Why does this function not work properly?

June 4, 2022

I can’t understand why the auto_clock()
function can work properly but the clock_time_add() function. The first function would print out a column of lists from 1, 2, 3, …which is expected while the second would just print out a column of zeros.

This is output of the first function:

And this is the output of the second one:

And here is the code:

import time

def auto_clock():
    second, minute, hour, day = -1, 0, 0, 1
    while True:
        second += 1
        time.sleep(1) 
        if second == 60:
            second = 0
            minute += 1        
        if minute == 60:
            minute = 0
            hour += 1
        if hour == 24:
            hour = 0
            day += 1
        time_clock = [day, hour, minute, second]
        return time_clock

def clock_time_add():
    while True: 
        time_clock = auto_clock()
        print(time_clock)
clock_time_add()

>Solution :

In the second function, you are not passing updated values after one second. That is why, the first function is being called with the same second, minute, hour, and day value.

I have updated the code to pass the updated value to the first function.

import time


def auto_clock(second, minute, hour, day):
    second += 1
    if second == 60:
        second = 0
        minute += 1
    if minute == 60:
        minute = 0
        hour += 1
    if hour == 24:
        hour = 0
        day += 1
    return second, minute, hour, day


def clock_time_add():
    second, minute, hour, day = 0, 0, 0, 1
    while True:
        second, minute, hour, day = auto_clock(second, minute, hour, day)
        print([day, hour, minute, second])
        time.sleep(1)


clock_time_add()

Output for first 100 records:

[1, 0, 0, 1]
[1, 0, 0, 2]
[1, 0, 0, 3]
[1, 0, 0, 4]
[1, 0, 0, 5]
[1, 0, 0, 6]
[1, 0, 0, 7]
[1, 0, 0, 8]
[1, 0, 0, 9]
[1, 0, 0, 10]
[1, 0, 0, 11]
[1, 0, 0, 12]
[1, 0, 0, 13]
[1, 0, 0, 14]
[1, 0, 0, 15]
[1, 0, 0, 16]
[1, 0, 0, 17]
[1, 0, 0, 18]
[1, 0, 0, 19]
[1, 0, 0, 20]
[1, 0, 0, 21]
[1, 0, 0, 22]
[1, 0, 0, 23]
[1, 0, 0, 24]
[1, 0, 0, 25]
[1, 0, 0, 26]
[1, 0, 0, 27]
[1, 0, 0, 28]
[1, 0, 0, 29]
[1, 0, 0, 30]
[1, 0, 0, 31]
[1, 0, 0, 32]
[1, 0, 0, 33]
[1, 0, 0, 34]
[1, 0, 0, 35]
[1, 0, 0, 36]
[1, 0, 0, 37]
[1, 0, 0, 38]
[1, 0, 0, 39]
[1, 0, 0, 40]
[1, 0, 0, 41]
[1, 0, 0, 42]
[1, 0, 0, 43]
[1, 0, 0, 44]
[1, 0, 0, 45]
[1, 0, 0, 46]
[1, 0, 0, 47]
[1, 0, 0, 48]
[1, 0, 0, 49]
[1, 0, 0, 50]
[1, 0, 0, 51]
[1, 0, 0, 52]
[1, 0, 0, 53]
[1, 0, 0, 54]
[1, 0, 0, 55]
[1, 0, 0, 56]
[1, 0, 0, 57]
[1, 0, 0, 58]
[1, 0, 0, 59]
[1, 0, 1, 0]
[1, 0, 1, 1]
[1, 0, 1, 2]
[1, 0, 1, 3]
[1, 0, 1, 4]
[1, 0, 1, 5]
[1, 0, 1, 6]
[1, 0, 1, 7]
[1, 0, 1, 8]
[1, 0, 1, 9]
[1, 0, 1, 10]
[1, 0, 1, 11]
[1, 0, 1, 12]
[1, 0, 1, 13]
[1, 0, 1, 14]
[1, 0, 1, 15]
[1, 0, 1, 16]
[1, 0, 1, 17]
[1, 0, 1, 18]
[1, 0, 1, 19]
[1, 0, 1, 20]
[1, 0, 1, 21]
[1, 0, 1, 22]
[1, 0, 1, 23]
[1, 0, 1, 24]
[1, 0, 1, 25]
[1, 0, 1, 26]
[1, 0, 1, 27]
[1, 0, 1, 28]
[1, 0, 1, 29]
[1, 0, 1, 30]
[1, 0, 1, 31]
[1, 0, 1, 32]
[1, 0, 1, 33]
[1, 0, 1, 34]
[1, 0, 1, 35]
[1, 0, 1, 36]
[1, 0, 1, 37]
[1, 0, 1, 38]
[1, 0, 1, 39]
[1, 0, 1, 40]