Python 3

Programming
for GCSE Computing
*Updated for 2020 OCR Specification

2nd Edition, 2020

Ken McCall

Ken’s Python Book is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. To view a copy of this
license, visit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Introducti
on

This book is designed to aid GCSE Computing students in building up their

programming skills in Python 3. All the necessary parts of the language are
covered, with relevant ex- amples to show correct use whenever possible.
The book is designed to be worked through from start to finish if you are new
to Python, or as a quick reference guide for the more experienced. Sections
can be taught on a lesson by lesson basis, or worked at individually. Each
section has basic and extension tasks so students can build up a library of
code as they go, and teachers can easily as- sess progress.
This book does not necessarily show the most efficient ways of solving all
problems, merely the methods I have found to be the simplest to teach and
learn. It does not cover the design and testing of larger programs that
students will be required to create and so you should factor this into the time
you have available.
Electronic files to support tracking and assessing students, along with all
solutions are available from: pythonbook@audiobluez.co.uk

2nd Edition, 2020

Ken McCall
First published 2013

Ken’s Python Book is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. To view a copy of this
license, visit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0

Copies of this book, and a web based version are available at:

www.kenspythonbook.co.uk

2
Housekeepi
ng

Create a folder to store your work

▶ Always create a folder with an obvious name like Python to save all your
work in.
Naming your Python files with the task number in the filename means by
the end of this book you’ll have a decent collection of code snippets you
can refer back to later when working on projects.

Show File Extensions in Windows Explorer

▶ Especially when you get to
working with text files, you’ll
need control over the extensions
of the files you are creating.
▶ Make sure you can see the full
filenames in Windows Explorer
by following the short tutorial at
the website address below:

kenspythonbook.co.uk/housekeeping

▶ Uncheck the Hide Extensions

option for full control over your
filenames

3
Content
s

▶ 1. Accuracy 7
▶ 2. Output 8
▶ 3. Variables Part 1 9
▶ 4. Variables Part 2 10
▶ 5. Input 11
▶ 6. Test 1 - Ask And Tell 12
▶ 7. Variable Conversion Part 1 13
▶ 8. Variable Conversion Pt 2 14

▶ 9. Numbers 15
▶ 10. Working With Numbers 16
▶ 11. Test 2 - Volume And Area 17
▶ 12. Comments And Blank Lines 18
▶ 13. Decimal Places 19
▶ 14. Random Numbers 20

▶ 15. Selection With IF 21

▶ 16. IF...ELSE 22
▶ 17. IF..ELIF..ELSE 23
▶ 18. Checking Numbers 24
▶ 19. Checking Data Types 25
▶ 20. Logical Operators 26
▶ 21. Test 3 - Calculator 27

▶ 22. Checking Strings 28

▶ 23. Operators And Strings 29
▶ 24. Other String Things Part 1 30
▶ 25. Other String Things Part 2 31
▶ 26. Count Controlled Iteration 32
▶ 27. Condition Controlled Iteration 33
▶ 28. Test 4 - Iteration 34

4
Content
s

▶ 29. Subroutines 35
▶ 30. Functions 36

▶ 31. Creating, Editing & Deleting Lists 37

▶ 32. Cycling Through & Checking Lists 38
▶ 33. Searching and editing list items 39
▶ 34. Quick Sorting/Searching Lists 40

▶ 35. 2D Lists (Lists Within Lists) 41

▶ 35. 2D Lists (Lists Within Lists) 42
▶ 36. Searching/Sorting 2D Lists 43
▶ 36. Searching/Sorting 2D Lists 44

▶ 37. Advanced String Handling Part 1 45

▶ 38. Advanced String Handling Part 2 47
▶ 39. Advanced String Handling Part 3 49

▶ 40. Reading And Writing Files 50

▶ 41. Read/Write A Single Value 51
▶ 42. Reading Multiple Lines 52
▶ 43. Writing Multiple Lines 54
▶ 44. Reading Delimited Files 55
▶ 45. Writing Delimited Files 57

▶ 46. Reading A File Into A List 58

▶ 47. Writing A List To A File 60

▶ 48. Using Pickle 61

5
Starting
Python

▶ Load up the Python IDLE shell

▶ Hit CTRL-N to open a new window
▶ That’s it. You are ready to go! Hit F5 to run your program

▶ The Python Shell

▶ The Program Window

▶ Successful Output

6
The IDLE
Interpreter

▶ A very powerful beast. Works magic with numbers. It’s kind of like a
calculator on steroids. Work out what the following operations do by typing
them into the IDLE interpreter shell and hitting ENTER. Try to work out what
each line of code is doing.

2+5
67/34
30*4
4<10
3==6
22-7
23>=5
3!=5
39==39
“hello” + “world”
“hello” * 3
list(range(0,100,2))
len(“hello there”)

Tasks
1. Type the commands into the IDLE interpreter, and make a note of what
each line does
2. Save & label your code

7
1.
Accuracy

▶ If you can’t write code accurately, you’ll have difficulty with programming
▶ Correct spelling and accurate use of other important symbols (brackets,
colons, speech marks) is crucial
▶ Case also matters. Instructions are always in lowercase (highlighted orange
or purple in the code below)
▶ Double and single quotes are interchangeable most of the time. Choose one
or the other and stick to it!

Tasks
1. Type the program above into a new Python window
2. Hit F5 to run it and check it works
3. Print and label your code, explaining any parts you understand

8
1.
Accuracy

9
2.
Output

▶ The print() function allows you to output something to the screen

▶ Text must be enclosed in “”
▶ \n and \t are escape characters. Make sure you understand what they do

print(“Hello World”)
print(“Hello\nWorld”)
print(“H\tE\tL\tP”)
print(3+4)

Tasks
1. Create programs to…
a. print your name three times, separated by a space
b. draw Robbie the robot
c. print the number table
2. Save and label your programs

Extension
1. Type the commands into the IDLE interpreter, and make a note of what
each line does
2. Save & label your code

1
0
2.
Output

1
1
3. Variables
Part 1

▶ Variables are names we attach spaces in the computer memory where we

can store numbers, characters and strings
▶ Computer memory is like a huge filing cabinet
▶ Each time we put something into the cabinet, we label it so we can find it
again later
▶ I might call it x, i or total
▶ Make sure the variable has a suitable name with no spaces
▶ Use camelcase, no spaces or reserved words like print

x = 20
y = 40.5
z = x + y

messageA = “Hello”
messageB = “World”
messageC = messageA + messageB

Tasks
1. Assign some variables using the code above
2. Print out all the variables using the print() function
3. Remember, you don’t need speech marks “” to print variables!
4. Save and label your code

Extension
1. Try setting and combining different variables. What happens when you try
to add text and a number?

12
4. Variables
Part 2

▶ You can reassign variables at any point in your program

▶ You can perform arithmetic on numbers, and add string variables together

Tasks
1. Copy the code below. What is happening to the message variable?

message = “Hello World”

print(message)
message = “Goodbye Cruel World”
print(message)

1. Reassign the message variable again and print it out

2. Change the messages printed in the program

print(message + “. I’m going soon”)

print(message + 10)
print(“Hello “ + message)
print(message + message)

1. Add the code above. One of the lines produces an error.

2. Disable the correct line using the # character at the start of the line
3. Make sure the program runs without error
4. Save and label your code

13
 4. Variables
Part 2

5.

Extension
1. Can you multiply a word? What happens if you try?

No as you can’t multiply letters because they aren’t numbers

14
5.
Input

▶ Once you understand variables, you can take input from the keyboard and
store it
▶ All input from the keyboard is stored as a string
▶ The example below asks the user to Enter something and stores the input
in a variable called thing

thing = input(“Enter something: “)

Tasks
1. Write a program that asks for a name, and prints out the name entered
2. Modify the code to ask for both first name and surname, and print
them out on a single line
3. Add an additional line to print the first name 5 times
4. Save, print and label your code

Extension
1. Type the commands into the IDLE interpreter, and make a note of what
each line does
2. Save & label your code

15
6. Test 1 - Ask And
Tell

Main Task
1. Write a program that will
a. Prompt and ask for name and favourite colour.
b. Return a message like the example shown below (substituting in
the colour entered

“Hello name. My favourite colour is also colour.”

Extension
1. Extend your program so it asks for first name and surname separately,
and prints the users full name, as well as their favourite colour

Hints
▶ You will need to use the input function to read in data from the user
▶ You will need suitable variables to store the input
▶ Use a single print statement to output the message

16
7. Variable Conversion
Part 1

▶ Variables contain either string, integer or float data

▶ All user input is stored as a string by default, meaning an extra step is
required to convert the input to the correct data type
▶ For example, the program below will not output the expected result
(doubling the age entered)

age = input("What's Your Age? ")

double_age = age + age
print(double_age)

▶ This is because you shouldn’t add a number to a string of characters

▶ To solve this problem you convert the age to an integer as shown below

age = input("What's Your Age? ")

age = int(age) #Convert to Integer
double_age = age + age
print(double_age)

▶ Finally, a common technique is to convert numbers back to a string

before printing them out, or displaying them as part of a message

print("Your doubled age is " + str(double_age))

Tasks
1. Type in the first example and observe the output. Why is it incorrect?
2. Type in the second example and observe the output. What has changed?
3. Type in the final line to print out the doubled age as part of a sentence
4. Save and label your code

Extension
1. Can you modify the program to ask 2-3 questions, and print them out
as part of a sentence?

17
8. Variable Conversion
Pt 2

▶ Numbers can be integer (no decimal point) or float (decimal point)

▶ The example below declares two variables, one of each type and prints
them as integers, floating point numbers and as strings
▶ if no type is specified, the variable will print as it was input

a = 3
b = 22.54

print(a)
print(int(a))
print(float(a))
print(str(a))

print(b)
print(int(b))
print(float(b))
print(str(b))

Tasks
1. Type in the code and test that it works
2. Save and label your code

Extension
1. When converting data types, the examples above are only temporary as
they are enclosed within print statements. To permanently change the
data type, reassign the variable as shown below

a = float(a)

18
9.
Numbers

▶ Variables detect what data is in them if you assign them values.

▶ Note strings are declared within speech marks “”

x = 10
y = 10.4
z = "hello"

▶ If you input from the keyboard, the computer will always treat input as a
string. You can save some time by casting (converting) the data type of
variable when you ask for the input

age = int(input("What's your age? "))

height = float(input("What's your height? "))

Tasks
1. Type in the code and test that it works
2. Save and label your code

Hints
1. Remember to use str() to convert back when printing if you are adding
strings and numbers. For example:

print("Your age is: " + str(age))

Extension
1. Use these techniques to ask the user several questions (both string and
number), and print out a short story using the entered values

19
10. Working With
Numbers

▶ Arithmetic operations are easy in Python

▶ Common operators to use with numbers are as follows:

Symbol Example Operation

() (a + b) / c Parethesis
* a * b Multiplication
/ a / b Division
% a % b Modulus
+ a + b Addition
- a - b Subtraction
= a = b Assignment

a = input("Enter a whole number: ")

a = int(a)
square = a * a
print(square)

Tasks
1. Write a program that asks for the width and height of a rectangle, and
outputs the area
2. Write a program that asks for the radius of a circle, and outputs the area
3. Assume pi (π) is 3.14159
4. The formula to calculate the area of a circle is πr2
5. Save, print and label your code

Extension
1. Can you modify the programs above to calculate the volume of the three
dimensional versions of these shapes? A cuboid and a cylinder.

20
11. Test 2 - Volume And
Area

▶ The formula for the volume of a cylinder is πr2h

▶ The formula for the surface area is (2πr2) + (2πrh)

Main Task
1. Create a program that will:
a. Ask for the radius and height of a cylinder
b. Calculate the volume and surface area
c. Output the values separately
2. Save and label your code

Extension
1. Create a similar program that will:
a. Ask for the length, width and height of a cuboid
b. Calculate the volume and surface area
c. Output the values separately
2. Save and label your code

Hints
▶ Assume the user will enter numbers with decimal points
▶ Create an answer variable to store the result before printing
▶ pi (π) = 3.14159265359
▶ r2 is the same as r*r

21
12. Comments And Blank
Lines

▶ It is good practice to layout your code so it can be easily understood by

others
▶ This includes using comments and blank lines to space oout your code and
label it to explain what it does
▶ Comment lines are ignored by the interpreter. They are used to write
information useful to someone reading the code
▶ Look how easy it is to understand!

#get amount of pounds & pence to convert

pounds = float(input("Enter amount to convert: ")

#convert to euros
euros = pounds * 1.2406

#print to two decimal places

print("%.2f" % euros)

#print normally
print(euros)

Tasks
1. Go through some of the examples you have completed so far and add
comments and blank lines, where necessary, to make your code easier to
read

22
13. Decimal
Places

▶ Sometimes, you need to print out numbers with a set number of decimal
places
▶ This method is useful when working with currency values or when you
are dividing numbers that may create answers with many decimal places

#get amount of pounds & pence to convert

pounds = float(input("Enter amount to convert: ")

#convert to euros
euros = pounds * 1.2406

#print to two decimal places

print("%.2f" % euros)

#print normally
print(euros)

Tasks
1. Enter the code above and test it works
2. Modify the code to print to 2 decimal places
3. Modify the code to print € symbol before the converted amount
4. Save, print and label your code

Extension
1. There is a function that can round numbers called round(). An example
is shown below. Incorporate it into your program

x = 3.566532
print(round(x,4))

23
14. Random
Numbers

▶ Sometimes you need to create random numbers to make ‘lucky dip’ choices
from lists or ranges of numbers
▶ To create a random integer (whole number) you can use the code below:

#Put this at the top of your file (only once)

import random

#Generates a random number between 1 and 100

number = random.randint(1,100)

#Print the number

print(number)

Tasks
1. Create a program to simulate a lottery draw. It should generate 6
numbers between 1-49 and print them appropriately
2. Run the program multiple times. Why will this program not be suitable
for drawing lottery numbers?
3. Save and label your code

Extension
1. Can you figure out a way of picking six unique numbers for the lottery draw?

24
15. Selection
With IF

▶ IF is the first conditional statement you will use

▶ It allows you to execute different code depending on the circumstances
▶ Look how the code is indented to identify it is part of the IF statement

#Declare variables
letter = "a"

#Check if letter is 'a'. If so, print message

if letter == "a":
print("The letter is a")
print("Indented lines are included!")

#Print this message anyway because there is no indent

print("This prints no matter what happens")

Tasks
1. Type in the code above and make sure it works
2. Modify the program to accept a character typed in by the user
3. Modify the program to check for the letter ‘b’
4. Save, print and label your code

Extension
1. If statements work with numbers too. Create an IF statement to check a
number.

25
16.
IF...ELSE

▶ The ELSE statement is added at the bottom of the IF statement to do

something different if the condition is not met
▶ The example will execute one of the print statements, not both

#Declare variables
letter = "a"

#IF ELSE conditional statement

if letter == "a":
print("the letter is a")
else:
print("The letter is not a")

Tasks
1. Modify your IF Selection program to use the ELSE statement
2. Save and label your code

Extension
1. How could you use this technique to identify if a given number is greater,
or less than zero?

26
17.
IF..ELIF..ELSE

▶ You can check a variable for many different conditions using ELIF

#Declare variable
letter = "a"

#IF ELIF ELSE conditional statement

if letter == "a":
print("The letter is a")
elif letter == "b":
print("The letter is b")
else:
print("The letter is not a or b")

Tasks
1. Modify your IF ELSE program to use the ELIF statement to check for the
letters a-f
2. Save and label your code

27
18. Checking
Numbers

▶ Checking if a number is equal is useful, but we need to be able to do more!

▶ Relational operators allow us to perform a range of checks on variables
▶ Remember when we are comparing, use two equals rather than one!

Symbol Example Operation

== if name == "John": equal to
< if char < "z": less than
<= if char <= "z": less than or equal to
> if char > "a": greater than
>= if char >= "a": greater than or equal
!= if char != "a": not equal to

#Read in number as integer

x = int(input("Enter a number: "))

#Check x
if x < 0:
print("x is negative")
elif x > 0:
print("x is positive")
elif x == 0:
print("x is 0")
else:
print("x is not a number")

Tasks
1. Type in the code above and make sure it works
2. Modify the program to print a message if the number is over 50
3. Modify the program to print a message when the number is over 100
4. Save and label your code

Extension
1. Investigate what happens if you type in letters instead of numbers. How
might you prevent these issues?

28
19. Checking Data
Types

▶ It is very important to be able to check the type of data entered

▶ If you try to convert data to a type that won’t ‘fit’, your program will crash
▶ The code below will crash if a non-numeric input is supplied

#This will crash if you enter a string

x = input("Enter a number: ")
x = int(x)

▶ The example below uses the Try/Except statement to catch the error
▶ The program attempts to execute the code in the try section
▶ If an error occurs, the code in the Except section is executed
▶ This works equally well at checking float() conversions too

#This will catch the error, print a message, and set x = 0

x = input("Enter a number: ")

try:
x = int(x)
except:
x = 0
print("You didn't enter a number")

Tasks
1. Type in the code above and ensure it works
2. Modify the program to output “You entered a number” if the input is
valid
3. Save and label your code

Extension
1. You can use this technique to detect an attempt to divide by zero. Use
this code to create a small program that will ask for two numbers and
detect any attempt to divide by zero

29
20. Logical
Operators

▶ Logical operators allow you to combine checks on variables

▶ The two operators are OR and AND
▶ OR will be true if either condition is met
▶ AND will be true when both conditions are met
▶ In Python, they are always written in lowercase

x = 4

if (x < 1) or (x > 10):

print("x is not between 1 and 100")

if (x > 1) and (x <= 5):

print("x is between 1 and 5")

Tasks
1. Type in the code and test that it works
2. Modify the program to check if a number entered is between 1-10, 11-20,
21-30, 31-
40 or 41-50
3. Save and label your code

Extension
1. Modify the program to accept user input, and handle unexpected input
appropriately (i.e. the user does not enter a valid number)

30
21. Test 3 -
Calculator

Main Task
1. Create a basic calculator program that will take two numbers, and perform
one of the following functions depending on what the user chooses:
a. add
b. subtract
c. multiply
d. divide
2. You should assume that all user input will be valid whole numbers. You
should ask the user which function they wish to perform. The output
should be formatted and laid out appropriately.
3. Have the program display an error message and exit if the user attempts to
divide by zero
4. Save and label your code

Extension
1. Modify the program so it prints to 2 decimal places
2. Modify the program so it checks the input numbers are valid numbers
3. Save and label your code

Hints
▶ It may help to sketch out on paper the order in which you need to
perform parts of the program
▶ You’ll need to cast (convert) inputs to integers
▶ Think about what input your program requires
▶ IF/ELIF/ELSE can be used to select different arithmetic operations
▶ All the required knowledge required for this task is contained in the previous
tasks on the website

31
22. Checking
Strings

▶ We can check strings using the same methods as with numbers

▶ A character is simply a string with a length of 1
▶ The in operator is a quick way of checking if one string or character is
contained within another – useful to check user input against an allowed
list of characters or symbols
▶ Some operators have interesting results, and work when you least expect
them

#Define a string & read in a character

string = "abcdefg"
char = input("Enter a character: ")

#Check if char is in string

if char in string:
print("The character is in the string!")
else:
print("The character was not found!")

#More general comparison using IF

if char > "m":
print("Character is after m in the alphabet")

Tasks
1. Type in the code above and make sure it works
2. Modify the program to check if the character entered is in the alphabet
(there are two ways to do this using the examples shown)
3. Save and label your code

Extension
1. The use of the NOT operator can be used as follows. Experiment.

if char not in string:

print("The character is not in the string!")

32
23. Operators And
Strings

▶ Characters can be checked and compared in much the same way as

numbers, using the same symbols
▶ Less than (<) and greater than (>) work if you think about the alphabet as
going from low (a) to high (z)
▶ Remember that lowercase and uppercase letters are recognised as
different characters by the computer

Symbol Example Operation

== if name == "John": equal to
< if char < "z": lower in the alphabet
<= if char <= "z": less than or equal in the alphabet
> if char > "a": greater in the alphabet
>= if char >= "a": greater than or equal to in alphabet
!= if char != "a": not equal to
in if char in string: is character in string?

ASCII
▶ Less than (<) and greater than (>) works because the computer assigns all
letters a preset numerical value, documented in the ASCII character set

#Use ord() to find the ASCII value of a character

print(ord("A"))

#Use chr() to find the character associated with an ASCII number

print(chr(65))

Tasks
1. Type in the code above and check it works
2. Modify the program to accept user input
3. Save and label your code

Extension
1. You can combine these techniques with an IF statement to check for any
allowed alphanumeric character (look at the table and find the lowest, and
highest numbers that identify the range of characters you want to accept)

33
24. Other String Things
Part 1

▶ There are other useful functions for checking and manipulating

characters and strings

#Defines and prints original

string
str = "AbCdEfG"
print(str)

#Checks to use in IF statements

print(str.isalpha())
print(str.islower())
print(str.isupper())
print(str.isdigit())

Reversing A
String
▶ Sometimes you might need to
print(str.upper())
reverse a string. This may be to
print(str.lower()) make a working
print(str.swapcase()) with binary strings easier, or to help
print(str.capitalize())
#This code reads the string variable,
#reverses it into the r_str variable
#Length of string
r_str = string[::-1]
print(len(str))

Tasks
1. Type in the code and make sure that it works
2. Add code to reverse the string and print it out
3. Save and label your code

Extension
1. You can combine these techniques with an IF statement to ask the user
to input a letter, and print a message if the input is 1 in length, and is an
uppercase letter.

34
25. Other String Things
Part 2

▶ All the different ways of checking strings and characters on the last page
return either TRUE (1) or FALSE (0). This means that they can be used with IF
statements
▶ If you played around with the input string, you should have realised that
islower() and isupper() only return true when the entire string is a
particular case

#Ask for a character

character = input("Enter a character: ")

#Check for a password length

if len(character) != 1:
print("Only one character should be entered")

#Check if password is lowercase

if character.islower() == 1:
print("Character is lowercase")

Tasks
1. Type in the code above and test it works
2. Modify the program to print out a message to say if the character is
uppercase or lowercase
3. Modify the program to print a message if the character is a number
4. Save and label your program

Hints
▶ You can use these techniques to perform rigorous checks on user input to
protect your program
▶ Checking user input is called validation and it helps make sure your program
runs as expected

35
26. Count Controlled
Iteration

▶ One of the things that makes a computer useful is the ability to repeat
an operation many times over at high speeds. This is called iteration or
looping
▶ The FOR loop allows us to carry out a set of instructions a specific number
of times
▶ The code within the loop must be indented
▶ The range arguments set the number of loops to perform: range(start,finish)
▶ The counter variable i displays the number of times the loop has executed
▶ Remember that the computer always starts counting at 0!

#Basic for loop to cycle a number of times

for i in range(0,5):
print("hello")

#Loop that prints the counter

for i in range(0,5):
print(i)

Tasks
1. Type in the code and make sure that it works
2. Modify the program so it prints out a list of numbers: 1-20
3. Modify the program so it takes in a word and number, and prints
the word the number of times specified
4. Save and label your code

Extension
1. The code below adds an extra parameter to the range() function that
controls the step, i.e. how many it jumps by each time it counts. The
example below counts up in twos from zero to one hundred. Can you
work out how to get the loop to count down from 100?

#Basic for loop to cycle a number of times

for i in range(0,100,2):
print(i)

36
27. Condition Controlled
Iteration

▶ Remember, indenting your code indicates it is inside a loop

▶ Always set your variable properly so the loop runs at least once
▶ Don’t forget the colon to start the conditional statement

#Set x to 0
x = 0

#Loop while x is less than 5

while x < 5:
print("looping")
#Add 1 to x each time the loop runs
x = x + 1

Tasks
1. Type in the code and make sure that it works
2. Change the code so it loops 20 times and prints out x each time
3. Modify the program so it prints out the squares of the numbers 1-10
(hint: multiply the counter by itself)
4. Save and label your code

Extension
1. Create a loop that will ask for a password and continue to do so until
‘apple’ is entered. A hint is shown below, but what other code do you
need to make it work (use the example above to help)?

while password != "apple":

37
28. Test 4 -
Iteration

Main Task
1. Create a program that:
a. Randomly generates a number between 1 -100
b. Asks the user to guess the number until they get it right
c. Says whether the guess is too high or too low
d. Says when they have guessed correctly, and quits

Extension
1. Modify the program so it records the number of guesses taken

Hints
▶ It may help to sketch out on paper the order in which you need to
perform parts of the program
▶ A good way of doing this is pseudocode, an example of which is shown below
▶ Write pretty much what you like, but each line should translate directly
into a line in your program. You should keep indents to show the bits that
loop

import the random library

randomly generate a number between 1-100
set attempts to 0
set guess to 0
while the guess is not equal to the random number
ask for a guess to be input
add one to the number of attempts
if guess is less than random number tell user
if guess is more than random number tell user
print a well done message and display the guessed number
print the number of attempts

38
29.
Subroutines

▶ Subroutines (sometimes known as procedures) allow you to split your

program into reusable chunks that you can call from any other part of
your program
▶ Subroutines always appear before the main program
▶ They can work on their own or you can pass them values
▶ Subroutines do not return values to the main program

#Subroutines first
def mySub():
for i in range(0,3):
print("hello")

def mySub2(word,times):
for i in range(0,times):
print(word)

#Main program starts below subroutines

#Call with no parameters

mySub()

#Call with parameters

mySub2('blah',5)

Tasks
1. Type the code and make sure it works
2. Create a subroutine that prints the cube of a number passed to it
3. Save and label your code

Extension
1. You can create subroutines to do many things. Create subroutines to
perform basic calculations (add, subtract, multiply, divide) that you can
pass values to

39
30.
Functions

▶ The subroutines on the other page are simply procedures that run the
code within then when called. The other type is a function that returns
value(s) rather than printing to the screen

#Functions first
def double(number):
doubled = number * 2
return doubled

#Execute function and print returned value

print(double(10))

#Call function, pass a value (10) and save return value in

doubled variable
doubled = double(10)
print(double)

#Use in IF statements
x = 25
if double(x) > 100:
print("It's a big one!")

Tasks
def pos_or_neg(x):
1. Type in the code and make sure it works. if x > 0:
2. Create a function that takes the radius of a circle,
and returns the area of a circle πr2 return "Positive"
3. Save and label your code elif x < 0:

Extension return "Negative"

else:
1. Functions can return more than one value,
return "0"
and can do so at any point using the return
command. Create the code to call this
function, and modify the code to accept #Call the function here
input from the user
#??
40
31. Creating, Editing & Deleting
Lists

▶ Lists are essential when using Python to store large amounts of

information, especially if we don’t know how much in advance
▶ A list has a name, just like a variable but there may be many lists within it
too (known as two-dimensional lists (that’s for later!)
▶ Each list has an index, starting at 0
▶ The example below is known as a one-dimensional list

#Create a list containing 4 names

#Leave square brackets empty to create an empty list
names = ['Joe','Mike','Sarah','Charlie']

#Lists can also contain numbers

numbers = [23,45,6,9,10]

#Will print "Sarah"

print(names[2])

#Add to the end of the list

names.append("Alf")

#Remove a name from the list

names.remove("Mike")

#Remove by index number if known, no number pops last the list

names.pop(2)

#Find the length of the list (returns a numerical value)

list_length = len(names)

#Empty the list entirely

names.clear()

Tasks
1. Type in the code and make sure that it works
2. Add print statements at relevant points to show what effect each line has
on the list
3. Save and label your code

Extension
1. A while loop if frequently used to allow a user to keep adding new names
to the list, until a specific character (such as ‘Q’) is detected, when it will
stop and print out the list. Can you implement this technique?
41
32. Cycling Through & Checking
Lists

▶ FOR and WHILE loops are essential to make full use of lists with the
minimum amount of code
▶ The len() function can tell you how big your list is
▶ The in operator will be your best friend soon. It makes life very easy

#List containing 4 names + print (good for testing)

names = ["Joe","Mike","Sarah","Charlie"]

#Get length and print

length = len(names)
print(length)

#Using the 'in' operator to cycle through each name and print.
#The IF statement checks for "Joe" and finds index
for name in names:
print(name)
if name == "Joe":
print("Hey Joe, love Jimi!")
position = names.index("Joe")
print("Found at index: " + str(position))

Tasks
1. Type in the code and make sure that it works
2. Modify the program to allow the user to input a name to search for
3. Modify to use a list of 10 names, and print custom messages for two other
names
4. Save and label your code

Extension
1. The index number is frequently used to identify the exact position of an
item in the list, usually so you can delete it using the code below, the
position variable containing the index of the item to remove. Modify the
program to ask if the name should be deleted if it is found in the list

names.pop(position)
42
33. Searching and editing list
items

▶ The index number of the list item allows you to edit and delete particular
items
▶ This example uses the in operator to quickly check the whole list
▶ If the search term exists, it then looks up the index, and uses this to directly
edit the name “Sarah”, changing it to “Sara”

#List containing 4 names

names = [‘Joe’,’Mike’,’Sarah’,’Charlie’]

#Checking a list using 'in' and IF

name = 'Sarah'
if name in names:

#Print found name message

print(name + " found at location: ")

#Grab index number of current name and print

index = names.index(name)
print(index)

#Use the index to change the item

names[index] = “Sara”

#Use the index to delete the item

names.pop(index)

Tasks
1. Type in the code and make sure it works
2. Modify the program to ask the user for a name, search for it and
allow the user to update it if found
3. Save and label your code

Extension
1. This ‘search’ technique is essential knowledge because you must be able
to search in order to delete, or edit items in a list that already exists. Can
you modify the program to offer an option of edit (or) delete if the name is
found?

43
34. Quick Sorting/Searching
Lists

▶ A couple more tricks can be performed with lists to make them really useful

#List containing 4 names, and print

names = ["Joe","Mike","Sarah","Charlie"]
print(names)

#Sort and reprint the list Ascending (A-Z)

names.sort()
print(names)

#Sort and reprint the list Descending (Z-A)

names.sort(reverse=True)
print(names)

#A way to search a specific record and get the index

#without using for loop. This is no good for lists
#containing duplicate values
index = names.index("Mike")
print(index)

Tasks
1. Type in the code and make sure it works
2. Create a new list with 10 numbers in it, and print them sorted into order
3. Modify the program to accept user input to add more items to the list
4. Save, print and label your code

Extension

1. When you have a list with duplicate values, the quick search technique
above will not work. When faced with duplicate values, you must use a
FOR loop to cycle through the list and check each item individually, and
count, or display the occurrences. Can you do this? Refer back to the
earlier list tasks to help.

44
35. 2D Lists (Lists Within
Lists)

▶ This may sound complicated, but lists within lists are the best way to save
‘records’
i.e. multiple bits of information about one thing, such as the name, address
and telephone number of a user
▶ This type of list is known as a two-dimensional list
▶ Lists are sometimes referred to as ‘arrays’

#Create a new list, each list item containing two values

users = [
["Mike","Smith",24],
["John","Thompson",56],
["Mary","Field",19]
]

#Add additional record

users.append(["Katie","Johnson",15])

#Use elements in loop ([0] is name, [1] is surname, [2] is age)

for user in users:
print(user[0],user[1],user[2])

#Display a specific item (this example will display '56'

print(users[1][2])

#Access individual parts of each item (change a record)

#Indexes work down, then across
users[0][0] = "Michael" users[0]
[1] = "Thomas"

#Messy, but quick method of printing an entire list

print(users)

45
35. 2D Lists (Lists Within
Lists)
Index 0 1 2
0 Mike Smith 24
1 John Thompson 56
2 Mary Field 19

Tasks
1. Type in the code and make sure it works
2. Add a new field to the list items to hold the e-mail address of each
person, and show you can print and edit it
3. Save and label your code

Extension
1. Creating code to neatly print out a list is important. Use a for loop and
appropriate escape characters (\n) or (\t) to display the list as a table.
There are several ways to do this, the most efficient using two FOR loops,
one inside the other

46
36. Searching/Sorting 2D
Lists

▶ Searching through two-dimensional lists is best done with a FOR loop

▶ Each time, you can use an IF statement to check a particular part of the list
item
▶ Sorting a 2D list is easy as long as the field to sort by is the first item (first
name in the example below)

#Create a new list, each list item containing three items

users = [
["Mike","Smith",24],
["John","Thompson",56],
["Mary","Field",19],
["Katie","Johnson",15]
]

#Name to search for

searchSurname = input("Enter surname: ")

#Loop. If the name is found, the location will be printed

for user in users:

#Compare the searchSurname to the name in the list

if user[1] == searchSurname:

#Get & print the index location of the matching name

foundat = users.index(user)
print("Found at index: ",foundat)

#Ask if the user wishes to delete the record

q = input("Press (y) to delete this record:
")

#If the user chooses 'y'

if q == "y":

#Delete the record using the index

users.pop(foundat)

#Sort and print the list once the loop has finished
users.sort()
print(users)
47
36. Searching/Sorting 2D
Lists

Tasks
1. Type in the code above and make sure that it works
2. Add 3 more people into the original list
3. Modify the program to search for first name
4. Save and label your code

Extension
1. Investigate how this program reacts if there are duplicate names in the
list. What happens when you search and there are two people named
‘Smith’ for example? You can also modify this code to allow the editing of
a name if it is found

48
37. Advanced String Handling
Part 1

▶ Using loops and comparisons, you can do some pretty nifty things with
strings of characters
▶ Performing comparisons is much more powerful when you use loops to
inspect each individual character
▶ Note the in operator works on strings as well as lists

#Declare a string
string = "John Henry was a desperate little man."

#Loop through each letter in the string, and print with a space
after each
for letter in string:
print(letter)

#Quick length calculation

string_length = len(string)
print("String Length:",string_length)

#Set counters to 0
vowels = 0
others = 0

#Loop string and count vowels

for letter in string:

#if a vowel...
if letter in "aeiuo":
vowels += 1

#if not a vowel

else:
others += 1

#Print the total counts once complete

print("Vowels: ",vowels)
print("Others: ",others)

49
37. Advanced String Handling
Part 1

Tasks
1. Type in the code and test it works
2. Modify the program to count uppercase and lowercase letters
3. Modify the program to count punctuation and spaces
4. Save and label your code

Extension
1. The break command allows you to exit a for loop at any time. You can
use this to modify your program to print an error and quit if a number is
detected in the input string.

50
38. Advanced String Handling
Part 2

▶ Multiple items of information are sometimes stored on each line in a file

that your program might load up. They might be separated by commas or
spaces and you can easily split the lines up and re-join them once you have
finished
▶ Dates and product codes are frequently manipulated using these techniques

#date
date = "12/04/1981"

#Simple split function into single variables

day,month,year = date.split("/")

#Split the date into a list at (/) slash characters (alternate)

split_date = []
split_date = date.split("/")

#Grab items from split_date list

day = split_date[0]
month = split_date[1]
year = split_date[2]

#Rejoin date parts with a different delimiter (:) colon

date = day + ":" + month + ":" + year
print(date)

Tasks
1. Type in the code and test it works
2. Modify the program to count uppercase and lowercase letters
3. Modify the program to count punctuation and spaces
4. Save and label your code

51
38. Advanced String Handling
Part 2

Extension
1. The split() function will not work if the number of splits does not match
the number of variables. For example:

date = "12/04"
day,month,year = date.split("/") #Won't work

2. Good practice would be to use a for loop/if statement construct to check

the number of slashes before splitting. How might you implement this?

52
39. Advanced String Handling
Part 3

▶ You can chop up strings and check individual parts when the input may be
multiple words or numbers separated by spaces or particular characters
such as full names or dates
▶ In the last example you split strings into an array but you can access
individual bits of them by number to save time
▶ Remember to use if statements to validate input!

#Date variable
date = input(“Enter the date (dd/mm/yyyy): ”)

#Access the string directly

day = date[0:2]
month = date[3:5]
year = date [8:12]

#You can't change individual bits of the string though

#date[0:2] = "15"

#You might recreate the original instead after updates

day = "15"
date = day + "/" + month + "/" + year

#Print new date string

print(date)

Tasks
1. Type in the code and test it works
2. Save, print and label your code

53
40. Reading And Writing
Files

▶ Reading and writing files is fairly simple if you know what you want to load
and save
▶ There are simple techniques for reading and writing individual items of data
to and from a text file, a line at a time or all at once
▶ Reading multiple lines is usually done with a for loop and the contents are
loaded into a list within the program. Using a list means your program can
handle files containing different amounts of data.
▶ Depending on what you are using files for, it pays to have planned exactly
what you are loading and saving from your file. Questions to ask yourself:
▶ What am I actually storing on each line of the file?
▶ Is it an unorganised list or are the items in a particular order?
▶ Are there a set number of lines that will be used?
▶ Do you need to read/write each line individually?
▶ Do you need to add or delete individual items in the file?
▶ Do you need to store multiple items of information on each line? If so, how
will they be separated?

#Open a file (r = read, w = write, a = append)

file = open("users.txt","r")

#Do stuff here

#Close the file

file.close()

54
41. Read/Write A Single
Value

▶ The simplest thing you might need to do with files is to load or save a
single item of data
▶ The example below uses a text file called savedfile.txt to read/write a
number
▶ The program will produce an error if it does not exist so create it first (in the
same directory where your program is saved)

#Open file for reading, read the contents

#of the file and close
file =
open(“savedfile.txt”,“r”) value
= file.read()
file.close()

#Print the value from the file

print(value)

#Open file for writing, Write 37 to

#the file and close
file =
open(“savedfile.txt”,“w”)
file.write("37")

Tasks
1. Type in the code to test it works
2. Modify the code to accept user input of a new number to save
3. Try saving and loading strings, does it work?
4. Save and label your code

Extension
1. This technique was how early website counters worked. Each time the
code ran, it loads the number from the file, adds 1 and saves it back
to the file. Can you implement this technique?
55
42. Reading Multiple
Lines

▶ This example uses a file savedfile.txt with a list of names and reads in each
line at a time
▶ Each time readline() is called, the file advances by one line
▶ This is useful if you know exactly where you saved specific items in the
file, and you know how many lines there are in total
▶ However, it is no use if you don’t know how many lines are in the file

#Open file for reading

file = open("savedfile.txt","r")

#Read one line after another

line1 =
file.readline() line2
= file.readline()
line3 =
file.readline() line4
= file.readline()

#Close file
file.close()

#Each line when it is read in has a hidden \n at the end that

produces
#extra line breaks between each print. Remove it with strip()
line1 = line1.strip("\n")
line2 = line2.strip("\n")
line3 = line3.strip("\n")
line4 = line4.strip("\n")

#Print the lines from the file that have been read in
print(line1)
print(line2)
print(line3)

56
42. Reading Multiple
Lines

Tasks
1. Type in the code and make sure it works
2. Modify the program to read the lines into a list and print the contents
3. Save and label your code

Extension
1. One technique to store more than one item per line, is to put a delimiter
between them, usually a comma (,) and you can use the split() function to
separate the parts of the line when you read it in. Add data into the text
file and try to get this technique to work

57
43. Writing Multiple
Lines

▶ When writing to files, you can either overwrite the information in the file
(w), or add to it as you go along (a). This is set as shown below. Choose
one or the other, not both
▶ There is a function called writeline() that you might assume is the
opposite of readline(). Using this is slightly different and we will simulate
the same effect by adding a line break \n each time we write a line to the
file

#Open file for appending (add to)

file = open(“savedfile.txt”,“a”)

#Open file for writing (overwrite)

file = open(“savedfile.txt”,“w”)

#Write one line at a time, note the addition of a line break \n

on the ends
file.write("Jemima\n")
file.write("Asif\n")
file.write("Susan\n")

#Close file
file.close()

Tasks
1. Type in the code and make sure it works – append will add names
to the text file every time you run the code. Write will save over
the previous names in the file
2. Modify the program to accept user input to add 5 names to the file. There
are several ways to do this, the most efficient using a for loop that runs
5 times
3. Save and label your code

Extension
1. A while loop can be used to keep asking for names, and writing them to
the file until a specific letter or character is typed in, such as ‘X’. How
could you implement this feature? Can you make it work?
58
44. Reading Delimited
Files

▶ Sometimes, you need to read in files from other programs containing

information such as student records or address details.
▶ We use files known as comma separated values files
▶ They are simply text files with a different extension (.csv)
▶ Each line will have multiple items on it, each usually separated by a
comma. It might look like the example below
▶ When working with files, make sure they are NOT open in notepad whilst
Python is running
▶ There should be NO spaces between line items

#Open file for reading

file = open("addresses.csv","r")

#Read into list and split at commas

for line in file:

#Strip the \n from the end of the line

line = line.strip("\n")

#Split the line into separate variables

name,address,state,phone = line.split(",")

#Print the variables

print(name,address,state,phone)

#Close file, contents now in list

file.close()

59
44. Reading Delimited
Files

Tasks
1. Create a suitable .csv file with details of 5 people in it
2. Type in the code above and make sure it works
3. Save and label your code

Extension
1. This code is very basic and will break very easily if the file does not exist.
A function called exists() can be used to check for a file before trying
to open it. Do some research and try to implement a feature that
detects if the file exists

60
45. Writing Delimited
Files

▶ Writing delimited files is easy. You simply combine the items for each line,
separated by a comma, with a \n on the end and then write it to the file

#Open file for append (add to)

file =
open('addresses.csv','a')

name = "Jay Jones"

address = "56 3rd St"
city = "Delaware"
phone = "08556 474562"

#Write a line separated by commas, \n on the end

file.write(name + "," + address + "," + city + "," + phone + "\n")

#Close file
file.close()

Tasks
1. Type in the code above and make sure it works
2. Modify the program to accept user input
3. Save and label your code

Extension
1. You can implement a for or while loop in your program that will allow
you to enter details for multiple people, either until a specific character is
pressed or a set number of details have been entered. Can you make
this work?
61
46. Reading A File Into A
List

▶ A really important thing you will need to be able to do is read and write
text files with variable numbers of lines
▶ Because we don’t know how many lines there will be, we tend to read text
files into a list, make any changes, and then write the whole list back over
the file

#Define blank
list file_contents
= []

#Open the file

file = open("addresses.csv","r")

#Loop through each line

for line in file:

#Strip the \n fron the line

line = line.strip("\n")

#Split the line into parts

name,address,city,phone = line.split(",")

#Add items to file_contents list

file_contents.append([name,address,city,phone])

#Close the file

file.close()

#Messy print
print(file_contents)

Tasks
1. Type in the code and make sure it works
2. Modify the code to allow you to choose a filename
3. Modify the code to print the list in a neater fashion
4. Save and label your code

62
46. Reading A File Into A
List

Extension
1. You can make this code more efficient by combining the splitting and
appending into one line (shown below). Implement this improvement:

file_contents.append(line.split(","))

63
47. Writing A List To A
File

▶ A really important thing you will need to be able to do is read and write
text files with variable numbers of lines
▶ Because we don’t know how many lines there will be, we tend to read text
files into a list, make any changes, and then write the whole list back over
the file

#List held in program

address_list = [
['Ken McCall', '65 Lincoln Blvd', 'Washington', '07989 345664'],
['Joe Smith', '21 Jefferson Ave', 'Washington', '07664 354748'],
['Ally Major', '99 Kennedy St', 'Washington', '08775 467362'],
['Jay Jones', '57 3rd St', 'Delaware', '08556 474562']
]

#Open the file

file = open("addresses.csv","w")

#Loop through each line of the list

for line in address_list:

#Build line to write to the file, each separated by a comma,

#and a line break \n at the end
file.write(line[0] + "," + line[1] + "," + line[2] + "," +
line[3] + "\n")

#Close the file

file.close()

Tasks
1. Type in the code and make sure it works
2. Add two more people into the list (there are several ways to do this)
3. Modify the code to allow you to choose a filename
4. Save and label your code

Extension
1. Python can be buggy if it tries to write to a file that is open in another
64
47. Writing A List To A
File
program such as notepad. Try it and see what happens

65
48. Using
Pickle

▶ If you use lists to store the data from your program, there is a neat function
called pickle() that can be used to save the entire list rather than using
loops
▶ The example below saves a list to a file and then reloads it
▶ The data is not stored as text though, so you can’t edit it by hand
▶ You need to declare the pickle library at the start of your program

#Import pickle library

import pickle

#List held in program

address_list = [
['Ken McCall', '65 Lincoln Blvd', 'Washington', '07989 345664'],
['Joe Smith', '21 Jefferson Ave', 'Washington', '07664 354748'],
['Ally Major', '99 Kennedy St', 'Washington', '08775 467362'],
['Jay Jones', '57 3rd St', 'Delaware', '08556 474562']
]

#Open file for write (binary), save list to file and close
file = open('savedfile.dat','wb')
pickle.dump(address_list,file)
file.close()

#Clear the address list

address_list.clear()

#Open file for reading (binary), read back into list and close
file = open('savedfile.dat','rb')
address_list = pickle.load(file)
file.close

#Print list contents

print(address_list)

66
48. Using
Pickle

Tasks
1. Type in the code and make sure it works
2. Open the .dat file in notepad. What do you see?
3. Save and label your code

Extension
1. You cannot create pickle data files using notepad, so you need to build
code to generate a list that you then save to the file. From that point on
you need to read into your list at the start of the program, and save it
back out at the end. Removing the list declaration at the top, and
swapping round the read and write sections in the program above will
make sure your program does this properly

67