help on ultra newbie program please

[Gerhard Häring]

cybernut wrote:
> [Tried to solve a problem in a Python tutorial]

Here's a solution using only "if" and "while" statements. I hope it's 
somewhat enlightening.

#v+
# The correct password. 'Constants' are usually named all-capital.
CORRECT_PASSWORD = "unicorn"

# Number of times the user tried entering a password. Zero at the start.
tries = 0

# Wether the password is entered correctly. Default to a logically false 
value.
password_ok = 0

# Execute the loop at most three times, and only as long as the correct
# password hasn't been entered.
while tries < 3 and not password_ok:
     password = raw_input("Password:")
     if password == CORRECT_PASSWORD:
         password_ok = 1
     tries += 1

if password_ok:
     print "Welcome!"
else:
     print "Go away!"
#v-

Don't worry if you can't solve some problems, yet. Learning to program 
is learning about patterns (think of building blocks). I'd call this one 
the "count and break at certain value" building block. You'll encounter 
it very often.

These combiniations of control structures are kind of basic patterns. 
Soon you'll have learnt all control structures and from then on the 
major issue will be how to best organize your data :-)

This is where OOP (object oriented programming) will eventually enter 
the game.

-- Gerhard