Impractical Python Projects: Playful Programming Activities to Make You Smarter

Brief Contents
Contents In Detail
Acknowledgments
Introduction
	Who This Book Is For
	What’s in This Book
		Python Version, Platform, and IDE
		The Code
		Coding Style
	Where to Get Help
	Onward!
Chapter 1: Silly Name Generator
	Project #1: Generating Pseudonymns
	Planning and Designing a Project
		The Strategy
		The Pseudocode
	The Code
		Using the Python Community’s Style Guide
		Checking Your Code with Pylint
		Describing Your Code with Docstrings
		Checking Your Code Style
	Summary
	Further Reading
		Pseudocode
		Style Guides
		Third-Party Modules
	Practice Projects
		Pig Latin
		Poor Man’s Bar Chart
	Challenge Projects
		Poor Foreign Man’s Bar Chart
		The Middle
		Something Completely Different
Chapter 2: Finding Palingram Spells
	Finding and Opening a Dictionary
		Handling Exceptions When Opening Files
		Loading the Dictionary File
	Project #2: Finding Palindromes
		The Strategy and Pseudocode
		The Palindrome Code
	Project #3: Finding Palingrams
		The Strategy and Pseudocode
		The Palingrams Code
		Palingram Profiling
		Palingram Optimization
	dnE ehT
	Further Reading
	Practice Project: Dictionary Cleanup
	Challenge Project: Recursive Approach
Chapter 3: Solving Anagrams
	Project #4: Finding Single-Word Anagrams
		The Strategy and Pseudocode
		Anagram-Finder Code
	Project #5: Finding Phrase Anagrams
		The Strategy and Pseudocode
		The Anagram Phrase Code
	Project #6: Finding Voldemort: The Gallic Gambit
	Project #7: Finding Voldemort: The British Brute-Force
		Strategy
		The British Brute-Force Code
	Summary
	Further Reading
	Practice Project: Finding Diagrams
	Challenge Project: Automatic Anagram Generator
Chapter 4: Decoding American Civil War Ciphers
	Project #8: The Route Cipher
		The Strategy
		The Pseudocode
		The Route Cipher Decryption Code
		Hacking the Route Cipher
		Adding a User Interface
	Project #9: The Rail Fence Cipher
		The Strategy
		The Rail Fence Cipher Encryption Code
		The Rail Fence Cipher Decryption Code
	Summary
	Further Reading
	Practice Projects
		Hacking Lincoln
		Identifying Cipher Types
		Storing a Key as a Dictionary
		Automating Possible Keys
		Route Transposition Cipher: Brute-Force Attack
	Challenge Projects
		Route Cipher Encoder
		Three-Rail Fence Cipher
Chapter 5: Encoding English Civil War Ciphers
	Project #10: The Trevanion Cipher
		Strategy and Pseudocode
		The Trevanion Cipher Code
	Project #11: Writing a Null Cipher
		The List Cipher Code
		The List Cipher Output
	Summary
	Further Reading
	Practice Projects
		Saving Mary
		The Colchester Catch
Chapter 6: Writing in Invisible Ink
	Project #12: The Vigenère Cipher
	The Platform
	The Strategy
		Creating Invisible Ink
		Manipulating Word Documents with python-docx
		Downloading the Assets
	The Pseudocode
	The Code
		Importing python-docx, Creating Lists, and Adding a Letterhead
		Formatting and Interleaving the Messages
		Adding the Vigenère Cipher
	Detecting the Hidden Message
	Summary
	Further Reading
	Practice Project: Checking the Number of Blank Lines
	Challenge Project: Using Monospace Font
Chapter 7: Breeding Giant Rats with Genetic Algorithms
	Finding the Best of All Possible Solutions
	Project #13: Breeding an Army of Super-Rats
		Strategy
		The Super-Rats Code
		Summary
	Project #14: Cracking a High-Tech Safe
		Strategy
		The Safecracker Code
		Summary
	Further Reading
	Challenge Projects
		Building a Rat Harem
		Creating a More Efficient Safecracker
Chapter 8: Counting Syllables for Haiku Poetry
	Japanese Haiku
	Project #15: Counting Syllables
	The Strategy
		Using a Corpus
		Installing NLTK
		Downloading CMUdict
		Counting Sounds Instead of Syllables
		Handling Words with Multiple Pronunciations
	Managing Missing Words
		The Training Corpus
		The Missing Words Code
	The Count Syllables Code
		Prepping, Loading, and Counting
		Defining the main() Function
	A Program to Check Your Program
	Summary
	Further Reading
	Practice Project: Syllable Counter Vs. Dictionary File
Chapter 9: Writing Haiku with Markov Chain Analysis
	Project #16: Markov Chain Analysis
	The Strategy
		Choosing and Discarding Words
		Continuing from One Line to Another
	The Pseudocode
	The Training Corpus
	Debugging
		Building the Scaffolding
		Using the logging Module
	The Code
		Setting Up
		Building Markov Models
		Choosing a Random Word
		Applying the Markov Models
		Generating the Haiku Lines
		Writing the User Interface
	The Results
		Good Haiku
		Seed Haiku
	Summary
	Further Reading
	Challenge Projects
		New Word Generator
		Turing Test
		Unbelievable! This Is Unbelievable! Unbelievable!
		To Haiku, or Not to Haiku
		Markov Music
Chapter 10: Are We Alone? Exploring the Fermi Paradox
	Project #17: Modeling the Milky Way
	The Strategy
	Estimating the Number of Civilizations
	Selecting Radio Bubble Dimensions
	Generating a Formula for the Probability of Detection
	The Probability-of-Detection Code
		Calculating Probability of Detection for a Range of Civilizations
		Generating a Predictive Formula and Checking the Results
	Building the Graphical Model
		Scaling the Graphical Model
		The Galaxy Simulator Code
	Results
	Summary
	Further Reading
	Practice Projects
		A Galaxy Far, Far Away
		Building a Galactic Empire
		A Roundabout Way to Predict Detectability
	Challenge Projects
		Creating a Barred-Spiral Galaxy
		Adding Habitable Zones to Your Galaxy
Chapter 11: The Monty Hall Problem
	Monte Carlo Simulation
	Project #18: Verify vos Savant
		The Strategy
		The vos Savant Verification Code
	Project #19: The Monty Hall Game
		A Brief Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming
		The Strategy and Pseudocode
		Game Assets
		The Monty Hall Game Code
	Summary
	Further Reading
	Practice Problem: The Birthday Paradox
Chapter 12: Securing Your Nest Egg
	Project #20: Simulating Retirement Lifetimes
	The Strategy
		Historical Returns Matter
		The Greatest Uncertainty
		A Qualitative Way to Present Results
	The Pseudocode
	Finding Historical Data
	The Code
		Importing Modules and Defining Functions to Load Data and Get User Input
		Getting the User Input
		Checking for Other Erroneous Input
		Defining the Monte Carlo Engine
		Simulating Each Year in a Case
		Calculating the Probability of Ruin
		Defining and Calling the main() Function
	Using the Simulator
	Summary
	Further Reading
	Challenge Problems
		A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Dollars
		Mix and Match
		Just My Luck!
		All the Marbles
Chapter 13: Simulating an Alien Volcano
	Project #21: The Plumes of Io
	A Slice of pygame
	The Strategy
		Using a Game Sketch to Plan
		Planning the Particle Class
	The Code
		Importing Modules, Initiating pygame, and Defining Colors
		Defining the Particle Class
		Ejecting a Particle
		Updating the Particle and Handling Boundary Conditions
		Defining the main() Function
		Completing the main() Function
	Running the Simulation
	Summary
	Further Reading
	Practice Project: Going the Distance
	Challenge Project: Shock Canopy
	Challenge Project: The Fountainhead
	Challenge Project: With a Bullet
Chapter 14: Mapping Mars with the Mars Orbiter
	Astrodynamics for Gamers
		The Law of Universal Gravity
		Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion
		Orbital Mechanics
	Project #22: The Mars Orbiter Game
	The Strategy
	Game Assets
	The Code
		Importing and Building a Color Table
		Defining the Satellite Class Initialization Method
		Setting the Satellite’s Initial Position, Speed, Fuel, and Sound
		Firing Thrusters and Checking for Player Input
		Locating the Satellite
		Rotating the Satellite and Drawing Its Orbit
		Updating the Satellite Object
		Defining the Planet Class Initialization Method
		Rotating the Planet
		Defining the gravity() and update() Methods
		Calculating Eccentricity
		Defining Functions to Make Labels
		Mapping Soil Moisture
		Casting a Shadow
		Defining the main() Function
		Instantiating Objects, Setting Up Orbit Verification, Mapping, and Timekeeping
		Starting the Game Loop and Playing Sounds
		Applying Gravity, Calculating Eccentricity, and Handling Failure
		Rewarding Success and Updating and Drawing Sprites
		Displaying Instructions and Telemetry and Casting a Shadow
	Summary
	Challenge Projects
		Game Title Screen
		Smart Gauges
		Radio Blackout
		Scoring
		Strategy Guide
		Aerobraking
		Intruder Alert!
		Over the Top
Chapter 15: Improving Your Astrophotography with Planet Stacking
	Project #23: Stacking Jupiter
	The pillow Module
	Working with Files and Folders
		Directory Paths
		The Shell Utilities Module
	The Video
	The Strategy
	The Code
		The Cropping and Scaling Code
		The Stacking Code
		The Enhancing Code
	Summary
	Further Reading
	Challenge Project: Vanishing Act
Chapter 16: Finding Frauds with Benford’s Law
	Project #24: Benford’s Law of Leading Digits
		Applying Benford’s Law
		Performing the Chi-Square Test
	The Dataset
	The Strategy
	The Code
		Importing Modules and Loading Data
		Counting First Digits
		Getting the Expected Counts
		Determining Goodness of Fit
		Defining the Bar Chart Function
		Completing the Bar Chart Function
		Defining and Running the main() Function
	Summary
	Further Reading
	Practice Project: Beating Benford
	Challenge Projects
		Benfording the Battlegrounds
		While No One Was Looking
Appendix: Practice Problem Solutions
	Chapter 1: Silly Name Generator
	Chapter 2: Finding Palingram Spells
	Chapter 3: Solving Anagrams
	Chapter 4: Decoding American Civil War Ciphers
	Chapter 5: Encoding English Civil War Ciphers
	Chapter 6: Writing in Invisible Ink
	Chapter 8: Counting Syllables for Haiku Poetry
	Chapter 10: Are We Alone? Exploring the Fermi Paradox
	Chapter 11: The Monty Hall Problem
	Chapter 13: Simulating an Alien Volcano
	Chapter 16: Finding Frauds with Benford’s Law
Index