Instruction
Okay, let's get started.
Finding the smallest or largest element in a data structure is such a common task that Python gives us two built-in utility functions: min() and max(). Both functions work with any data structure that can be iterated over with a for loop: lists, sets, tuples, and even strings.
Suppose we have a list that represents the number of customer requests processed per day:
requests_processed = [12, 18, 15, 23, 24, 8, 0, 18, 14, 13]
To find the maximum number of requests processed, we use:
max(requests_processed)
And to find the minimum number:
min(requests_processed)
As you can see, min() and max() are extremely easy to use.
Exercise
When used with a list of strings, min() and max() will return the first or last string (according to alphabetical order).
Write a function named find_first_last(list_strings) that accepts a list of strings and returns a tuple with two elements:
(first_string_alphabetically, last_string_alphabetically)
You can use the sample list of book titles to test your code.
Stuck? Here's a hint!
Return the following tuple:
(min(list_strings), max(list_strings))
