How can I assign "multiple variables" to a single "value"?

[deanhystad]

There are several Python types that can hold multiple values; lists, tuples, sets, dictionaries. Tuples would not be right at all because they are immutable. You cannot change the values in a tuple. Sets are also a bad choice because they are just unordered collections. You would not be able to get the health, because in a set there would be no way to specify which value in the set was health.

Lists could work. You could make characters like this:

MAGE = 0
THIEF = 1
WARRIOR = 2

CHARACTER = 0
HEALTH = 1
STAMINA = 2
MAGIC = 3

bob = [MAGE, 7, 3, 17]
jan = [THIEF, 11, 17, 2]

bob[HEALTH] = max(0, bob[HEALTH] - random.randint(1,4))

CHARACTER, HEALTH, STAMINA and MAGIC are indices into a character's attribute list. To get or set the attribute you use the list[index].

Dictionary is similar to list, but instead of using an index to access the attribute values you use a key. The key does not have to be an integer like the list index. It can be an integer or a string or any "hashable" Python type.

bob = {"Character":"Mage", "Health":7, "Stamina":3, "Magic":17}
jan = {"Character":"Thief", "Health":11, "Stamina":17, "Magic":2}

bob['Health'] = max(0, bob['Health'] - random.randint(1,4))

Menator mentions using something called a class, and I think that is a really good fit for this problem. Unlike lists or dictionaries, a class is not a built-in Python data type, it is a user defined data type. You can define your own classes to represent your data in ways that are convenient to you.

class Character():
    def __init__(self, name, type_, health=0, stamina=0, magic=0):
        self.name = name
        self.type = type_
        self.health = health
        self.stamina = stamina
        self.magic = magic

    def is_alive(self):
        return self.health > 0

    def who_are_you(self):
        print('I am', self.name)

    def look_out(self, d):
        self.health = max(0, self.health - random.randint(1, d))
        return self.is_alive()

    def print_status(self):
        print(self.name, 'is', 'alive' if self.is_alive() else 'very unwell')


characters = {
    'Bob':Character('Bob', 'Mage', 7, 3, 17),
    'Jan':Character('Jan', 'Thief', 11, 17, 2)
}

its_all_fun = True
while its_all_fun:
    for character in characters.values():
        if not character.look_out(4):
            character.print_status()
            its_all_fun = False
            break

In addition to data, classes also have methods; functions that are particular to the class. In many ways classes are like modules. A module has attributes that you can access and functions you execute. An object has attributes you can access and methods you can execute. You can almost think of a class as a module generator. Each time you make an instance of a class (called an object), this creates a new set of attributes that are unique to that instance/object. In the example above it is almost like we have ben.py

name = 'Ben'
type_ = 'Mage'
health = 7
stamina = 3
magic = 17

def is_alive():
    return health > 0

def who_are_you():
    print('I am', name)
...

And another module jan.py

name = 'Jan'
type_ = 'Thief'
health =11
stamina = 17
magic = 2