Touchstone

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: Python Journal Project

ASSIGNMENT: For this project, you will learn how to effectively plan, design, develop, and test an original program of your choosing. This program is your choice and it can be as complex as you wish. The goal is to start with an idea for your program and then step through the process of most phases of the development lifecycle to turn your idea into an actual program. This includes planning out the algorithm using pseudocode, coding your program using everything you learned from Units

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$$and finally testing and debugging your program to make sure it fulfills your intended purpose. Being able to create your own program can be beneficial in any career field. Anything that can be programmed or automated in any industry could make your work a lot easier. Even as a hobby, it can give you a reference point to have a better understanding of how to deal with common issues. Using basic Python to automate menial tasks can save you time and money! Whether you were in this class to learn programming at a professional level or if it

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s just for fun, you will benefit from learning coding as a foundation of your technical skills.

For this Touchstone, you will fill out a journal

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template link below

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$$which has five sections that correspond to the five steps you will complete for your final project. Use this template to write your journal responses for each section of the project. When you have finished, you will submit this journal as a Word

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doc

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docx

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Step

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: Download and review the Python Journal Template.

Step

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: Review section C

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Requirements

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$$to get acquainted with the requirements for this Touchstone before you begin writing your journal entries.

Step

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: Follow the directions for each part of the journal template. Make sure to include in your response all the elements listed under the Requirements section. Prompts in the Inspiration section are not required; however, they may help you to fully think through your response.

Follow the journal creation process that is presented in your Unit

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$$lessons to ensure you write a thorough journal entry. There is also an example of a successful journal entry for each submission in section D

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Additional Resources

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Review section B

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Rubric

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$$to make sure you have an understanding of how each journal entry will be graded.

Step

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: Once your journal is complete, including the code link, submit your journal for grading.

There is a help video on

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How to submit your Touchstone

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$$in the first lesson of Unit

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Python Touchstone Overview

Task

State the problem you are planning to solve.

Requirements

Describe the problem you are trying to solve for.

Describe any input data you expect to use.

Describe what the program will do to solve the problem.

Describe any outputs or results the program will provide.

Inspiration

When writing your entry below ask yourself the following questions:

Why do you want to solve this particular problem?

What source

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s

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$$of data do you believe you will need? Will the user need to supply that data, or will you get it from an external file or another source?

Will you need to interact with the user throughout the program? Will users continually need to enter data in and see something to continue?

What are your expected results or what will be the end product? What will you need to tell a user of your program when it is complete?

Task

Write down clear and specific steps to solve a simple version of your problem you identified in Part

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Requirements

Complete the three steps below for at least two distinct examples

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scenarios

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State any necessary input data for your simplified problem.

Write clear and specific steps in English

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not Python

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$$detailing what the program will do to solve the problem.

Describe the specific result of your example

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scenario

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Inspiration

When writing your entry below ask yourself the following questions:

Are there any steps that you don

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t fully understand? These are places to spend more time working out the details. Consider adding additional smaller steps in these spots.

Remember that a computer program is very literal. Are there any steps that are unclear? Try giving the steps of your example

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scenario to a friend or family member to read through and ask you questions about parts they don

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t understand. Rewrite these parts as clearly as you can.

Are there interesting edge cases for your program? Try to start one of your examples

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scenarios with input that matches this edge case. How does it change how your program might work?

Task

Write out the general sequence your program will use, including all specific examples

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scenarios you provided in Part

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Requirements

Write pseudocode for the program in English but refer to Python program elements where they are appropriate. The pseudocode should represent the full functiona