[Python-Help] (fwd)

[Steven Bethard]

Craig Ringer wrote:
> It looks to me like you'd be better off reading each input number into a
> list.

You may also find it useful to write a generator function to read your 
values in:

 >>> def read_numbers():
...     while True:
...         number = int(raw_input('Enter a number: '))
...         if number == 0:
...             break
...         yield number
...

 >>> read_numbers()
<generator object at 0x0114CE18>

 >>> for number in read_numbers():
...     print number
...
<... after typing 5 ...>
5
<... after typing 6 ...>
6
<... after typing 9 ...>
9
<... after typing 0 ...>
 >>>

 >>> list(read_numbers())
<... after typing 2, 4, 5, 5, 8, 0 ...>
[2, 4, 5, 5, 8]

The read_numbers function creates a generator object which will query 
the user for a number until it sees the number 0.  Because you get a 
generator object from this function, you can easily convert it to a list 
if you need to, or iterate on it directly.

Also note that I use int(raw_input(...)) instead of input(...).  It's a 
few more keystrokes, but it's probably a good habit to get into -- 
input(...) has some security holes.

Steve