Update or Warn - codepath/compsci_guides GitHub Wiki

Unit 2 Session 1 (Click for link to problem statements)

Understand what the interviewer is asking for by using test cases and questions about the problem.

• Will records always be a valid dictionary?
  • Yes, but it may or may not be empty!
• Does the function need to return anything?
  • No! The problem statement does not specify a return value, just that you modify the dictionary if item is a key in the dictionary records and print "<item> not found!" if item is not a key in the dictionary records.

Plan the solution with appropriate visualizations and pseudocode.

General Idea: Check if an item is in the dict, update if so, and otherwise print a customized error message.

1) Check if the key is in the dictionary
2) If so, set the dict at key -> new value
3) Otherwise, print the name of the item and "not found!"

• When printing your error message, be sure to print the actual name of the item provided, not the literal string "<item>".

def update_or_warn(records, item, update_value):
    if item in records:
        records[item] = update_value
    else:
        print(item + " not found!")