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Python Python Basics Functions and Looping Raising Exceptions

Jolly Mongia
Jolly Mongia
828 Points
Posted by Jolly Mongia
Jolly Mongia
828 Points

At time stamp 2:47 we move the amount statement to try block. Could you please explain why so ?

We are moving the amount = split_check(total_due,number_of_people) to try block why are we doing so? because when we enter 0 for number_of_people, it is showinf the ValueError("More than one person is required to split the check") error message, then why are we moving that statement to try block?

2 Answers

Alexander Davison
Alexander Davison
65,469 Points
Alexander Davison
Alexander Davison
65,469 Points

You don't have to use exceptions and error handling to write this program, but some programmers like to intentionally raise errors so that they can catch it later. It is a more advanced programming technique, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. I generally don't use error raising/catching too much because it can lead to confusion in the program flow, kind of like using GOTO in BASIC.

wendy liong
wendy liong
873 Points
wendy liong
wendy liong
873 Points

we put it inside the try block because we want to catch the exception as one.

if we had left it in its original place at the "else:" block, we would have produced this: Traceback (most recent call last): File "check_please.py", line 17, in <module> amount_due = split_check(total_due, number_of_people) File "check_please.py", line 5, in split_check raise ValueError("More than 1 person is required to split the check") ValueError: More than 1 person is required to split the check

which is messy and too much information for the user.. as opposed to this:

What is the total? 20 How many people? -1 Oh no! That's not a valid value. Try again... (More than 1 person is required to split the check)