CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythondictionary
Who8daPie
Who8daPie

Reputation: 45

Creating a load profile function in python

Alright well I am trying to create a function that updates/ creates two dictionaries to include the data from the open file.

The sample text file would look something like this:

Dunphy, Claire  # Name of the person
Parent Teacher Association  # The networks person is associated with
Dunphy, Phil  # List of friends
Pritchett, Mitchell
Pritchett, Jay

Dunphy, Phil
Real Estate Association
Dunphy, Claire
Dunphy, Luke

Pritchett, Jay
Pritchett, Gloria
Delgado, Manny
Dunphy, Claire

def load_profiles(profiles_file, person_to_friends, person_to_networks):

So i guess it would be easier dividing this problem in sub function/ helper function, one function that creates the person to friend dictionary and another that creates person to network dictionary.

So far for the person to friend function I have come up with:

def person_to_friend(profiles_file):

    person = {}
    friends = []

    for name in profiles_file:
        name = name.strip(). split('\n')

        if "," in name and name not in person.keys():
            person[key].append(name)

    return person

But this is returning a empty dictionary, not sure what I am doing wrong. Also not sure how to add the friends as the values for person.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1316

Answers (3)

Mihai
Mihai

Reputation: 2155

You are returning from within the for loop, so basically you return after the first iteration.

Also, I don't quite get name = name.strip().split('\n'). Isn't name already a line from profiles_file? And also make sure that key from person[key].append(name) exists and person[key] is a list.

I think you should rethink a little your algorithm.

EDIT: Maybe something like this will work for you:

f = open(profiles_file)
person = {}
friends = []
groups = f.read().split('\n\n')
for g in groups:
    g = g.split('\n')
    person[g[0]] = []
    for friend in g[1:]:
        if ',' in friend:
             person[g[0]].append(friend)

Ofcourse, in order to do it without openning the file more then once you could just create 2 dictionaries or add another key to the existing one, like person[key]['friends'] and person[key]['networks']. Then put an else to the last if.

Upvotes: 0

Lev Levitsky
Lev Levitsky

Reputation: 65791

Your "helper" function tries to iterate over the whole file. While using a separate function to add entries to the dictionary is not such a bad idea, it should probably be done inside a single loop, such as:

def load_profiles(profiles_file, person_to_friends, person_to_networks):
    friends = []
    networks = []
    for line in profiles_file:
        if not line.strip(): # we've just finished processing an entry, 
                             # need to get ready for the next one
            person_to_friends[name] = friends
            person_to_networks[name] = networks
            friends = []
            networks = []
        else:
            if friends == networks == []: # we haven't read anything yet,
                name = line               # so this must be the name
            elif ',' in line:
                friends.append(line)
            else:
                associations.append(line)

This is probably over-simplified (for example, it doesn't check that the networks are listed before friends), but it's already too much code for an answer to a homework question. I hope it's compensated with the bugs in it, since I haven't tested it :) Cheers.

Upvotes: 1

MrGomez
MrGomez

Reputation: 23886

Despite the indentation issue in your original problem statement (which would have thrown a syntax error you would have quickly addressed), your person_to_friend function has a bug in its dictionary invocation: person[key].append(name) should read person[key] = name. It otherwise seems fine.

I believe your design can be refined by developing a stronger relational model that connects persons to friends, but the entire purpose of your homework exercise is to help teach you how that works! So, I'll instead be coy and not give the farm away on how to redesign your application, addressing only the technical notes here.

I would also inspect Python csv for parsing your input file contents, because it'll give you a much simpler and more robust model for your underlying data as you try to work through your design.

Otherwise, I just wanted to thank you for providing a wonderful example of how to properly draft a homework question here on StackOverflow. Formatting aside, this is clear, concise, detail-oriented, and says very good things about your abilities as a programmer as you work through your current classes. Best of luck to you!

Upvotes: 1

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