Georgia State University

Department of Computer Science

CSc 2010

Spring, 2010

Programming Assignment 1

Due: January 28, 2010

Purposes of Assignment

1. Become familiar with Python.

2. Become familiar with Scribbler movement commands.

3. Learn how to write simple programs.

Description of Program

You are to write a program named drawStaircase that moves the robot in staircase pattern. In the beginning, the program will prompt the user for the number of steps (nSteps > 0) in the staircase. Starting from an initial position (assuming that the robot is facing north), the program will make the robot move north by 1 foot and then east by 1 foot for each staircase step. After it has completed the last step, it must move southwards all the way down to the position that is in line with the starting position and then move westwards to finally end up at the starting position. Here is an ideal staircase movement for nSteps=3:

Note that there is no command to turn the robot a specified number of degrees, so you need to experiment to figure out the speed of movement. Similarly, there is no command to move a specified distance, so this will also require experimentation.

Your program should have the overall appearance shown on page 45 of Kumar's book. You must put comments at the beginning of the program giving the program name, the names of the team members, the course number (CSc 2010), and the date.

Program Submission

Email your drawStaircase.py file to smarkham@gsu.edu by 11:59 p.m. on the assigned date. The assignment is worth 20 points. The penalty for late assignments is 4 points per calendar day.