"Initializing" variables in python?

Question

Even though initializing variables in python is not necessary, my professor still wants us to do it for practice. I wrote my program and it worked fine, but after I tried to initialize some of the variables I got an error message when I tried to run it. Here is the first part of my program:

def main():

    grade_1, grade_2, grade_3, average = 0.0
    year = 0

    fName, lName, ID, converted_ID = ""
    infile = open("studentinfo.txt", "r")
    data = infile.read()
    fName, lName, ID, year = data.split(",")
    year = int(year)

    # Prompt the user for three test scores

    grades = eval(input("Enter the three test scores separated by a comma: "))

    # Create a username

    uName = (lName[:4] + fName[:2] + str(year)).lower()
    converted_id = ID[:3] + "-" + ID[3:5] + "-" + ID[5:]
    grade_1, grade_2, grade_3 = grades

The error message:

grade_1, grade_2, grade_3, average = 0.0

TypeError: 'float' object is not iterable

Answer 1

I know you have already accepted another answer, but I think the broader issue needs to addressed - programming style that is suitable to the current language.

Yes, 'initialization' isn't needed in Python, but what you are doing isn't initialization. It is just an incomplete and erroneous imitation of initialization as practiced in other languages. The important thing about initialization in static typed languages is that you specify the nature of the variables.

In Python, as in other languages, you do need to give variables values before you use them. But giving them values at the start of the function isn't important, and even wrong if the values you give have nothing to do with values they receive later. That isn't 'initialization', it's 'reuse'.

I'll make some notes and corrections to your code:

def main():
   # doc to define the function
   # proper Python indentation
   # document significant variables, especially inputs and outputs
   # grade_1, grade_2, grade_3, average - id these
   # year - id this
   # fName, lName, ID, converted_ID 

   infile = open("studentinfo.txt", "r") 
   # you didn't 'intialize' this variable

   data = infile.read()  
   # nor this  

   fName, lName, ID, year = data.split(",")
   # this will produce an error if the file does not have the right number of strings
   # 'year' is now a string, even though you 'initialized' it as 0

   year = int(year)
   # now 'year' is an integer
   # a language that requires initialization would have raised an error
   # over this switch in type of this variable.

   # Prompt the user for three test scores
   grades = eval(input("Enter the three test scores separated by a comma: "))
   # 'eval' ouch!
   # you could have handled the input just like you did the file input.

   grade_1, grade_2, grade_3 = grades   
   # this would work only if the user gave you an 'iterable' with 3 values
   # eval() doesn't ensure that it is an iterable
   # and it does not ensure that the values are numbers. 
   # What would happen with this user input: "'one','two','three',4"?

   # Create a username 
   uName = (lName[:4] + fName[:2] + str(year)).lower()

   converted_id = ID[:3] + "-" + ID[3:5] + "-" + ID[5:]
   # earlier you 'initialized' converted_ID
   # initialization in a static typed language would have caught this typo
   # pseudo-initialization in Python does not catch typos
   ....

Answer 2

There are several ways to assign the equal variables.

The easiest one:

grade_1 = grade_2 = grade_3 = average = 0.0

With unpacking:

grade_1, grade_2, grade_3, average = 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0

With list comprehension and unpacking:

>>> grade_1, grade_2, grade_3, average = [0.0 for _ in range(4)]
>>> print(grade_1, grade_2, grade_3, average)
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0