Im quite new to python. and I want to build a little programm for rock paper scissors lizard spok game. But I have a problem calling the fuction within itself with recursion. I always get the error "self not defined". Im not satisfied with my code but i think it will do the job i want it to do. If anyone could give me Feedback I would be very thankful.

from random import choice
class rock_paper_scissor_etc:  

    def play(results):
        auswahl = ["Rock","Paper","Scissors","Lizard","Spok"]
        computersChoice = choice(auswahl)
        usersChoice = input()

        if usersChoice == "Rock" :
            if computersChoice == "Rock":
                results.append("draw")
            elif computersChoice == "Paper":
                results.append("lose")
            elif computersChoice == "Lizard":
                results.append("win")
            elif computersChoice == "Spok":
                results.append("lose")
            else: 
                results.append("win") #Scissors

        if usersChoice == "Paper" :
            if computersChoice == "Rock":
                results.append("win")
            elif computersChoice == "Paper":
                results.append("draw")
            elif computersChoice == "Lizard":
                results.append("lose")
            elif computersChoice == "Spok":
                results.append("win")
            else: 
                results.append("lose") #Scissors

        if usersChoice == "Scissors" :
            if computersChoice == "Rock":
                results.append("lose")
            elif computersChoice == "Paper":
                results.append("win")
            elif computersChoice == "Lizard":
                results.append("win")
            elif computersChoice == "Spok":
                results.append("lose")
            else: 
                results.append("draw") #Scissors

        if usersChoice == "Lizard" :
            if computersChoice == "Rock":
                results.append("lose")
            elif computersChoice == "Paper":
                results.append("win")
            elif computersChoice == "Lizard":
                results.append("draw")
            elif computersChoice == "Spok":
                results.append("win")
            else: 
                results.append("lose") #Scissors

        if usersChoice == "Spok" :
            if computersChoice == "Rock":
                results.append("win")
            elif computersChoice == "Paper":
                results.append("lose")
            elif computersChoice == "Lizard":
                results.append("lose")
            elif computersChoice == "Spok":
                results.append("draw")
            else: 
                results.append("win") #Scissors

        print("User: "   usersChoice)
        print("Computer: "   computersChoice)
        
        print("play again?")
        if input() == "yes":
            print("test")
            self.play(results)
        else:
            print(results)
            
    results = []   
    play(results)
    

CodePudding user response：

self.play(results) will not work, because there is no self defined. self is commonly used as the name of the first parameter of a method, but you have not included that parameter. Nor have you made the initial call of play as a method call.

While you could fix that, there are some reasons why you should not pursue this programming pattern:

• The recursion will become deeper and deeper for each player move. It makes more sense to create a loop, and exit that loop when the user does not want to play anymore.

• The class is not really useful:

  • You don't create an instance of it
  • If you would, it would not carry any state

  So create a plain function without a class

Other remarks / suggestions:

• Instead of requiring that the caller of play must provide an empty list, let the function return the list.
• When you ask for input, provide a prompt as argument to input
• The logic for determining the winner can be made a bit shorter:
  • First check if both players had the same guess. Then you know it is a draw
  • Then use the in operator to check whether there was a win
  • Test for all winning combinations in one expression (using or)
• You should check that the user has chosen a valid option and repeat asking for input until that is the case
• Maybe allow that the user enters a choice in a different capitalisation (all upper case or all lower case,...). So turn all input to lowercase, and also initialise the possible options with all-lowercase letters.

Here is code that takes the above into account:

from random import choice

def play():
    results = []
    auswahl = ["rock","paper","scissors","lizard","spok"]

    while True:
        computersChoice = choice(auswahl)
        usersChoice = input("Choose "   ", ".join(auswahl)   ": ").lower()
        while usersChoice not in auswahl:
            usersChoice = input("Not a valid choice. Choose "   ", ".join(auswahl)   ": ").lower()

        if usersChoice == computersChoice:
            results.append("draw")
        elif (usersChoice == "rock" and computersChoice in ("lizard", "scissors")
               or usersChoice == "paper" and computersChoice in ("rock", "spok")
               or usersChoice == "scissors" and computersChoice in ("paper", "lizard")
               or usersChoice == "lizard" and computersChoice in ("paper", "spok")
               or usersChoice == "spok" and computersChoice in ("rock", "scissors")):
            results.append("win")
        else:
            results.append("lose")

        print("User: "   usersChoice)
        print("Computer: "   computersChoice)
        
        if input("play again (yes, no)? ") != "yes":
            print(results)
            return results
        
results = play()