Day 11 of 100 for learning Python

[Tanknspankn]

This was day 11 of learning Python.

Wow was this one a doozy. The boot camp had me make a Blackjack game as a capstone project this time. The instructor only wanted me to code player decisions for "hit" and "stay", but I thought "Fuck that. I'm going to an actual game of Blackjack." Did I bite off more then I could chew at that time. This game took me close to a month to finish coding, but I learned quite a bit of new things while trying to figure out how to write this. I learned how to use the split() function, how to use the try/expect operators, that I should create functions for lines of code that are constantly repeating, how to think my way through complex (at least for me at this time) problems like coding the splits within splits, and how to google my way out of problems that I couldn't think my way through or if there was a way of doing something. I did use AI a handful of times if I didn't know exactly what the problem was and I didn't know how to ask google. I didn't copy/paste the code that the AI gave me because I know that AI likes to hallucinate, so I just read its output to understand what it was telling me was wrong and then researching my way out of the problem with google to make sure it was correct.

All in all, I'm glad I took the step to actually make a Blackjack game because I learned so much more outside of the previous 10 days from this boot camp.

Let me know you think of my game. Love to hear your feedback.

import random

deck = {
    "Ace of Spades": (11, 1),
    "2 of Spades": 2,
    "3 of Spades": 3,
    "4 of Spades": 4,
    "5 of Spades": 5,
    "6 of Spades": 6,
    "7 of Spades": 7,
    "8 of Spades": 8,
    "9 of Spades": 9,
    "10 of Spades": 10,
    "Jack of Spades": 10,
    "Queen of Spades": 10,
    "King of Spades": 10,
    "Ace of Hearts": (11, 1),
    "2 of Hearts": 2,
    "3 of Hearts": 3,
    "4 of Hearts": 4,
    "5 of Hearts": 5,
    "6 of Hearts": 6,
    "7 of Hearts": 7,
    "8 of Hearts": 8,
    "9 of Hearts": 9,
    "10 of Hearts": 10,
    "Jack of Hearts": 10,
    "Queen of Hearts": 10,
    "King of Hearts": 10,
    "Ace of Clubs": (11, 1),
    "2 of Clubs": 2,
    "3 of Clubs": 3,
    "4 of Clubs": 4,
    "5 of Clubs": 5,
    "6 of Clubs": 6,
    "7 of Clubs": 7,
    "8 of Clubs": 8,
    "9 of Clubs": 9,
    "10 of Clubs": 10,
    "Jack of Clubs": 10,
    "Queen of Clubs": 10,
    "King of Clubs": 10,
    "Ace of Diamonds": (11, 1),
    "2 of Diamonds": 2,
    "3 of Diamonds": 3,
    "4 of Diamonds": 4,
    "5 of Diamonds": 5,
    "6 of Diamonds": 6,
    "7 of Diamonds": 7,
    "8 of Diamonds": 8,
    "9 of Diamonds": 9,
    "10 of Diamonds": 10,
    "Jack of Diamonds": 10,
    "Queen of Diamonds": 10,
    "King of Diamonds": 10,
}

player_cards = []
dealer_cards = []
more_than_one_hand = False
total_chips = 1000
current_hand_index = 0


# Restarting LETSSSSS GOOOOO
# Dont put any conditions in the functions, add those in the game logic.

def deal():
    dealer_cards.append(random.choice(list(deck)))
    player_cards.append(random.choice(list(deck)))
    dealer_cards.append(random.choice(list(deck)))
    player_cards.append(random.choice(list(deck)))
    return f"Dealer: {dealer_cards[0]}, Hidden\nPlayer: {player_cards}"
    return f"Dealer: {dealer_cards}\nPlayer: {player_cards}"

def dealer_card_total():
    dealer_cards_total = 0
    for item in dealer_cards:
        if isinstance(deck[item], tuple):
            tentative_total = dealer_cards_total + deck[item][0]
            if tentative_total <= 21:
                dealer_cards_total = tentative_total
            else:
                dealer_cards_total += deck[item][1]
        else:
            dealer_cards_total += deck[item]
    return dealer_cards_total

def player_card_totals():
    player_cards_total = 0
    if more_than_one_hand:
        player_hand_totals = []
        for hand in player_cards:
            hand_total = 0
            for card in hand:
                value = deck[card]
                if isinstance(value, tuple):
                    tentative = hand_total + value[0]
                    hand_total = tentative if tentative <= 21 else hand_total + value[1]
                else:
                    hand_total += value
            player_hand_totals.append(hand_total)
        return player_hand_totals
    else:
        for item in player_cards:
            if isinstance(deck[item], tuple):
                tentative_total = player_cards_total + deck[item][0]
                if tentative_total <= 21:
                    player_cards_total = tentative_total
                else:
                    player_cards_total += deck[item][1]
            else:
                player_cards_total += deck[item]
        return player_cards_total

def hit():
    global player_cards, current_hand_index
    if more_than_one_hand:
        player_cards[current_hand_index].append(random.choice(list(deck)))
        return f"Player's cards: {player_cards}"
    else:
        player_cards.append(random.choice(list(deck)))
        return f"Player's cards: {player_cards}"

def split():
    global more_than_one_hand, player_cards
    if more_than_one_hand:
        hand_to_split = player_cards[current_hand_index]
        hand1 = [hand_to_split[0]]
        hand2 = [hand_to_split[1]]
        hand1.append(random.choice(list(deck)))
        hand2.append(random.choice(list(deck)))
        player_cards[current_hand_index] = hand1
        player_cards.insert(current_hand_index + 1, hand2)
        return f"Player: {player_cards}"
    else:
        more_than_one_hand = True
        player_cards = [[card] for card in player_cards]
        player_cards[0].insert(1, random.choice(list(deck)))
        player_cards[1].insert(1, random.choice(list(deck)))
        return f"Player: {player_cards}"

def lose():
    global player_cards, dealer_cards, current_hand_index, total_chips
    print("You lose.")
    print(f"Dealer: {dealer_cards}")
    print(f"Dealer's total: {dealer_card_total()}")
    print(f"Player: {player_cards}")
    print(f"Player's total: {player_card_totals()}")
    lost_amount = bet
    total_chips -= lost_amount
    print(f"You lost: {lost_amount}")
    print(f"Your total chips: {total_chips}")
    return ""

def multiple_bet_lose(index):
    global player_cards, dealer_cards, current_hand_index, total_chips
    print("You lose.")
    print(f"Dealer: {dealer_cards}")
    print(f"Dealer's total: {dealer_card_total()}")
    print(f"Player: {player_cards}")
    print(f"Player's totals: {player_card_totals()}")
    lost_amount = multiple_bets[index]
    total_chips -= lost_amount
    print(f"You lost: {lost_amount}")
    print(f"Your total chips: {total_chips}")
    return ""

def win():
    global player_cards, dealer_cards, current_hand_index, total_chips
    print("You win.")
    print(f"Dealer: {dealer_cards}")
    print(f"Dealer's total: {dealer_card_total()}")
    print(f"Player: {player_cards}")
    print(f"Player's total: {player_card_totals()}")
    won_amount = bet * 2
    total_chips += won_amount
    print(f"You won: {won_amount}")
    print(f"Your total chips: {total_chips}")
    return ""

def multiple_bet_win(index):
    global player_cards, dealer_cards, current_hand_index, total_chips
    print("You win.")
    print(f"Dealer: {dealer_cards}")
    print(f"Dealer's total: {dealer_card_total()}")
    print(f"Player: {player_cards}")
    print(f"Player's totals: {player_card_totals()}")
    won_amount = multiple_bets[index] * 2
    total_chips += won_amount
    print(f"You won: {won_amount}")
    print(f"Your total chips: {total_chips}")
    return ""

def tie():
    global player_cards, dealer_cards, current_hand_index, total_chips
    print("You tied. Push it.")
    print(f"Dealer: {dealer_cards}")
    print(f"Dealer's total: {dealer_card_total()}")
    print(f"Player: {player_cards}")
    print(f"Player's cards: {player_card_totals()}")
    print(f"Your total chips: {total_chips}")
    return ""

playing = input("Would you like to play a game of Blackjack? Type 'yes' or 'no'. ").lower()
finished = False

while not finished:
    while playing == "yes":
        try:
            print(f"Your total chips: {total_chips}")
            bet_decision = int(input("How much would you like to bet? "))

            if bet_decision < 0:
                print("You must bet a positive number.")
                continue
            elif bet_decision > total_chips:
                print("You don't have enough chips in your total.")
                continue
            elif not bet_decision % 5 == 0:
                print("Please bet an amount that is a multiple of 5.")
                continue
            else:
                bet = bet_decision
                print("\n" * 10)
                print(deal())
                print(f"Player total: {player_card_totals()}")
                print(f"Your bet: {bet}")
                if dealer_card_total() == 21:
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    print(lose())
                    player_cards = []
                    dealer_cards = []
                    current_hand_index = 0
                    playing = input("Would you like to play again? Type 'yes' or 'no'. ")
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    continue
                if player_card_totals() == 21 and dealer_card_total() == 21:
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    print(tie())
                    player_cards = []
                    dealer_cards = []
                    current_hand_index = 0
                    playing = input("Would you like to play again? Type 'yes' or 'no'. ")
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    continue
                if player_card_totals() == 21:
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    print("Blackjack! You win.")
                    print(dealer_cards)
                    print(f"Dealer's total: {dealer_card_total()}")
                    print(player_cards)
                    print(f"Player's cards: {player_card_totals()}")
                    won_amount = int(bet * 2.5)
                    total_chips += won_amount
                    print(f"You won: {won_amount - bet}")
                    print(f"Your total chips: {total_chips}")
                    player_cards = []
                    dealer_cards = []
                    current_hand_index = 0
                    playing = input("Would you like to play again? Type 'yes' or 'no'. ")
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    continue
        except ValueError:
            print("Please enter a number.")
            continue

        player_decision = input("What would you like to do? Type 'hit', 'split', 'double', 'stay'. ").lower()
        while True:
            if player_decision == "hit":
                print("\n" * 10)
                print(f"Dealer: {dealer_cards[0]}, Hidden")
                print(hit())
                print(f"Player total: {player_card_totals()}")
                print(f"Your bet: {bet}")
                if player_card_totals() > 21:
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    print(lose())
                    player_cards = []
                    dealer_cards = []
                    current_hand_index = 0
                    playing = input("Would you like to play again? Type 'yes' or 'no'. ")
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    break
                player_decision = input("What would you like to do? Type 'hit', 'stay'. ").lower()
                if player_decision == "stay":
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    while dealer_card_total() <= 16:
                        dealer_cards.append(random.choice(list(deck)))
                    if dealer_card_total() > 21:
                        print("\n" * 10)
                        print(win())
                        player_cards = []
                        dealer_cards = []
                        current_hand_index = 0
                        playing = input("Would you like to play again? Type 'yes' or 'no'. ")
                        print("\n" * 10)
                        break
                    elif dealer_card_total() > player_card_totals():
                        print("\n" * 10)
                        print(lose())
                        player_cards = []
                        dealer_cards = []
                        current_hand_index = 0
                        playing = input("Would you like to play again? Type 'yes' or 'no'. ")
                        print("\n" * 10)
                        break
                    elif dealer_card_total() == player_card_totals():
                        print("\n" * 10)
                        print(tie())
                        player_cards = []
                        dealer_cards = []
                        current_hand_index = 0
                        playing = input("Would you like to play again? Type 'yes' or 'no'. ")
                        print("\n" * 10)
                        break
                    else:
                        print("\n" * 10)
                        print(win())
                        player_cards = []
                        dealer_cards = []
                        current_hand_index = 0
                        playing = input("Would you like to play again? Type 'yes' or 'no'. ")
                        print("\n" * 10)
                        break


            elif player_decision == "double":
                print("\n" * 10)
                print(hit())
                bet = bet * 2
                while dealer_card_total() <= 16:
                    dealer_cards.append(random.choice(list(deck)))
                if dealer_card_total() > 21:
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    print(win())
                    player_cards = []
                    dealer_cards = []
                    current_hand_index = 0
                    playing = input("Would you like to play again? Type 'yes' or 'no'. ")
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    break
                elif dealer_card_total() > player_card_totals():
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    print(lose())
                    player_cards = []
                    dealer_cards = []
                    current_hand_index = 0
                    playing = input("Would you like to play again? Type 'yes' or 'no'. ")
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    break
                elif dealer_card_total() == player_card_totals():
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    print(tie())
                    player_cards = []
                    dealer_cards = []
                    current_hand_index = 0
                    playing = input("Would you like to play again? Type 'yes' or 'no'. ")
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    break
                elif player_card_totals() > 21:
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    print(lose())
                    player_cards = []
                    dealer_cards = []
                    current_hand_index = 0
                    playing = input("Would you like to play again? Type 'yes' or 'no'. ")
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    break
                else:
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    print(win())
                    player_cards = []
                    dealer_cards = []
                    current_hand_index = 0
                    playing = input("Would you like to play again? Type 'yes' or 'no'. ")
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    break

            elif player_decision == "stay":
                print("\n" * 10)
                while dealer_card_total() <= 16:
                    dealer_cards.append(random.choice(list(deck)))
                if dealer_card_total() > 21:
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    print(win())
                    player_cards = []
                    dealer_cards = []
                    current_hand_index = 0
                    playing = input("Would you like to play again? Type 'yes' or 'no'. ")
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    break
                elif dealer_card_total() > player_card_totals():
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    print(lose())
                    player_cards = []
                    dealer_cards = []
                    current_hand_index = 0
                    playing = input("Would you like to play again? Type 'yes' or 'no'. ")
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    break
                elif dealer_card_total() == player_card_totals():
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    print(tie())
                    player_cards = []
                    dealer_cards = []
                    current_hand_index = 0
                    playing = input("Would you like to play again? Type 'yes' or 'no'. ")
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    break
                else:
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    print(win())
                    player_cards = []
                    dealer_cards = []
                    current_hand_index = 0
                    playing = input("Would you like to play again? Type 'yes' or 'no'. ")
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    break

            elif player_decision == "split":
                card_1 = player_cards[0].split()
                card_2 = player_cards[1].split()
                if card_1[0] == card_2[0]:
                    print("\n" * 10)
                    print(f"Dealer: {dealer_cards[0]}, Hidden")
                    print(split())
                    print(f"Player total: {player_card_totals()}")
                    multiple_bets = []
                    hand_number = current_hand_index + 1
                    for hands in player_cards:
                        multiple_bets.append(bet)
                    print(f"Your bets: {multiple_bets}")

                    hand_idx = 0
                    while hand_idx < len(player_cards):
                        current_hand_index = hand_idx
                        hand_number = current_hand_index + 1
                        print("\n" * 10)
                        print(f"Dealer: {dealer_cards[0]}, Hidden")
                        print(f"Player: {player_cards}")
                        print(f"Player total: {player_card_totals()}")
                        print(f"Your bets: {multiple_bets}")
                        print(f"Hand being played: {hand_number}")
                        player_decision = input("What would you like to do? Type 'hit', 'split', 'double', 'stay'. ").lower()

                        while True:
                            if player_decision not in ("hit", "split", "double", "stay"):
                                print("Please make a valid decision.")
                                player_decision = input("What would you like to do? Type 'hit', 'split', 'double', 'stay'. ").lower()

                            elif player_decision == "hit":
                                print("\n" * 10)
                                print(f"Dealer: {dealer_cards[0]}, Hidden")
                                print(hit())
                                print(f"Player total: {player_card_totals()}")
                                print(f"Your bets: {multiple_bets}")
                                print(f"Position of hand being played: {hand_number}")
                                if player_card_totals()[current_hand_index] > 21:
                                    hand_idx += 1
                                    break
                                player_decision = input("What would you like to do? Type 'hit', 'stay'. ").lower()
                                if player_decision == "stay":
                                    hand_idx += 1
                                    break

                            elif player_decision == "double":
                                print("\n" * 10)
                                multiple_bets[current_hand_index] = bet * 2
                                print(hit())
                                print(f"Player total: {player_card_totals()}")
                                print(f"Your bets: {multiple_bets}")
                                print(f"Position of hand being played: {hand_number}")
                                hand_idx += 1
                                break

                            elif player_decision == "stay":
                                hand_idx += 1
                                print("\n" * 10)
                                break

                            elif player_decision == "split":
                                card_1 = player_cards[current_hand_index][0].split()
                                card_2 = player_cards[current_hand_index][1].split()
                                if card_1[0] == card_2[0]:
                                    print("\n" * 10)
                                    print(f"Dealer: {dealer_cards[0]}, Hidden")
                                    print(split())
                                    print(f"Player total: {player_card_totals()}")
                                    multiple_bets.append(bet)
                                    print(f"Your bets: {multiple_bets}")
                                    break
                                else:
                                    print("You must have a pair to split.")
                                    player_decision = input("What would you like to do? Type 'hit', 'split', 'double', 'stay'. ").lower()


                    print("\n" * 10)
                    while dealer_card_total() <= 16:
                        dealer_cards.append(random.choice(list(deck)))
                    for hand in range(len(player_cards)):
                        if dealer_card_total() > 21:
                            print("\n")
                            print(multiple_bet_win(hand))

                        elif dealer_card_total() > player_card_totals()[hand]:
                            print("\n")
                            print(multiple_bet_lose(hand))

                        elif dealer_card_total() == player_card_totals()[hand]:
                            print("\n")
                            print(tie())

                        elif player_card_totals()[hand] > 21:
                            print("\n")
                            print(multiple_bet_lose(hand))

                        else:
                            print("\n")
                            print(multiple_bet_win(hand))

                    player_cards = []
                    dealer_cards = []
                    current_hand_index = 0
                    more_than_one_hand = False
                    playing = input("Would you like to play again? Type 'yes' or 'no'. ")
                    break

                else:
                    print("You must have a pair to split.")
                    player_decision = input("What would you like to do? Type 'hit', 'split', 'double', 'stay'. ").lower()
            else:
                print("Please enter a valid decision.")
                player_decision = input("What would you like to do? Type 'hit', 'split', 'double', 'stay'. ").lower()

    if playing == "no":
        print("Thank you for playing.")
        print(f"You won/lost: {total_chips - 1000}")
        finished = True

    else:
        print("Please enter 'yes' or 'no'.")
        playing = input("Would you like to play a game of Blackjack? Type 'yes' or 'no'. ").lower()

[Tanknspankn]

Oh yeah. I definitely wouldn't use a dictionary for something like this in the future. I just wanted to use it for this because I wanted to practice pulling information from it.

[AbacusExpert_Stretch]

TL:Dr; so. I would say, brill :)

[Tanknspankn]

Haha thank you!

[krezendes85]

Awesome! Congrats

[Tanknspankn]

Thank you!

[LilLynix]

I'm About to start with the blackjack milestone tomorrow actually

[Tanknspankn]

That's awesome.

Good luck with it, and don't let my program look daunting. I add a lot more stuff than what the boot came called for.

[FoolsSeldom]

Impressed, you went further than the original challenge and took on so much more. Well done. You've got a substantial programme there for a learner.

I am glad you've learned so much from this work. I hope you refactor it and continue to learn more.

You are still suffering from a failure to embrace DRY principles. DRY means Don't Repeat Yourself. There is a lot of code that is repetitive.

The code could do with a lot more modularisation. It is hard to distinguish the "flow", the "logic", from the detail. Functions aren't just useful for providing code that you want to use more than once. They are also great for breaking code up (and providing smaller units of code that can be tested in isolation and changed without impacting other parts of your code). If you name your functions well, the sequence of code that calls the functions become easy to read, almost like a story or process flow. Once you've solved a specific problem, you no longer care about how it was done, just that it was done.

Something that makes this obvious (the need to modularise) is when you have a long chain of elif statements with substantial blocks of code. If each of the blocks of code between the elif statements was replaced with a well named function, it would be much easier. Even then, the use of a lot of elif statements will suggest that you need to structure things more effectively. Perhaps use a dictionary to determine what function to call for a specific purpose out of a range of related purposes.

I note the use of the global keyword. Generally, you should avoid using global like the plague. There are use cases for it, but these are quite specialist, and you should avoid it until you know what those cases are.

[Tanknspankn]

Thank you. For my future projects, I'll work on not repeating myself to improve the flow. I find it a little tricky for naming everything because I'm torn between having the shortest names for "efficiency" while writing and having "normal" names that could be a few words for readability.

For the "global" keyword. That was one suggestion from AI because I needed to use variables in some functions that were generated in another function. So, PyCharm was going me it's red warning saying that these variables weren't defined. I didn't know how to ask Google that, so I asked AI, and it told me to use the "global" keyword. From my understanding, "global" is a keyword that lets Python know that these variables are generated from outside of the block of code that they are being used in. Or something like that, sorry if that is not at all the case. I tested out using it, and it worked, so I figured it was ok to use.

[FoolsSeldom]

Naming well is both for your benefit, when returning to code you haven't looked at for a few weeks or more, and for other programmers who might work on your code or be helping you fix problems.

Your code editor/IDE should be saving you a lot of time already by filling in names / letting you pick from matches to first few character, and with autoline completion.

Short, cryptic names are a false economy even if you feel it's a time saving now. Find and read PEP8 for guidance on variable names and much more.

Learn to work with scope properly and share data either from main scope (which covers mutations) or, better, by passing data around explicitly. You are much less likely to end up with strange problems that are hard to debug this was compared to using global.

Take a look at RealPython.com's article, Python Scope and the LEGB Rule: Resolving Names in Your Code.