STEP 2 FOR LOOP INFO:
Q: why do i need the range function in "for position in range(word_length):" but not in "for _ in chosen_word:"
ANS: In Python, the for loop can be used in different ways depending on the situation.
In the line for _ in chosen_word:, it is a simplified form of a for loop where you iterate over the elements of chosen_word, but you don't need the index. The variable _ is commonly used as a placeholder for a variable that you don't intend to use in the loop body. This is often seen when you only care about the elements and not their indices.
In the line for position in range(word_length):, you use range(word_length) to generate a sequence of numbers (0 to word_length - 1) that represent the indices of the characters in chosen_word. This is useful when you need to access both the index and the corresponding element in the loop body. In this case, you are using position to represent the index.
So, the difference lies in whether you need to work with the indices (range(word_length)) or just the elements (chosen_word). In the first loop, you don't need the indices, and in the second loop, you do.
Indices:
An index is a numerical value that represents the position of an element in a sequence. Indices are used to access or refer to specific elements within the sequence. Indices in Python are zero-based, meaning the first element has an index of 0, the second has an index of 1, and so on. You use indices when you want to pinpoint a specific location within the sequence.
Elements:
An element is an individual item within a sequence (like a character in a string or an item in a list). Elements are the actual data values stored in the sequence. When you iterate over a sequence, you are moving through its elements one by one. You use elements when you want to work with the data values stored in the sequence, regardless of their position.
my_list = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]
print(my_list[2]) # Output: 30
for element in my_list: print(element)
In the first case (my_list[2]), we used the index (2) to access the element at that position. In the loop, we used the variable element to iterate over each element in the list without directly dealing with indices.