##Suggested Changes to Python Learning Exercise Black Jack
while solving 4. Determine a “Natural” or “Blackjack” Hand today, I found the instruction confusing to me as I have never played blackjack.
here the instruction goes on like this
If the first two cards a player is deals with are an ace (A ) and a ten-card (10, K , Q or J ), giving a score of 21 in two cards, the hand is considered a natural or blackjack .
This can be improved to
“If a player is dealt an ace (A ) and a ten-card (10, K , Q , or J ) as their first two cards, resulting in a score of 21, the hand is considered a natural or blackjack .”
updating the instruction to the revised version improves clarity, readability, accessibility, and conciseness, ultimately enhancing the overall effectiveness of the instruction.
I have a pull request opened to change the same #3637
If the first two cards a player is dealt are an ace (A) and a ten-card (10, K, Q or J), giving a score of 21 in two cards, the hand is considered a natural or blackjack.
Feels like a distinction without a difference to me, so I am reticent to accept this PR.
@iHiD – your thoughts on this? I have to confess that the text has been fiddled with enough over time that it is hard for me to really tell if it is confusing or just different.
I should add I used a “diffchecker” to assert this - as I was worried I was missing something!
@adarshvmanu I agree with Bethany that I don’t see the difference between your version and the current one. It would be helpful if you could explain what you find confusing about the current version, and how the suggestion you made fixes that.
In my experience, it’s often best to just rewrite the whole paragraph that confuses people, to shape it from a different direction, rather than to try and fiddle with a confusing sentence in isolation. If you could give me information about what’s confusing, then I can try and get this to a state that no-one will ever get confused by again!
Sorry for the confusion earlier, I did copy the same sentence when i posted the topic here.
the existing original instruction goes on like this :
If the first two cards a player is dealt are an ace (A ) and a ten-card (10, K , Q or J ), giving a score of 21 in two cards, the hand is considered a natural or blackjack .
Which is not wrong by any means, but i think that for a non-native English speaker like me who has never played blackjack, the revised one gives me more clarity on what the instruction is.
I can explain this further by pointing out what I wanted to change;
The revised version provides a clearer structure by specifying “as their first two cards”. This clarification helps non-native speakers understand the context better, making it clear that the condition applies specifically to the first two cards dealt to the player.
secondly, by using “resulting in a score of 21” instead of “giving a score of 21 in two cards”. This change makes it easier to understand the outcome without relying on complex grammar.
OK, thanks for replying. It’s difficult as a native speaker to understand where these grammar differences make life easier or harder
So how about two sentences to really ensure things are simple. I’ve learnt that many short sentences are generally easier for people to understand than larger sentences with many clauses.
If the first two cards a player is dealt are an ace (A) and a ten-card (10, K , Q or J), then the player has a score of 21. This is known as a blackjack .
(I suggest getting rid of reference to “natural” as it doesn’t affect the game).
Thank you, that does seem to clear the confusion for me.
Also, thank you for building and maintaining this platform, I’m actually doing a challenge through a program from college where we’re learning to write clean and optimized code. All of us picked a language of our liking and committed to doing problems daily for a month through exercism.
