[Tutor] Re: problem writing random_word function

[Nithya Soundararajan]

Hi, a better way for loading the file could be to convert it to pickle
form and then use it.(May be helpful only if you wanna load it with
two lines. ;-) ).
import pickle
f=open(yourfile,"r")
word_list=pickle.dump(f)
(this will work only if you hv already converted the hangman_words.txt
to pickle format, it will be easier for you and your code will look
more geekier.
Pour your comments
-Varun

On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 20:11:16 +0200, Karl Pflästerer) <sigurd at 12move.de> wrote:
> On 19 Jul 2004, Matt Smith <- smith-matt at tiscali.co.uk wrote:
> 
> > Thanks Lloyd,
> > I've rewritten the function as below and everything seems to work
> > correctly.
> 
> > def random_word(word_length):
> >     """Returns a random word of length word_length"""
> >     import random
> >     f = open("hangman_words.txt","r")
> >     word_list = []
> >     while 1:
> >         word = f.readline()
> >         word = word.strip()
> >         if word == "":
> >             break
> >         elif len(word) == word_length:
> >             word_list = word_list + [word]
> >     f.close()
> >     return word_list[random.randint(0,(len(word_list)-1))]
> 
> That function works but you could improve it a bit.
> First: don't import modules in functions.  That may lead to dead locks.
> 
> Second: you could write the above shorter and more pythonlike without
> the wile loop.
> 
> Third: You mustn't forget that there may be no mathing word in your
> file.
> 
> Fourth: don't hardwire the name of the file.
> 
> import random
> def random_word (length, data="hangman_words.txt"):
>     f = file(data)
>     wordlist = [word for word in f if len(word.strip()) == length]
>     f.close()
>     if len(wordlist) > 0:
>         return wordlist[random.randrange(0, len(wordlist))].strip()
> 
>    Karl
> --
> Please do *not* send copies of replies to me.
> I read the list
> 
> 
> 
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