GIS5103: Module 1 - Python Environments and Flow Charts

 

Interpretation of Zen Python

The Zen of Python is a poem outlining the key principles of Python's design; readability, clarity, and simplicity. I think that each line gives a clear message on the do’s and don'ts of writing python script. Every line is a lesson that you can interpret in terms of python writing and I believe life lessons as well. The message as a whole is to be clear, concise, clean, and practical in your writing of python script which could also be interpreted as ways to live. The first line, beautiful is better than ugly, is saying to write code that is clean or concise and to avoid messy writing. The second line, explicit is better than implicit is saying to be clear about what your code's objective is and to not hide functionality to avoid making it hard to understand. Each line continues this way through the entire poem.

Lab

The first thing I did for this assignment was watch the lecture videos and the readings. Once I had that completed I reviewed the Lab instructions. At first I was a little confused because I couldn't figure out what the objective was, it was just a flow chart. I followed the directions for setting up my working file folders using the IDLE shell and that went very smoothly. After that I looked back over the flow charting python lecture video and opened powerpoint. I thought the 3 radians might need to be charted as three different values but decided I thought the objective was to just chart that the radians equalled three. From there I charted what I thought was correct according to the readings and the lecture video. Next I moved on to the questions on the process summary. I used the reading, lectures, practice assignment, and lab instructions to answer them as well as possible. Overall I thought this lab was a good introduction to Python Script and I understand the concept and the way it works a lot better than I did. I think using what I've gained from this lab I can build a strong foundation to work from in the rest of the class and in my professional career.