Help with Random Sequence Generator

**bvdet** · May 19 '12, 11:41 PM

Do not call random.seed(). You can catch the ValueError and check isdigit() in a try/except block inside a while loop. Something like:

Code:

while True:
    try:
        integer = int(raw_input("Please enter a positive number:"))
        if integer < 1:
            raise Exception
        break
    except:
        print "The value you entered (%s) was not a positive integer." % (integer)

I am using Python 2.7, so your code will be a little different. I would prefer to get the input in a function and return the value when a valid number was entered.

Code:

def getint():
    i = raw_input("Please enter a positive number:")
    if i.isdigit():
        return int(i)
    print "The value you entered (%s) was not a positive integer." % (i)
    return False

while True:
    integer = getint()
    if integer:
        break

**HerpsForDerps** · May 20 '12, 12:02 AM

Awesome thank you for replying! I am sorry but I do not understand a lot of that code still. What is the (%s) that you have written down? I tried to implement code like that however I was receiving an error saying that I did not have True defined. Sorry I am still really inexperienced with Python :p.

**bvdet** · May 20 '12, 12:12 AM

The %s is a placeholder for i. You can do the same thing with concatenation as in:

Code:

"The value you entered" + str(1) + "was not a positive integer."

You can start the while loop with anything that evaluates True as in

Code:

while 1:

**HerpsForDerps** · May 20 '12, 12:21 AM

Ok thank you. Concerning my random sequence and its tendency to always come up with the same numbers is that a result of how I wrote it? Is there a way for me to write the sequence to rectify that issue?

Sorry for all the questions but I still do not understand some of what you are saying. Is there any way for me to add isdigit() to the code I have written so far? Or am I going to have to rewrite it?

My teacher gave these hints concerning this assignment:

Your program should first import the random module. Right after that, you must put in this line of code: random.seed(1).

You must check the user's input is actually an integer greater than
0. You can do this by using a while loop to keep asking the user
until he/she enters the correct input.

Once you get the input, you may use the randrange() function in the
random module. For example, random.randrang e(10) will generate a
random integer number less than 10.

To fill your sequence with the number of integers specified by the
user, you may use a for loop. Inside the for loop, you should call randrange to generate a random number and add that to your sequence.

To find the largest number, you may use a for loop to go through
each number in your sequence and determine which one is the largest.

I have tried to implement those suggestions with the exception of the for loop. I was unsure of how to do so.

**bvdet** · May 20 '12, 01:07 AM

After calling random.seed(1), the list comprehension will always return the same sequence. If you omit the argument, the basic random number generator will be initialized with the system time.

See if this works (untested):

Code:

while True:
    i = input("Please enter a positive number:")
    if i.isdigit():
        integer = int(i)
        break
    print("You did not enter a positive integer. Please enter a positive integer")

**HerpsForDerps** · May 20 '12, 02:15 AM

Thank you so very much! It is working perfectly now :).

Help with Random Sequence Generator

Help with Random Sequence Generator

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment