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Python Python Collections (2016, retired 2019) Slices sillyCase

Joshua Howard
Joshua Howard
12,676 Points
Posted by Joshua Howard
Joshua Howard
12,676 Points

What am I doing wrong here?

I see that this can be done in three lines of code. I guess i'll make get to the point where I can do this w/ my eyes closed in the fewest lines possible. But as of now, I don't see why this isn't working (even though not the most efficient way).

sillycase.py 
def sillycase(blueball):

    da_length = len(blueball)
    half_length = da_length / 2

    firstHalf = blueball[:half_length]
    secondHalf = blueball[half_length:]
    secondHalf = secondHalf.upper

    return int(firstHalf) + int(secondHalf)

2 Answers

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
229,732 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
229,732 Points

You got pretty close, but there were four issues remaining:

  • half_length = da_length // 2   :point_left: "You'll want to use the int() function or integer division, //"
  • firstHalf = firstHalf.lower()   :point_left: (new line added) "the first half should be lowercased"
  • secondHalf = secondHalf.upper()   :point_left: method calls need parentheses after the name
  • return firstHalf + secondHalf   :point_left: keep the strings as strings (no "int" conversion)
Dave Harker
PLUS
Dave Harker
Courses Plus Student 15,510 Points
Dave Harker
Dave Harker
Courses Plus Student 15,510 Points

Hi Joshua Howard,

It's a good effort, however there are a few things to consider:

  1. .upper() is a string method, you'll need the ()
  2. you might want to add a .lower() to your firstHalf as there is no guarantee it will be lowercase already
  3. you'll need to fix that return statement so it returns a string that is made up of firstHalf + lastHalf

I think you'll be fine to get it working now. Keep going, you're almost there!

Happy coding,
Dave.

Dave Harker
Dave Harker
Courses Plus Student 15,510 Points
Dave Harker
Dave Harker
Courses Plus Student 15,510 Points

Just one other thing ... reading your post again I note you state:

I see that this can be done in three lines of code

You could do it in a single return statement if you really wanted to but while that might be true it would mean bunching up a couple of method calls directly in the return statement. So yeah, a little less code, it's also a lot less readable.

Efficiency is obviously important, but so is readability and while there is room to improve in what you've got, don't be too hard on yourself :) That was a quality attempt you made there.

Also, do you really want to read a return line that looks like this (not meant to be efficient - 2x len calc - but ... single line):

return someWord[:(int(len(someWord)/2))].lower() + someWord[(int(len(someWord)/2)):].upper()