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Making decisions with code style

if statements

Susan Ibach | Technical Evangelist

Christopher Harrison | Content Developer
Every day we are faced with decisions

• Should I drive or take the bus?

• Should I cook at home or go out for dinner?
• Which laptop should I buy?
The choice we make depends on different
conditions
• Should I drive or take the bus?
– Am I late? What’s the price of gas?
• Should I cook at home or go out for dinner?
– Do I have any food at home? Do I have enough money to
go out?
• Which laptop should I buy?
– How much RAM do I need? How much money do I have?
If your code is going to solve problems, it
has to make decisions as well
• If the user maintained a bank account balance over
$1000 waive the transaction fees
• If a user cancels their appointment less than 24
hours before the appointment time, charge a
cancellation fee
• If the hockey player gets the puck in the net, add one
to the score
 If statements allow you to specify code that
only executes if a specific condition is true
answer=input("Would you like express shippin
g?")
if answer == "yes" :
print("That will be an extra $10")

What do you think the == symbol means?

You can use different symbols to check for
different conditions
== is equal to if answer == "yes" :
!= is not equal to if answer != "no" :
< is less than if total < 100 :
> is greater than if total > 100 :
<= is less than or equal to if total <= 100 :
>= is greater than or equal toif total >= 100 :
 If statements allow you to specify code that
only executes if a specific condition is true
answer=input("Would you like express shippin
g? ")
if answer == "yes" :
print("That will be an extra $10")
print("Have a nice day")

Does it matter if that print statement is indented?

YES – the indented code is only
executed if the condition is true
DEMO
if statements
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Real world if statements

Almost every if statement can be written
two ways
if answer == "yes" :
if not answer == "no" :

if total < 100 :

if not total >= 100 :

Which do you prefer?

Write it the way you would say it

• If course is completed – send certificate to student

– if courseCompleted == "yes" :
• If order total under $50 – add shipping
– if total < 50 :
• If cat has not been vaccinated – call owner to set
appointment
– if not vaccinated == "yes" :
What do you think will happen if we type
“YES” instead of “yes”
answer=input("Would you like express shippin
g? ")
if answer == "yes" :
print("That will be an extra $10")
print("Have a nice day")

One of the challenges of working with

strings of characters, is that the computer
considers “y” and “Y” to be two different
letters.
Is there a way we could change a string
from uppercase to lowercase?
answer=input("Would you like express shippin
g?")
if answer.lower() == "yes" :
print("That will be an extra $10")
print("Have a nice day")

Hint: There were functions we could call for

string variables
Hint: lower()
What if we try an if statement with
numbers instead of strings
deposit = 150
if deposit > 100 :
print("You get a free toaster!")
print("Have a nice day")

What will appear on the screen if deposit

is 150?
What will appear on the screen if deposit
is 50?will appear on the screen if deposit is
What
exactly 100?
DEMO
Working with numeric values and if statements
Always test >,< and boundary
conditions
deposit = 150
if deposit > 100 :
print("You get a free toaster!")
print("Have a nice day")

So when you test this code, try:

a value less than 100
a value greater than 100
exactly 100
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Handling user input

DEMO
Asking the user for a numeric value to use in an
if statement
How could we let the user enter the
amount to deposit?
deposit=input("How much would you like to
deposit? ")
if deposit > 100 :
print("You get a free toaster!")
print("Have a nice day")

Why did our code crash?

How can we fix it?
 We have to convert the string value
returned by the input function to a number
deposit=input("How much would you like to deposit? ")
if int(deposit) > 100 :
print("You get a free toaster!")
print("Have a nice day")

Here is another way to do the same thing

deposit=int(input("How much would you like to deposit?
"))
if deposit > 100 :
print("You get a free toaster!")
print("Have a nice day")
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Branching
What if you get a free toaster for over
$100 and a free mug for under $100
deposit=input("How much would you like to
deposit? ")
if float(deposit) > 100 :
print("You get a free toaster!")
else:
print("Enjoy your mug!")
print("Have a nice day")
The code in the else statement is only
executed if the condition is NOT true
What will appear on the screen if we enter 50?
150? 100?
DEMO
Adding an else clause
 You can use boolean variables to
remember if a condition is true or false
deposit= input("how much would you like to deposit? ")
if float(deposit) > 100 :
#Set the boolean variable freeToaster to True
freeToaster=True

#if the variable freeToaster is True

#the print statement will execute
if freeToaster :
print("enjoy your toaster")
Make sure you test what happens when your if
statement is true and what happens when your
if statement is false.
DEMO
Using a Boolean variable and testing all paths
 Why does our code crash when we enter a
value of 50 for a deposit?
deposit= input("how much would you like to deposit? ")
if float(deposit) > 100 :
#Set the boolean variable freeToaster to True
freeToaster=True

#if the variable freeToaster is True

#the print statement will execute
if freeToaster :
print("enjoy your toaster")
Look at the error message: Name ‘freeToaster’ is
not defined.
 It’s always a good idea to initialize your
variables!
#Initialize the variable to fix the error
freeToaster=False

deposit= input("how much would you like to deposit? ")

if float(deposit) > 100 :
#Set the boolean variable freeToaster to True
freeToaster=True

#if the variable freeToaster is True

#the print statement will execute
if freeToaster :
print("enjoy your toaster")
Aren’t you just making the code more
complicated by using the Boolean variable?
• That depends…
• What if you are writing a program, and there is more
than one place you have to check that condition? You
could check the condition once and remember the
result in the Boolean variable
• What if the condition is very complicated to figure
out? It might be easier to read your code if you just
use a Boolean variable (often called a flag) in your if
statement
And now we have more ways to make
typing mistakes! Can you find three?
deposit=input("How much would you like to deposit? ")
if float(deposit) > 100
print("You get a free toaster!")
freeToaster=true
else:
print("Enjoy your mug!")
print("Have a nice day")

deposit=input("How much would you like to deposit? ")

if float(deposit) > 100 :
print("You get a free toaster!")
freeToaster=True
else:
print("Enjoy your mug!")
print("Have a nice day")
Your challenge

• Calculate shipping charges for a shopper

• Ask the user to enter the amount for their total
purchase
• If their total is under $50 add $10, otherwise shipping
is free
• Tell the user their final total including shipping costs
and format the number so it looks like a monetary
value
• Don’t forget to test your solution with
Congratulations!

• Your code can now

react to different
conditions!
• You can now solve
problems that require
decision making
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