A weighted version of random.choice

Question

I needed to write a weighted version of random.choice (each element in the list has a different probability for being selected). This is what I came up with:

Answer 1

def weighted_choice(choices):
   total = sum(w for c, w in choices)
   r = random.uniform(0, total)
   upto = 0
   for c, w in choices:
      if upto + w >= r:
         return c
      upto += w
   assert False, "Shouldn't get here"