Section 1: Setting Up and Importing `random`

Goal: Prepare our program and get the tool needed to generate a random number.

Explanation: Every Python program starts executing from the top. First, we need to tell Python that we want to use functions from its built-in random module. This module contains functions for generating random numbers, which is perfect for our game's secret number.

Code:

# Import the random module to generate random numbers
import random

What it means: The import random line makes all the functions inside the random module available for us to use later in our code.

Section 2: Generating the Secret Number

Goal: Make the computer choose a secret number.

Explanation: Now that we have the random module, we can use its randint() function. This function takes two numbers (a starting and an ending number) and returns a random whole number between them (inclusive). We'll store this secret number in a variable called secret_number. Variables are like containers that hold information.

Code:

# Generate a random integer between 1 and 20 (inclusive)
secret_number = random.randint(1, 20)

What it means: We create a variable named secret_number and assign it the value returned by random.randint(1, 20). The computer now secretly knows the number the player needs to guess.

Section 3: Getting the Player's Guess (Introduction to Loops)

Goal: Ask the player for their guess and repeat this process a few times.

Explanation: We want to give the player multiple chances. A for loop is perfect for repeating a block of code a specific number of times. We'll set it up to run 6 times, giving the player 6 guesses. Inside the loop, we'll use the input() function to ask the player for their guess and the int() function to convert their typed text into a whole number (integer) that we can compare with our secret_number. We store their guess in a variable called guess.

Code:

# Give the player 6 guesses
print('I am thinking of a number between 1 and 20.')
print('You have 6 tries to guess it.')

for guesses_taken in range(1, 7): # Loop 6 times (from 1 up to, but not including, 7)
    print('Take a guess:')
    guess = int(input()) # Get input and convert to integer
    # (We'll add the comparison logic in the next step)

What it means: The print() lines display messages to the player. The for guesses_taken in range(1, 7): line starts a loop. The code indented below it will run 6 times. In each run, it asks for input, converts it to an integer, and stores it in the guess variable. guesses_taken keeps track of which guess number we're on (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).

Section 4: Comparing the Guess (Conditional Logic)

Goal: Check if the player's guess is too high, too low, or correct.

Explanation: Inside the loop, after getting the guess, we need to compare it to the secret_number. We use if, elif (else if), and else statements for this. These are called conditional statements – they run different code blocks depending on whether a condition is true or false.

Code (to be placed inside the for loop from Section 3):

    if guess < secret_number:
        print('Your guess is too low.')
    elif guess > secret_number:
        print('Your guess is too high.')
    else:
        break # This condition means guess == secret_number. Stop the loop!

What it means:

• if guess < secret_number: If the number in guess is less than the secret_number, print "Your guess is too low."
• elif guess > secret_number: Otherwise (if the first condition was false), check if guess is greater than secret_number. If true, print "Your guess is too high."
• else: If neither of the above conditions was true, it means the guess must be equal to the secret number. The break statement immediately exits the for loop because the player guessed correctly.

Section 5: Handling the Game End (Correct Guess)

Goal: Tell the player if they guessed correctly and how many tries it took.

Explanation: After the loop finishes, we need to know why it finished. Did the player guess correctly (causing the break), or did they run out of tries? We can check if the final guess matches the secret_number. If it does, we congratulate them. The guesses_taken variable from the loop conveniently holds the number of guesses they used.

Code (to be placed after the for loop):

# This code runs after the loop finishes

if guess == secret_number:
    print(f'Good job! You guessed my number in {guesses_taken} guesses!')
# (We'll handle the "out of guesses" case next)

What it means: The if guess == secret_number: checks if the last guess stored in the guess variable is equal to the secret_number. If true, it prints a success message, using an f-string (f'...') to easily include the value of the guesses_taken variable in the message.

Section 6: Handling the Game End (Out of Guesses)

Goal: Tell the player they lost if they didn't guess the number within 6 tries.

Explanation: If the loop finished without the player guessing correctly (meaning the break statement was never reached), the final guess will not be equal to the secret_number. We add an else block to the if statement from Section 5 to handle this case.

Code (completing the code from Section 5):

if guess == secret_number:
    print(f'Good job! You guessed my number in {guesses_taken} guesses!')
else:
    # The loop finished, but the guess was not correct
    print(f'Nope. The number I was thinking of was {secret_number}.')

What it means: If the condition guess == secret_number is false when the code after the loop runs, the else block is executed. This tells the player they didn't guess correctly and reveals the secret_number.