Print, Input, Mathematical Operators, Lists & Turples

User Input
input() - a user has to input something, it can be text or numbers. Usually there is a message in the brackets (the message needs to be in quotes).
int() - integer - this is a whole number. It means that the user cannot input letters.
int(input("Message here: ")) - how it would look if you wanted someone to input an integer!
The code above wouldn't work, because you need to have a variable in which to save the users answer.

Print
Print is where you want the program to output something.
You can output messages, or variables, or a combination of the two.

age = int(input("Please input your age: "))
print("You are ", age, " years old.")

In the example above, the commas separate out the different bits of the code.

Operators (Mathematical and otherwise)
= - this means that you are saving (or setting) something to a value.
x = 4
This means that x is set to 4.
x = input("Please input your name")
This means that x is set to whatever the user types in.
Think carefully; is x a sensible variable name in the example above?

== - this means that you are checking one value against another.
if x == 4:
  print("x equals 4")
The code above means that is the value store in x is 4, print the message.

+ - This adds things together
- - This subtracts
/ - This divides
* - This multiplies

> - This is greater than
< - This is less than

Lists
A list is where you can store a lot of things (attributes) to one variable (Remember, variable means it can change).
To define a list, it needs a name and then all of the attributes go inside square brackets.
my_list = ["bob", "apple", "green"]
The above list has three attributes 1, 2 and 3.
IMPORTANT: Because nothing in life is easy, even though we start counting at 1, the computer starts counting at 0.
Lists are variable, that means you can add to them and delete out attributes.
del my_list[1]
This would delete out the second thing from the list.
my_list.append("4")
This will add the number 4 to the end of the list.

Turples
A turple is like a list, but it cannot be changed - therefore it is constant.
A turple is defined in the same way as a list, except that it has round brackets and no quotes.
my_turple = (1,2,3)

Shapes with User Input (Python)

Python Turtle is the drawing package which comes with Python.
Task: Create a program which allows a user to input a shape, what size they wanted it to be and what colour they wanted it to be.
The program should then draw the shape for them!

You needed to solve this programming problem by yourself using the knowledge you already have in python (using turtle, defining shapes, for loops, variables) as well as figuring out how to add in an "if statement".

What is an "if statement"?
An "if statement" is where the program to checks one thing against another. For example, if the variable shape has the word "star" saved in it, the program needs to run the bit of code that draws a star.

Here is what an "if statement" looks like:
if x == 3:
 print("X is equal to 3")

(The two equals signs means that Python is checking something. One equals sign means that the variable has been assigned that value.)

TASK/HINT: You need to amend your program to add in a number of "if statement" which checks what a user types in against a criteria. If the user has typed in a specific word and it meets the criteria then Python will run a bit of code.

If you go to my Google Docs the Python Turtle help sheet file is uploaded here.
If you go here you can look at Snake Wrangling for Kids (for Windows), or here for Mac. This explains about "if statements".