food chain exercise

python/food-chain/food_chain.py

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+intro = "I know an old lady who swallowed a {}."
+intro_addendums = [
+    "It wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her.",
+    "How absurd to swallow a bird!",
+    "Imagine that, to swallow a cat!",
+    "What a hog, to swallow a dog!",
+    "Just opened her throat and swallowed a goat!",
+    "I don't know how she swallowed a cow!"
+]
+names = [
+    "fly",
+    "spider",
+    "bird",
+    "cat",
+    "dog",
+    "goat",
+    "cow",
+    "horse"
+]
+
+middle = "She swallowed the {} to catch the {}."
+outro = "I don't know why she swallowed the fly. Perhaps she'll die."
+last = "She\'s dead, of course!"
+special_middle = "that wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her"
+
+# Just does the math for constructing single and multiple verses. I realized only halfway through that
+# everything was going to be in lists, so I just used split, which honestly is easier than needing some kind of flattening
+# or list extending setup to get the lists to be in proper order
+def recite(start_verse, end_verse):
+    if start_verse == end_verse:
+        return construct(start_verse - 1).split('\n')
+    return '\n\n'.join(construct(verse) for verse in range(start_verse - 1, end_verse)).split('\n')
+
+# Constructs a specific verse
+def construct(verse):
+    # Constructs the middle part. Only the spider verse makes this function required.
+    def makemiddle(versen):
+        # Special spider inner verse
+        if versen == 2:
+            return middle.format(names[versen], names[versen-1] + ' ' + special_middle)
+        return middle.format(names[versen], names[versen-1])
+    # Horse verse
+    if verse == 7:
+        return "{}\n{}".format(intro.format(names[verse]), last)
+    # Constructs the intoduction of a verse
+    constructed_intro = '{}{}'.format(
+        intro.format(names[verse]),
+        '\n' + intro_addendums[verse-1] if verse > 0 else ''
+    )
+    # Constructs the middle verse using make middle
+    constructed_middle = '\n'.join([''] + [makemiddle(versen) for versen in range(verse, 0, -1)]) if verse >= 1 else ''
+    # Finally constructs the entire properly.
+    return "{}{}{}".format(constructed_intro, constructed_middle, '\n' + outro)