This community-built FAQ covers the “Queues Python Introduction” exercise from the lesson “Queues: Python”.
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This exercise can be found in the following Codecademy content:
Computer Science
Linear Data Structures
FAQs on the exercise Queues Python Introduction
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Why do we used get() and set() methods instead of just getting data through node.name or node.size setting it through node.name = or node.size = ? . Going through this lesson I can substitute node.name for any node.get_name() and it doesn’t change the outcome (which makes sense since the method just returns node.name anyway). Feels like an extra step and I can’t figure out why we need it.
the extra step can be useful, for example if you have an array and you always want to return a string representation, then you can define getter to use each time, rather then using join everywhere.
these kind of abstractions become useful once your program becomes larger
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Here’s a long one…here are steps 4 and 5 :
4.
Define another method is_empty for Queue . The method should return True if the queue is empty (if the size of the queue is 0).
5.
Now we’ll make sure we aren’t attempting to peek() on an empty queue. After all, a deli server can’t get an order from a line with no customers!
At the top of your peek() method body, use get_size() to see if the queue is empty.
- if so, the method should just print “Nothing to see here!”
- if not,
peek() will perform the same as it did before
===> We just made is_empty()…why use get_size() to “see if the queue is empty” LOLOLOL???
Oh! The next section shows that your answer did use is_empty there, FWIW.
Hi there!
I’m still struggling to understand why when defining the peek() method the correct answer is:
def peek(self):
return self.head.get_value()
not the:
def peek(self):
return head.get_value()
Because we have already stated in the __init__ that self.head = head. Why we have to repeat self.head again in the def peek(self) instead of using just head.
Any hints will be much appreciated!
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scope rules. self is the current class instance. That is why we setup instance variables __init__ method.
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Yes, sure! You’re totally right! Thanks for reminding about self
The way I look at it is:
self.head // Refers to the Node that is at the head of the queue
.get_value() // Gets the value from that Node.
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The text says: “peek() which will allow us to view the value of head of the queue without returning it”
Shouldn’t it be “removing it” instead of “returning it”?
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