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Python Python Collections (2016, retired 2019) Dictionaries Teacher Stats

Posted by <noob />
<noob />
17,062 Points

Why i cant use this method? enter to understand my question

In part 3 of this challnage i tried this solution first:

def courses(num_courses):
    list_courses = []
    for x in num_courses.values():
        list_courses.append(x)
    return list_courses

and somehow it didnt passed, and it should have worked because the APPEND method is appending an element to the end of the list

i saw a solution from alex davison and he uses the EXTEND method instead of the APPEND method, anyone can explain to me what is the difference here?

this is the code that passed: 

def courses(num_courses):
    list_courses = []
    for x in num_courses.values():
        list_courses.extend(x)
    return list_courses



thanks in advance ;D

```teachers.py
# The dictionary will look something like:
# {'Andrew Chalkley': ['jQuery Basics', 'Node.js Basics'],
#  'Kenneth Love': ['Python Basics', 'Python Collections']}
#
# Each key will be a Teacher and the value will be a list of courses.
#
# Your code goes below here.

def num_teachers(teachers):
    return len(teachers)

def num_courses(courses):
    number = []
    for course in courses.values():
        number += course
    return len(number)

def courses(num_courses):
    list_courses = []
    for x in num_courses.values():
        list_courses.extend(x)
    return list_courses

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,269 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,269 Points

When you use "append" to add a list to another list, the entire list is added as a single item. But when you use "extend", each element is added individually.

For example, if you were to combine a list containing [1, 2, 3] and one with [4, 5, 6]:

  • using "append" :point_right: [ 1, 2, 3, [4, 5, 6] ]   (4 items)
  • using "extend" :point_right: [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ]   (6 items)
<noob />
<noob />
17,062 Points

Thanks for ur time to answer my question! :D