Generating Fake Data

It’s often useful, especially in healthcare, to generate fake data in order to test your system while protecting the privacy of your production data sets.

## let's generate a fake person

person = {}

type(person)

dict

print(person)

{}

person['age'] = 28

type(person['age'])

int

print(person)

{'age': 28}

# let's generate a random age
import random
person['age'] = random.randrange(100)
print(person)

{'age': 24}

random.randrange?

[0;31mSignature:[0m [0mrandom[0m[0;34m.[0m[0mrandrange[0m[0;34m([0m[0mstart[0m[0;34m,[0m [0mstop[0m[0;34m=[0m[0;32mNone[0m[0;34m,[0m [0mstep[0m[0;34m=[0m[0;36m1[0m[0;34m)[0m[0;34m[0m[0;34m[0m[0m
[0;31mDocstring:[0m
Choose a random item from range(start, stop[, step]).

This fixes the problem with randint() which includes the
endpoint; in Python this is usually not what you want.
[0;31mFile:[0m      ~/opt/miniconda3/envs/cmu39/lib/python3.9/random.py
[0;31mType:[0m      method

person['age'] = random.randrange(100)
print(person)

{'age': 5, 'employment': 40}

# in healthcare kids and elderly have special coverage so let's exclude both groups
person['age'] = random.randint(18, 65)
print(person)

{'age': 31}

person['employment'] = 'Full Time'
print(type(person['employment']))
print(person)

<class 'str'>
{'age': 5, 'employment': 'Full Time'}

# let's set employment status
employment_status = ['Full Time', 'Part Time', 'Contract', 'Seasonal', 'Unemployed', 'Retired']
person['employment'] = random.choice(employment_status)
print(person)

{'age': 5, 'employment': 'Seasonal'}

person['employment'] = random.choice(employment_status)
print(person)

{'age': 5, 'employment': 'Full Time'}

choice = random.choices(employment_status, [.5, .2, .1, .1, .05, .05])
print(f"Choice has type {type(choice)} and len {len(choice)}")
print(choice)

person['employment'] = choice[0]
print(person)

Choice has type <class 'list'> and len 1
['Full Time']
{'age': 5, 'employment': 'Full Time'}

person['employment'] = random.choices(employment_status, [.5, .2, .1, .1, .05, .05],k=1)[0]
print(person)

{'age': 5, 'employment': 'Part Time'}

def generate_employment():
    employment_status = ['Full Time', 'Part Time', 'Contract', 'Seasonal', 'Unemployed', 'Retired']
    employment = random.choices(employment_status, [.5, .2, .1, .1, .05, .05])[0]
    return employment

print(generate_employment())
print(generate_employment())
print(generate_employment())

Contract
Seasonal
Seasonal

# let's construct some fake addresses
def generate_address():
    street_number = random.randint(1, 1000)
    street_name = random.choice(['Main', 'Bluff', 'Federal'])
#     city = random.choice(['Pittsburgh', 'Cleveland' ])
#     city_details = { 'Pittsburgh' : { 'zip': 15106, 'state': 'PA' },
#                     'Cleveland' : { 'zip': 44101, 'state': 'OH' } }
#     state = city_details[city]['state']
#     zip_code = city_details[city]['zip']

    city_details = random.choice([
        { 'city': 'Pittsburgh', 'zip': 15106, 'state': 'PA' }, 
        { 'city': 'Cleveland', 'zip': 44101, 'state': 'OH' } ])
    
    city = city_details['city']
    state = city_details['state']
    zip_code = city_details['zip']
    
    address = f"{street_number} {street_name}\n{city}, {state} {zip_code}"
    return address

address = generate_address()
print(address)

257 Federal
Pittsburgh, PA 15106

def generate_name():
    first = ['Ben', 'Jen', 'Joan', 'John']
    last = ['Jones', 'Smith', 'Doe']
    return f"{random.choice(first)} {random.choice(last)}"

name = generate_name()
print(name)

Jen Doe

def generate_person():
    person = {}
    person['name'] = generate_name()
    person['address'] = generate_address()
    person['employment'] = generate_employment()
    return person

person = generate_person()
print(type(person))
print(person)

<class 'dict'>
{'name': 'Ben Doe', 'address': '905 Main\nCleveland, OH 44101', 'employment': 'Contract'}

person = generate_person()
print(person)

{'name': 'Joan Smith', 'address': '617 Bluff\nPittsburgh, PA 15106', 'employment': 'Seasonal'}

person = generate_person()
print(person)

{'name': 'Jen Doe', 'address': '83 Main\nCleveland, OH 44101', 'employment': 'Retired'}