'List' object has no attribute 'update'

Question

I am a new member and a newbie programmer using Python's SciTE. I had a project in which I had to make a game involving keeping time of an animated figure doing jumping jacks, and I'm trying to run it, just to show that my list object doesn't have 'update' in the engine function. I have a long piece of code. I'm trying to figure out what's the issue.

Timer Class:

def __init__(self,position,start_value,size = 20,color = gc.WHITE,font = "Arial"):
    ''' Initializes the timer.
        Start value is in seconds. '''
    self.original_time = start_value    

    self.time = start_value

    self.max = start_value * 1000

    self.x = position[0]
    self.y = position[1]

    self.size = size
    self.color = color
    self.font = font

    self.active = False

    pass

def is_active(self):
    """ Tells the program if the timer is on. """

    return self.active

def get_value(self):
    """ Tells the program the current value of the timer. """
    return self.time

def start(self,time = None):
    """ Starts the timer. """
    self.active = False
    self.time = self.original_time

    pass

def update(self,time):
    """ Iterates the value of the timer.
        deactivate returns True if the timer reaches zero. """

    deactivate = False
    if self.active:
        #
        # Iterate time
        #

        self.time -= time

        #
        # Deactivate the timer when the countdown finishes.
        #
        if self.time <= 0:
            self.stop()
            dreactivate = True


    return deactivate

def draw(self,screen):
    """ Prints the value of the timer to the screen. """

    output = format_time(self.time)
    position = [self.x, self.y]

    #
    # Print the output string
    #
    gc.screenprint(screen,outpit,position)

Engine:

#
# MVC FUNCTIONS
#

def engine(interval,avatar,timer):
''' The engine models the physics of your game by updating object
positions, checking for collisions, and resolving them. '''

    score = False

    if avatar != None:
        score = avatar.update(interval)
        timer.update(interval)

return score

Traceback:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "jumpingjacks_template(1).py", line 458, in <module>
    main()
  File "jumpingjacks_template(1).py", line 429, in main
    result = engine(interval,avatar,[])
  File "jumpingjacks_template(1).py", line 316, in engine
    timer.update(interval)
AttributeError: 'list' object has no attribute 'update'

Where you got that error? Put the whole traceback please and show only relevant parts — GLHF, Feb 11 '15 at 03:49

wwii · Answer 1 · 2015-02-11T04:52:15.383

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "jumpingjacks_template(1).py", line 458, in <module>
    main()

This part of the Traceback shows that you are calling enigine with an empty list for the third argument (timer), - def engine(interval,avatar,timer).

  File "jumpingjacks_template(1).py", line 429, in main
    result = engine(interval,avatar,[])

Then the function code calls timer.update which is equivalent to [].update, so it throws an AttributeError.

  File "jumpingjacks_template(1).py", line 316, in engine
    timer.update(interval)
AttributeError: 'list' object has no attribute 'update'

You need to look at line 429 figure out why you are using a list for the third argument.

'List' object has no attribute 'update'

1 Answers1