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sarah’s times

Code Magnets Solution

Let’s look at the code to implement the strategy outlined earlier. For now, let’s concentrate on
Sarah’s data.
You were to rearrange the code magnets at the bottom of the previous page to implement the list
processing required to extract and process Sarah’s three fastest times from Coach Kelly’s raw data.

def sanitize(time_string):
if '-' in time_string:
splitter = '-'
elif ':' in time_string:
splitter = ':'
else:
return(time_string)
(mins, secs) = time_string.split(splitter)
return(mins + '.' + secs)

def get_coach_data(filename):
try:
with open(filename) as f:
data = f.readline()
return(data.strip().split(','))
except IOError as ioerr: Use the function to turn
print('File error: ' + str(ioerr)) Sarah’s data file into a list,
and then assign it to the
return(None)
“sarah” variable.

sarah = get_coach_data('sarah2.txt')

(sarah_name, sarah_dob) = sarah.pop(0), sarah.pop(0)

The “pop(0)” call print(sarah_name + "'s fastest times are: " +
returns and
removes data from str(sorted(set([sanitize(t) for t in sarah]))[0:3]))
the front of a
list.. Two calls to
A custom message within
“pop(0)” remove the call to “print()” is used
the first two data to display the results you’re
values and assigns after.
them to the named
variables.

176 Chapter 6