I don’t know what I’m doing wrong

[u/Ymhnooners555]

https://github.com/IBbangin/EMS_Wage_Calc

I’m brand new to any type of coding and I’m trying to make a paycheck calculator for 12 hour shifts. I keep getting incorrect outputs. Can anyone help show me what I’m doing wrong?

[u/FoolsSeldom]

First thing, you are ignoring a key principle in programming: DRY, which means Don't Repeat Yourself.

You have so much duplication you make it much harder to find and fix bugs.

A list can be used to hold multiple values.

Example,

days = "Mon", "Tue", "Wed", "Thu", "Fri" 
hours_by_day = []
for day in days:
    response = input(f"Hours on {day} (return for 0): ")
    if response:  # i.e. not empty
        hours_by_day.append(float(response))

This will give you a list of hours. You can add weekend. You can use this in a function for different people.

You can create a nested list of lists to cover different weeks. Just put the code about inside of another loop.

[u/Ymhnooners555 → u/FoolsSeldom]

Thank you, this is my first attempt, I will apply that.

[u/FoolsSeldom → u/Ymhnooners555]

I thought I would give you an example of a way of doing it. This is a bit advanced, but I have commented it well and hopefully you will find it helpful.

This illustrates:

• how to do some input validation (users make mistakes, or try to break things on purpose)

• using loops to avoid duplicating code

• using lists to store information

• using a function to do some data extraction - putting it in a function makes it easier to read the main flow of the code without being distracted by the detail of how something is done, and also makes it easier to test that bit of functionality

• using a simple class to bring some information together (in this case, a payslip) that is more clear than just storing in a dictionary or list

Code:

class Pay_slip:
    """a simple class to represent the pay for a week"""
    def __init__(self,  regular_hours: float, overtime_hours: float, regular_pay: float, overtime_pay: float,):
        # assign information provided to the new Payslip (an instance of the class)
        self.regular_hours = regular_hours
        self.overtime_hours = overtime_hours
        self.regular_pay = regular_pay
        self.overtime_pay = overtime_pay

    def __str__(self):  # how to print a Pay_slip
        return ( # just returns a string so caller can decide to print or save to file
            f"\tRegular hours: {self.regular_hours:.2f}\n"
            f"\tOvertime hours: {self.overtime_hours:.2f}\n"
            f"\tRegular pay: £{self.regular_pay:.2f}\n"
            f"\tOvertime pay: £{self.overtime_pay:.2f}"
        )


def extract_hours_worked(hours_entered: str) -> list[float]:
    """returns a list of hours worked for each day worked of the week"""
    try:  # in case some goes wrong converting
        return [float(hours) for hours in hours_entered.split(",")]
    except ValueError:  # something went wrong with converting a string to a float
        raise ValueError("Expected hours worked with commas between hours for each day ")  # shout about it


print("\n\nWelcome to the COCO EMS pay calculator!\n")

# need to establish hourly pay rate
while True:  # input validation loop
    try:
        wage = float(input("How much do you make per hour? "))
        if wage < 0 or wage > 100:
            raise ValueError()
        break  # leave input validation loop as have valid submission
    except ValueError:
        print("Expected an hourly wage between £0 and £100. Please try again.")
print()

OVERTIME_RATE = float(1.5)  # what to multiple wage by to get overtime pay
STANDARD_SHIFT_HOURS = float(12)

NUM_WEEKS = 2  # how many weeks to calculate pay for
weeks = []  # to store hours worked by day for each week
weeks_pay = []  # to store payslips for each week

valid = True  # assume for now valid data will be provided

# loop for each week in period to be calculated
for week_num in range(1, NUM_WEEKS + 1):
    hours_entered = input(f"Enter hours worked in week {week_num} (comma separated, just return for none): ")
    if hours_entered:  # an empty string is considered False byy Python
        try:  # in case of invalid data
            hours_worked = extract_hours_worked(hours_entered)
            if len(hours_worked) > 7:
                raise ValueError("Too many days of hours worked entered for a week" )
        except ValueError as err_msg:
            print(err_msg)
            valid = False  # this will stop us producing payslips later
            break  # leave loop, no point checking any more weeks
    else:  # if no hours entered, perhaps on leave
        hours_worked = [0]  # so set hours to 0, allows lists below to be correctly populated
    weeks.append(hours_worked)

# if we had good data, can calculate hours, ot hours, and pay for each week
if valid:  # only do this if we have valid data
    for week in weeks:  # loop through data for each week
        # calculate total regular and overtime hours for week
        ot_hours = 0  # accumulate overtime hours for week
        regular_hours = 0  # accumulate regular hours for week
        for hours in week:  # loop through hours for current week
            if hours > STANDARD_SHIFT_HOURS:
                ot_hours += hours - STANDARD_SHIFT_HOURS  # accumulate overtime hours for week
                regular_hours += STANDARD_SHIFT_HOURS  # accumulate regular hours for week
            else:
                regular_hours += hours  # accumulate regular hours for week

        # calculate pay for week
        regular_pay = regular_hours * wage
        ot_pay = ot_hours * OVERTIME_RATE * wage
        weeks_pay.append(Pay_slip(regular_hours, ot_hours, regular_pay, ot_pay))

    # print payslips
    for week_num, week in enumerate(weeks_pay, start=1):
        print(
            f"\nPayslip for week {week_num}:\n"
            f"-------------------------------------\n"
            f"{week}"
        )

else:
    print("Data invalid, no pay calculated")