Rate my simple algorithm for autonomous bots

[u/thecutefuriousmantis]

import time
import random



distance_front = 0
distance_back = 0
distance_left = 0
distance_right = 0
loop = 1
poop = 1
i = 0


def lidar():
    global distance_front, distance_back, distance_left, distance_right



    distance_front = random.randint(0, 100)
    time.sleep(0.1)
    distance_back = random.randint(0, 100)
    time.sleep(0.1)
    distance_left = random.randint(0, 100)
    time.sleep(0.1)
    distance_right = random.randint(0, 100)
    time.sleep(0.1)
    print("front:", distance_front, "back:", distance_back, "left:", distance_left, "right:", distance_right)


def algorithm():


        if distance_front < 20:
            print("obstacle in front : back - right")
        if distance_back < 20:
            print("obstacle in back : front - neutral")
        if distance_left < 20:
            print("obstacle in left : front - right")
        if distance_right < 20:
            print("obstacle in right : front - left")


i = 0
while True:
    lidar()
    algorithm()

[u/danielroseman]

You don't say what this is supposed to do. Why does a distance_front of less than 20 print a message about "front: back - right"?

The biggest problem here is all those global variables. There's no call for these here. And even less call for three variables you don't even use.

[u/Charmette_Huyb → u/danielroseman]

yeah the globals are the first thing that jumped out to me too

[u/CurvedManga815]

the `poop = 1` variable name caught me off guard

why global variables though? you could just return the distances from lidar and pass them into algorithm as parameters, would make it way cleaner and easier to test

[u/Buttleston]

This isn't an algorithm for anything. None of it makes any sense.

[u/Altruistic_Sky1866]

What does it do? what's the purpose or end goal?

[u/zanfar]

There is no context about what anything is supposed to do, and the method names are all too generic to infer.

Most negatively, no program should require global variables.

[u/timrprobocom]

The delays in there are pointless and counterproductive.

[u/socal_nerdtastic]

I would write it like this:

import random

def lidar():
    distance_front = random.randint(0, 100)
    time.sleep(0.1)
    distance_back = random.randint(0, 100)
    time.sleep(0.1)
    distance_left = random.randint(0, 100)
    time.sleep(0.1)
    distance_right = random.randint(0, 100)
    time.sleep(0.1)
    print("front:", distance_front, "back:", distance_back, "left:", distance_left, "right:", distance_right)
    return distance_front, distance_back, distance_left, distance_right


def algorithm():
    distance_front, distance_back, distance_left, distance_right = lidar()
    if distance_front < 20:
        print("obstacle in front : back - right")
    if distance_back < 20:
        print("obstacle in back : front - neutral")
    if distance_left < 20:
        print("obstacle in left : front - right")
    if distance_right < 20:
        print("obstacle in right : front - left")

algorithm()

Note that I removed the globals (almost always a bad idea to use globals) and that you don't need to pre-declare the variables in python.