CODEWITHSUNDEEP
python-3.x
mathsicist
mathsicist

Reputation: 191

Python 3: Comparing two elements of the same list

I'd like to compare one element of the list after another. I achieved my goal but it's not a well-written code. Please look at my code and give my a some advices. By the way I have a few other questions 

players_list = ( {'player_name': 'Tom',
                 'player_flag': 'is_human',
                 'player_decision': None,
                 'player_points': 1}

                {'player_name': 'Peter',
                 'player_flag': 'is_computer',
                 'player_decision': None,
                 'player_points': 2}

                 {'player_name': 'John',
                 'player_flag': 'is_computer',
                 'player_decision': None,
                 'player_points': 0.5}

                 {'player_name': 'Greg',
                 'player_flag': 'is_computer',
                 'player_decision': None,
                 'player_points': 2} 
                )

players_list  = sorted(players_list, key = lambda k: k['player_points'], reverse =  True)) #(1)

iterator = 0 #(2)
while players_list[iterator]['player_points'] == players_list[iterator + 1]['player_points']: 
    iterator += 1

print('   >> The Winner Is...', end = ' ')
if iterator == 0:
    print(players_list[0]['player_name'].upper(), '!!!') #(3)
elif iterator > 0:
    print('There Is a Draw Between ', end = '')
    for j in range (0, iterator + 1):
        print(players_list[j]['player_name'], end = ', ') # (4))

    print() # (5)

(1): Is it the best way in this case to sort my list by values of dictionaries?

(2): It is my idea to compare to solve the problem. Could you give your opinion and- if it is needed - propose better solution, please?

(3): What way of printing in this case would be the most 'pythonic'?

print(players_list[0]['player_name'].upper(), '!!!') # 1    
print(%s!!! (players_list[0]['player_name'].upper())) # 2
print({player_name}!!!.format(player_name = players_list[0] ['player_name']).upper()) # 3

(4): How to display list of players in one line without the ',' at the end? 

print(players_list[j]['player_name'], end = ', ')
>> Peter, Greg, Tom, John,

(5) I used an empty print() to display '/n' after displaying players in one line. Is there a better solution?

Many thanks

Upvotes: 0

Views: 655

Answers (1)

Matthias Urlichs
Matthias Urlichs

Reputation: 2544

Your code fails when all players have the same number of points.

In any case, you do not need, nor want, to sort the list. You want to scan it, looking for the element(s) with the maximum number of points.

Untested code:

winners = None
winner_points = None
for p in players_list:
    points = p['player_points']
    if winner_points is None or winner_points < points:
        winners = [p]
        winner_points = points
    elif winner_points == points:
        winners.append(p)

if not winners:
    print("Nobody played today!")
elif len(winners) == 1:
    print("The winner is", winners[0]['player_name'])
else:
    print("There is a draw between %d players: %s" % (len(winners), ", ".join(p['player_name'] for p in winners))

Also, coding style:

  • don't store the data for each player in a hash. That's what objects are for.
  • don't name the fields player_XXX. player['XXX'] is much more readable. Using objects, i.e. player.XXX, even more so.

Upvotes: 1

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