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Python Python Collections (2016, retired 2019) Dictionaries Word Count

Posted by alekseibingham
alekseibingham
4,491 Points

Not understanding code 100%, Just need some minor clarification :)

The following code solved a code challenge, I get it for the most part as i got help from others. But what i dont understand is the usage for "count", and the else: Word_dict[letter] = 1, is that just keeping it as is, if so, why have it there. Anyone who can go through the code and explain it would be a great help!!!

def word_count(string):

    new_string = string.lower()
    wordlist = new_string.split()
    count = 0
    word_dict = {}

    for letter in wordlist:
        if letter in word_dict:
            count += 1
            word_dict[letter] += 1
        else:
            word_dict[letter] = 1
    return word_dict

1 Answer

Ismail KOÇ
Ismail KOÇ
1,748 Points
Ismail KOÇ
Ismail KOÇ
1,748 Points

new_string value not used in for loop so: 

    new_string = string.lower()
    wordlist = new_string.split()
    count = 0
    word_dict = {}

    for letter in wordlist:
# easy way:
    word_dict = {}
    for letter in string.lower().split():

and you do not need count value. In summary we can write this:

def word_count(string):
    word_dict = {}
    for a in string.lower().split():
        if a in word_dict:
            word_dict[a] += 1
        else:
            word_dict[a] = 1
    return word_dict