Robot Name2026-04-21

My Solution: Exercism Robot Name solution

Instructions

Manage a robot factory where each robot gets a unique name made of two uppercase letters followed by three digits, like RX837.

Rules:

• A robot should lazily generate its name the first time name is requested.
• The generated name should stay the same for that robot until reset() is called.
• reset() should clear the robot's current name so that the next access to name generates a fresh one.
• Generated names should not be reused.

Solution

import random
import string

class Robot:
    _used_names = set()
    
    def __init__(self):
        self._name = None 

    @property
    def name(self):
        if not self._name:
            self._name = self._generate_name()

        return self._name

    def _generate_name(self):
        while True:
            letters = "".join(random.choices(string.ascii_uppercase, k=2))
            digits = "".join(random.choices(string.digits, k=3))
            new_name = letters + digits

            if new_name not in Robot._used_names:
                Robot._used_names.add(new_name)
                return new_name

    def reset(self):
        self._name = None

Syntax Notes

• A leading underscore in _name and _generate_name signals internal/private-by-convention members.
• The @property decorator lets name be accessed like an attribute (robot.name) while still running method logic.
• _used_names is a class attribute, shared across all robot instances to enforce global uniqueness.