stats.py

# stats.py

def get_num_words(text):
    """
    Accepts text as a string and returns the number of words.
    Returns 0 if the input text is None.
    """
    if text is None:
        return 0
    words = text.split()
    return len(words)

def get_char_counts(text):
    """
    Counts the occurrences of each character in the given text.
    Converts all characters to lowercase. Includes symbols and spaces.
    Returns a dictionary of {character: count}.
    Returns an empty dictionary if the input text is None.
    """
    if text is None:
        return {}
        
    char_counts_dict = {}
    lower_text = text.lower() # Convert text to lowercase
    for char in lower_text:
        if char in char_counts_dict:
            char_counts_dict[char] += 1
        else:
            char_counts_dict[char] = 1
    return char_counts_dict

def sort_char_counts(char_counts_dict):
    """
    Takes a dictionary of character counts and returns a sorted list of dictionaries.
    Each item in the list is a dictionary like {"char": character, "num": count}.
    The list is sorted by count in descending order.
    """
    list_of_dicts = []
    for char, count in char_counts_dict.items():
        list_of_dicts.append({"char": char, "num": count})
    
    # Sort the list of dictionaries by the 'num' key in descending order
    # Using sorted() creates a new sorted list
    sorted_list = sorted(list_of_dicts, key=lambda item: item["num"], reverse=True)
    return sorted_list