Discussion 7: Object-Oriented Programming

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Getting Started

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Object-Oriented Programming

A productive approach to defining new classes is to determine what instance attributes each object should have and what class attributes each class should have. First, describe the type of each attribute and how it will be used, then try to implement the class's methods in terms of those attributes.

Q1: Keyboard

Overview: A keyboard has a button for every letter of the alphabet. When a button is pressed, it outputs its letter by calling an output function (such as print). Whether that letter is uppercase or lowercase depends on how many times the caps lock key has been pressed.

First, implement the Button class, which takes a lowercase letter (a string) and a one-argument output function, such as Button('c', print).

The press method of a Button calls its output attribute (a function) on its letter attribute: either uppercase if caps_lock has been pressed an odd number of times or lowercase otherwise. The press method also increments pressed and returns the key that was pressed. Hint: 'hi'.upper() evaluates to 'HI'.

Second, implement the Keyboard class. A Keyboard has a dictionary called keys containing a Button (with its letter as its key) for each letter in LOWERCASE_LETTERS. It also has a list of the letters typed, which may be a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters.

The type method takes a string word containing only lowercase letters. It invokes the press method of the Button in keys for each letter in word, which adds a letter (either lowercase or uppercase depending on caps_lock) to the Keyboard's typed list. Important: Do not use upper or letter in your implementation of type; just call press instead.

Read the doctests and talk about:

  • Why it's possible to press a button repeatedly with .press().press().press().
  • Why pressing a button repeatedly sometimes prints on only one line and sometimes prints multiple lines.
  • Why bored.typed has 10 elements at the end.

Discussion Time: Before anyone types anything, have a conversation describing the type of each attribute and how it will be used. Start with Button: how will letter and output be used? Then discuss Keyboard: how will typed and keys be used? How will new letters be added to the list called typed each time a Button in keys is pressed? Call the staff if you're not sure! Once everyone understands the answers to these questions, you can try writing the code together.

Run in 61A Code
Since self.letter is always lowercase, use self.letter.upper() to produce the uppercase version.
The number of times caps_lock has been pressed is either self.caps_lock.pressed or Button.caps_lock.pressed.
The output attribute is a function that can be called: self.output(self.letter) or self.output(self.letter.upper()). You do not need to return the result.
Run in 61A Code
The keys can be created using a dictionary comprehension: self.keys = {c: Button(c, ...) for c in LETTERS}. The call to Button should take c and an output function that appends to self.typed, so that every time one of these buttons is pressed, it appends a letter to self.typed.
Call the press method of self.key[w] for each w in word. It should be the case that when you call press, the Button is already set up (in the Keyboard.__init__ method) to output to the typed list of this Keyboard.

Description Time: Describe how new letters are added to typed each time a Button in keys is pressed. Instead of just reading your code, say what it does (e.g., "When the button of a keyboard is pressed ..."). One short sentence is enough to describe how new letters are added to typed.

Document the Occasion

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