In Class Coding Activity

This is an example mini-exercise that we will go through together in class to get a little more practice with function writing! (You do not have to write these functions on your own!)

Part 0. Setup

Start by opening your workspace in Visual Studio. Right click on the “lessons” folder and select “add folder”. Create a folder called “garden”. Then, right click on the “garden” folder and select “add file”. Your file will be named garden_helpers.py.

Set up your document by adding the docstring: """Some functions for my garden plan!""" and initializing the __author__ variable with your PID.

Part 1. add_by_kind()

We are going to write a function that adds a plant to a garden dictionary that is sorted by the kind of plant. For example, given the dictionary {"flower": ["marigold", "zinnia"], "vegetable": ["carrots"]}, say we want to add another "flower", like a daisy. This function should allow us to do that by mutating the input dictionary.

• Function name: add_by_kind
• Parameters: dict[str, list[str]], str, str
• Return Type: None

Example usage:

python
>>> from lessons.garden.garden_helpers import add_by_kind
>>> by_kind: dict[str, list[str]] = {"flower": ["marigold", "zinnia"], "vegetable": ["carrots"]}
>>> add_by_kind(by_kind, "flower", "daisy")
>>> by_kind
{'flower': ['marigold', 'zinnia', 'daisy'], 'vegetable': ['carrots']}
>>> add_by_kind(by_kind, "fruit", "elderberry")
>>> by_kind
{'flower': ['marigold', 'zinnia', 'daisy'], 'vegetable': ['carrots'], 'fruit': ['elderberry']}

Part 2. add_by_date()

We are going to write a function that adds a plant to a garden dictionary that is sorted by the date in which the seeds should be sown. For example, given the dictionary, say we want to add another "flower", like a daisy. This function should allow us to do that by mutating the input dictionary.

• Function name: add_by_date
• Parameters: dict[str, list[str]], str, str
• Return Type: None

Example usage:

python
>>> from lessons.garden.garden_helpers import add_by_date
>>> by_date: dict[str, list[str]] = {"April": ["marigold"], "June": ["carrots"]}
>>> add_by_date(by_date, "April", "daisy")
>>> by_date
{'April': ['marigold', 'daisy'], 'June': ['carrots']}
>>> add_by_date(by_date, "May", "elderberry")
>>> by_date
{'April': ['marigold', 'daisy'], 'June': ['carrots'], 'May': ['elderberry']}

Part 3. lookup_by_kind_and_date()

Finally, we are going to write a function that searches through both dictionaries and returns a list of what plants of a certain kind to plant at a certain date.

• Function name: lookup_by_kind_and_date
• Parameters: dict[str, list[str]], dict[str, list[str]], str, str
• Return Type: str

Example usage:

python
>>> from lessons.garden.garden_helpers import lookup_by_kind_and_date
>>> by_kind: dict[str, list[str]] = {"flower": ["marigold", "zinnia"], "vegetable": ["carrots"]}
>>> by_date: dict[str, list[str]] = {"April": ["marigold"], "June": ["carrots"]}
>>> lookup_by_kind_and_date(by_kind, by_date, "flower", "April")
"flowers to plant in April: ['marigold']"
>>> lookup_by_kind_and_date(by_kind, by_date, "flower", "June")
'No flowers to plant in June.'