How to work with list

[deanhystad]

Allocate the points when the names are entered. Don't put them in a list.

You are starting out with the wrong structure. You should use a dictionary to keep track of student scores. The dictionay keys would be the student names. The student scores would be the dictionary values. With a dictionary you can look up the student's scores by using their name.

students = {}
while True:
    if name := input('Enter student name (or blank to end list): '):
        students[name] = [0, 0]
    else:
        break

for student, scores in students.items():
    print(f'{student:20} {scores[0]:5} {scores[1]:5}')

Output:
Enter student name (or blank to end list): A
Enter student name (or blank to end list): B
Enter student name (or blank to end list): C
Enter student name (or blank to end list): 
A                    0 0
B                    0 0
C                    0 0

Now you have a structure that has the student name associated with their scores (currently zero's). Next we need to enter their scores. Instead of making a list, ask for the student with the highest score, get that student from the dictionary and add the score to the student's scores. Math scores will be scores[0].

students = {}
while True:
    if name := input('Enter student name (or blank to end list): '):
        students[name] = [0, 0]
    else:
        break

suffix = {1: 'st', 2: 'nd', 3:'rd'}
score = 100
for i in range(1, len(students)+1):
    name = input(f'Student with {i}{suffix.get(i, "th")} score in Math: ')
    students[name][0] = score
    score -= 5

for student, scores in students.items():
    print(f'{student:20} {scores[0]:5} {scores[1]:5}')

Output:
Enter student name (or blank to end list): A
Enter student name (or blank to end list): B
Enter student name (or blank to end list): C
Enter student name (or blank to end list): D
Enter student name (or blank to end list): 
Student with 1st score in Math: A
Student with 2nd score in Math: B
Student with 3rd score in Math: C
Student with 4th score in Math: D
A                      100     0
B                       95     0
C                       90     0
D                       85     0

Now you could repeat the same code for entering the History scores. And you could add a score to the students scores and copy the block of code to add a Language score and do the same to add an Arts score and so on. Or you could identify early on that there is a repeated pattern that can be exploited to eliminate duplicate code and make the program easier to modify.

classes = {'Math': 0, 'History': 1}
students = {}
while True:
    if name := input('Enter student name (or blank to end list): '):
        students[name] = [0] * len(classes)
    else:
        break

suffix = {1: 'st', 2: 'nd', 3:'rd'}
for class_name, class_index in classes.items():
    score = 100
    for i in range(1, len(students)+1):
        name = input(f'Student with {i}{suffix.get(i, "th")} score in {class_name}: ')
        students[name][class_index] = score
        score -= 5

for student, scores in students.items():
    print(f'{student:20}', *[f'{s:5}' for s in scores])

Output:
Enter student name (or blank to end list): A
Enter student name (or blank to end list): B
Enter student name (or blank to end list): 
Student with 1st score in Math: A
Student with 2nd score in Math: B
Student with 1st score in History: B
Student with 2nd score in History: A
A                      100    95
B                       95   100

---

The same solution implemented using lists. See how much better a dictionary works?

count = 3
names=[''] * count
history=[0] * count
maths=[0] * count

for i in range(0, count):
    names[i] = input("Please enter the name of competitor ")

suffix = {0: 'st', 1: 'nd', 2: 'rd'}
score = 100
for i in range(0, count):
    name = input(f'Who came {i+1}{suffix.get(i)} in History Quiz: ')
    history[names.index(name)] = score
    score -= 5
 
score = 100
for i in range(0, count):
    name = input(f'Who came {i+1}{suffix.get(i)} in Math Quiz: ')
    maths[names.index(name)] = score
    score -= 5

for i in range(count):
    print(names[i], history[i], maths[i])

Output:
Please enter the name of competitor A
Please enter the name of competitor B
Please enter the name of competitor C
Who came 1st in History Quiz: A
Who came 2nd in History Quiz: B
Who came 3rd in History Quiz: C
Who came 1st in Math Quiz: C
Who came 2nd in Math Quiz: B
Who came 3rd in Math Quiz: A
A 100 90
B 95 95
C 90 100