HW 2 (Drawing a Picture)

In this assignment, you'll write a step-by-step algorithm for drawing a picture, and then write code to draw that picture using the turtle library.

Mount the COURSES drive and create a folder called hw2 in your STUWORK folder. Open the new folder in VSCode. If you need a refresher on how to complete these steps, refer back to the in-class lab from the first day of class.

Next, download the starter file picture.py from this link. Move the file into your new hw2 folder.

You may find it useful to refer to the Turtle Documentation when working on this assignment.

Start off by deciding what you are going to draw. This could be a face, a skyline with multiple buildings, a series of geometric shapes, etc. I suggest making a sketch on paper of your goal drawing so that both you and your partner know what you're trying to create. Picture requirements are listed below, and you can also see a rubric under the "Grading" header at the bottom of this page for details on how your work will be assessed.

Once you've decided what you're going to draw, you should write out step-by-step instructions for how to draw it. It will be especially helpful to identify any repeated elements, because you'll likely want to create a function that you can repeatedly call to create that element. Once you've identified the individual pieces of the drawing, you should also think about what order they should be drawn in. For example, if I'm drawing a face, I probably need to draw the head before adding eyes.

Create a text fle called blueprint.txt and put your step-by-step instructions in this file. You will submit this text file along with your Python code that actually draws the picture. When you start programming, you might realize that parts of your plan need to be modified. This is fine (and expected). You don't need to update blueprint.txt with the changes (although you could note the deviations with comments in your code, if you like).

Working in the picture.py file that you downloaded, write code to draw the picture described in blueprint.txt. The file calls createPicture() outside of any function, so when you run python3 picture.py your picture will be created. Don't change the name of this function (this will make it easier for course staff to run your code and generate the picture).

The picture.py file contains some places for you to write comments. In particular, we will use the triple quote notation to write comments for each function. You should fill in this block for the functions I've created already, and make sure to include it for each of the functions you creates. This comment should include a description of the function and a list of parameters that the function takes, along with a short description of each.

For example, if I create a new function called drawRectangle, I would document the function like this:

def drawRectangle(myTurtle, height, width):
"""
    Draws a rectangle of dimension height x width. Starts drawing at myTurtle's current 
    location, moves up height pixels, to the right by width, and then back down/over to
    end at the same location where it started.

    Parameters:
    myTurtle - a turtle object
    height - a number indicating how tall the rectangle should be
    width - a number indication how wide the rectangle should be
"""
    # Replace this line with code

After writing each function, you should test it out in the interpreter. For example, I could run the following code from the terminal to test drawRectangle.

$ python3
>>> import picture
>>> import turtle
>>> t = turtle.Turtle()
>>> picture.drawRectangle(t, 100, 50)

The first line imports the code that you just wrote in picture. The next two lines replicate code from picture.py that you need in order to be able to call the new function. The final line executes your drawRectangle function (and none of the other code in picture.py).

After creating all the functions you need, add code to the function createPicture to actually draw your picture!

When you're finished, make sure to complete the usual documentation steps. This includes adding comments and filling out the acknowledgements and reflection portion of the header.

You should also think about coding style. Have you written everything in a consistent way that is easy to read? Review the style document on Moodle for the expectations for this assignment. As a bonus step (at this point in the course), also think about whether there is any reorganization that makes sense. For instance, if you have a lot of commented-out lines that you don't need anymore, consider deleting them so that the code is less visually cluttered.

I may share some of the Turtle drawings with the class in a future lecture. If you don't want me to share your drawing, please indicate that in the header of picture.py.