🔒 Default Directory in Visual Studio Code is always wrong

[true wigeon]

I save all my files to a Python_Practice Directory. But whenever I open Visual Studio code and run my files, it always runs from a different directory

[stiff vector]

@true wigeon

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[minor forge]

I belive you can adjust this in VSC (not sure how, I'm not a VSC person, but you want the "working directory" setting for your project I think).

Yes, it's very annoying and the cause of many questions.

[true wigeon]

yea

idk why it keeps doing that

like i hate having to go and type cd ../{directory} everytime

[hidden vale]

try opening folder in vsc

i usually dont have to cd when i do that

[true wigeon]

Daggger!!!

ok

lemme see

that sorta works yea

it launches in the root dir

[hidden vale]

i would have a new folder fo each project and open said folder in vsc

[true wigeon]

well i opened the file itself in vsc

but it wont give an option to open the folder in vsc

[hidden vale]

ye that works but it doesnt set directory like u just encountered which is kinda dumb if u ask me

[true wigeon]

right

idk why thats even an issue

[true wigeon]

ohhh

yeppp

that worksss

thank god you werre awake

[hidden vale]

if it was in the middle of the day i prob wouldnt be, thank god u asked at midnight

[true wigeon]

i am also stuck on some code, but ill try to work it out and post again

[hidden vale]

u can just ask here, this place open for another hour

[true wigeon]

hmm ok lemme show you then

[hidden vale]

also i wanted to ask last time but forgot, is that lupin banner ?

[true wigeon]

nah cowboy bebop

[hidden vale]

aw

was this close

[true wigeon]

its such a good anime

its double `` right

[hidden vale]

for code ?

[true wigeon]

yea

[hidden vale]

!code

[stiff vector]

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[true wigeon]

rightttt

word = ['1', '2', '3', '4']
def printList(words):
    if len(words) >= 2:
        words_copy = words.copy
        words_copy.insert(-1, 'and')
        print(words_copy)
        return words_copy
    else:
        print(words_copy)
        return words_copy

print(printList(word))

[hidden vale]

oh god recursion

[true wigeon]

im trying to let the function print any list passed and add a "and, " after the second to last word

[hidden vale]

and u must use recursion ?

[true wigeon]

whats that

[hidden vale]

nvm u not using recursion im just stoopid

but tl;dr its a function that calls itself

[true wigeon]

oh right

[hidden vale]

welp u got p close

[true wigeon]

you mean the print(printList) right

[hidden vale]

!e

word = ['1', '2', '3', '4']
def printList(words):
    if len(words) >= 2:
        words_copy = words.copy
        words_copy.insert(-1, 'and')
        print(words_copy)
        return words_copy
    else:
        print(words_copy)
        return words_copy

print(printList(word))

[stiff vector]

:x: Your 3.12 eval job has completed with return code 1.

001 | Traceback (most recent call last):
002 |   File "/home/main.py", line 12, in <module>
003 |     print(printList(word))
004 |           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
005 |   File "/home/main.py", line 5, in printList
006 |     words_copy.insert(-1, 'and')
007 |     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
008 | AttributeError: 'builtin_function_or_method' object has no attribute 'insert'

[true wigeon]

yea thats my error

[hidden vale]

def func():
    func()

this is recursion

[true wigeon]

oh ok

[hidden vale]

and u stuck on it ?

[true wigeon]

didnt know thats what that was

sorta

[hidden vale]

welp its complaining that words_copy doesnt have a insert attribute right

[true wigeon]

right

[hidden vale]

so lets look at what we made words_copy equal to

see if we spot any issues there

since its supposed to have one

[true wigeon]

we made it equal to a copy of words

so do i call words.insert instead?

[hidden vale]

we can

but lets look at the line

words_copy = words.copy

what is list.copy

[true wigeon]

method that copys the list

[hidden vale]

since its a method

what we need to do

[true wigeon]

()

now the problem is that is prints as a list and not a string

so i have to use str() somewhere

[hidden vale]

thats a fun line of thought and all but try giving it less than 2 elements

[true wigeon]

oof

yea it still prints 'and'

when its should only do it when its 3 or more

word = ['1', '2', '3', '4']
def printList(words):
    if len(words) > 2:
        words_copy = words.copy()
        words_copy.insert(-1, 'and')
        print(words_copy)
        return words_copy
    else:
        print(words_copy)
        return words_copy

printList(word)

[hidden vale]

!e

word = ['1', '2']
def printList(words):
    if len(words) > 2:
        words_copy = words.copy()
        words_copy.insert(-1, 'and')
        print(words_copy)
        return words_copy
    else:
        print(words_copy)
        return words_copy

printList(word)

[stiff vector]

:x: Your 3.12 eval job has completed with return code 1.

001 | Traceback (most recent call last):
002 |   File "/home/main.py", line 12, in <module>
003 |     printList(word)
004 |   File "/home/main.py", line 9, in printList
005 |     print(words_copy)
006 |           ^^^^^^^^^^
007 | UnboundLocalError: cannot access local variable 'words_copy' where it is not associated with a value

[true wigeon]

wait

but its a copy of words

so it should have a value

[hidden vale]

i would stare at it for like 5min or so

but hint if u want: ||when is words_copy defined ?||

[true wigeon]

ok so fixed it

promise it didnt lool

but now its making it a string and not the list

[true wigeon]

yea figured

i tried placing the str() in the print function

and then the return function

yet nothing

[hidden vale]

well what u think happens when u str(list)

[true wigeon]

makes the list into a string right?

[hidden vale]

well how exactly it does it

[true wigeon]

https://tenor.com/view/patrick-star-spongebob-spongebob-meme-i-don't-get-it-confused-gif-12091655509524369436

just like int() it turns the input into a interger output

[hidden vale]

!e

print(str([1,2,3,4]))

[stiff vector]

:white_check_mark: Your 3.12 eval job has completed with return code 0.

[1, 2, 3, 4]

[true wigeon]

so do i have to make a function to iterate through and print

[hidden vale]

u can

try it

there is several ways to do this

[true wigeon]

word = ['1', '2']
def printList(words):
    words_copy = words.copy()
    for i in words_copy:
        print(words_copy(i))
    if len(words) > 2:
        words_copy.insert(-1, 'and')
        print(words_copy)
        return words_copy
    else:
        print(words_copy)
        return words_copy
    

printList(word)

word = ['1', '2']
def printList(words):
    words_copy = words.copy()
    for i in words_copy:
        if len(words) > 2:
            words_copy.insert(-1, 'and')
            print(words_copy[i])
            return str(words_copy)
        else:
            print(words_copy[i])
            return str(words_copy[i])
    

printList(word)

so it tried that instead

gives error of indicies not being able to be str only slices

[gaunt sigil]

couldn't you put print(*word)

>>> print(["1", "2", "and", "3"])
['1', '2', 'and', '3']
>>> print(*["1", "2", "and", "3"])
1 2 and 3

[true wigeon]

hmmm

havent learned that

lemme see

[gaunt sigil]

essentially the * unwraps the arguments in the list

it turns it from this:

print(  ["1", "2", "and", "3"]  )

into this:

print( "1", "2", "and", "3" )

this only works if the function also lets you pass in as many arguments as are in the list
print() lets you do that

[true wigeon]

well its a function that takes place first

[gaunt sigil]

yeah but the function returns a list right?

[true wigeon]

right

[gaunt sigil]

return words_copy, which is a list

[true wigeon]

right

but when i use the *word in the call of the function, it says it only takes one argument

[gaunt sigil]

oops i missed your message

i think you misunderstood what i meant

Here's your function:

word = ['1', '2', '3', '4']
def printList(words):
    if len(words) > 2:
        words_copy = words.copy()
        words_copy.insert(-1, 'and')
        print(words_copy)
        return words_copy
    else:
        print(words_copy)
        return words_copy

printList(word)

You could change lines 6 and 9:

-         print(words_copy)
+         print(*words_copy)

Also, since both branches of the if-statement end up running the same snippet of code eventually:py print(*words_copy) return words_copy You could take it out of the if-else-statement like so:```py
word = ['1', '2', '3', '4']
def printList(words):
words_copy = words.copy()
if len(words) > 2:
words_copy.insert(-1, 'and')
print(*words_copy)
return words_copy

printList(word)

(also your function will run into a NameError on line 9 when you try to print words_copy in the else branch, because you are trying to print words_copy, but it hasn't been defined yet: it has only been defined in the if len(words > 2): branch. You can either change the else branch to print(*words), or move words_copy = words.copy() one line higher, so it's outside of the if-statement block)

[true wigeon]

yea my bad, that code wasn't updated with the words_copy one line aboce

so your insight works

however

i need it to print ```py
1,2,3 and 4

word = ['1', '2', '3', '4']
def printList(words):
    words_copy = words.copy()
    if len(words) > 2:
        words_copy.insert(-1, 'and')
        print(*words_copy)
        return words_copy
    else:
        print(*words_copy)
        return words_copy
    

printList(word)

[gaunt sigil]

hmm true

you could add a comma to every element in the list, except for the last two, perhaps

or you could redo the function to iterate through the list and add a comma element between each until you reach the second last element in which case you add 'and'

[gaunt sigil]

you could split the function into two sections: [1,2,3] and [4]. Then print the first list with commas, and print the second list with an 'and' inbetween

i can expand on that if you don't know what to do with that next

[graceful forge]

not good

[gaunt sigil]

yeaah not optimal

my third solution is probably the best

(', '.join(list[:-1]) + 'and') if len(list) > 1 else "" + list[-1] if list else ""

[true wigeon]

so here's what i did. i did look online for some help but ```py
word = ['King', 'Jack', 'Chris', 'Kai']
def printList(words):
words_copy = words.copy()
if len(words) > 2:
words_copy.insert(-1, 'and')
output = ''
for i, item in enumerate(words_copy):
if item == 'and':
output += item + " "
elif i == len(words_copy) - 1:
output += item
else:
output += item + ', '
print(output)
return words_copy
else:
output = ', '.join(words_copy)
print(output)
return words_copy

printList(word)

i used the enumerate method

[gaunt sigil]

if it works, it works

[true wigeon]

yea its just fully understanding it now

readin ATBS but sometimes it can be tricky

[gaunt sigil]

i can write out a second method if you'd like me to

[true wigeon]

please. I'd love to see as many options to know what works/ is easier

[gaunt sigil]

though it prints "1, 2, 3 and 4" and "1 and 2" instead of yours: "1, 2"

[graceful forge]

maybe just do py part = len(words) - 1 print(*words_copy[:part],sep=",",end=" ") print(*words_copy[part:])

[gaunt sigil]

no need for len()

>>> [1,2,3,4,5][:-1]
[1, 2, 3, 4]
>>> [1,2,3,4,5][-1:]
[5]

[true wigeon]

okkk i see where you're going

[graceful forge]

but still first part would 1,2,3,4,

need to skip 4 aswell

[gaunt sigil]

you can join the list together

or in your case the sep

word = ['King', 'Jack', 'Chris', 'Kai']
# word = ['Kai']
def printList(words):
    first_section_words = words[:-1]  # copy all elements except the last element. Also works if list is empty.
    # ['King', 'Jack', 'Chris']
    # []
    first_section = ', '.join(first_section_words)  # merge the first elements with a comma.
    # "King, Jack, Chris"
    # ""
    if first_section:  # if the first section is not empty.
        first_section += " and "
        # "King, Jack, Chris and "
        # ""
    if words:  # list is not empty
        print(first_section + words[-1])
        # "King, Jack, Chris and Kai"
        # "Kai"

printList(word)

[graceful forge]

btw wy are u doin this

[true wigeon]

reading ATBS and trying to learn python from scratch

one of the short projects in the book

[graceful forge]

ok

[true wigeon]

this seems easier to understand a little

its more on the best practices side

[gaunt sigil]

You can shorten the whole function like this (but not recommended for readability sake lol):

word = ['King', 'Jack', 'Chris', 'Kai']
def printList(words):
    print(', '.join(words[:-1]) +
          (" and " if words[:-1] else "") +
          words[-1] if words else "")

printList(word)

a technical oneliner

[graceful forge]

[gaunt sigil]

oh wait, while [-1] returns an index error, [-1:] doesn't

so you can make the last line slightly less terrible

word = ['King', 'Jack', 'Chris', 'Kai']
def printList(words):
    print(', '.join(words[:-1]) +
          (" and " if words[:-1] else "") +
          words[-1:])

printList(word)

[true wigeon]

yea readability is what i def wanna practice first before shortening

is there any other resources you guys mind sharing for learning python?

i use ATBS and this disc resources

[gaunt sigil]

hmm

[true wigeon]

i also use codewars

[gaunt sigil]

i learned most of my python through trial and error, using google (and very sometimes ai, but I only use that to speed up tasks i already know, not to learn new things)).
I started off with silly projects like the one you just had, learning how to manipulate elements in lists, or strings, to achieve a simple goal

Later, I started making a discord bot. That helped make my projects be slightly more useful to other people as well

but my first two bots were kind of meh until I finally got kind of a good starting point

[true wigeon]

howd you make the bots

and how far did you learn of python at that point

[gaunt sigil]

i started off just looking at the examples of the Discord.py github repository

https://github.com/Rapptz/discord.py/tree/master/examples

The easiest example is pretty much a copy paste

though setting up the bot on the discord developer portal may take a little bit of figuring out

after that, you learn how to read an incoming message, and then you can use your silly functions to change the words around, add commas between words.split(" "), and more.

An example is a command I made to look through the names of every server member, split it at capital letters, and make a list of names:
"John_Smith" -> "JohnSmith" -> {"John": 1, "Smith": 1}
And then count how often a name was present. And make a little leaderboard

[true wigeon]

that sounds actually entertaining

how long would you say it took you to understand python as well as you do now

[gaunt sigil]

well, i started learning python 7 years ago, so i would say it took 7 years to get here

but i started making my discord bot in 2022

during r/place 2022

[true wigeon]

ahhh ok

yea i just started fr like a month and a half ago so its been hard

but it makes sense it takes a while

[gaunt sigil]

but lately i've been working with different programming languages as well
I'd say C# helped understand classes, fields, properties, and methods a bit better since the python implementation of those is a bit wonky

but any more-popular programming language that isn't Python will likely give you a slightly better overview of those specifics.
C, C++, C#, Rust, Java
They all have more intuitive lambdas (inline functions) and properties, as well as logical operator functions: def *(a, b): return a * b (whereas python hacks its way around special symbols in functions using __mult__())

https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#repr

[true wigeon]

ill definitly take a look at these

i appreciate the help and insight

[stiff vector]

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