FAQ: Heaps: Python - Min-Heaps of Fun

Frequently Asked Questions Python FAQ
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This community-built FAQ covers the “Min-Heaps of Fun” exercise from the lesson “Heaps: Python”.

Paths and Courses
This exercise can be found in the following Codecademy content:

Computer Science

Complex Data Structures

FAQs on the exercise Min-Heaps of Fun

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In the section where we learned the concept of heap, left_child_index is defined as (index * 2) + 1. In the code given in min_heap.py its given by idx * 2. Could someone help clarify this for me? I’m scratching my head over it. Thanks in advance :slight_smile:

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Yeah I agree, I’m confused by it too - can anyone help?

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Normally the root node would be at index[0] of your list, but:

print(heap.heap_list)
#        [None, 10, 13, 21, 61, 22, 23, 99]

We created our heap with the value of None in index[0] rather than an empty list. I believe this was in order to skip over some steps like checking if the list is empty when adding the first value…

This means all of our indices are already shifted to the right by +1. So the + 1 in (index * 2) + 1 is already baked into how the list was created.

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5

In the example showing adding and removing of random numbers the array starts with None. Is this just a place holder, does it count towards an index? The trees look like they ignore it so I am not sure how it works.