CODEWITHSUNDEEP
python
SuspiciousMind
SuspiciousMind

Reputation: 3

Assignment of Multiple Variables ("a,b = c,d" vs "a = c , b = d")

when working with online problems I ran into an issue in this section of code:

    while list1 and list2:               
        if list1.val < list2.val:
            tracker.next = list1
            list1, tracker = list1.next, list1

This works just fine, but when I simply rearrange it for readability into:

    while list1 and list2:               
        if list1.val < list2.val:
            cur.next = list1
            list1 = list1.next
            tracker = list1

I run into a timeout error and I cannot see how such a simple change can do this.

Am I missing something? or is the change in time drastic enough to affect the program?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 76

Answers (1)

Yevhen Kuzmovych
Yevhen Kuzmovych

Reputation: 12140

This is not a simple rearrangement. The second example has a different logic, i.e. in the first snippet list1 is changed to the value of list1.next, and tracker is changed to the value of list1(before it was changed to list1.next). While in the second example tracker is changed to the value of list1 after list1 is changed to list1.next. In other words list1 and tracker are always the same.

Upvotes: 1

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