Creating A Checkerboard With Python Turtle: A Step-By-Step Guide

Python Turtle is a beginner-friendly way to learn Python by running some basic commands and viewing the turtle draw on the screen graphically. It is like a drawing board that lets us command a turtle to draw all over it. To draw a checkerboard using Python Turtle, you will need to import the turtle library and define a function to draw the squares. You can then use a for loop to draw each square of the checkerboard, alternating between black and white squares. Finally, you can use the fill colour function to fill in the squares with the appropriate colours.

Define a function to draw a square

To create a checkerboard in Python Turtle, you need to define a function to draw a square. Here's a detailed guide on how to do that:

First, import the necessary modules and create a turtle object:

Python

Import turtle

Create a turtle object

Pen = turtle.Turtle()

Next, define the `draw_square()` function. This function will take parameters for the turtle object, the square's colour, and the square's size:

Python

Def draw_square(turtle, colour, size):

# Move the turtle to the starting position

Turtle.penup()

Turtle.goto(-size/2, -size/2)

Turtle.pendown()

# Set the fill colour

Turtle.fillcolor(colour)

Turtle.begin_fill()

# Draw the square

For i in range(4):

Turtle.forward(size)

Turtle.right(90)

# End the fill and lift the pen

Turtle.end_fill()

Turtle.penup()

Now, you can use this function to draw squares of different colours and sizes on the checkerboard. For example, to draw a red square with a size of 40 units, you would call the function as follows:

Python

Draw_square(pen, "red", 40)

To create the entire checkerboard, you would need to call this function multiple times, alternating between black and white squares. You can use loops to automate this process and create the full checkerboard pattern.

Here's an example of how you can use loops to create a checkerboard with 8 rows and 8 columns:

Python

Set the number of rows and columns

Rows = 8

Cols = 8

Loop through each row

For i in range(rows):

# Loop through each column

For j in range(cols):

# Determine the colour based on the row and column

If (i + j) % 2 == 0:

Colour = "black"

Else:

Colour = "white"

# Draw the square

Draw_square(pen, colour, 40)

# Move the turtle to the next column position

Pen.forward(40)

# Move the turtle to the next row position

Pen.sety(pen.ycor() - 40)

This code snippet will create a checkerboard with 8 rows and 8 columns, where each square has a size of 40 units. You can adjust the values of `rows` and `cols` to create a checkerboard of a different size.

By defining the `draw_square()` function, you've created a reusable component that can be easily called to draw squares of different colours and sizes. This makes it easier to create the checkerboard pattern by focusing on the logic of arranging the squares rather than the details of drawing each square individually.

Set your starting position

Setting your starting position is an important step in creating a checkerboard in Python Turtle. Here's a detailed guide:

First, you need to import the turtle module and create a turtle object. You can name the object anything you want, but for this example, let's call it "turtle". You can set the size of the screen and the initial position of the turtle.

Next, define the dimensions of your checkerboard. For simplicity, let's assume you want a checkerboard with 10 rows and 10 columns of squares. You'll need a couple of variables to keep track of the size and position of each square. Let's define "size = 40" as the side length of each square, and "color_value = 'red' as the initial colour of the first square.

Now, you want to loop across the board to create your squares. Use a "for" loop and a variable like "j" to iterate through the columns. To determine if the current column is even or odd, you can use the modulo operator. If "j % 2 == 0", then the column is even; otherwise, it's odd.

Based on the column number, you can set the colour of the square. For example, if the column is even, set "color_value = 'red'". Similarly, if it's odd, set it to 'black'. This way, you'll get alternating colours for each square.

After drawing each square, increment the column variable by 1 to move to the next column. To start a new row, you'll need to adjust the y-position of the turtle. You can calculate the new y-position by multiplying the size of each square by the current row number. For instance, if you're on the second row, the y-position would be "size * (row + 1)".

Finally, to create the entire checkerboard, put all these steps inside another "for" loop that iterates through the rows. This will ensure that you draw all 10 rows of squares.

By following these steps and adjusting the values according to your needs, you can set the starting position for your Python Turtle checkerboard and create a beautifully alternating pattern of squares.

Set up variables

Setting up variables is an important step in creating a checkerboard using Python Turtle. Here's a detailed guide on how to do it:

First, import the necessary modules and create the screen and turtle objects:

Python

Import turtle

Create screen object

Sc = turtle.Screen()

Create turtle object

Pen = turtle.Turtle()

Next, define the variables for the checkerboard:

Python

Set screen dimensions

Screen_width = 600

Screen_height = 600

Set turtle speed

Pen.speed("fastest")

Define square size

Square_size = 50

Define number of rows and columns

Num_rows = 8

Num_columns = 8

Define colors

Black_color = "black"

White_color = "white"

You can also define variables for the starting position of the turtle:

Python

Set starting position

Start_x = -screen_width / 2 + square_size / 2

Start_y = screen_height / 2 - square_size / 2

Additionally, you can create a variable to track the current row and column:

Python

Current_row = 0

Current_column = 0

By setting up these variables, you've laid the foundation for creating the checkerboard. Now, you can use these variables in your code to draw the squares, alternate colors, and position the turtle correctly.

Loop to draw a row of squares

To draw a checkerboard in Python Turtle, you need to create a loop that will draw a row of squares. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to do this:

First, you need to import the turtle module and create a turtle object:

Python

Import turtle

Sc = turtle.Screen()

Pen = turtle.Turtle()

Next, you need to define a function to draw a square. This function will take the turtle object and the size of the square as parameters. Here's an example of how you can define this function:

Python

Def draw_square(turtle, size):

For i in range(4):

Turtle.forward(size)

Turtle.right(90)

Now, you can create a loop to draw a row of squares. You need to specify the number of squares in a row (for example, 8 for a checkerboard) and the size of each square. Here's how you can create the loop:

Python

Num_squares = 8

Square_size = 40

For i in range(num_squares):

Draw_square(pen, square_size)

Pen.forward(square_size)

In this loop, we iterate 'num_squares' times. For each iteration, we call the draw_square function to draw a square, and then we move the turtle forward by 'square_size' units to position it for the next square.

At this point, you have a row of unfilled squares. To fill the squares with alternating colours (for example, red and black), you can modify the draw_square function to include a fill colour parameter. Here's an updated version of the function:

Python

Def draw_square(turtle, size, fill_colour):

Turtle.fillcolor(fill_colour)

Turtle.begin_fill()

For i in range(4):

Turtle.forward(size)

Turtle.right(90)

Turtle.end_fill()

Now, you can update the loop to specify the fill colour for each square. You can use the modulo operator (%) to alternate between two colours (red and black) for each square. Here's how you can modify the loop:

Python

Num_squares = 8

Square_size = 40

Colours = ["red", "black"]

For i in range(num_squares):

Fill_colour = colours[i % 2]

Draw_square(pen, square_size, fill_colour)

Pen.forward(square_size)

In this loop, we use i % 2 to alternate between 0 and 1, which corresponds to the index of the colours list. This way, each square will be filled with the next colour in the list.

By following these steps, you can create a loop to draw a row of squares with alternating colours, forming a single row of a checkerboard pattern. Repeat these rows to complete the entire checkerboard.

Increment your row variable

To increment your row variable, you need to understand how loops work in Python Turtle. In your code, you are using a for loop to iterate through each row and draw the squares of your checkerboard. Here's an example code snippet that demonstrates how to increment the row variable:

Python

Set the starting position

Size = 40

Color_value = "red"

Loop through each row

For row in range(10):

# Draw squares in the current row

For col in range(10):

# Determine the color based on the column number

If col % 2 == 0:

Color_value = "red"

Else:

Color_value = "black"

# Draw the square with the current color

Draw_square(color_value)

# Increment the column variable

Col += 1

# Increment the row variable by 1

Row += 1

In the code above, we first set the starting position and the initial values for `size` and `color_value`. Then, we use a for loop to iterate through each row. Inside the loop, we have another for loop to iterate through each column and draw the squares. After drawing each square, we increment the column variable by 1. Finally, at the end of each row, we increment the row variable by 1 to move to the next row.

It's important to note that you need to use the `range()` function to specify the number of rows and columns you want to iterate through. In this example, we are creating a 10x10 checkerboard, so we use `range(10)` for both loops. Make sure to adjust the range values according to your desired checkerboard size.

Additionally, the code provided assumes that you have a `draw_square()` function defined elsewhere in your code, which takes the `color_value` as a parameter and draws a square with the specified color.

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