Python Programming:
An Introduction to
Computer Science
Chapter 4
Objects and Graphics
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Objectives
To understand the concept of
objects and how they can be used
to simplify programming.
To be familiar with the various
objects available in the graphics
library.
To be able to create objects in
programs and call appropriate
methods to perform graphical
computations.
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Objectives
To understand the fundamental
concepts of computer graphics,
especially the role of coordinate
systems.
To understand how to work with
both mouse- and text-based input
in a graphical programming
context.
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Objectives
To be able to write simple
interactive graphics programs
using the graphics library.
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Overview
Each data type can represent a
certain set of values, and each had
a set of associated operations.
The traditional programming view
is that data is passive – it’s
manipulated and combined with
active operations.
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Overview
Modern computer programs are built
using an object-oriented approach.
Most applications you’re familiar with
have Graphical User Interfaces (GUI)
that provide windows, icons, buttons
and menus.
There’s a graphics library ([Link])
written specifically to go with this book.
It’s based on Tkinter.
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The Object of Objects
Basic idea – view a complex
system as the interaction of
simpler objects. An object is a sort
of active data type that combines
data and operations.
Objects know stuff (contain data)
and they can do stuff (have
operations).
Objects interact by sending each
other messages.
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The Object of Objects
Suppose we want to develop a
data processing system for a
college or university.
We must keep records on students
who attend the school. Each
student will be represented as an
object.
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The Object of Objects
The student object would contain data
like:
Name
ID number
Courses taken
Campus Address
Home Address
GPA
Etc.
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The Object of Objects
The student object should also respond
to requests.
We may want to send out a campus-
wide mailing, so we’d need a campus
address for each student.
We could send the printCampusAddress
to each student object. When the
student object receives the message, it
prints its own address.
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Object of Objects
Objects may refer to other objects.
Each course might be represented
by an object:
Instructor
Student roster
Prerequisite courses
When and where the class meets
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Object of Objects
Sample Operation
addStudent
delStudent
changeRoom
Etc.
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Simple Graphics
Programming
This chapter uses the [Link]
library supplied with the
supplemental materials.
Two location choices
In Python’s Lib directory with other
libraries
In the same folder as your graphics
program
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Simple Graphics
Programming
Since this is a library, we need to
import the graphics commands
>>> import graphics
A graphics window is a place on
the screen where the graphics will
appear.
>>> win = [Link]()
This command creates a new window
titled “Graphics Window.”
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Simple Graphics
Programming
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Simple Graphics
Programming
GraphWin is an object assigned to
the variable win. We can
manipulate the window object
through this variable.
Windows can be closed/destroyed
by issuing the command
>>> [Link]()
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Simple Graphics
Programming
It’s tedious to use the graphics.
notation to access the graphics
library routines.
from graphics import *
The “from” statement allows you
to load specific functions from a
library module. “*” will load all the
functions, or you can list specific
ones. Python Programming, 4/e 17
Simple Graphics
Programming
Doing the import this way
eliminates the need to preface
graphics commands with graphics.
>>> from graphics import *
>>> win = GraphWin()
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Simple Graphics
Programming
A graphics window is a collection of
points called pixels (picture elements).
The default GraphWin is 200 pixels tall
by 200 pixels wide (40,000 pixels total).
One way to get pictures into the window
is one pixel at a time, which would be
tedious. The graphics library has a
number of predefined routines to draw
geometric shapes.
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Simple Graphics
Programming
The simplest object is the Point. Like
points in geometry, point locations are
represented with a coordinate system
(x, y), where x is the horizontal location
of the point and y is the vertical
location.
The origin (0,0) in a graphics window is
the upper left corner.
X values increase from left to right, y
values from top to bottom.
Lower right corner is (199, 199)
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Simple Graphics
Programming
>>> p = Point(50, 60)
>>> [Link]()
50
>>> [Link]()
60
>>> win = GraphWin()
>>> [Link](win)
>>> p2 = Point(140, 100)
>>> [Link](win)
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Simple Graphics
Programming
>>> ### Open a graphics window
>>> win = GraphWin('Shapes')
>>> ### Draw a red circle centered at point
>>> ### (100, 100) with radius 30
>>> center = Point(100, 100)
>>> circ = Circle(center, 30)
>>> [Link]('red')
>>> [Link](win)
>>> ### Put a textual label in the center of the circle
>>> label = Text(center, "Red Circle")
>>> [Link](win)
>>> ### Draw a square using a Rectangle object
>>> rect = Rectangle(Point(30, 30), Point(70, 70))
>>> [Link](win)
>>> ### Draw a line segment using a Line object
>>> line = Line(Point(20, 30), Point(180, 165))
>>> [Link](win)
>>> ### Draw an oval using the Oval object
>>> oval = Oval(Point(20, 150), Point(180, 199))
>>> [Link](win)
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Using Graphical Objects
Computation is performed by
asking an object to carry out one
of its operations.
In the previous example we
manipulated GraphWin, Point,
Circle, Oval, Line, Text and
Rectangle. These are examples of
classes.
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Using Graphical Objects
Each object is an instance of some
class, and the class describes the
properties of the instance.
If we say that Augie is a dog, we
are actually saying that Augie is a
specific individual in the larger
class of all dogs. Augie is an
instance of the dog class.
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Using Graphical Objects
To create a new instance of a class, we
use a special operation called a
constructor.
<class-name>(<param1>, <param2>, …)
<class-name> is the name of the class we
want to create a new instance of, e.g.
Circle or Point.
The parameters are required to initialize
the object. For example, Point requires
two numeric values.
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Using Graphical Objects
p = Point(50, 60)
The constructor for the Point class
requires two parameters, the x and
y coordinates for the point.
These values are stored as
instance variables inside of the
object.
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Using Graphical Objects
Only the most relevant instance
variables are shown (others
include the color, window they
belong to, etc.)
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Using Graphical Objects
To perform an operation on an object,
we send the object a message. The set
of messages an object responds to are
called the methods of the object.
Methods are like functions that live
inside the object.
Methods are invoked using dot-notation:
<object>.<method-name>(<param1>, <param2>, …)
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Using Graphical Objects
[Link]() and [Link]() return the x
and y values of the point. Routines
like these are referred to as
accessors because they allow us to
access information from the
instance variables of the object.
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Using Graphical Objects
Other methods change the state of the
object by changing the values of the
object’s instance variables.
move(dx, dy) moves the object dx units
in the x direction and dy in the y
direction.
Move erases the old image and draws it
in its new position. Methods that change
the state of an object are called
mutators. Python Programming, 4/e 30
Using Graphical Objects
>>> circ = Circle(Point(100, 100), 30)
>>> win = GraphWin()
>>> [Link](win)
The first line creates a circle with radius
30 centered at (100,100).
We used the Point constructor to create
a location for the center of the circle.
The last line is a request to the Circle
object circ to draw itself into the
GraphWin object win.
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Using Graphical Objects
The draw method
uses information
about the center
and radius of the
circle from the
instance variable.
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Using Graphical Objects
It’s possible for two different variables
to refer to the same object – changes
made to the object through one variable
will be visible to the other.
>>> leftEye = Circle(Point(80,50), 5)
>>> [Link]('yellow')
>>> [Link]('red')
>>> rightEye = leftEye
>>> [Link](20,0)
The idea is to create the left eye and
copy that to the right eye which gets
moved over 20 units.
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Using Graphical Objects
The assignment rightEye = leftEye
makes rightEye and leftEye refer to
the same circle!
The situation where two variables
refer to the same object is called
aliasing.
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Using Graphical Objects
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Using Graphical Objects
There are two ways to get around
this.
We could make two separate
circles, one for each eye:
>>> leftEye = Circle(Point(80, 50), 5)
>>> [Link]('yellow')
>>> [Link]('red')
>>> rightEye = Circle(Point(100, 50), 5)
>>> [Link]('yellow')
>>> [Link]('red')
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Using Graphical Objects
The graphics library has a better
solution. Graphical objects have a clone
method that will make a copy of the
object!
>>> # Correct way to create two circles, using clone
>>> leftEye = Circle(Point(80, 50), 5)
>>> [Link]('yellow')
>>> [Link]('red')
>>> rightEye = [Link]()
>>> # rightEye is an exact copy of the left
>>> [Link](20, 0)
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Using Graphical Objects
Print an introduction
Get value of principal and apr from user
Create a GraphWin
Draw scale labels on left side of window
Draw bar at position 0 with height corresponding to
principal
For successive years 1 through 10
Calculate principal = principal * (1 + apr)
Draw a bar for this year having a height
corresponding to principal
Wait for user to press Enter.
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Graphing Future Value/
Choosing Coordinates
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Interactive Graphics
In a GUI environment, users
typically interact with their
applications by clicking on buttons,
choosing items from menus, and
typing information into on-screen
text boxes.
Event-driven programming draws
interface elements (widgets) on
the screen and then waits for the
user to do something.
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Interactive Graphics
An event is generated whenever a
user moves the mouse, clicks the
mouse, or types a key on the
keyboard.
An event is an object that
encapsulates information about
what just happened.
The event object is sent to the
appropriate part of the program to
be processed, for example,
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Interactive Graphics
The graphics module hides the
underlying, low-level window
management and provides a few
simple ways to get user input in a
GraphWin.
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Getting Mouse Clicks
We can get graphical information from
the user via the getMouse method of
the GraphWin class.
When getMouse is invoked on a
GraphWin, the program pauses and
waits for the user to click the mouse
somewhere in the window.
The spot where the user clicked is
returned as a Point.
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Getting Mouse Clicks
The following code reports the
coordinates of a mouse click:
from graphics import *
win = GraphWin("Click Me!")
p = [Link]()
print("You clicked", [Link](), [Link]())
We can use the accessors like getX
and getY or other methods on the
point returned.
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Getting Mouse Clicks
# [Link]
# Interactive graphics program to draw a triangle
from graphics import *
def main():
win = GraphWin("Draw a Triangle")
[Link](0.0, 0.0, 10.0, 10.0)
message = Text(Point(5, 0.5), "Click on three points")
[Link](win)
# Get and draw three vertices of triangle
p1 = [Link]()
[Link](win)
p2 = [Link]()
[Link](win)
p3 = [Link]()
[Link](win)
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Getting Mouse Clicks
# Use Polygon object to draw the triangle
triangle = Polygon(p1,p2,p3)
[Link]("peachpuff")
[Link]("cyan")
[Link](win)
# Wait for another click to exit
[Link]("Click anywhere to quit.")
[Link]()
main()
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Getting Mouse Clicks
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Getting Mouse Clicks
Notes:
If you are programming in a windows
environment, using the .pyw extension on
your file will cause the Python shell window
to not display when you double-click the
program icon.
There is no triangle class. Rather, we use
the general Polygon class, which takes any
number of points and connects them into a
closed shape.
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Getting Mouse Clicks
Once you have three points, creating a triangle
polygon is easy:
triangle = Polygon(p1, p2, p3)
A single text object is created and drawn near the
beginning of the program.
message = Text(Point(5,0.5), "Click on three points")
[Link](win)
To change the prompt, just change the text to be
displayed.
[Link]("Click anywhere to quit.")
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Handling Textual Input
The triangle program’s input was done
completely through mouse clicks.
The GraphWin object provides a getKey()
method that works like the getMouse
method.
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Handling Textual Input
# [Link]
from graphics import *
def main():
win = GraphWin("Click and Type", 400, 400)
for i in range(10):
pt = [Link]()
key = [Link]()
label = Text(pt, key)
[Link](win)
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Handling Textual Input
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Handling Textual Input
In addition to getting a single character,
there’s also an Entry object that can
get keyboard input.
The Entry object draws a box on the
screen that can contain text. It
understands setText and getText, like
the Text object with one difference --
that the input can be edited by the user.
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Handling Textual Input
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Handling Textual Input
# convert_gui.pyw
# Program to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit using a simple
# graphical interface.
from graphics import *
def main():
win = GraphWin("Celsius Converter", 300, 200)
[Link](0.0, 0.0, 3.0, 4.0)
# Draw the interface
Text(Point(1,3), " Celsius Temperature:").draw(win)
Text(Point(1,1), "Fahrenheit Temperature:").draw(win)
inputText = Entry(Point(2,3), 5)
[Link]("0.0")
[Link](win)
outputText = Text(Point(2,1),"")
[Link](win)
button = Text(Point(1.5,2.0),"Convert It")
[Link](win)
Rectangle(Point(1,1.5), Point(2,2.5)).draw(win)
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Handling Textual Input
# wait for a mouse click
[Link]()
# convert input
celsius = float([Link]())
fahrenheit = 9.0/5.0 * celsius + 32
# display output and change button
[Link](round(Fahrenheit,2))
[Link]("Quit")
# wait for click and then quit
[Link]()
[Link]()
main()
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Handling Textual Input
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Handling Textual Input
When run, this program produces a
window with an entry box for
typing in the Celsius temperature
and a button to “do” the
conversion.
The button is for show only! We are
just waiting for a mouse click
anywhere in the window.
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Handling Textual Input
Initially, the input entry box is set
to contain “0.0”.
The user can delete this value and
type in another value.
The program pauses until the user
clicks the mouse – we don’t care
where so we don’t store the point!
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Handling Textual Input
The input is processed in three
steps:
The value entered is converted into a
number with float.
This number is converted to degrees
Fahrenheit.
This number is then converted to a
string and formatted for display in the
outputText text area.
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