Python exercise 12: find the hidden ball

Question

• Create a function that returns the letter position where the ball final position is once the swapping is finish.

description

• There are three cups on a table, at positions A, B, and C. At the start, there is a ball hidden under the cup at position B.

• There will be several swap perform, represented by two letters.
• For example, if I swap the cups at positions A and B, this can be represented as AB or BA.

Examples

cup_swapping(["AB", "CA"]) ➞ "C"

cup_swapping(["AC", "CA", "CA", "AC"]) ➞ "B"

cup_swapping(["BA", "AC", "CA", "BC"]) ➞ "A"

My solution

• 1. initialise a current position "B"
• 2. iterate over the list of swap combination
  • 2.1 iterate over each swap combination
• 3. check the ball have been swap
  • 3.1 if current position is exist in the swap combination, it is swapped
  • 3.2 update the current position
  • 3.2.1 if current_position equals to the first letter
  • 3.2.2 then final letter is the current position
  • 3.3.1 if current_position not equal the first letter
  • 3.3.2 then first letter is the current position
• 4. print the final position

def cup_swapping(swaps):  
    current_position = "B"  
    for move in swaps:  
        if current_position in move:  
            if current_position == move[0]:  
                current_position = move[1]  
            else:  
                current_position = move[0]  
    return current_position 

Solution by others

Method 1

• shorten version of my answer

def cup_swapping(swaps):  
    current_position = "B"  
    for move in swaps:  
        if current_position in move:  
            current_position = move[1] if move[0] == current_position else move[0]  
    return current_position

Method 2

def cup_swapping(swaps, current_position="B"):  
    for move in swaps:  
        current_position = move.replace(current_position, "") if current_position in move else current_position  
    return current_position

• key point
• iterate over each swap
  • in the swap, there is two letter
  • if the current position appear in the swap, replace that letter with empty string
    • i.e. replace "AB" to "A" if current position is "A"
    • and also update the current position to the remaining single letter
  • if the current position do not appear in the swap, keep the current position

My reflection

• It is a good feeling to solve a problem without hint. First I got stuck when just write the code, then I try to solve the question by writing the algorithm down, it sudden feel much easier to think. Thus, I will make the habit the write down the algorithm first rather coding at first. Beside, I learn new way to shorten the if else statement

Credit

challenge found on edabit