[Megakeemo]

The function should take a board, and x and y coordinates and returns the contents on the board at the location specified by the coordinates.

Here's the function:

def get_cell(board,x,y):
    pass

And here's the function that it should be incorporating:

def make_board():
    """Creates a brand new, blank board data structure. Returns the board data structure
    """
    board = []
    for i in range(8):
        board.append([' '] * 8)
    return board

What I basically want to do is insert an element somewhere in the list 'board' using the function get_cell().
However, how exactly to put that list in the Python Shell is what's puzzling me.

[JackOfAllTrades]

Firstly, I would suggest that using a name like get_cell is wrong for a method that is looking to INSERT a cell. put_cell or set_cell would be more appropriate.

Second, are you looking for someone to provide you with the implementation of this method? I'm a bit confused where you mention the Python shell whether you mean how the USER would input the data or not.

[Megakeemo]

I'm not asking for code, I'm asking how one(the user) would input the data in the shell.

[JackOfAllTrades]

I'd do something like this:

value=raw_input("Enter coordinates (x,y): ");

then split the input on a , and validate it.