replit<\/a> that allows you to author and run Python programs in a web browser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n2. An empty Python file<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Create a new empty Python file and add your code there.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\nOur file is named main.py, and if you’re a CWHQ student you must use this name. If you’re using another platform to write and execute your code, you can choose whichever name you like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
This tutorial is for beginner Python programmers ages 11+. Let’s get started!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Step 1: Display a welcome message to the user<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Display a message to the users that explains how the Random Dad Joke app works. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nCreate a variable called welcome_message<\/code> that equals a multi-line string.<\/strong> This string contains your welcome message and instructions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nwelcome_message = \"\"\"\n Welcome to the 'Random Dad Joke' app!\n\n This app uses an API to fetch a random setup\n and punchline to a dad joke. The setup will\n be displayed to you, and if you guess the punchline,\n a message like \"That's correct!\" will be displayed.\n Otherwise, you'll be shown the punchline.\n\"\"\"<\/mark><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n\nUse the print()<\/code> function to display this message on the page. <\/strong>Note, the ...<\/code> symbols are just there to make the code easier to read. Don’t type that!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nwelcome_message = \"\"\"\n ...\n\"\"\"\n\nprint(welcome_message)<\/mark><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n Hint:<\/i><\/strong> Change the message inside the “”” to personalize your welcome message.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\nStep 1 Output:<\/h3>\n\n\n\nStep 2: Display the options the app accepts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Show the user the possible options the app accepts and prompt them for their choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nCreate a Python string representing the options for your user: 1) get a dad joke or 2) exit<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nwelcome_message = \"\"\"\n ...\n\"\"\"\n\noptions = \"(1) Get Dad Joke (2) Exit: \"<\/mark>\n\nprint(welcome_message)<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n\nAdd a while <\/code>loop that shows the user the options.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\nConvert the user’s response to an int (integer) data type so we can easily process their choice. <\/strong>It’s much easier to compare integers versus string values that may have spaces, different casing, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nprint(welcome_message)\n\nwhile True:\n user_choice = int(input(options))<\/mark><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n\nAdd a break <\/code>statement to exit the loop after the options are displayed.<\/strong> This stops the options from being continuously presented.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nwhile True:\n user_choice = int(input(options))\n break<\/mark><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n Hint:<\/i><\/strong> Create more options as an additional challenge.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\nStep 2 Output:<\/h3>\n\n\n\nStep 3: Process the user’s choice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Next, we want the users to choose an option by entering the number 1 or 2 and we will execute their choice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nCreate named constants for each option: GET_JOKE if they select 1 and EXIT if they select 2<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\noptions = \"(1) Get Dad Joke (2) Exit: \"\n\nGET_JOKE = 1\nEXIT = 2\n<\/mark>\nprint(welcome_message)\n\nwhile True:\n ...<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n\nNow we can add logic for each choice and remove the break <\/code>statement from the while<\/code> loop.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nwhile True:\n user_choice = int(input(options))\n break <\/s> # Remove this!<\/mark><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n\nAdd an if...elif<\/code> conditional statement to handle both user options. <\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\nIf the user selects 1,<\/strong> we\u2019ll want to show a joke. For now, use the pass statement in the GET_JOKE<\/code> condition. We\u2019ll implement the logic for that statement at a later time. <\/li>\n\n\n\nIf the user selects 2,<\/strong> they exit the game. Make sure the EXIT<\/code> option exits the loop with the break <\/code>statement! <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nwhile True:\n user_choice = int(input(options))\n\n if user_choice == GET_JOKE:\n pass\n elif user_choice == EXIT:\n break\n<\/mark><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n Hint: Create more options as an additional challenge.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nStep 3 Output:<\/h3>\n\n\n\nStep 4: Get a random dad joke from the Dad Jokes API<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Now, let\u2019s get retrieve some hilarious dad jokes! We will be connecting to a CodeWizardsHQ API that holds a database of jokes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nDefine a function called get_random_joke()<\/code>. <\/strong>Function definitions go at the top of your file, before any variable declarations or other statements in the main area of your program.<\/li>\n\n\n\nInside the function, create three variables: BASE_URL<\/code>, endpoint<\/code>, and request_url<\/code> using the values listed below.<\/strong> The BASE_URL<\/code> represents the location on the internet where the API lives. The endpoint <\/code>is a special URL path that the API provides to get a random joke. The request_url<\/code> combines the BASE_URL<\/code> and endpoint <\/code>into a single str representing the full URL that we’ll request data from.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\ndef get_random_joke():\n BASE_URL = \"<\/mark>https:\/\/dad-joke-api.apps.codewizardshq.com\"\n endpoint = \"\/random\/jokes\"\n\n request_url = f\"{BASE_URL}{endpoint}\"\n<\/mark>\nwelcome_message = \"\"\"\n ...\n\"\"\"<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n\nUse from to import the urlopen()<\/code> function from the urllib.request<\/code> module.<\/strong> This is a built-in Python module for making requests over a network. Import statements always come first, at the very top of your file.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nfrom urllib.request import urlopen<\/mark>\n\n\ndef get_random_joke():\n ...<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n\nUse a with statement and the urlopen()<\/code> function to make a request to the Dad Jokes API (at the request_url<\/code>) and save the API’s response in a response variable.<\/strong> The with statement is a context manager, and it allows us to safely deal with opening and closing a network request. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nfrom urllib.request import urlopen\n\n\ndef get_random_joke():\n BASE_URL = \"https:\/\/dad-joke-api.apps.codewizardshq.com\"\n endpoint = \"\/random\/jokes\"\n\n request_url = f\"{BASE_URL}{endpoint}\"\n\n with urlopen(request_url) as response:\n joke = response.read()<\/mark><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n\nAfter the with <\/code>statement, display the contents of the joke variable with the print <\/code>function.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\ndef get_random_joke():\n ...\n with urlopen(request_url) as response:\n joke = response.read()\n\n print(joke)<\/mark><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n\nGoing back to the while <\/code>loop, call the get_random_joke()<\/code> function when the user chooses GET_JOKE<\/code>.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nwhile True:\n user_choice = int(input(options))\n\n if user_choice == GET_JOKE:\n get_random_joke()<\/mark>\n elif user_choice == EXIT:\n break<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nHint:<\/i><\/strong> If you see a really long response when trying to get a dad joke, wait about 10 seconds and then try again. The API has to “wake up” from being asleep if it hasn’t been used recently!<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\nStep 4 Output:<\/h3>\n\n\n\nStep 5: Correctly format the data from the Dad Jokes API<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Now we have the information (the joke) from the API, we need to format it in a way users can read it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nAt the top of your file, import the loads()<\/code> function from Python’s built-in JSON module.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nfrom urllib.request import urlopen\nfrom json import loads<\/mark>\n\n\ndef get_random_joke():\n ...<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n\nIn the get_random_joke()<\/code> function, use the loads()<\/code> function to ensure the response is converted to a dict.<\/strong> The dict data structure maps keys to values and will make it easy to get the setup and punchline from the API response.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\ndef get_random_joke():\n ...\n\n with urlopen(request_url) as response:\n joke = loads(response.read())\n<\/mark>\n print(joke)<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nHint:<\/i><\/strong> An API is an application programming interface which allows interactions between multiple software programs. Programmers (you!) then have access to data and info from external software (CodeWizardsHQ’s dad joke database).<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\nStep 5 Output:<\/h3>\n\n\n\nStep 6: Return the setup and punchline from the get_random_joke() function<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Now, let\u2019s separate the setup and the punchline as we will want to present them independently later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nRemove the print()<\/code> statement from the get_random_joke()<\/code> function. <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\ndef get_random_joke():\n ...\n with urlopen(request_url) as response:\n joke = loads(response.read())\n\n print(joke)<\/s> # Remove this!<\/mark><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n\nUse the return <\/code>statement to send the setup and punchline out of the function.<\/strong> Separating return values with a comma (,<\/code>) allows you to send multiple values out of a function easily. The [] <\/code>allow you to pull the values from the dict based on a key (the “setup” and “punchline” strings are the keys).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\ndef get_random_joke():\n ...\n with urlopen(request_url) as response:\n joke = loads(response.read())\n\n return joke[\"setup\"], joke[\"punchline\"]<\/mark><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n\nIn the while <\/code>loop, create the setup <\/code>and punchline <\/code>variables. <\/strong>You can use multiple assignment to store both the setup and punchline returned from get_random_joke()<\/code>. <\/strong>Whenever a function returns multiple values, you can use this syntax to assign the values to variables in one line. You just need to make sure to have variables for every value and place them in the same order that the values are returned from the function.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nwhile True:\n user_choice = int(input(options))\n\n if user_choice == GET_JOKE:\n setup, punchline = get_random_joke()\n elif user_choice == EXIT:\n break<\/mark><\/mark><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n\nUse f-strings<\/code> and the special f\"{variable_name=}\"<\/code> syntax to ensure each variable represents the values you expect.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nwhile True:\n user_choice = int(input(options))\n\n if user_choice == GET_JOKE:\n setup, punchline = get_random_joke()\n print(f\"{setup=}\")\n print(f\"{punchline=}\")<\/mark>\n elif user_choice == EXIT:\n break<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nHint:<\/i><\/strong> An f-string is a formatted string literal. It lets you include the value of a variable inside a string with the prefix “f”.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\nStep 6 Output:<\/h3>\n\n\n\nStep 7: Ask the user to guess the punchline and tell them if they’re right or wrong<\/h2>\n\n\n\n After the user selects 2, we will prompt them to guess the punchline and also check if they guessed correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"python](\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/89_3VBtT_JWXT1Qkvm9h0v17y7w8FfkLjYzMl9PiMeeffiFnJ_K7LGt_FVbM_Z4h63fhcEhhIlxb6IKpMmcNqXBQzFglFfdslNVvXRVWk54xBFeEWCCths93ztHH1GfNmDIutfW7OP0WQAjqXIg8Egf9myL0Ap1lCuBchLqyyUz7Xe9K8y8Cw8UhV0TElg\")
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