Research Ideas

Homework 5, Problem 3: ASCII Art
[10 extra points; individual or pair]

Submission: Submit your hw5pr3.py file to the submission server

In this assignment you will revisit a classic art form: ASCII art!

Important limitation! For these problems, do not use Python's string-multiplication or string-addition operators. Because our goal is to use loop constructs, use loops to achieve the repetition that those operators might otherwise provide.

The goal of this problem is to solidify further your reasoning skills with loops, and nested loops. For many of the problems (especially the striped diamond), you will have to think carefully about the value of your loop control variable as your loop or loops execute. "Debugging by random permutation" -- that is, arbitrarily changing the values of your loop conditions or variables -- will lead to much frustration... . The path to success on this assignment is to reason carefully about your loops.

Simple ASCII art

printSquare

We'll start simple. Write a function printSquare that takes two arguments, a number n and a character c and prints a square of size n by n on the screen.

e.g.

printSquare( 3, '$' )

$ $ $

Note the spaces between the characters. This is natural if you use Python's print command followed by a comma.

It is possible to avoid these spaces that Python insists on. To do so, you will need to use the more complicated function call sys.stdout.write( '$' ), where the '$' can be a variable holding a string as well. To use this, you will need to have the line import sys at the top of your file. However, this is entirely optional. Feel free to use print with the spaces!

printRect

Next, write a function named printRect that takes three arguments, width, height, and symbol, and prints a width by height rectangle of symbols on the screen.

printRect( 4, 6, '%' )

% % % %

Again, in this part, and in all remaining parts, the space between the characters is optional, as long as the characters line up correctly.

Answer the following question in comments in a comment or triple-quoted string in your hw5pr3.py file:

Question: What does your printRect function do if you pass it negative numbers as input? Is this a reasonable behavior? If not, modify your code and say what you fixed.

More complex ASCII art

printTriangle

Add a function printTriangle that takes three arguments: width, symbol, and rightSideUp and prints a triangle of symbols on the screen. width is a number that determines the width of the base of the triangle and rightSideUp is a boolean that determines whether the triangle is printed right side up (True) or upside down (False).

printTriangle( 3, '@', True )

@

@ @

@ @ @

printTriangle( 3, '@', False )

@ @ @

@ @

@

printBumps

Now, use your printTriangle function to write a function called printBumps( num, symbol1, symbol2 ) that will print the specified number of two-symbol "bumps", where each bump is larger than the last, as in the following example:

printBumps( 4, '%', '#' )

%

#

%

% %

# #

#

%

% %

% % %

# # #

# #

#

%

% %

% % %

% % % %

# # # #

# # #

# #

#

printDiamond

For these "diamond" functions, you may use string multiplication, but only for strings of blank spaces, such as ' '*n or the like. Each visible character should be printed separately, just as in the functions earlier in this problem. Also, you don't have to use the string * operator for strings of spaces, either.

Write a function called printDiamond( width, symbol ) that prints a diamond of symbol whose maximum width is determined by width.

printDiamond( 3, '&' )

&

& &

& & &

& &

&

printStripedDiamond

Next, write a function called printStripedDiamond( width, sym1, sym2) that prints a "striped diamond" of sym1 and sym2.

For example:

printStripedDiamond( 7, '.', '%' )

.

. %

. % .

. % . %

. % . % .

. % . % . %

. % . % . % .

% . % . % .

. % . % .

% . % .

. % .

% .

.

printCrazyStripedDiamond

Finally, write a function called printCrazyStripedDiamond( width, sym1, sym2, sym1Width, sym2Width) that prints a "striped diamond" of sym1 and sym2 where the stripes can have varied widths. sym1Width determines the width of the stripe made of symbol 1 and sym2Width determines the width of the stripe made of symbol 2.

For example:

printCrazyStripedDiamond( 7, '.', '%', 2, 1 )

.

. .

. . %

. . % .

. . % . .

. . % . . %

. . % . . % .

. % . . % .

% . . % .

. . % .