TypeError: list indices must be integers, not float

Question

I have a python 3.x program that is producing an error:

def main():
    names = [\'Ava Fischer\', \'Bob White\', \'Chris Rich\', \'Danielle Porter\',
                    


        

Answer 1

It looks like you are using Python 3.x. One of the important differences in Python 3.x is the way division is handled. When you do x / y, an integer is returned in Python 2.x because the decimal is truncated (floor division). However in 3.x, the / operator performs 'true' division, resulting in a float instead of an integer (e.g. 1 / 2 = 0.5). What this means is that your are now trying to use a float to reference a position in a list (e.g. my_list[0.5] or even my_list[1.0]), which will not work as Python is expecting an integer. Therefore you may first want to try using middle = (first + last) // 2, adjusting so that the result returns what you expect. The // indicates floor division in Python 3.x.