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Common Commands and Tips for Python
In this class, we are often going to use VPython to create computational models, which will serve as a powerful tool to help us create visualizations and apply the ideas in this course to more real-world contexts. Below are some of the common Python commands that we will use in this course and some coding tips compiled by previous EMP-Cubed students.
Note: we do not expect you to have any coding experience prior to this course, and we will not expect you to write a program from scratch. We will primarily be asking you to interpret chunks of code with your group members and adjust/modify pieces of code that you will be given.
Common Commands
- Exponents **
- Objects (box, sphere, arrow)
- Object characteristics (pos, length, width, radius, color, etc)
- Vectors - vec()
- Magnitude - mag()
- Print - print()
- Dot Product - dot()
- Cross Product - cross()
Tips for Coding
- Watch parentheses
- Watch upper/lower cases
- Watch whitespace
- Comments