An unsolicited solution to How to Lose an IT Job in 10 Minutes

how_to_lose_a_job_in_10_minutes.py

def distinct_value(word):
    """
    add up the hash value of each letter of the given word to create a unique id
    for that entry
    """
    # make word lower-case
    word = word.lower()

    hash_val = 0
    for letter in word:
        hash_val += hash(letter)

    return hash_val

def match_distinct_value(word, _list):
    """
    check the first word in each sub_list of _list to see if it matches the word
    that's passed in
        if it matches, return the index where it matches
    if it doesn't match any of the existing members return None
    """
    for index, item in enumerate(_list):
        if distinct_value(item[0]) == distinct_value(word)h:
            return index

    return None

def main():
    """
    for each city in the given_list
    check if it has a matching distinct_value in the city_list
        if it does, append within the sub_list at the returned index
        otherwise, append a new sub_list with it as the member
    """
    given_list = ['Tokyo', 'London', 'Rome', 'Donlon', 'Kyoto', 'Paris', 'Ondlon', 'Apris']
    city_list = []

    for city in given_list:
        index_result = match_distinct_value(city, city_list)
        if index_result is not None:
            city_list[index_result].append(city)
        else:
            city_list.append([city])

    print(city_list)


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()