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Due at 4 PM. For assignment due dates see the [main schedule ]on the course webpage. The program must be written and run under python version 3.X.
Only new concepts that need to be applied in the assignment are listed, concepts previously applied in other assignments may need to used in the implementation of your solution.
Students may find assignments more challenging than they first thought. It's best to start work as early as possible. During the first week of lecture [4 tips for success were covered] were provided but here's two reminders: 1) work through the lecture and tutorial material before looking in detail at the assignments 2) start work as soon as possible. If you find you cannot complete an assignment before the due date then you will not be granted an extension. For this specific assignment: most students will find it to be quite challenging (so if you are in this boat then that's perfectly normal). Most students in introductory programming courses complete most-all functional requirements so it is a challenge that you have a reasonable chance of meeting if you have approached this course (and assignment) properly. (In some other post-secondary institutes the instructor may not require file input to be implemented but typically less information is provided by these other institutes i.e. just the ['rules'] for the births and deaths). Peptalk speech: If it helps, this assignment has been completed by grade 11 students in a Calgary high school. That definitely indicates that although the assignments is a challenge it is a 'doable' challenge for you.
Note: it is not sufficient to just implement a working program and expect full credit. This requirement exists so you implement your solution in the correct way using good design principles and you apply the necessary concepts. Even if your program is fully working and the program is not designed or implemented as specified in the assignment description (e.g. poor variable names used, named constants, functions not implemented appropriately or insufficiently etc.) then you will not be awarded full credit.
All instructions must be enclosed within the body of a function1, you must write at least 5 functions of your own. (JT's solution to the assignment included 10 functions). Of course the functions must follow [good design principles for functions]. Functions that I have created in the starting code isn't included in the count. The functions you write must be properly implemented. No global variables may be employed except for the one(s) used for the [debugging mode]. The exceptions to having statements outside of a function could include:
import statements (not really needed for this assignment),
the creation of global constants (e.g. ATTIC = 1),
a global debugging flag (which is a variable)
the call to the initial start or main function.
You will be penalized heavily if functions are not used or improperly used.
In a similar fashion you will be penalized heavily if you define or use global variables (global constants are okay, if you don't know the difference refer to the ["Intro to programming"] lectures covered at the start of the term).
When any global identifiers (excluding a debugging flag(s) and constants) are employed then you will be penalized a full grade point (1.0). To rephrase: This penalty applies if you declare one or more global variable(s) aside from the debugging flag.
Example:
location = "bedroom" #Global
declared
This time around you won't be given a list of specific functions that you need to implement. There's two reasons for this:
Providing a pre-created design will constraint students who may think of a different (but still perfectly valid) design.
To give you practice decomposing a program into functions. If you aren't required to do this on your own at least once then you will never be able to do this on your own which makes all the other lessons on functional decomposition rather useless because you won't be able to apply them when writing programs.
If you are having trouble coming up with candidate functions then try reviewing the lessons on functional decomposition in lecture (the initial decomposition exercise was very simple because it was covered early in the semester) As well you should attend tutorial and try out the more advanced version of the decomposition exercise TAs will cover for finding the candidate functions. Since you are more experienced now, the Teaching Assistants can cover a more advanced example sometime after they have gone over lists. As mentioned you should have been attending class and taking note of the lessons on a regular basis but this is a hint about the important material for those who haven't always been in attendance. A direct link isn't provided here because requiring you to go through all the material will help you catch up on important concepts that you should have studying throughout the semester.
You are to implement a text-based biological simulation: Conway's "Game of Life". Given a starting pattern of life forms that comes either from: 1) one of the 6 hard-coded (fixed) starting patterns in the starting code OR 2) read in from file your program will apply the [rules of births and deaths] on a turn-by-turn basis. At the end of each turn the before and after state of the simulation will be displayed to the user. There will then be an option to continue the simulation or quit the program/ If the 'hidden' option is selected then [debugging mode] will be toggled.
Program displays a menu to the user that will allow the starting pattern to be one chosen from of the hard-coded starting patterns provided in the [starting program]. The code in the starting program is extremely simple and just initializes the references to the lists ('newWorld' and 'oldWorld') to an empty world and displays the result for these lists. The program that you submit will not do things this way. Your program must apply the [rules of births and deaths] on the starting pattern during the first turn. Then the rules are applied on the updated pattern during the second turn and so on until the user quits the simulation. Because your program must handle these cases properly your solution must include the functions that perform these exact initializations of the biosphere list.
Hard-coded/fixed starting patterns for the lists used in the simulation: are specified in these functions: oneEmpty(), twoSingleCritter(), threeSingleBirth(), fourthSimpleBirth(), fifthCreateListEdgeCases()and sixthComplexCases(). The more of the initial six cases that your program can correctly process, the higher will be your grade. Each of the functions will initialize a 10x10 list. Programs that only utilize this hard-coded method of initialization do not have to handle lists of other sizes. You can write additional functions with different initial patterns but your program must handle the 6 starting cases. Although additional test cases won't increase your grade it may reduce the likelihood of bugs in your program. What you can't do is modify the starting patterns in the above six functions so the marker can tell exactly what cases your program can handle.
Starting patterns are read in from a file: A 7th menu option should be added that allows the user the option to specify the name of the file containing the starting pattern.
The starting pattern of critters will be from any sized rectangular sized grid (minimum of 1 row or column to a maximum of 20 rows x 30 columns. (Theoretically your program should be handle a larger input file but there may be problems displaying the results in a reasonable fashion). The size of your 2D lists will vary depending upon the information in the file specified by the user.
To help you visualize the layout of the starting input files you may want to view an example starting input file with [formatting marks turned on in Word]. Note: the tutorial example only illustrates the use of a debugging mode in one function just to give you an idea of how this mode works, your program really should take full advantage of the flag and use it throughout (every function). Also you might want to create test files of various sizes using Word (but making sure you save them as .txt files). Of course for the marker to check if your program has completed the above tasks successfully the program needs to display the state of the simulation i.e. your program can't just invisibly 'work' yet not display the state of the lists.
If implement the ability to have the size of the input file variable then you will likely have to make some minor modifications to the display function. (That's because the starting display function assumes a fixed size list and you have to figure out how to display a variable sized list). But even with the modifications the grid and layout should appear the same (e.g. the before and after state displayed side by side, the correct pattern and turn number appears etc.)
The pattern read in is a biological simulation ('biosphere') whose state is stored as a pair of 2D lists 'newWorld' and 'oldWorld'. Each location in a biosphere (element in a 2D list) either contains: a space character or a the life form ("Critter" which appears as a star).
The [rules of births and deaths] are determined by the pattern in the 'before' list (oldWorld) and the actual births and deaths occur in the 'after' list (newWorld).
These rules are applied simultaneously for each element as a time unit (a 'turn') passes in the simulation. That's because the check of neighbors occurs in the oldWorld list and births/deaths occur in the newWorld list.
There will be a main loop in the program that runs until the user quits the program:
get the initial starting pattern from the 6 hard-coded choices or from file
run a turn in the simulation
do while (user has not quit)
display the state of the world (before and after applying the rules for that turn)
run a turn in the simulation
prompt the user (quit or continue to the next turn: the option to toggle debugging won't be displayed but the program will react to this selection)
copy the new world biosphere into the old world biosphere (write the code yourself, don't use a pre-created python function/method)
end loop
User input at the end of each turn the program will prompt the user to press enter to proceed to another turn ('q' to quit the program).
To run another turn: Don't force the user to type in any other characters e.g. ('c' and enter to run another turn because the extra character just needlessly forces the user to enter more keystrokes and adding this extra step will result in a -0.1 grade reduction because it slows down marking.
To quit the program: 'q' or 'Q' (should be case insensitive)
To toggle [debug mode] on/off: 'd' or 'D' (note this is a hidden option ~ to an [Easter egg] in a video game).
Copying the data from oldWorld to newWorld. In order to learn how to write basic code for a list you cannot use pre-created function/method to perform the copy but you can refer to examples provided. Although all the examples dealing with lists can help you with the assignment there is [one particular lecture example] that shows how to properly copy lists. Also it illustrates the difference between list variables and the list it refers to which you (this point is illustrated by showing the correct and incorrect way to copy a list)
To complete this assignment: you can (and really must) change the code in the start() function. As well you must implement several other functions that include the above program functionality.
Entering 'd' or 'D' will toggle debugging mode (Toggle means to reverse the state: False becomes True, True becomes False). The flag 'debugOn' will track whether debugging message are to appear or not and by default the mode is 'off'.
debugOn = False
When the flag is set to 'True' debugging messages will appear, otherwise they will not:
if(debugOn == True):The exact content of the debugging messages is left to your discretion. As the name implies the debugging tool should be used to help you test and debug your program. Here are examples of debugging messages for this assignment:
Again you are not bound to produce these exact messages in order to get credit for the debugging feature but they are provided to give you an idea of how you can use this feature to test your program.
This global variable for the debugging flag is the sole exception on the prohibition on the use of global variables in your program. No penalty will be applied for using this debugging flag but the usual penalty will be applied for other global variables. Implementing something similar to the following in your program will warrant a penalty:
turn= 1
def display(oldWorld,newWorld):
print("Turn #%d" %turn)
If you are still having trouble figuring out how a debug flag can be used in your assignment an was covered in tutorial but linked here for your convenience [example program: 8boardGameSolution_with_DEBUGGING].
The births and deaths of critters is based solely upon the number of neighbors in adjacent/neighboring squares. For each of the squares in the biosphere a count of the neighbors must be performed and based on the count the following rules will be applied.
If the an existing square in the old world is empty then a birth may occur in the corresponding location in the new world if:
There are exactly three neighbors in the old world.
If the an existing square in the old world contains a critter then a death will occur in that corresponding location in the new world if:
The critter is too lonely: it has zero or one neighbors in the old world.
The critter has been over crowded: it has four or more neighbors in the old world.
If the an existing square in the old world contains a critter then the critter will continue living in the corresponding location in the new world if:
There are either 2 or 3 neighbors.
Each square will have from 3 - 8 neighboring squares (inner squares have 8 neighbors, outer squares can have 3 at the corners or 5 on the top/bottom/left/right edges).
? = the square to check for a birth or death
N = a neighboring (adjacent) location in the list
Inner squares (1,1) to (7,7): 8 neighbors
N N N N ? N N N N Four corners (0,0), (0,9), (9,0), (9,9): 3 neighbors
(0,0) (0,9) (9,0) (9,9)
? N N N
N ? N N
N N ? N
N N N ? Left, top, right and bottom
Open the input file using Word (you should be able to access Word via the student license for Office 365 without charge while you are U of C student) and here's how you turn toggle the display of 'Formatting marks':
Characters that aren't visible such as spaces, tabs and the newline (enter) appear in this display mode. Here's how to see formatting marks in MS-Word on an Apple computer (because the university is unable to provide a MAC to the course instructor the correctness of the contents of this link could not be verified): [Viewing formatting marks on a MAC]
Starting positions and the display function [simulation_starting.py]. You must use this starting code so your program can handle the required starting cases.
Copying the contents of one list to another list [10copyingListsBothWays.py]. Useful in case you don't know how to do this.
A program with example debugging messages [8boardGameSolution_with_DEBUGGING.py] This program is only to be used to clarify how a debugging mode works and to show example debugging messages.
In addition to grading on whether the above functionality was correctly implemented TAs will also look at documentation and style.
In addition to grading on whether the above functionality was correctly implemented TAs will also look at documentation and style.
General programming style requirements (-0.1 penalty for each violation of a category, for this assignment there is no maximum cap on the number of style penalties that may be applied (8 categories of penalties means a penalty of -0.7 will be applied)
- #1: Naming conventions: You should employ good naming conventions for identifiers (variables, constants and even the name of the file containing the program) as covered in the "Intro to programming" section of the course.
- #2: Named constants should be used as appropriate (and if they aren't a penalty will be incurred).
Yes do it this way! No. Not this way! LEFT = 0
RIGHT = 1
CENTER = 2
if (silverLockPosition == RIGHT):if (silverLockPosition == 0): #What does 0 stand for???
- #3: The program code should have appropriate white space (specified in the "Intro to programming lecture') and alignment (specified throughout the lecture notes).
- #4: Code is self documenting e.g. Clear expressions (e.g. mathematical, Boolean). Expressions should be clear and simple (break up or restructure complex expressions). Good variable names and the use of named constants are examples of writing self documenting code but specifying clear expressions is important enough to be included in a separate category.
- #5: Your program should follow the 6 rules of thumb for designing user friendly software (distilled from Jakob Nielsen's 10 usability heuristics - see the Usability Heuristics in the [Part III of the looping/repetition notes]). e.g. good error handling (such as prompts to the user to enter the required information clearly indicate what is required, good error messages/error handling should be provided for erroneous input) minimizing the user's memory load, being consistent, making the interactions with the program (the "dialog") as simple and as natural as possible, providing clearly marked exits & providing feedback as appropriate. This includes but is not limited to having the menu selections for choosing options being intuitive.
- #6: Of course if a student implements an extreme case of inefficient code (e.g. multiple loops or branches are used when one will do) then penalties may be applied but this is generally rare.
- #7: The program should not employ abnormal termination mechanisms e.g. something such as a 'break' instruction for loops or calls to the 'exit()', 'quit()' functions anywhere in the program.
- Having at least one violation in one of the above general style requirements will result in -0.1 penalty to marking. Multiple violations in one category still results in a single penalty (e.g. 3 bad variable names will still result in a -0.1 penalty). However violations between categories will result in cumulative penalties (e.g. a program that includes poor variable names, messy program layout and poor error handling will receive a -0.3 penalty)
Function specific style requirements (principles of good design for functions) -0.2 penalty will be applied for each of the 3 function specific style requirements that have been violated.
- #1: Functions are one screen in length (normal screen 40 lines max of code (the count excludes whitespace and documentation).
- #2 Functions implement one well defined task. (e.g. processLivingRoomCommands vs. processlivingRoomRunIntroductionRunConclusion).
- #3: Code in one function is not duplicated in another function (not in the notes but this is just common sense that you don't write two functions where there's overlapping code - the overlap should likely be taken out of both functions and moved to another separate function).
- Violating any of the function specific style requirements will result in a -0.2 penalty for a violation in each of the 3 categories. E.g. a program that includes a function that exceeds the maximum length and implements two or more tasks would incur a -0.4 penalty.
Documentation requirements:
Header documentation: This should be specified in the header of the program (very top of your program in the form of Python documentation). The basics of documentation were covered in the "Intro to programming" section of the course. Later lectures may specify additional information that needs to be provided in the documentation.
- Identifying information: All assignments should include contact information (full name, student ID number and tutorial section [Here's a link if you don't know how to find this information]) at the very top of your program.
- Program version. (version date or version number).
Under the version you should specify which assignment features were implemented in that version as specified in the "Intro to programming section"
- Any program limitations or weaknesses.
New documentation requirement starting with A2 and applies to all successive assignments: Just before the header definition of the function: list the features of the assignment (e.g. checking list bounds, displaying the list etc.) that were implemented in a particular function, the return type(s) as well as the type(s) of the arguments. Greater details are provided in the functional decomposition lectures.
Program functionality (implementing working program features)
- Test your program: Because the [marking key] is posted ahead of time if you test your program thoroughly before submitting the final version then you should get a pretty clear idea of "how you will do".
- Style and documentation requirements were introduced early in the semester in the [last part of the "Intro to programming"] section of the course. Additional requirements may be added as new sections are covered (e.g. documenting functions that you write your yourself). Each assignment will specify these requirements specific [under the non -functional assignment requirements (style and documentation). ] to that graded component. Again you should refer to the [marking key] in order to determine how style and documentation will affect grading for a particular assignment.
Assignments must reflect individual work; group work is not allowed in this class nor can you copy the work of others. Some obviously "do nots" for your solution: don't publically post it, don't email it out, don't show it to other students nor should you verbally discuss it. For more detailed information as to what constitutes academic misconduct (i.e., cheating) for this course please read the following [link].
Reminder: You are to submit your assignment using D2L Here's a UC-IT created [D2L help resource] . Make sure that you [check the contents of your submitted files] (e.g., is the file okay or was it corrupted, is it the correct version, it is the correct file etc.). It's your responsibility to do this! (Make sure that you submit your assignment with enough time before it comes due for you to do a check). If don't check and there were problems with the submission then you should not expect that you can "learn your lesson" and simply resubmit Whatever you submitted into D2L by the final due date (and due time) is what will be marked.
|
Submission received: |
On time |
Hours late : >0 and <=24 |
Hours late: >24 and <=48 |
Hours late: >48 and <=72 |
Hours late: >72 and <=96 |
Hours late: >96 |
|
Penalty: |
None |
-1 GPA |
-2 GPA |
-3 GPA |
-4 GPA |
No credit (not accepted) |
Unless otherwise told you are to write the code yourself and not use any pre-created functions (or methods). For most assignments the usual acceptable functions include: print(), input() and the 'conversion' functions such as int(), float(), str(), range() - the latter is actually not actually a function but a composite type such as string or a list but it looks like a function. If it's not listed then you should assume that you won't be able use the function and still be awarded credit. You cannot use a pre-created method (e.g. those specified in the copy module) to copy one list to another