I still remember the first time I got a Python computer program that I wrote to work. I was auditing an Introduction to Python class in the second year of my PhD at the University of Arizona. While I am in the Rhetoric and Composition program there, I\u2019ve always been fascinated with computer programming and computation, and thus over the span of my PhD, I\u2019ve audited lots of classes in statistics, data science, and programming in Python. In one of these very first classes, I remember the immense joy I felt after hours of painstakingly write code to create very simple text-based visual graphics using a Python library called \u201cturtle\u201d. Using this library, one can define what movements they want their turtle (or their cursor) to make on a virtual canvas. For example, if one wanted to write the letter \u201cI\u201d, one would write instructions in Python to define how they would want their cursor to systematically move and write each individual edge or element that makes up the alphabet \u201cI\u201d. What you see below is a code snippet that does exactly this. Some of lines in this code give directions to move on the screen (like left, right etc.), while others tell it to start or stop writing (like pendown or penup etc.). The output would be a big alphabet \u201cI\u201d on a computer screen.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\r\ndef drawI(turtle, size):<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
turtle.pendown()<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
turtle.left(90)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
turtle.forward(100)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
turtle.right(90)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
turtle.forward(50)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
turtle.backward(100)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
turtle.forward(50)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
turtle.right(90)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
turtle.forward(100)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
turtle.right(90)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
turtleforward(50)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
turtle.backward(100)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
turtle.right(180)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
turtle.penup()<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n