Is there a better way to condense the while loop?

Question

I have been trying to write a number guessing game and I am trying to condense the second while loop when guess =! random_number.
I can't figure out if there is any better way to shorten the code but to still achieve the same result. I wonder if someone is able to help me out.
If there's anything else which is redundant or not efficient in my code or how i could code it better please criticize the hell out me my work!

import random

def inputNumber(message):
    while True:
        try:
            userInput = int(input(message))
        except ValueError:
            print("Not an integer! Try again.")
            continue
        else:
            return userInput
            break

#ranges must be integers
min_range = int(inputNumber("Please insert the min range: "))
temp_range = int(inputNumber("Please insert the max range: "))

#max range must be bigger than min
while min_range >= temp_range:
    temp_range = int(inputNumber("Please insert a max range which is smaller than min range!: ")) + 1

max_range = temp_range

random_number = random.randint(min_range, max_range)

guess = int(input("Please enter your guess: "))
counter = 1;  # you guessed once already
while guess != random_number:  # 1 guess incorrect
    print(f"{random_number} is the random number")# to see for myself which is the random numb
    if min_range < guess < max_range:  # WITHIN THE RANGE
        if random_number - random_number / 12 < guess-random_number < random_number + random_number / 12:  # 3 super hot
            print("Please try again, you are super hot!")
        elif random_number - random_number / 8 < guess-random_number < random_number + random_number / 8:  # 3 hot
            print("Please try again, you are hot!")
        elif guess < random_number - random_number / 2 or guess-random_number > random_number + random_number / 2:  # 3 cold
            print("Please try again, you are cold!")

    else:  # OUTSIDE RANGE
        print("You are outside the range, try again!")
    guess = int(input())
    counter += 1
if guess == random_number:  # guess correct
    print(f"Congratulations, you guessed correctly in {counter} tries!")

edit: thanks you all so much for taking the time to review my code, i will try to improve on the noted points, much appreciated (:

Answer 1

Miscellaneous notes:

• you don't need a break after a return
• you could (attempt to) return directly from the input; "except" will still catch and cycle errors
• inputNumber() explicitly returns an integer; no need to cast again.
• temp_range isn't really needed - you can just use max_range, no loss to readability.
• no need to add one to max_range (in the validation loop) - randint() includes the top limit.
• random_number is an unhelpful variable name - I've called this target
• using inputNumber() for the guess also seems sensible.
• guess should be checked against the inclusive range - min and max are possible values.
• personally I think the temperature categories should reflect the size of the range, rather than the size of the chosen number... however
• your calculation is wrong anyway; you are testing the difference between guess and target so you should test against the small fraction of target, not target reduced by a fraction (or should just check guess against the numbers you calculate).
• the "hot" range (outside "super hot") is actually smaller than the "super hot" range - I adjusted this out to 1/4 of target
• after correction, there's a range that gets no message, which can be covered in an else clause. I reordered so all tests are for "in this range" and the else covers the "cold" option.

To condense the message selection, you could set up a list of boundaries changing from one condition to another, and step through (or search) to find the applicable message. However I'm not sure that's a lot clearer in this case.

With updates reflecting most of these:

import random
CHEATING = True

def inputNumber(message):
    while True:
        try:
            return int(input(message))
        except ValueError:
            print("Not an integer! Try again.")

#ranges must be integers
min_range = inputNumber("Please insert the min range: ")
max_range = inputNumber("Please insert the max range: ")

#max range must be bigger than min
while min_range >= max_range:
    max_range = inputNumber("Please insert a max range which is bigger than min range!: ")

target = random.randint(min_range, max_range)

guess = inputNumber("Please enter your guess: ")
counter = 1;  # you guessed once already
while guess != target:  # 1 guess incorrect
    if CHEATING: print(f"{target} is the random number")# to see for myself which is the random numb
    if min_range <= guess <= max_range:  # WITHIN THE RANGE
        if  -target / 12 < guess-target < target / 12:  # 3 super hot
            print("Please try again, you are super hot!")
        elif  -target / 4 < guess-target < target / 4:  # 3 hot
            print("Please try again, you are hot!")
        elif -target / 2 < guess-target < target / 2:   # a bit meh
            print("Not great, not terrible - please try again")
        else:                                           # 3 cold
            print("Please try again, you are cold!")

    else:  # OUTSIDE RANGE
        print("You are outside the range, try again!")
    guess = inputNumber("Next guess? ")
    counter += 1
if guess == target:  # guess correct
    print(f"Congratulations, you guessed correctly in {counter} tries!")```

PS: "please criticize the hell out my work" is an excellent attitude, if you have the fortitude for it, and a great way to learn.

Answer 2

The biggest sources of repetition in your code are the mathematical calculations of the difference between the random number and the user's guess, along with the need to re-ask the user for another guess on a couple of occasions. You already have a function to get an integer from the user, so take advantage of it! Also, you could enhance that function to eliminate the need to repeat yourself when collecting max_range. Finally, I did not fully understand the intended logic of your difference calculation, so I improvised to use a modified approach (percentage difference relative to the overall span of the range). In any case, the important point is to make the calculation once. Then use the result to select the adjective. Some possible edits for you to consider:

import random

# An enhanced function taking an optional minimum value.
# If needed, you could enhance further by changing that
# parameter to a `range()` if you want to restrict both sides.
# If you were do to that, you could further simplify the
# guessing loop.
def inputNumber(message, min_val = 0):
    while True:
        try:
            n = int(input(message))
            if n >= min_val:
                return n
            else:
                print(f"Must be greater than {min_val}. Try again")
        except ValueError:
            print("Not an integer! Try again.")

# No need to convert these values to integers.
# The function already does that.
min_range = inputNumber("Please insert the min range: ")
max_range = inputNumber("Please insert the max range: ", min_val = min_range)
random_number = random.randint(min_range, max_range)
counter = 0

# When getting user input, a while-True loop is usually
# the right way to start. If you ask before the loop,
# you have to re-ask if the user makes a mistake.
while True:
    counter += 1
    guess = inputNumber("Please enter your guess: ")
    if guess == random_number:
        print(f"Congratulations, you guessed correctly in {counter} tries!")
        break
    # This comparison should use <= rather than < I think.
    elif min_range <= guess <= max_range:
        diff_pct = abs(guess - random_number) / (max_range - min_range)
        adjective = (
            'super hot' if diff_pct < .2 else
            'hot' if diff_pct < .4 else
            'cold'
        )
        print(f"Please try again, you are {adjective}!")
    else:
        print("You are outside the range, try again!")

Answer 3

I'll add some points to Joffan's answer, which already provides some great improvements.

---

Naming

PEP 8: Variable and function names should follow snake_case instead of camelCase.

---

input_number

This function should be a lot simpler:

def input_number(message):
    while True:
        try:
            return int(input(message))
        except ValueError:
            print("Not an integer! Try again.")

---

main()

It's a good idea to wrap your procedure into a main() function, which provides a standard entry point. It also makes the functionality of your code clearer at a glance. Since a function will not run on its own when we execute the script, we need to call it. For most use cases, we should wrap it in a if __name__ == “__main__”: condition.

def main():
    # this is where your procedure now runs

if __name__ == “__main__”:
    main()

What does if name == “main”: do?