Yes, it's time for our next field trip: get ready for a fun-filled tour of SUNY ESF! Check your mail for the formal invitation. Here are the important details:

• Where? SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
• When? Monday, April 9th 8:30-10:30AM
• How? Please call the post hotline to reserve a spot. Only 15 explorers can attend!

Alright, team, we have finally arrived at our final meeting. We'll be discussing college and careers as well as playing some Saturn Bomberman and (maybe) Wii Sports. Pizza and wings will be provided as well... see you there!

Please note: All future communication regarding the Python project will occur via the sf.net mailing list. Please join sf.net and the list to stay connected. If you need help, please let me know!

This meeting consisted of an open working session for the project. We assigned features to teams and discussed planning and design!

This week we learned about software process. You can read more at Wikipedia.

We also talked about the Subversion Version Control software. I showed you how to install the Tortoise SVN client. Here are some SVN links:

• http://subversion.tigris.org/ - Main Subversion Page
• http://tortoisesvn.net/downloads - Download Page for Tortoise SVN
• For Mac OSX users, this website gives instructions on how to get subversion up and running on the Mac. Please let me know if you have any problems.
• SF.net Instructions for configuring Tortoise SVN.

As usual, we have an assignment. Please do the following:

1. As described in last week's post, sign up for an account on sf.net and email me your username.
2. Subscribe to the official mailing list.
3. Add your username to the README.txt file in the doc/ directory in the subversion repository.

UPDATE: Since we will be using the services of Sourceforge.net, please create a SF user account. Then, send me an email with your username and I will add you as a developer for the project. I'm sorry for asking you to create yet another account, but this will handle our mailing list, our version control, and even our bug tracking.

Note: Since most of you are under 18, you should ask your parent or guardian before you create a SF account (as stated on the signup page). You don't have to provide any personal information, so it shouldn't be a problem, but if your parents or guardians have any questions, please let me know.

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The explorers have voted and we have begun the project! This year, we'll be devloping an information organizer. The first assignment is to develop requirements for the differents parts of the program. Remember, requirements must be unambiguous and testable!

For now, everyone can work on their assigned requirements separately and when you're done, you can email them to the group. Katelynn will be leading the effort to combine everyone's requirements into one document.

I will post more info here as it develops!

Assignment for this week:

• Check out the wxPython video tutorials at showmedo.com You can find the associated code here.
• Implement the editor described in the video tutorials. (You can cut and paste code from the website)
• As an additional challenge add a row of buttons below the text area. When a button is pressed, the status bar (at the bottom of the window) should change to say "Button Pressed"
• For even more of a challenge, consider adding these features:
  • File save capability
  • Options/Preference window to change text background color and button text

Please: email me your code when you are finished or if you have any questions about the video tutorial. Please provide a reference for any code you get from the Internets. Here are some links that may be helpful:

• wxPython Docs
• wxPython Wiki

Hi everyone, this week we spent most of our time brainstorming project ideas. I will post the list of ideas we discussed very very soon. Update: the project ideas have been added to this story. Just click "Read More"!

In the meantime, you can try out this week's assignment. You can choose to do one of two programs:

• Create a program that will play the card game War.
• Create a program that will allow users to input their CD and movie collection into their computer. As a bare minimum, it should support CDs and movies. You don't need to worry about saving anything.

For both of these projects, I'm especially interested in your Object Oriented Design. Please try to write some of your design on paper before you begin coding. If you have any questions, please let me know. As a hint, for the card game problem, you may want to check out the "How to think like a computer scientist" Python tutorial LINK

This week we discussed Object Oriented Programming (OOP) with Python. There are a lot of new concepts this week, so it may take some time for it to all make sense. Here's your assignment:

1. Read the classes part of the Python 101 article, section 2.5.2 LINK Run the examples on your own (just cut and paste)
2. Review the "Classes" section of the official Python tutorial LINK
3. Using the techniques discussed in class, finish the Mammal class. You can use your imagination for the attributes and methods. Also, implement the Dog and Whale subclasses (as done in class). If I get a lot of questions, I'll post some hints here later in the week.

If you have any questions, please email me at my py thon post6201.org address. Have fun!

PS: Here's an interesting OOP Python tutorial I found online LINK You may find it helpful!

Hello again, everyone, sorry for the late debrief! During this meeting we discussed various solutions to the RockPaperScissors and PigLatin assignments. Please please make sure you understand the PigLatin code. If you can't follow it, please send me any questions.

As noted on our calendar, the Programming in Python project will NOT be meeting next week on 10/31. If you show up next week, you will look silly.

In addition, I asked everyone to try a new python assignment using the turtle graphics package. This is a fun way to improve you python skills while you make pretty pictures.

For this assignment, write python code that makes:

• Five-pointed star
• Square spiral (or a circular spiral if you want to have more fun!)
• Olympic rings
• Lockheed Martin logo
• Appropriate picture of your choice (you can search google for spirograph to get some cool ideas). If you email me your screen shots (please crop them and save them as jpegs), I will post the pictures here.

As usual, please use all your python tools (loops, functions, lists) to make your code clear and concise. Here's a sample you can try at the python prompt:

Python 2.4.1 (#65, Mar 30 2005, 09:13:57) [MSC v.1310 32 bit (Intel)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> from turtle import *
>>> p = Pen()
>>> for i in range(0,4):
...     p.forward(30)
...     p.left(90)
...
>>>

Have fun. If you have any questions, post here or send me an email.

This website contains information for Explorer Post 6201 participants. Our fall projects are underway! Click on your projec'ts name on the left navigation bar to see if your project leads have posted any important information.