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Python Dates and Times in Python (2014) Let's Build a Timed Quiz App Timestamp Ordering

C H
C H
6,587 Points
Posted by C H
C H
6,587 Points

Dates and Times in Python: Timestamp Ordering challenge, what's wrong with my code?

I think I am close to figuring this out but I keep getting an error. I am wondering if my code can be altered to work properly, or should I go about this problem a different way?

timestamp.py 
import datetime

def timestamp_oldest(*args):
  plist = []
  for arg in args:
    plist.append(arg)

  plist = plist.sort()
  return datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(plist[0], tz= None)

1 Answer

akak
akak
29,445 Points
akak
akak
29,445 Points

The .sort() method is in-place method, and returns None. So assigning it to variable will give you an error.

Go for: 

import datetime

def timestamp_oldest(*args):
  plist = []
  for arg in args:
    plist.append(arg)

  plist.sort()
  return datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(plist[0])

Also you don't need timezone at the end.

C H
C H
6,587 Points
C H
C H
6,587 Points

Thank you! So simple, yet so annoying trying to figure it out.

Justo Montoya
Justo Montoya
3,799 Points
Justo Montoya
Justo Montoya
3,799 Points

thank you. I was thrown off by the asterisk on *args. I thought that it was a tupple so I would need to unpack it first before appending to a list and sorting it.