Coding Conversations

A new lesson in Coding: Introduction to Python 3

As said that there are many ways to write a code to get the same outcome, but the best code is the one which is efficient and is completed in the least number of lines. In todays fast paced world, we all are demanding for faster technology along with getting things done at the spree of the moment. For that the technical working behind the aesthetically pleasing interface that we see is of mere importance. If an individual does not understand how the interface works and what goes behind that, we as designers will not be able to design with efficiency.

Having insightful conversation with different kinds of people within few hours gave us lots of new hopes, ideas and further amendments for our concept. Talking to individuals and gaining their perspective always gives you an extra page to think upon, the way we could include the feedback ad how well it is related to our project. Relating the words exchanged back to the where we as a group had started off, I feel that sharing ideas in a public forum and space was one of the most important exercise in the week as it helped to understand other perspectives and minds on the same idea and concept. Exhibitions promote self-directed learning which further leads to building confidence and ownership of one’s projects.

Arithmetic sums and other operations cannot only be solved using pen and paper, but also using programming language like Python. I was really interested once our faculty showed how calculations could be performed on an editor using some basic arithmetic symbols like “+”, “*”, “/”, “//”, etc. The path of learning random commands was interesting and fun for me as it made me think about the process that runs behind when the machine prints a random number from the choice of numbers listed either sequence wise or in a range. How did the machine just choose a random number and print it? This can be applied for any kind of things for example, greetings, names, room numbers, etc. A single word when added to the command will give you completely different outputs such as adding a name to the list of names either in a position or remove a name from a position. Another small yet vital thing caught my eyes were the use of single and repeated equals to sign. The usage of both was very different. On the same grounds there many more things to keep in mind while writing a code. To end a command or when the evaluation has ended, a semi colon is important to use. We further learnt about Boolean statements which helped us to compare certain logical statements in our codes.

Recipes are not just limited to only cooking but also finds its use in programming a code too. A program flow is a recipe of a code which helps to identify the flow of the program or the path that it is supposed to run through, whether it is sequential, iterative or conditional. Building a code for a simple conversational agent was just like its name, SIMPLE.

For example:

name = input (“What is your name?”)

print (“Hello” + name)

OUTPUT:

What is your name?xyz

Hello xyz

Rapid quizzing helped our brains to think faster in coding terminology. We run through 10 rapid quiz solutions before we got started working on our codes for our conversational agents.

Keeping small things in mind and knowing the syntax of the language will help us get through any code. Coding helps us to delve deeper into problem solving. We, as designers and emerging coders, we should know how to solve problems in the best possible way both creatively and technically.

Looking forward to the next class.