Code as a Liberal Art, Spring 2025

Unit 1, Lesson 1 Homework

Due: Wednesday, January 29, 8pm

Experiments with running Python files

Before beginning the homework for this week, make sure to read through Unit 1, Lesson 1 for explanation of all that you should need to complete the below exercises.
Download this file: unit1-lesson1.zip. Find the file (probably in your "Downloads") folder), double-click on it to unzip it, and move the folder named Unit 1 Lesson 1 Homework into the code folder that you have created for all of your work for this class this semester. (This folder should now contain two subfolders: Unit 1 Lesson 1 and Unit 1 Lesson 1 Homework.)

Open VS Code (or click File > New Window if it is already open) and close the "Welcome" tab. Now drag this new folder into the VS Code window. Click "trust" if prompted. You should now see something like this:

(Click to enlarge.)

Run a simple Python program that generates output on the command line.
Click on command_line_output.py. Examine the code if you would like. Click the play button and you should see something like this:
(Click to enlarge.)
You have just run a Python program and observed its output on the command line. Take a screenshot, name it "Part 2" and move it into your homework folder.
Can you modify this program at all to change its output? Hint: try changing the numbers 0, 10, or 1. After a change, click Play again. If you click play and your program will not stop running, you've probably created an infinite loop. Click the trashcan icon to stop it:
(Click to enlarge.)

Can you modify this very simple algorithm so that it only prints even numbers? What about odd numbers? What about negative numbers from -1 to -9?

If you were able to generate some different output, take screenshots of your outputs (you can name them something like "Part 2 even", "Part 2 negative" or etc) and move them to your homework folder.
Run a Python program that requires user input on the command line.

Next, click on guessing_game.py, examine the code, and again click the play button. This runs an interactive Python program that will require your input to proceed. Click anywhere in the Terminal window, and type on your keyboard to follow the instructions. Take another screenshot and copy it into your homework folder.

Challenge: If you'd like, can you modify this program so that it offers some more helpful and fun feedback? Between lines 19 and 20 you can add some addition if statements with print() statements that tell the user if their guess is too low or too high. If you get that working, take another screenshot.
Run a simple Python program that opens a file and reads that file as input data.

Next, click on business_card_read.py and examine the code. What do you think this will do? Click play to run the program. It prompts you for a file name. Look in the "Explorer" area of VS Code. There are two .txt files there: rory.txt and gritty.txt. In response to the prompt, try typing one name, pressing enter, and seeing what happens. You need to make sure to enter the name precisely with no mistakes. Now run the program again and try entering the other name. Take a screenshot of the two successful runs together and put that in your homework folder.
Run a simple Python program that creates a new file of output data in the same folder.

Building on that, next click on business_card_create.py, examine the code, and press play. This program will prompt you for some input, and then will create a new .txt file. What is this file called? Click on this new .txt file to examine its contents. Take a screenshot of the command line output with the new file and upload this to your homework folder.
Run a Python program that creates a new image file in the same folder using the Python Image Library.

Finally, click on image_create.py and examine its contents. Click play. Again this will prompt you for some inputs and will create a new file, but instead of creating a plain text (.txt) file, it creates a PNG image file (.png). Try running this multiple times and experimenting with multiple color values.

What happens if you type an invalid color? What type of code could you imagine adding to prevent this error message?
Now that you have successfully completed all these experiments with editing and running Python programs in VS Code, return to Finder (Mac) or Explorer (Windows) and again examine the folder that you unzipped. Inside this folder you should now see all the new files that you have created. Drag the entire "Unit 1 Lesson 1 Folder" to your Google Drive folder.

Finish homework 0

If you have not yet completed Homework 0, including reading the Help page, creating a Gist, and sharing it with me, please make sure to do that now.