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Python Python Collections (2016, retired 2019) Slices Back and Forth

Posted by Audie Friloux
Audie Friloux
816 Points

error in interface

this interface is buggie

slices.py 
favorite_things = ['raindrops on roses', 'whiskers on kittens', 'bright copper kettles',
                   'warm woolen mittens', 'bright paper packages tied up with string',
                   'cream colored ponies', 'crisp apple strudels']
slice1=favorite_things[1:4]
slice2=favorite_things[5:]
sorted_things=favorite_things
sorted_things.sort()

1 Answer

Kurt Maurer
Kurt Maurer
16,725 Points
Kurt Maurer
Kurt Maurer
16,725 Points

Hey Audie,

In your code, you are actually renaming favorite_things to sorted_things, not making a copy. In order to make a copy using slices, add [:] to the end of favorite_things (like this: favorite_things[:]) when you define sorted_things. Hope this helps!

EDIT: To correct what I said, after playing around with it a bit, you're assigning a new variable that points to the same location in memory, so you're not actually making a copy. Hopefully that clarifies the difference a little better!

I ran this code to test this:

listy=[1, 2, 3, 4]
listy1 = listy
listies = listy[:]
print(listy1 is listy)
>>> True
print(listy is listies)
>>> False