I'm currently working on an assignment for my intro python class in school. The program is a "guess my number" variant, but its focus is on global variables and the try/except operation. I've managed to figure out most of it, but I'm having trouble calling my function that gives a random number. Choice 1 and 2 should use two different secret numbers, so I thought a function was the way to go, but I'm getting an error, TypeError: unorderable types: int() > function(). I've tried making everything int(), but that wasn't working. I'm not sure how to get my program to talk to my function correctly, and I cant find much info about how to fix unorderable types in our book or on the web. any suggestions or ideas would be helpful.

def secret (secret):
    from random import randint
    secret = randint (1, 10)
    return secret


# first function will be for the menu( just like last homework assignment)
def menu_choice():
    print("Guess the number")#any answers to this should be checked by try/except function for a number
    print("0: Exit")  #this should exit the loop and end the program
    print("1: Guess") #this should go into the guess the number function/program
    print("2: Get a new secret number")#not sure how this will work

    return input("Enter your selection:   ")

#setting my flags
loop = 1
choice = 0

while loop == 1:
    # this try/except should weed out any non numeric answers. the choices will limit users
    #to 0,1,2 and the else statement will remind them of their choices.
    try:
        choice = int(menu_choice())
    except ValueError:
        print(" The choice must be 0, 1, or 2. Please try again.")

    if choice == 1:
        guess = 0
        while guess != secret:
            guess = (input(" Please guess a number between 1 and 10.   "))
            #this try/except will do the same as above, but the first "if" statement below will handle
            #any numbers outside the stated parameters of 1-10.
            try:
                guess = int(guess)
            except ValueError:
                print("That wasn't a number between 1 and 10. Please try again.    ")
            else:
                if guess < 1 or guess > 10:
                    print(" The guess needs to be between 1 and 10.  ")
                elif guess > secret:
                    print("Too high!")
                elif guess < secret:
                    print("Too low!")
        print("             ****** That's correct! The number was", secret , "******")

    elif choice == 2:
    # not sure how to reset the randint, so i'm resorting to making choice 2 the 
    #same as choice 1. this isn't correct, because its calling the same randint,
    #and getting the same secret number. need to try to make randint/secret
    #a function so it erases the number after the choice is done with it.
        guess = 0
        while guess != secret:
            guess = (input(" Please guess a number between 1 and 10.   "))
            try:
                guess = int(guess)
            except ValueError:
                print("That wasn't a number between 1 and 10. Please try again.    ")
            else:
                if guess < 1 or guess > 10:
                    print(" The guess needs to be between 1 and 10.  ")
                elif guess > secret:
                    print("Too high!")
                elif guess < secret:
                    print("Too low!")
        print("             ****** That's correct! The number was", secret,  "******")

    elif choice == 0:
        print("Thank you for playing.")
        loop = 0

    else:
        print("Please choose 0, 1, or 2. ")
from random import randint

def pick_secret():
    secret = randint(1, 10)
    return secret

secret = pick_secret()

print(secret)  # test

You have to call your function somewhere in your code. Do not use the same name for function and variable. Are you using Python3 or Python2?

I'm using version 3. Thanks for pointing out the naming issue, I'm not very experienced with functions yet. I tried following your suggestion and taking the "import randint" out of the function, changed my function's name, and tried to move the "secret = pick_secret()" down to right before the while loop, but python doesn't seem to like that. How can I arrange it so python knows to look at secret = pick_secret at just the right time? I tried changing all the secret into pick_secret so it would just call on the function for the number, but it gave me another unorderable error. I think I only want to call the pick_secret function once per choice so it doesn't change the value every time it checks the guess against the secret, but I don't know how to make it work the way I need it to. My apologies if this sounds confusing, but I am rather confused.

but I am rather confused

Yes that's normal when you new to programming.
Some help,you are writing more code than you need for this and it's a little messy.
Forget errohandling(try,except),function this can you do later.
Her is the basic of the game,look at code and see if it make any seense.

import random

secret_number = random.randint(1,10)
guess = 0
while guess != secret_number:
    guess = int(input("Take a guess: "))
    if guess > secret_number:
        print ("Lower")
    elif guess < secret_number:
        print ("Higher")
print('You guessed it! The number was {}'.format(guess))

You can do error checking,but don't mess code up to much.
Game code you can put in one fuction.

Here is a simple menu function that loop,you will always fall back into this menu.
Here you can start a new game or quit.
Try to type lot of mess,you see that it cacth all error with a simple else block(no try,except)
For other input types like(int,float) you may need(try,except),but dont overuse it.
Traceback in Python are very clear and not dangerous for any user.

def game():
    '''Code for game'''
    Print('You now in game function')
    input('Press enter to return to menu')    

def menu():
    while True:
        print('(1) Play guess game')
        print('(q) Quit')
        choice = input('Enter your choice: ')
        if choice == '1':
            game()
        elif choice.lower() == 'q':
            return False
        else:
            print('Not a correct choice: {} try again'.format(choice))

if __name__ == '__main__':
    menu()

"import randint" out of the function,

Rember this,import statement shall always be on top.

unfortunately, I have to have a lot of the mess in there for what our teacher wants. the focus of the assignment is on global variables(randint) and try/except(error handling). My menu is exactly want the teacher said he wanted, my problem lies in keeping the random number function global, and being able to call it for a new random number for both choice 1 and 2.

unfortunately, I have to have a lot of the mess in there for what our teacher wants. the focus of the assignment is on global variables(randint) and try/except(error handling)

No you can stucture your code better,i don't think your teacher want you to write as you do in first post.
Here is an example of try/except,as you see i make a function for it.
An game code still look clean an nice.

import random

def user_input():
    '''Function to make sure that integers are used'''
    while True:
        try:
            guess = int(input("Take a guess: "))
            return guess
        except ValueError:
            print('Only numbers as input,try again')

secret_number = random.randint(1,10)
guess = 0
while guess != secret_number:
    guess = user_input()
    if guess > secret_number:
        print ("Lower")
    elif guess < secret_number:
        print ("Higher")
print('You guessed it! The number was {}'.format(guess))

After asking some classmates for advice, I finally got the program to work how I think the teacher wants it to. It has the try/except blocks and the global variable the teacher wanted, and it works. Thanks everyone for your suggestions. here it is.

# this should bring a random number when the variable secret is used.
from random import randint
secret = randint (1, 10)



# first function will be for the menu( just like last homework assignment)
def menu_choice():
    print("Guess the number") #any answers to this should be checked by try/except function for a number
    print("0: Exit") #this should exit the loop and end the program
    print("1: Guess") #this should go into the guess the number function/program
    print("2: Get a new secret number") #this should recall the randint to get a new secret number

    return input("Enter your selection:   ")

#setting my flags
loop = 1
choice = 0

# the begining of my overall while loop
while loop == 1:
    # my first try/except block. this will catch anything other than the correct menu choices
    try:
        choice = int(menu_choice())
        if choice == 0:
            print("Thank you for playing.")
            loop = 0   
        elif choice == 2:
            # this resets the secret number by calling it again. this was the hardest part to figure out
            secret = randint (1, 10)
        elif choice == 1:
            guess = 0
            # where my number guessing while loop starts
            while guess != secret:
                #the second try/except, that will catch anything other than 1-10. the int will throw the
                # input to the except if its not a numeric value
                try:
                    guess = int(input(" Please guess a number between 1 and 10.   "))
                    if guess < 1 or guess > 10:
                        print(" The guess needs to be between 1 and 10.  ")
                    elif guess > secret:
                        print("Too high!")
                    elif guess < secret:
                        print("Too low!")
                 # the exception for the number guess
                except ValueError:
                    print("******  I'm sorry, that wasn't a number between 1 and 10. Please try again!  ******")

            print("             ****** That's correct! The number was", secret , "******")

        else:
            print("******  Please choose 0, 1, or 2.  ****** ")
     # the exception for the menu choice try       
    except ValueError:
        print("******  I'm sorry, the choice must be 0, 1, or 2. Please try again.  ******")    
Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.