Starting out with Python

Fifth Edition

Chapter 3
Decision Structures and
Boolean Logic

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Topics
• The if Statement
• The if-else Statement
• Comparing Strings
• Nested Decision Structures and the if-elif-else
Statement
• Logical Operators
• Boolean Variables
• Turtle Graphics: Determining the State of the Turtle

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The if Statement (1 of 4)
• Control structure: logical design that controls order in
which set of statements execute
• Sequence structure: set of statements that execute in
the order they appear
• Decision structure: specific action(s) performed only if
a condition exists
– Also known as selection structure

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The if Statement (2 of 4)
• In flowchart, diamond represents true/false condition
that must be tested
• Actions can be conditionally executed
– Performed only when a condition is true
• Single alternative decision structure: provides only
one alternative path of execution
– If condition is not true, exit the structure

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The if Statement (3 of 4)

Figure 3-1 A simple decision structure

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The if Statement (4 of 4)
• Python syntax:
if condition:
Statement
Statement
• First line known as the if clause
– Includes the keyword if followed by condition
 The condition can be true or false
 When the if statement executes, the condition is tested,
and if it is true the block statements are executed.
otherwise, block statements are skipped

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Boolean Expressions and Relational
Operators (1 of 5)
• Boolean expression: expression tested by if statement
to determine if it is true or false
– Example: a > b
 true if a is greater than b; false otherwise

• Relational operator: determines whether a specific

relationship exists between two values
– Example: greater than (>)

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Boolean Expressions and Relational
Operators (2 of 5)
• >= and <= operators test more than one relationship
– It is enough for one of the relationships to exist for the
expression to be true
• == operator determines whether the two operands are
equal to one another
– Do not confuse with assignment operator (=)
• != operator determines whether the two operands are
not equal

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Boolean Expressions and Relational
Operators (3 of 5)
Table 3-2 Boolean expressions using relational operators
Expression Meaning
x > y Is x greater than y?
x < y Is x less than y?
x >= y Is x greater than or equal to y?
x <= y Is x less than or equal to y?
x == y Is x equal to y?
x != y Is x not equal to y?

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Boolean Expressions and Relational
Operators (4 of 5)
• Using a Boolean expression with the > relational
operator

Figure 3-3 Example decision structure

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Boolean Expressions and Relational
Operators (5 of 5)
• Any relational operator can be used in a decision
block
– Example: if balance == 0
– Example: if payment != balance
• It is possible to have a block inside another block
– Example: if statement inside a function
– Statements in inner block must be indented with
respect to the outer block

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The if-else Statement (1 of 3)
• Dual alternative decision structure: two possible paths
of execution
– One is taken if the condition is true, and the other if the
condition is false
– Syntax: if condition:
statements
else:
other statements
– if clause and else clause must be aligned
– Statements must be consistently indented

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The if-else Statement (2 of 3)

Figure 3-5 A dual alternative decision structure

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The if-else Statement (3 of 3)

Figure 3-6 Conditional execution in an if-else statement

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Comparing Strings (1 of 2)
• Strings can be compared using the == and !=
operators
• String comparisons are case sensitive
• Strings can be compared using >, <, >=, and <=
– Compared character by character based on the ASCII
values for each character
– If shorter word is substring of longer word, longer word
is greater than shorter word

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Comparing Strings (2 of 2)

Figure 3-9 Comparing each character in a string

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Nested Decision Structures and the
if-elif-else Statement (1 of 3)
• A decision structure can be nested inside another
decision structure
– Commonly needed in programs
– Example:
 Determine if someone qualifies for a loan, they must
meet two conditions:
– Must earn at least $30,000/year
– Must have been employed for at least two years
 Check first condition, and if it is true, check second
condition

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Nested Decision Structures and the
if-elif-else Statement (2 of 3)

Figure 3-12 A nested decision structure

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Nested Decision Structures and the
if-elif-else Statement (3 of 3)
• Important to use proper indentation in a nested
decision structure
– Important for Python interpreter
– Makes code more readable for programmer
– Rules for writing nested if statements:
 else clause should align with matching if clause
 Statements in each block must be consistently indented

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The if-elif-else Statement (1 of 3)
• if-elif-else statement: special version of a
decision structure
– Makes logic of nested decision structures simpler to
write
 Can include multiple elif statements
– Syntax: if condition_1:
statement(s)
elif condition_2:
statement(s) Insert as many elif clauses
elif condition_3: as necessary.
statement(s)
else
statement(s)

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The if-elif-else Statement (2 of 3)
• Alignment used with if-elif-else statement:
– if, elif, and else clauses are all aligned
– Conditionally executed blocks are consistently indented
• if-elif-else statement is never required, but logic
easier to follow
– Can be accomplished by nested if-else
 Code can become complex, and indentation can cause
problematic long lines

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The if-elif-else Statement (3 of 3)

Figure 3-15 Nested decision structure to determine a grade

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Logical Operators
• Logical operators: operators that can be used to
create complex Boolean expressions
– and operator and or operator: binary operators,
connect two Boolean expressions into a compound
Boolean expression
– not operator: unary operator, reverses the truth of its
Boolean operand

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The and Operator
• Takes two Boolean expressions as operands
– Creates compound Boolean expression that is true only
when both sub expressions are true
– Can be used to simplify nested decision structures
• Truth table for the and operator
Value of the Expression
Expression
false false and false
false false and true
false true and false
true true and true

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The or Operator
• Takes two Boolean expressions as operands
– Creates compound Boolean expression that is true
when either of the sub expressions is true
– Can be used to simplify nested decision structures
• Truth table for the or operator
Value of the Expression
Expression
false false and false
true false and true
true true and false
true true and true

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Short-Circuit Evaluation
• Short circuit evaluation: deciding the value of a
compound Boolean expression after evaluating only
one sub expression
– Performed by the or and and operators
 For or operator: If left operand is true, compound
expression is true. Otherwise, evaluate right operand
 For and operator: If left operand is false, compound
expression is false. Otherwise, evaluate right operand

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The not Operator
• Takes one Boolean expressions as operand and
reverses its logical value
– Sometimes it may be necessary to place parentheses
around an expression to clarify to what you are
applying the not operator
• Truth table for the not operator

Value of the Expression Expression

false true
true false

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Checking Numeric Ranges with Logical
Operators
• To determine whether a numeric value is within a
specific range of values, use and
– Example: x >= 10 and x <= 20
• To determine whether a numeric value is outside of a
specific range of values, use or
– Example: x < 10 or x > 20

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Boolean Variables
• Boolean variable: references one of two values, True
or False
– Represented by bool data type
• Commonly used as flags
– Flag: variable that signals when some condition exists
in a program
 Flag set to False  condition does not exist
 Flag set to True  condition exists

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Turtle Graphics: Determining the State
of the Turtle (1 of 9)
• The turtle.xcor() and turtle.ycor() functions
return the turtle's X and Y coordinates
• Examples of calling these functions in an if
statement:
if turtle.ycor() < 0:
turtle.goto(0, 0)

if turtle.xcor() > 100 and turtle.xcor() < 200:

turtle.goto(0, 0)

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Turtle Graphics: Determining the State
of the Turtle (2 of 9)
• The turtle.heading() function returns the turtle's
heading. (By default, the heading is returned in degrees.)
• Example of calling the function in an if statement:

if turtle.heading() >= 90 and turtle.heading() <= 270:

turtle.setheading(180)

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Turtle Graphics: Determining the State
of the Turtle (3 of 9)
• The turtle.isdown() function returns True if the
pen is down, or False otherwise.
• Example of calling the function in an if statement:

if turtle.isdown():
turtle.penup()

if not(turtle.isdown()):
turtle.pendown()

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Turtle Graphics: Determining the State
of the Turtle (4 of 9)
• The turtle.isvisible() function returns True if
the turtle is visible, or False otherwise.
• Example of calling the function in an if statement:

if turtle.isvisible():
turtle.hideturtle()

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Turtle Graphics: Determining the State
of the Turtle (5 of 9)
• When you call turtle.pencolor() without passing an
argument, the function returns the pen's current color as a
string. Example of calling the function in an if statement:
if turtle.pencolor() == 'red':
turtle.pencolor('blue')

• When you call turtle.fillcolor() without passing

an argument, the function returns the current fill color as a
string. Example of calling the function in an if statement:
if turtle.fillcolor() == 'blue':
turtle.fillcolor('white')

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Turtle Graphics: Determining the State
of the Turtle (6 of 9)
• When you call turtle.bgcolor() without passing
an argument, the function returns the current
background color as a string. Example of calling the
function in an if statement:

if turtle.bgcolor() == 'white':
turtle.bgcolor('gray')

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Turtle Graphics: Determining the State
of the Turtle (7 of 9)
• When you call turtle.pensize() without passing an
argument, the function returns the pen's current size as a
string. Example of calling the function in an if statement:

if turtle.pensize() < 3:
turtle.pensize(3)

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Turtle Graphics: Determining the State
of the Turtle (8 of 9)
• When you call turtle.speed()without passing an
argument, the function returns the current animation
speed. Example of calling the function in an if statement:

if turtle.speed() > 0:
turtle.speed(0)

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Turtle Graphics: Determining the State
of the Turtle (9 of 9)
• See In the Spotlight: The Hit the Target Game in your
textbook for numerous examples of determining the
state of the turtle.

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Summary
• This chapter covered:
– Decision structures, including:
 Single alternative decision structures
 Dual alternative decision structures
 Nested decision structures
– Relational operators and logical operators as used in
creating Boolean expressions
– String comparison as used in creating Boolean
expressions
– Boolean variables
– Determining the state of the turtle in Turtle Graphics
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