Next Steps After Python Coding Introduction

Practice at Home

  • Expand your adventure: Add more choices, more branches, and more story
  • Experiment with data types: Mix strings, numbers, and booleans in creative ways
  • Use math operators: Add scores, count items, calculate things
  • Try the Python REPL: Type python (no filename) to experiment with Python interactively
  • Add more input() calls: Make your programs ask multiple questions

Get Ready for Advanced Python Coding (Workshop #6)

  • Visit the new workshop page when it’s available
  • Practice if/elif/else: The more comfortable you are with decisions, the better
  • Think about repetition: What actions in your adventure repeat? Loops will automate that!
  • Think about collections: What if you could store a list of items? That’s coming next!
  • Review your variables: You’ll be using them with loops and lists!

Explore More (If Curious)

Keep It Safe and Fun

  • Save your work regularly: Use git add . and git commit -m "description"
  • Experiment freely: You can’t break your computer with Python!
  • Read error messages: They’re your friends - they tell you exactly what’s wrong
  • Celebrate small wins: Every working line of code is an achievement

Challenges to Try

Challenge 1: Quiz Game

Create a quiz that asks questions and tracks the player’s score:

score = 0
answer = input("What planet is closest to the sun? ")
if answer.lower() == "mercury":
    print("Correct!")
    score = score + 1
else:
    print("Not quite - it's Mercury!")
print(f"Your score: {score}")

Challenge 2: Character Creator

Build a detailed character profile by asking lots of questions:

name = input("Character name: ")
role = input("Warrior, mage, or thief? ")
print(f"\n=== Character Sheet ===")
print(f"Name: {name}")
print(f"Class: {role}")

Challenge 3: Number Guessing Game

Use if/elif/else to check if a guess is too high, too low, or correct:

secret = 7
guess = int(input("Guess a number 1-10: "))
if guess == secret:
    print("You got it!")
elif guess < secret:
    print("Too low!")
else:
    print("Too high!")

Challenge 4: Longer Adventure

Create a text adventure with at least 3 decision points and multiple endings.

Challenge 5: Mad Libs

Ask the user for different types of words, then tell a funny story:

noun = input("Give me a noun: ")
adjective = input("Give me an adjective: ")
verb = input("Give me a verb: ")
print(f"The {adjective} {noun} decided to {verb} all day!")

Questions or Stuck?

  • Review the workshop materials
  • Check the Common Questions guide
  • Ask in the workshop Discord/Slack (if available)
  • Remember: every programmer was once exactly where you are now!