supposed to return the item at the index of random_num in the iterable.

item.py 
# EXAMPLE
# random_item("Treehouse")
# The randomly selected number is 4.
# The return value would be "h"
import random

def random_item(iterable)
    random_num = random.randint(0, len(iterable) -1)
    return iterable[random_num]
r h
r h
68,547 Points
r h
r h
68,547 Points 
import random
def random_item(arg1):  # <-- removed 'iter()' wrapper
    ran_num = random.randint(0, len(arg1) - 1)
    return arg1[ran_num]

I don't know... looks like the same code. It might be that "iterable" is a predefined word, so you're not able to use it as a parameter.

1 Answer

Russell Sawyer
seal-mask
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Russell Sawyer
Front End Web Development Techdegree Student 15,705 Points
Russell Sawyer
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Russell Sawyer
Front End Web Development Techdegree Student 15,705 Points

It looks like all you are missing is the colon on the first line.

def random_item(iterable):   # <=== colon is required after this line
    random_num = random.randint(0, len(iterable) -1)
    return iterable[random_num]