Python Forum

I have the following code:

largest = None
smallest = None
while True:
    num = input('enter a num ')
    if num == "done":
        break
    try:
        val = float(num)
    except:
        print("Invalid input")
        continue
    if largest is None or num > largest:
        print("setting largest to ", num)
        largest = num
        print("largest: ", largest)
        print('***********')
    if smallest is None or num < smallest:
        print("setting smallest to ", num)
        smallest = num
        print("smallest: ", smallest)
        print('***********')
print("Maximum is", largest)
print("Minimum is", smallest)

which produces the following output in the terminal

Output:
enter a num 7
setting largest to  7
largest:  7
***********
setting smallest to  7
smallest:  7
***********
enter a num 2
setting smallest to  2
smallest:  2
***********
enter a num bob
Invalid input
enter a num 10
setting smallest to  10
smallest:  10
***********
enter a num 4
enter a num done
Maximum is 7
Minimum is 10

two questions:

1. If I remove the continue than the largest is set to bob? Why? Why do I even need the continue? I would never expect bob to be set to the largest as largest has already been set to 7 previously (it can not be None) and bob can not be greater than largest

if largest is None or num > largest:
7 is None || "bob" > 7
False || False
I do not understand how that statement can be truthy

2. How does the final smallest get set to 10 ? it was last set to 2
is 10 less than 2?

please explain these things

In my language the below image works exactly as expected so why isnt the above code working as expected?

[attachment=2095]

The main problem with the code is that it doesn't compare numbers. It compares number strings. It doesn't use "val" anywhere.

You can verify by doing this:

> python test.py
enter a num 5
setting largest to  5
largest:  5
***********
setting smallest to  5
smallest:  5
***********
enter a num 1234567
setting smallest to  1234567
smallest:  1234567
***********

Numerically 1234567 is greater than 5, but as a string, "5" > "1", so "5" > "1234567".

Since you are comparing strings, this makes perfect sense and is True (ord("b") > ord("7")).

if "7" is None || "bob" > "7":

If you compare "bob" and the number 7 you get a TypeError.

(Nov-12-2022, 04:45 AM)abrahimusmaximus Wrote: [ -> ]Why do I even need the continue?

continue returns the execution at the start of the loop, i.e. if you get error, when trying to convert e.g. bob to float value it will ask for user input again till get valid input. Also, bare except is bad practice, be specific, in this case except TypeError: