Do Elements not start from 0?-CodePudding

I'm a noob, learning via Datacamp (which is really annoying and nitpicky... I could've sworn elements started from 0, counting the first element in the list as 0???? This is the problem.

"Create downstairs again, as the first 6 elements of areas. This time, simplify the slicing by omitting the begin index. Create upstairs again, as the last 4 elements of areas. This time, simplify the slicing by omitting the end index.

I answered with

# Create the areas list
areas = ["hallway", 11.25, "kitchen", 18.0, "living room", 20.0, "bedroom", 10.75, "bathroom", 9.50]

# Alternative slicing to create downstairs
downstairs = [:-4]

# Alternative slicing to create upstairs
upstairs = [5:]

Obviously this is wrong... but I could've sworn I just went through previous questions correctly..... starting with 0... as a rep of the first element... is this different when slicing? Thank you, if you have any resources for better study I would like to understand the syntax of this language better to become more intuitive with it.

CodePudding user response：

The Python slice function does start with 0 as the default starting index, however the end is EXCLUSIVE, meaning it does not include the element at the end of the slice.

slice([start], stop[, step])

list[:2]    # Elements 0 and 1, stopping at 2, or the first two elements
list[2:]    # Everything except the first two elements

CodePudding user response：

This is what the instructions are saying.

The downstairs is the first 6 elements of the list areas. You can simplify the slicing by leaving the first index blank.

downstairs = areas[:7]

Upstairs is the last 4 elements of the list areas. You can simplify the slice by leaving the last index blank.

upstairs = areas[7:]

#or

upstairs = areas[-4:]

And to answer your question... Yes indexing starts at 0