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Python

Posted by Julia Gron
Julia Gron
3,170 Points

using a dict in time_machine challenge

why isn't this code working? I thought using a dict would make for dryer code, but for some reason the results aren't as expected.

import datetime

starter = datetime.datetime(2015, 10, 21, 16, 29)
time_types = {"minutes": minutes, "seconds":seconds, "hours":hours}
# Remember, you can't set "years" on a timedelta!
# Consider a year to be 365 days.

## Example
# time_machine(5, "minutes") => datetime(2015, 10, 21, 16, 34)
def time_machine(int1, clock1):
  if clock1 == "years":
    delta = datetime.timedelta(days = int1 * 365)
  else:  
    delta = datetime.timedelta(time_types[clock1] = int1)
  ender = starter + delta
  return ender

1 Answer

Martin Cornejo Saavedra
Martin Cornejo Saavedra
18,132 Points

Here are the problems:

#first problem
time_types = {"minutes": minutes, "seconds":seconds, "hours":hours}

#second problem
delta = datetime.timedelta(time_types[clock1] = int1)

The value of "minutes" is minutes, python sees this value as an undefined variable. The same for seconds and hours.

The second problem is that you are assigning the variable of the timedelta as a dict's value, I think this way of assignment isn't correct but I cannot explain the reasons because I don't know them, if someone else knows please explain.