Courseware

Teaching with DrawBot

Python is a great language for introducing the basic concepts of programming to entry level students. There are many tutorials and introduction packages available for the language (see the overview on the python site).

DrawBot combines the easy to learn Python with a compact but powerful application in which code, result and feedback are visible at a glance. This section collects scripts and advice on how to specifically use DrawBot in a programming course. Step by step

Each of the scripts on this page focus on a particular section of Python. Click on the link and copy the text of the script to a new DrawBot window. Read the comments (the lines starting with a #) for clues and help.

Basic math

How do numbers look in Python? how to write simple sums, multiplication, substrations etc.

# this is a comment

print("some basic numbers:")
print(12)  # this is an integer number
print(12.5)  # this is a floating point

print("results of adding:")
print(12 + 13)  # results in an integer
print(12 + 0.5)  # results in a float
print(0.5 + 12)  # ditto

print("results of subtracting:")
print(12 - 8)
print(12 - 25)

print("results of multiplication:")
print(12 * 8)
print(12 * -25)

print("results of dividing:")
print(12 / 2)
print(11 / 2)
print(11 // 2)  # integer division
print(11 % 2)   # modulo

print("results of 'the power of':")
print(2 ** 8)
print(10 ** 2)
print(2 ** 0.5)

print("let's cause an error:")
print(1 / 0)

Strings

Strings contain text, a sequence of letters like beads on a string. This script shows what strings can do.

print('this is a so called "string"')
print("this is a so called 'string'")
print("this is a so called \"string\"")

print("one string " + "another string")

a = "one string"
b = "another string"

print(a + " " + b)

print("many " * 10)


print("non-ascii should generally work:")
print("Åbenrå © Ђ ק")
print("and now an error:")
print("many " * 10.0)
# string multiplication really wants an
# integer number; a float that happens to
# be a whole number is not good enough

Variables

Variables are similar to storage boxes, they need to have a name and contain something. This script shows how to name variables in Python, and some neat tricks they can perform.

a = 12
b = 15
c = a * b
CAP = "a string"

print(c)

print(CAP)

# variable names cannot start with a
# number:
#1a = 12

# variable names can contain numbers,
# just not at the start:
a1 = 12

# underscores are allowed:
_a = 12
a_ = 13

#   a-z  A-Z  0-9  _

# everything is an object
# this "rebinds" the name 'a' to a new
# object:
a = a + 12

# variable names are case sensitive
# meaning that:
x = 12
# is a different variable from
X = 13
print(x)
print(X)

y = 102
# so this is an error:
print(Y)

Lists and loops

Lists are sequences of things, like a string is a sequence of letters. But lists can contain things like numbers, variables and other lists. Loops are uses to jump through a list and look at each one of the items. Loops are a powerful and fast way to work with lots of items.

# let's introduce 'lists' (or 'arrays' as
# they are called in some other languages)
alist = [1, -2, "asdsd", 4, 50]
print(alist)
alist.append(1234)
print(alist)
# fetching an item from the list:
print(alist[0])  # the first item
print(alist[1])  # the second
# negative numbers start from the end:
print(alist[-1])  # the last item
print(alist[-2])  # the one before last

print("nested lists:")
print([1, 2, 3, ["a", "b", "c"]])
print([1, 2, 3, ["a", ["deeper"]]])

# assigning a list to another name does
# not make a copy: you just create another
# reference to the same object
anotherlist = alist
anotherlist.append(-9999)
print(anotherlist)
print(alist)
acopy = list(alist)
acopy.append(9999)
print(acopy)
print(alist)

# strings are also sequences:
astring = "abcdefg"
print(astring[2])
print(astring[-1])  # from the end

print("getting 'slices' from a list:")
print(alist)
print(alist[2:5])


print("there's a nice builtin function that")
print("creates a list of numbers:")
print(range(10))  # from 0 to 10 (not incl. 10!)
print(range(5, 10))  # from 5 to 10 (not incl. 10!)
print(range(1, 19, 3)) # from 1 to 19 in steps of 3

print("let's loop over this list:")
print(alist)
for item in alist:
    # this is the body of the "for" loop
    print(item)
    # more lines following can follow
    # you need to indent consistently,
    # this would not work:
#        print("hello")
    # also: use the tab key to manually
    # indent. There are shortcuts to indent
    # or dedent blocks of code: cmd-[ and cmd-]

print("loop over some numbers:")
for item in range(10):
    print(item)

print("loop over some numbers, doing 'math':")
for i in range(10):
    print(i, i * 0.5)

print("nested loops:")
for x in range(1, 5):  # outer loop
    print("---")
    for y in range(x, x + 5):  # inner loop
        print(x, y, x * y)

print("three loops:")
for x in range(2):
    for y in range(2):
        for z in range(2):
            print(x, y, z)

print("three loops with a counter:")
count = 1
for x in range(2):
    for y in range(2):
        for z in range(2):
            print(x, y, z, count)
            count = count + 1
            # alternate spelling:
            #count += 1

Functions

Functions are small programs with the program. Rather than write something over and over again, you can write a function and recycle the code in different parts of your program.

# defining a function:
def myfunction():
    print("hello!")

# calling the function:
myfunction()

# a common error
# not calling the function:
myfunction   # note missing ()


# defining a function that takes an
# 'argument' (or 'parameter')
def mysecondfunction(x, y):
    print("hello!")
    print(x, y)

# calling the function with 2 arguments
mysecondfunction(123, 456)


def add2numbers(x, y):
    # you can see 'global' vars
    print(aglobalvariable)
    result = x + y
    return result

aglobalvariable = "hi!"
thereturnedvalue = add2numbers(1, 2)
print(thereturnedvalue)
# 'result' was a local name inside
# add2number, so it is not visible at the
# top level. So the next line would cause
# an error:
#print(result)


def anotherfunc(x, y):
    # calling add2numbers function:
    return add2numbers(x, y)

print(anotherfunc(1, 2))

Conditions

Sometimes your program needs to respond to particular values or situations. If this value is 4, then go there. If it isn’t, just go on.

# comparisons

# let's define some variables
a = 12
b = 20
print(a, b)

print("are a and b equal?")
print(a == b)

print("are a and b not equal?")
print(a != b)

print("is a greater than b?")
print(a > b)

print("is a less than b?")
print(a < b)

print("is a greater than or equal to b?")
print(a >= b)

print("is a less than or equal to b?")
print(a <= b)

result = a < b
print("result is:")
print(result)

print("these are the 'boolean' values:")
print("the True value:")
print(True)
print("the False value:")
print(False)

if a < b:
    print("a is less than b")

if a > b:
    print("a is greater than b")

print("if/else")
if a < b:
    print("A")
else:
    print("B")

print("if/elif/else")
if a > b:
    print("A")
elif a == 12:
    print("B")
else:
    print("C")

print("if/elif/elif/.../else")
if a > b:
    print("A")
elif a == 10:
    print("B 10")
elif a == 11:
    print("B 11")
elif a == 12:
    print("B 12")
elif a == 13:
    print("B 13")
else:
    print("C")

# boolean logic
if a > 15 and b > 15:
    print("both a and b are greater than 15")
else:
    print("either one of a and b is NOT greater than 15")

if a > 15 or b > 15:
    print("a OR b are greater than 15")
else:
    print("neither a or b ate greater than 15")

print("a result:")
print(a > 15 or b > 15)

# inversing a truth value:
print("not True:"
print(not True)
print("not False:")
print(not False)
print("not not False:"
print(not not False)
print("not not not False:")
print(not not not False)

# grouping subexpressions by using parentheses:
if (a > b and b == 13) or b == 25:
    print("...")
if a > b and (b == 13 or b == 25):
    print("...")
# parentheses nest:
#if a > b and (b == 13 or (b == 25 and a == 12)):
#   ...

Random numbers

Fun things to do with random numbers. The computer is full of them.

# the random() function returns a pseudo-
# random number between zero and one
print("a random number between 0.0 and 1.0:")
print(random())

# the randint() function returns a pseudo-
# random integer number in the range you
# specify.
print("a random integer between 0 and 4:")
print(randint(0, 4))
print("a random integer between 10 and 20:")
print(randint(10, 20))

# use a random number to do different
# things.
print("choose randomly between A and B, 6 times:")
for i in range(6):
    if random() > 0.5:
        print("A")
    else:
        print("B")

Shapes

Drawing a couple of the basic shapes. Have a look at the Drawing Primitives pages for a detailed overview of shapes.

# draw a rectangle
# rect(x, y, width, height)
rect(20, 50, 100, 200)

rect(130, 50, 100, 200)

oval(240, 50, 100, 200)

oval(20, 250, 100, 100)

oval(130, 250, 100, 100)

rect(240, 250, 100, 100)

for x in range(20, 300, 50):
    rect(x, 370, 40, 40)

for x in range(20, 300, 50):
    if random() > 0.5:
        rect(x, 420, 40, 40)
    else:
        oval(x, 420, 40, 40)

Colors

Shapes can also be colored. This script shows how work with shapes in colors and transparency values.

# set the current fill color
# the three numbers are values for
# red, green and blue (RGB)
# the values are numbers between
# 0 and 1
fill(0, 0, 0.75)

# draw two rectangles
rect(50, 50, 150, 250)
rect(150, 150, 150, 250)

# set a color
# note the fourth number: it's the
# transparency
fill(1, 0, 0, 0.25)
rect(250, 250, 150, 250)
rect(350, 350, 150, 250)