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Have students create a program in Python that draws a map of the stars in order to gain practice using dictionaries to manipulate real data.

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  • Manipulating real data makes students feel like they’re the programs they’re writing are real, meaningful, and relevant.
  • For a more advanced version of this problem, have students create a program in Java.
  • To see the full assignment, visit Stanford’s nifty assignment page.

More about this tip

Tags

  • Python
  • Meaningful and Relevant Content
  • CS 1
  • Intro Programming
  • CS 2
  • Java
  • Interdisciplinary Connections to CS
External Source
Stanford's Nifty Assignment by Karen Reid
Other Tips By
Other Tips By Karen Reid

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Get students paying attention to types in Python; although type declarations aren’t explicitly required in Python, they still exist and are crucial to understanding how Python manages data.
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