data structure list class in python

Question

I am working on a data structure list class in python. I would like to get the largest item in the list.

 inlist = self.data
 if inlist[0] > inlist[1]:
 largest = inlist[0]
 else:
 largest = inlist[1]
 for item in inlist[2]:
 if item > largest:
 largest = item
 return largest

With the above getting stuck at largest gets returns

<bound method ListData.largest2 of <list.ListData instance at 0x2b35602c3440>>

while the data

[2, 5]

• Colleen: um, yeah, your list is only 2 items long, there is no inlist[2]
• Torxed: i guess you're trying to avoid using already built in functions? max(self.data) ?
• BenDundee: Can you post a screenshot of the output you're getting? You normally see things like <blah hex-code for memory address> when you forget something silly, like forgetting the trailing parenthesis in a function that takes zero arguments.
• abarnert: You need to explain what your structure looks like. You're trying to iterate over the third item in self.data, so clearly you're expecting that to be a list or other iterable. So... what is it a list or iterable of? For example, is your structure in self.data something like (len, capacity, [item0, item1, ...])? Ideally, give us the actual class definition (stripped down to just enough to run a test that shows the problem), either posted here or somewhere like pastebin.com.
• bobsr: when i print out listdata.data it returns : [2, 5]

Answer 1

Trust the loop to get all the indicies rather than specifying them yourself.

if len(self.data) == 0:
 return None
result = self.data[0]
for item in self.data:
 if item > result:
 result = item
return result

that for loop is going through all your data. Trying to coerce an index got you into trouble.

• bobsr: it still returns <bound method ListData.largest3 of <list.ListData instance at 0x2adc79695ef0>> <bound method ListData.largest4 of <list.ListData instance at 0x2adc79695ef0>>
• Mel Nicholson: Sounds like self.data isn't an array of numerics. What did you put in self.data?
• bobsr: def data(self): return self.data
• Mel Nicholson: doh! Change the word "largest" to "temp" wherever it occurs. I bet you defined and used largest as something else in a different part of your code.
• Mel Nicholson: I suspect you have (another) problem in the code not included here. Likely culprits include bad indentation on your def myFunction: line

Answer 2

You can use the build in max() function.

mylist = [2, 5]
mymax = max(mylist)

• bobsr: <bound method ListData.largest5 of <list.ListData instance at 0x2adc79695ef0>>