This first module of the GIS Programming course was an entirely new world to me. I have always been wary of coding as it legitimately is an entirely new language. After completing this module, however, I feel ready to face the challenge.
The goal of this lab assignment was to get comfortable interacting with the python interpreter as well as two script editors: IDLE and ArcGIS Notebooks. To do so, I learned a simple syntax prompt. The "print" portion of the prompt acts as a function and is followed by a value, such as a line of text. I was asked to have both IDLE and Notebooks run this function as print("hello world"). This was my first ever script of code. I was also tasked with saving and running this script properly in both IDLE and Notebooks.
As someone entirely new to the world of coding, I was happy to be asked to familiarize myself with the concept of flowcharts. Flowcharts help one think algorithmically to complete tasks efficiently. Being able to visualize the processes required to complete a complicated task is no doubt a worthy skill. To begin learning how to do this, I was asked to create a flowchart for the process of converting radians to degrees using the formula: Degrees=Radians*180/pi. My flowchart regarding this process is shown below.
Finally, I was asked to type the syntax "import this" into the Python interpreter. Doing so results in a humorous poem called "The Zen of Python". The poem reads like a fun and simple list of guidelines to follow when writing code in Python. The beginning looks to be a general warning:
Beautiful code is better than ugly, explicit code that is direct and easily
understandable is better than implicit code that might be hard for peers to
understand, and so on. I am sure the rest of the poem will make more sense to
me as I continue to learn in grow in the world Python, however I feel like I have
a vague inherent understanding.
Some things that I took note of during this assignment are as follows:
-I would have expected that using the Python interpreter and IDE's would be easier on my personal desktop, however the pre-installations on my virtual desktop for UWF made it far easier. This held me up a bit and I will continue to use the virtual desktop as it will also make organizing and saving my files more streamlined.
-Notebooks seems more user friendly than IDLE at a glance, however I find myself liking the linear form of IDLE more
-The Python interpreter can enter different modes when prompted, however I feel far more comfortable using a script editor, such as IDLE, directly. This may change, however.
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