This is a lab assignment and so you will not be submitting it. However, the concepts and practice will help you on both the homework and quizzes so I encourage you to make a serious effort on it during class and consider finishing it outside of class.

I recommend making a folder for today’s lab in COURSES as you usually do.

Remember you can refer to the textbook readings if you forget the syntax for something.

Exercise 1

Say that we define the following variables at the beginning of our program:

a = 3
b = 10
c = 15

What would we expect each of the following statements to print out? Discuss each one with your partner and write down your answers on the worksheet. If you think one might generate an error, discuss why that’s the case. Check your answers by typing in and running the lines as you proceed! Note down any that are confusing or you have questions about.

  print((a > b) or (c > b))
  print((c == a) or True)
  print((a == b - 7) and False)
  print(not ((a > b) or (c > b)))
  print(a in [1, 2, 3, 4])
  print(a == b and 1/0 == 1)
  print(a != 0 and 1/a)
  print(1 or 0)
  if True or '': print('it prints!')
  if not []: print('hmmm')
  if -1: print("interesting...")

Exercise 2

What will this snippet of code print out to the screen? If you think there will be an error, indicate the line on the worksheet with the error and explain why. After you’ve written down your prediction on the worksheet, test out the code.

for i in range(10):  
  if i % 2 == 0:  
    print(i, 'is even')  
  if i % 3 == 1:  
    print(i, 'is special')

Exercise 3

Say the policy for speeding tickets in Northfield is $50, plus $5 for each mph over the limit, plus an extra penalty of $200 for any speed over 90 mph.

  • Create a file called speeding.py containing a program that accepts a speed limit and a clocked speed and either prints a message indicating that the speed was legal or prints the amount of the fine if the speed was illegal.

  • In order to see if your program works, come up with a list of test inputs that account the variety of different values a user might provide. In the comments at the top of speeding.py, list these input values and the result that gets printed to the screen.

Exercise 4

A formula for computing Easter in the years 1982–2048, inclusive, is as follows. Let:

  • a = year % 19
  • b = year % 4
  • c = year % 7
  • d = (19a + 24) % 30
  • e = (2b + 4c + 6d + 5) % 7

The date of Easter is March 22 + d + e (which could be in April).

  • Create a file called easter.py that inputs a year, verifies it is in the proper range, and then prints out the date of Easter that year.
  • The above formula works for every year inside the range 1900-2099 except for 1954, 1981, 2049, and 2076. For these four years, it produces a date that is one week too late. Modify your program to work for the entire range 1900-2099.
  • Identify a list of test inputs for your program to verify that it works for the variety of values that a user might provide. In the comments of easter.py, list these input values and the results that get printed to the screen.
  • You may have ended up with a lot of repeated code in the process of making modifications. It’s always good to ‘refactor’ your code after you complete a first draft by going and trying to streamline and improve it. See what repeated code you can streamline, if any.

Exercise 5

In a file called validDate.py:

  1. Write a program that accepts a date in the form of a month, a day, and a year, and outputs whether or not the date is valid. For example, 5/24/1988 is valid, but 9/31/2000 is not. (September has only 30 days.) (Note: you can either take the number in the form <month>/<day>/<year> and parse the string, or just use three input statements.) It may help to know that a year is a leap year if it is divisible by 4, unless it is a century year that is not divisible by 400. (1800 and 1900 are not leap years while 1600 and 2000 are.)

  2. Identify a list of test inputs for your program to verify that it works for the variety of values that a user might provide. In the comments of validDate.py, list these input values and the results that get printed to the screen.

Extra

If you finish all of the above, work through some of the end of chapter exercises.

Acknowledgements

These exercises are adapted from a lab by Prof. Eric Alexander and problems from Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science by John Zelle.