[Tutor] I don't know why this program doesn't run

[Dave Angel]

Hi, you forgot to do a reply-all, so it didn't go to the list.  I'm
correcting that now, so don't worry about it.   if your email doesn't
support reply-all, then just add a cc of tutor at python.org


On 09/21/2012 08:09 PM, Gina wrote:
> On 9/21/2012 6:47 PM, Dave Angel wrote:
>> On 09/21/2012 07:34 PM, Gina wrote:
>>> I don't know why this program doesn't run, but if you know, please
>>> tell me.
>>> -thanks
>>>
>> So what happens when you try?  "Doesn't run" covers a multitude of
>> possibilities.
>>
>> First one:
>>
>> python Car Salesperson.py
>> python: can't open file 'Car': [Errno 2] No such file or directory
>> davea at think:~/temppython$
>>
>> The fix for this one is to put quotes around the script name.  Or to
>> escape the blanks.  Or even better to rename the file so it doesn't have
>> spaces in it.
>>
>>
>> Please be specific.  You're running some OS, you launch some particular
>> version of Python, you give it some commandline, and you get some
>> unexpected result.  Use a lot of copy/paste and it's not too painful.
>>
> I have version 3 of python.
> 
> it will let me type in the type of car and then enter
> then i type in the base price and when i hit enter, it says error
> 

The problem is in your input statement:  base_price = input("What is the
base price?")

input (on Python version 3.x) always returns a string.  Sometimes that's
what you want, sometimes it's not.  In this case, just change to:

base_price = int(input("What is the base price?"))


> This is the error message:
> tax = base_price / 25
> TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for /: 'str' and 'int'
> 
> I tried adding int() in front of base_price but it still didn't work

Again, please be specific.  If you really tried this:

   tax = int() base_price /25

then it naturally won't work.  But if you tried
    tax = int(base_price) / 25

it should have worked.  What error did you get?  Did it give the wrong
answer, or another exception traceback?

Anyway, I showed you my preference.  Convert data to their final type as
soon as possible after getting it from the user.  Not later when you're
trying to use it.



-- 

DaveA