Calculator with multiple inputs to add up

Question

Can someone look over my code and clean it up?

I am trying to make a calculator with multiple inputs to add up. This is a snippet of the code that just needs to be cleaned up and shortened and I am relatively new to python so if anyone wants to clean this up thank you.

#functions
def x():
 #needed for the the loop later
 x.x = int(input("Type how many numbers you would like to add up: "))
 x.xCON = int(input("Please confirm by typing the same number: "))
#welcome to the code
print("Would you like to add up lots of numbers?")
print("If so you came to the right place")
#neaten up
print("________________________________________________")
#run function
x()
#cheack if the numbers are the same if not they have to retype them
if x.x == x.xCON:
 #neaten up
 print("____________________________________")
 #setting veriables for the loops and the list of the numbers
 i = 0
 nums = []
 #while i is not = to the input number(x.x) do the loop
 while i != x.x:
 #asks for the numbers to be added up
 INTnum = float(input("Write the numbers to be added up: "))
 #adds the numbers to the list
 nums.append(INTnum)
 #updates the veriable cheacking how many times the code has been ran
 i+=1
 #creating new veriables for the next loop
 index = 0
 ans = 0
 #while indxex is not = to the amount to numbers in the list run the code
 while index != len(nums):
 #veriable nums is now set as the lists index of the veriable index
 num = nums[index]
 #the ans veriable is eqal to itself + the number that was recorded from the idex
 ans = ans + num
 #moves the number along one everytime the code is run
 index+=1
 #gives the rueult of the sum
 print("\nThe sum of the numbers is", ans)
 #neaten up
 print("____________________________________________________")
#what happens if the numbers are not the same sending the bacn to the x() function 
else:
 print("The numbers were not the same.")
 x()
#end of the code
print("\nThank you for using the calculator")

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Answer 1

Your x function has a few notable things:

• x is a very poor name. It doesn't give any hints as to what the function is supposed to do. The name of your function should let the reader of your code know what its purpose is. Something like get_user_input would be much better.

• You're associating data with the function object itself; essentially creating static variables. This is not a good idea though. This means that this function can only be called once before you overwrite the previous entered data. In your case here, that may not be a big deal, but it is not a good habit to get into. This will significantly complicate code later when you have functions that you're calling in multiple places in your code. Return the results instead.

• You're having the user enter a confirmation, but then you're checking that they match outside of the function. Just check inside the function and loop until they match.

After fixing up those points, I have:

def get_user_input():
 while True:
 n_numbers = int(input("Type how many numbers you would like to add up: "))
 confirmation = int(input("Please confirm by typing the same number: "))
 if n_numbers == confirmation:
 return n_numbers
 else:
 print("The numbers were not the same.")

They you can get rid of the else case at the bottom of your code. You'd then use this function like:

n_numbers = get_user_input()

And use n_numbers instead of x.x.

---

You don't do any error handling anywhere. I find it odd that in your code, you require confirmation to ensure the user didn't typo the number they entered, but you aren't protecting against them typing in nonsensical input (like hello). If the user types a non-number, you'll get a ValueError that will crash your program. You may want to consider wrapping calls to int and float in a try/except to ensure that your program won't crash.

---

This loop:

nums = []
while i != n_numbers:
 INTnum = float(input("Write the numbers to be added up: "))
 nums.append(INTnum)
 i+=1

Can be cleaned up by using a range:

nums = []
for _ in range(n_numbers):
 INTnum = float(input("Write the numbers to be added up: "))
 nums.append(INTnum)

Now you don't need to manually handle i. This can be further cleaned up by using a list comprehension:

nums = [float(input("Write the numbers to be added up: "))
 for _ in range(n_numbers)]

Whenever you find yourself manually handling loop indices like you were with i, there's likely a better way that handles the looping for you.

The same can be said for this loop:

while index != len(nums):
 num = nums[index]
 ans = ans + num
 index+=1

Note how you never need index except to access nums. Just loop over nums directly:

for num in nums:
 ans += num # The same as "ans = ans + num"

If you need to loop over a list, just loop over the list directly.

Really though, that's just sum:

ans = sum(nums)

---

Your comments aren't a good use of commenting. A lot of them are simply restating what the code itself says:

#the ans veriable is eqal to itself + the number that was recorded from the idex
ans = ans + num
. . .
#creating new veriables for the next loop
index = 0

If something is already self-explanatory, don't simply restate that in a comment. Your code reads like you're under the impression that every line of code requires a comment, but this isn't true. Ideally, your code itself should be all the explanation the reader needs, but if more explanation is required, note why the code is unreadable or why it's behaving as it is. When half your code is comments that just restate the code, it detracts from the important part: the code.