refactor Date.__lt__ for succinctness, same for constructor and get_earliest

2018-08-06-earliest.py

@@ -1,26 +1,18 @@
-
-
 class Date:
 
     def __init__(self, date_string):
-        self.month, self.day, self.year = split_date_string(date_string)
+        self.month, self.day, self.year = map(int, date_string.split('/'))
 
     def __str__(self):
         return f'{self.month:02}/{self.day:02}/{self.year}'
 
     def __lt__(self, other):
         for attr in ['year', 'month', 'day']:
-            if getattr(self, attr) < getattr(other, attr):
-                return True
-            elif getattr(self, attr) > getattr(other, attr):
-                return False
+            if getattr(self, attr) == getattr(other, attr):
+                continue
+            return getattr(self, attr) < getattr(other, attr)
+        return False
 
 
 def get_earliest(*date_strings):
-    dates = map(Date, date_strings)
-    return str(min(dates))
-
-
-def split_date_string(date_string):
-    month, day, year = date_string.split('/')
-    return int(month), int(day), int(year)
+    return str(min(map(Date, date_strings)))