[Tutor] Help with Python Program

[Carolina Dianne LaCourse]

First off I want to really thank you for all of the help! I am in my
first semester as I started as a non traditional student in January.
Even though I am in an intro class I think that many of my class mates
had more of a c/s foundation in high then I did. It took me a few
tries but I did finally get my program to run using this code!!!! :)

#import random target = random.randint(1,100)
			
import random #import random number generator module
target = random.randint(1,100) #generates random number between 1 and 100
guess = float(raw_input('pick a number between 1 and 100'))
while guess != target:
    if guess < target: print 'too low'
    elif guess > target: print 'too high'
    #otherwise guess == target and game is over

I am having trouble getting it to run for more than one game but am
trying. Also I started off using the idle shell to write the codes but
it wont let you run it from there, so I opened a new window and
retyped it for my first few attempts. I am unsure why you would use
the idle shell if you would need to open a new window and retype it
anyway. Is there an easier way or something that I am not getting?
After doing that several times I just opened a new window and started
from there without using the shell and it worked fine, so can I always
do it that way and not use the shell at all?  I am also still kind of
unsure about the loops and was hoping you could explain a little more
about it or may know of a good online resource? Thanks again for all
the help...Steve really helped by explaining it simply to me and I
really appreciate it! It took me like 10-15 tries but I was so excited
when I finally got it to run!


On 2/24/12, Steven D'Aprano <steve at pearwood.info> wrote:
> Carolina Dianne LaCourse wrote:
>
> [...]
>> I understand that I need to ask for raw input from the user and that I
>> need to be able to use the if elif else to tell the user whether their
>> number matches or id too high or to low but am just not sure what to
>> do first. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I have tried some
>> online tutorials to get the basics but still am having a really hard
>> time. I did work with scratch a bit earlier this semester and got
>> that, but am really struggling with python.
>
> Start by writing down in plain English the steps of how you would play the
> guessing game. This is a called an algorithm, which is something very
> similar
> to a recipe or a set of instructions. You might have something like this:
>
> (1) Think of a number between 1 and 100, and remember it.
> (2) Repeat the following steps until the game is over:
> (3) - Ask the person playing for a number between 1 and 100.
> (4) - If the number is too low, tell them it is too low.
> (5) - If the number is too high, tell them it is too high.
> (6) - If the number is equal to the number you thought of, the game is over.
>
> All that makes up *one* game. Then you need instructions to play multiple
> games:
>
> (a) Play one game, as above.
> (b) Repeat the following steps until done:
> (c) - Ask the player if they want to play again.
> (d) - If they say Yes, play one game, as above.
> (e) - Otherwise, we are done.
> (f) Finally, print how many games were played, how many guesses were needed,
> and the average number of guesses per game.
>
>
> Now, you need to change the English instructions to instructions the
> computer
> can follow, using Python. For example, Step (1) above picks a random number
> and remembers it as the target of the game:
>
> import random
> target = random.randint(1, 100)
>
> Step (2) is a bit harder -- it's a loop. You should have learned about while
> loops and for loops. I expect a while loop is better for this, because you
> can't tell ahead of time how many times you need to go round and round the
> loop.
>
>
> while guess != target:
>      Step (3) ask the user for a number, and call it "guess"
>      if guess < target:
>          print "too low"
>      elif guess > target:
>          print "too high"
>      # otherwise guess == target so the game will be over
>
>
> Notice that this isn't exactly Python code. The most obvious problem is the
> line "Step (3)..." which is plain English. You need to replace that with
> code
> to actually ask the user for a number. (Hint: you will need the raw_input
> function.)
>
> Another problem is that the *first* time you enter the loop, the name
> "guess"
> isn't defined. You need to give it a value to start with, before the loop.
> Any
> value will do, so long as it isn't target. I suggest 0.
>
> Does this help you get started? Go ahead and write some code, and see where
> it
> takes you. Piece by piece, step by step, you should work towards replacing
> each bit of English instruction with some Python code to do that.
>
> You should aim to write code to play *one* game first. Get that right,
> first,
> then adapt it to play multiple games.
>
> Write some code, see how it works (or where is fails to work), and anything
> that is unclear, come back and ask.
>
>
>
> --
> Steven
>
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