Another Recursion in Python Functional Python Question

Question

I do get this code to work and to get the courses. But, I apparently need them in some order, but this is set. Can some help me, please? Already spent like half day on this XD. The output I get resembles these: {'Setting Up a Local Python Environment', 'Object-Oriented Python', 'Django Basics', 'Flask Basics', 'Python Collections', 'Python Basics'} or {'Object-Oriented Python', 'Python Collections', 'Python Basics', 'Flask Basics', 'Setting Up a Local Python Environment', 'Django Basics'}

courses.py

courses = {'count': 2,
           'title': 'Django Basics',
           'prereqs': [{'count': 3,
                     'title': 'Object-Oriented Python',
                     'prereqs': [{'count': 1,
                               'title': 'Python Collections',
                               'prereqs': [{'count':0,
                                         'title': 'Python Basics',
                                         'prereqs': []}]},
                              {'count': 0,
                               'title': 'Python Basics',
                               'prereqs': []},
                              {'count': 0,
                               'title': 'Setting Up a Local Python Environment',
                               'prereqs': []}]},
                     {'count': 0,
                      'title': 'Flask Basics',
                      'prereqs': []}]}


def prereqs(data, pres=None):

    pres = pres or set()
    if type(data) == dict:
        pres.add(data['title'])
        prereqs(data['prereqs'], pres)

    if type(data) == list:
        for dict_item in data:            
            prereqs(dict_item['prereqs'], pres)
            pres.add(dict_item['title'])
    return pres

Answer 1 · 2021-08-05T19:37:01Z

August 5, 2021 7:37pm

Hey Abner Rivera, this is a hard challenge. I approach challenges that might have a recursive solution by first looking for the elements in the data that have the same structure as the whole data set. Much like fractal pictures have elements that look like the larger whole.

In the courses data, the repeated element appears to be a dict of the form:

{'count': int,
 'title': str,
 'prereqs': dict}

Marking this pattern in the courses data below with Capital letters:

courses = {'count': 2,                                                             A
           'title': 'Django Basics',                                               A
           'prereqs': [{'count': 3,                                                A   B
                     'title': 'Object-Oriented Python',                            A   B
                     'prereqs': [{'count': 1,                                      A   B   D
                               'title': 'Python Collections',                      A   B   D
                               'prereqs': [{'count':0,                             A   B   D
                                         'title': 'Python Basics',                 A   B   D
                                         'prereqs': []}]},                         A   B   D
                              {'count': 0,                                         A   B   E
                               'title': 'Python Basics',                           A   B   E
                               'prereqs': []},                                     A   B   E
                              {'count': 0,                                         A   B   F
                               'title': 'Setting Up a Local Python Environment',   A   B   F
                               'prereqs': []}]},                                   A   B   F
                     {'count': 0,                                                  A   C
                      'title': 'Flask Basics',                                     A   C
                      'prereqs': []}]}                                             A   C

You might think that recursion might be:

grab title
recurse on dicts found in "prereqs"

But this has the side effect of capturing the top title which we do not want.

Instead, try the pattern:

look for "prereqs"
for each dict in "prereqs"
- grab "title"
- recurse on any dicts found in the contained "prereq"

Be sure to pres.add() or pres.update() as needed, and return pres at the end of the function.

The flow would then go as follows:

Parsing courses (top level A)
- find prereqs (B, C)
- Grab B title
- Recurse on B prereqs
  - find prereqs (D, E, F)
  - Grab D title
  - Recurse on D prereqs
    - find empty prereqs
    - return empty pres
  - Grab E title
  - Recurse on E prereqs
    - find empty prereqs
    - return empty pres
  - Grab F title
  - Recurse on F prereqs
    - find empty prereqs
    - return empty pres
- Grab C title
- Recurse on C prereqs
  - find empty prereqs
  - return empty pres

Post back if you need more help. Good luck!!

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