Assignment 3 Constellation drawing

CPSC 231 Assignment 3

Weight: 8%

1. Cite all sources of code that you hand-in that are not your original work. You can put the citation
into comments in your program. For example, if you find and use code found on a web site, include
a comment that says, for example:
# the following code is from
https://www.quackit.com/python/tutorial/python_hello_world.cfm.
Use the complete URL so that the marker can check the source.
2. Citing sources avoids accusations of plagiarism and penalties for academic misconduct. However,
you may still get a low grade if you submit code that is not primarily developed by yourself.
3. Discuss and share ideas with other programmers as much as you like, but make sure that when you
write your code that it is your own. A good rule of thumb is to wait 20 minutes after talking with
somebody before writing your code. If you exchange code with another student, write code while
discussing it with a fellow student, or copy code from another person’s console, then this code is not
yours.
4. Collaborative coding is strictly prohibited. Your assignment submission must be strictly your code.
Discussing anything beyond assignment requirements and ideas is a strictly forbidden form of
collaboration. This includes sharing code, discussing code itself, or modelling code after another
student's algorithm. You can not use (even with citation) another student’s code.
5. We will be looking for plagiarism in all code submissions, possibly using automated software
designed for the task. For example, see Measures of Software Similarity (MOSS -
https://theory.stanford.edu/~aiken/moss/).
Remember, if you are having trouble with an assignment, it is always better to go to your TA and/or
instructor to get help than it is to plagiarize.
Late Penalty:
Late assignments will not be accepted.
Submission Instructions:
Your program must be submitted electronically. Use the Assignment 3 dropbox in D2L for the electronic
submission. You can submit multiple times over the top of a previous submission. Don’t wait until the
last minute to attempt to submit. You are responsible if you attempt this and time runs out.
Description (Constellation drawing)
In this assignment, you will create a program that plots stars and constellations from input files. These
files, for the most part, will be entered via command-line arguments. However, there will be an optional
mode where a filename may be entered via a user prompt for input.
Expected usage:
python CPSC231A3Zaamout.py
(prompt for a stars-location-file, then loop prompting for valid constellation files until the user enters an
empty string (“”))
python CPSC231A3Zaamout -names
(prompt for a stars-location-file and when drawing named stars write their names to drawing window,
then loop prompting for valid constellation files until “” entered”)
python CPSC231A3Zaamout.py <arg1
(use arg1 as stars-location-file, and loop prompting for valid constellation files until “” entered)
python CPSC231A3Zaamout.py <arg1 -names
(use arg1 as stars-location-file and when drawing named stars write their name to drawing window,
loop prompting for valid constellation files until “” entered)
python CPSC231A3Zaamout.py -names <arg2
(use arg2 as stars-location-file and when drawing named stars write their name to screen, loop
prompting for valid constellation files until “” entered)
python CPSC231A3Zaamout.py <arg1 <arg2
(exit program with descriptive error indicating invalid argument as neither input was -names)
python CPSC231A3Zaamout.py <arg1 <arg2 <arg3
(exit program with descriptive error indicating too many arguments)
If a stars-location-file does not exist, then the program should exit after printing a descriptive error
message. On the other hand, if an invalid constellation file is entered (information about how to check
for valid files is detailed in the appropriate sections below), the program should re-prompt until a valid
filename is given or “” is entered to exit the loop. sys.exit(1) can be used for exiting the program at a
specific point with error_code=1.
You can expect the filenames to be in the correct format and for every star named in a constellation file
to exist in the stars-location-file. All (x,y) coordinates and the magnitude for stars will be floating-point
values. The background colour should be black; the axes should be drawn in blue, the named stars in
white, and the un-named stars in grey. The constellation edges will be drawn in red, green, or yellow.
Each new constellation will be drawing using a different one of these colours. Once all 3 colours have
been used, the next constellation will cycle back to use the first colour again.
Completing this assignment will require the use of system arguments, file input, functions, data
structures, error handling, loops, and if statements. You will have to write the complete program
yourself for this assignment. Global variables are explicitly not allowed, so you must have a main
function, and you must pass all the information you need in and out of the functions using parameters
and returned values. The only variables allowed outside of functions are your constants. All of your
functions must be properly documented with a description, parameter information, and return
information.
The following sections provide additional requirements and suggestions for implementing your
program. Example output for stars_all.dat and all constellation files:
python CPSC231A3Solution.py stars_all.dat
Enter constellation filename:BigDipper.dat
Enter constellation filename:Bootes.dat
Enter constellation filename:Cas.dat
Enter constellation filename:Cyg.dat
Enter constellation filename:Gemini.dat
Enter constellation filename:Hydra.dat
Enter constellation filename:UrsaMajor.dat
Enter constellation filename:UrsaMinor.dat
Enter constellation filename:
Input Files
You will be provided with input files. stars_all.dat is a stars-location-file that contains an extensive list
stars and their information, stars_named.dat is another version that only contains the named stars.
stars_10.dat, stars_5.dat, stars_1.dat contain 10%, 5%, and 1% of the stars that are in stars_all.dat with
all the necessary named stars to draw the provided constellations.
The stars-location-files are CSV (comma-separated value file). Each line in a stars-location-files contains
the information about one star. The format is as follows.
x,y,z,id1,mag,id2,names
You will only need to use the x, y, mag, and names data for each star. (x,y) are chart coordinates
between -1 <= x <= 1 and -1 <= y <= 1. The magnitude mag is a value -2 mag <= 10.5. names contains a
list of 0, 1, or more string identifiers (names) for a star, each name is separated by a semi-colon “;”.
You will be provided with a selection of constellation files. Each constellation file describes a
constellation with a name and a list of constellation edges. Each constellation edge consists of two
named stars, which can be found in the stars-location-file. The constellation file is a CSV file (commaseparated value file). The first line of the file will be the constellation name, and the following line(s) will
each be a pair of star names separated by a comma.
Setup Stage
You must use this setup function to create your original window. Not using this setup function will result
in lost marks. The WIDTH and HEIGHT constants should be 600,600 and the BACKGROUNDCOLOUR
constant should be “black”.
def setup():
pointer = turtle.Turtle()
screen = turtle.getscreen()
screen.setup(WIDTH, HEIGHT, 0, 0)
screen.setworldcoordinates(0, 0, WIDTH, HEIGHT)
pointer.hideturtle()
screen.delay(delay=0)
turtle.bgcolor(BACKGROUNDCOLOUR)
pointer.up()
return pointer
You are not allowed to have any code outside functions, except for import statements, and constants.
The only exception is the call to your main function, so you must also have a main function. Moreover,
you are not allowed to use global variables unless they are constants. You should only need to import
sys and turtle libraries. Your main function should deal with your system arguments, call your setup
function to get your turtle pointer, and then call other functions that perform the reading of your input
files and the drawing of the required information. You are free to use as many functions as you decide;
however, there is a minimum required. You are expected to have at least:
1. A main function that handles the input
2. A function that reads an input file and returns a data structure with star information (a list of star
tuples and dictionary with names as keys and star tuples as values is recommended)
3. A function that draws your axes.
4. A function that draws your stars and possibly draws the names of the named stars
5. A function that reads a constellation file and returns the constellation name, and a list of edges
which are easiest to store as tuples of stars names.
6. A function that draws a constellation given its name, edges, and the dictionary of star tuples stored
by name.
7. Any additional functions you may need for the bonus; if you decide to solve the bonus. You must
implement the bonus using additional functions. You may call the additional functions from existing
functions, but you may not change the existing functions to solve the bonus.
Submissions that do not contain at least the first 6 functions will be penalized.
Command-line Arguments
You should check the command-line arguments (stored in sys.argv) as described earlier in this document
in your main function, or a function called from your main function. If there is an error in the commandline arguments, your program should print a descriptive message and exit. Your program should only
draw something if your arguments are correct, and the star information can be loaded from the given
filename. You should use os.path.isfile(filename) to determine if a filename is a valid file. It is
recommended that you don’t solve the rest of the assignment (reading the input files and drawing) until
you have correctly implemented the command-line argument handling as described earlier in the
assignment.
Read Star Information
This should be accomplished within a function. This function can make use of others if you like, but can
also be self-contained.
If the information in the star filename is of the wrong type or doesn’t have the required amount of
entries separated by commas, you should print a descriptive error and exit. Remember to use try/except
blocks to catch any errors during the process of opening/closing a file, and while reading the star
information.
You should be able to use string.split(“,”) and string.split(“;”) to split the star information, and then the
names into lists of strings. Remember, you only need the (x,y) information and magnitude for a star
which can be stored as a tuple (x,y,mag).
You will want to return a list of all these tuples to your main function. You will also want to return a
dictionary that stores a tuple of star information as a value using the name of the star as a key. This
information will help the constellation drawing function access the location information of the stars that
define the endpoints of constellation edges.
Your star reading function should print the following information for every named star in the input file.
Information about un-named stars should not be printed:
NAME is at ( x , y ) with magnitude mag
ex.
ALPHERATZ is at ( 0.873265 , 0.031968 ) with magnitude 2.07
CAPH is at ( 0.512379 , 0.020508 ) with magnitude 2.28
…
Drawing the Axes
This should be accomplished within a function. This function can make use of others if you like, but can
also be self-contained.
Your program should draw the axes in blue. When you draw the axes, they must be oriented so that the
centre of the Cartesian coordinate system (0, 0) is at the center of the screen (300, 300). The star
coordinates will be given such that the x and y values are between -1 and 1. The screen height is 600
pixels. Therefore, each unit in the Cartesian coordinate system must be represented by 300 pixels.
Both axes will go from -1 to +1. The step size for the axis ticks will be 0.25. For example, the x-axis would
be labeled with −1, −0.75, −0.5, −0.25,0,0.25,0.5,0.75,1.
Your set of axes should include a tick mark and a label for each unit (you can optionally omit the 0s at
the origin for a cleaner look). While it is possible to create the axes using a (long) sequence of function
calls alone, you must use loops appropriately to keep the total number of lines of code to a more
reasonable amount. Draw your axes in blue on a black background created by the setup() function so
that the constellations will be easy to see when drawn on top of them.
Drawing the Stars
This should be accomplished within a function. This function can make use of others if you like, but can
also be self-contained.
Your program should draw every star in the input file. Each star without a name should be drawn in
“grey” and every named star in “white”. You should be able to do this by looping through your list of
stars returned from your star information reading function. Draw every star in “grey”, then loop through
all the keys in your named star information dictionary and draw them in “white”. If the user has given
the argument to write the name of a star you can write it using
pointer.write(name,font=("Arial", 5, "normal"))
this should keep it small enough.
Each star should be drawn as a circle. To get the radius of the circle, you can use
radius = (10 / (magnitude + 2)) / 2
you will also want to use
pointer.begin_fill()
…#Draw circle for star
pointer.end_fill()
to draw your stars as filled circles.
Reading a Constellation File
Reading the constellation file should be accomplished within a function. This function can make use of
others if you like, but can also be self-contained.
When the drawing of stars is complete, your program will enter a loop prompting the user for a valid
constellation file from which it can read constellation information. This loop should exit only when the
user enters “”, or if the contents of the input file are incorrect. If the user gives a filename such that
os.path.isfile(filename) == False
the program should continue re-prompting for a valid filename.
If the information in the file doesn’t have the required amount of entries separated by commas, you
should print a descriptive error and exit. Remember to use try/except blocks to catch any errors during
the process of opening/closing a file, and while reading the constellation information.
You should be able to use string.split(“,”) to split the constellation information. Remember, the first line
of the file is the constellation name, and the remaining lines are pairs of named stars. Each of these lines
represents a single constellation edge. The information for an edge can be easily stored as a tuple
(star_name1,star_name2).
You will want to return a list of all these tuples to your main function. You will also want to return the
constellation name.
Your constellation reading function should print the following to the console for every constellation
read: the name of the constellation and every star named in its edges. No star name should be printed
more than once.
Ex.
Enter constellation filename:BigDipper.dat
BIG DIPPER constellation contains {'BENETNASCH', 'PHECDA', 'DUBHE', 'MEGREZ', 'MIZAR', 'MERAK',
'ALIOTH'}
Drawing the Constellation
Drawing the edges of a constellation should be accomplished within a function. This function can make
use of others if you like, but can also be self-contained.
For each constellation, your function must loop through every pair of stars that constitute its edges. To
draw an edge, you will need 4 values: an (x,y) coordinate for the start of the edge and an (x,y)
coordinate for the end of the edge. To get these, you should look up the named star in the star
information dictionary to get the tuple of (x,y,mag) star information.
The colour of a constellation line will be either red, green, or yellow. Each constellation will have its
edges drawn in one colour, and the next constellation will cycle to the next colour. You can look at
Assignment 2 for an idea of how to use a counter to accomplish the cycling of constellation colours.
Additional Specifications:
Ensure that your program meets all the following requirements:
• You should have the class, your name, your tutorial, your student id, the date, and description at
the top of your code file in comments. Marks are given for these.
• The code file should be CPSC231A3<LastName.py (ex. Mine would be CPSC231A3Zaamout.py)
• Import the necessary libraries
• Use constants appropriately. Your TA may note one or two magic numbers as a comment, but
more will result in lost marks.
• Use descriptive naming of variables. The use of variables that follow the math descriptions given
is fine for those purposes.
• Use the correct colouring as requested.
• Use in-line comments to indicate blocks of code and describe decisions or complex expressions.
• You should comment your functions descriptively. (see Assignment 2)
• Break and continue are generally considered bad form. As a result, you are NOT allowed to use
them when creating your solution to this assignment. In general, their use can be avoided by
using a combination of if statements and writing better conditions on your while loops. You are
allowed to use return within a loop inside a function, or sys.exit(1) in a loop of a function when
finding an error to exit.
• You will have to perform error checking when reading an input file. Your program should never
crash with a Python error. All errors should be avoided by checking if the file exists before
opening it or caught by try/except structures if there is an error in a file. Descriptive messages
should be produced instead of errors.

Bonus:
Looking for an A+? Improve the program so that each constellation has a box drawn around it. This box
should contain within it every edge and star drawn. You can use padding, such as 15 pixels, to make the
box slightly bigger than the constellation inside of it. Draw the constellation name (obtained from the
constellation file) next to the box. Use a different colour that can be seen easily (such as orange) to
differentiate this box from constellations/stars/axes. (Hint: you will need to track the largest and
smallest x and y coordinates for each constellation, and then use these 4 values to draw a box around
each of the constellations.). Write the min x, max x, min y, max y that define this box out to file
<Name_box.dat where <Name is the name of the constellation as shown in its corresponding input
file.

Grading:
This assignment will be graded on a combination of functionality and style. A base grade will be
determined from the general level of functionality of the program (Does it handle arguments correctly?
Does it read input files correctly? Does it draw correctly? Does it print the requested output correctly?).
The base grade will be recorded as a mark out of 12.
The assignment will be graded out of 12, with the grade based on the program’s level of functionality
and conformance to the specifications. The program must not have syntax errors to get more than an F.
A program with runtime errors that occur during proper usage of the program, every time it runs, will
not get better than a C grade. Runtime errors are your program crashing.
Your TA will begin by grading your code with a general functionality grade starting point and subtract
marks when smaller specifications are unfilled.
The total mark achieved for the assignment will be translated into a letter grade using the following
table:
Mark Letter Grade Starting Point Guidelines (not a final grading scheme!)
13 A+ Appears to fulfill assignment and bonus spec
12 A Appears to fulfill assignment spec
11 A10 B+
9 B Can read files and draw stars but not constellations (one component missing)
8 B7 C+
6 C Only handles arguments and drawing axes (couple large components missing)
5 C4 D+
3 D Only some of arguments/file reading/axes (some basic components work)
0-2 F Syntax errors or barely started code