Creating An American Flag With Python Turtle Graphics

Python Turtle is a drawing board-like feature that allows users to command a turtle to draw. In this case, the American flag. The code for this is available on GitHub and includes comments to explain what each section does. The code sets the background colour of the screen to white and the title of the screen to USA Flag. It then sets the cursor/turtle speed and shape before drawing the flag. The flag is created by drawing 13 stripes, a navy square, and 50 stars, representing the 50 states of the USA.

Initialise the turtle and screen

To initialise the turtle and screen, you can follow these steps:

First, import the necessary modules, including `turtle` and `time:

Python

Import turtle

Import time

Next, create a screen object using `turtle.getscreen()`:

Python

Screen = turtle.getscreen()

Set the background colour and title of the screen:

Python

Screen.bgcolor("white")

Screen.title("USA Flag")

Create a turtle object and set its speed, shape, and position:

Python

Oogway = turtle.Turtle()

Oogway.speed(100)

Oogway.penup()

Oogway.shape("turtle")

Define the flag dimensions and starting coordinates:

Python

Flag_height = 250

Flag_width = 475

Start_x = -237

Start_y = 125

With these initialisations, you can now proceed to draw the American flag using Python Turtle.

Set the starting position

To set the starting position for drawing the American flag using Python Turtle, you need to first create a screen object and set its background colour and title. Then, you can create a turtle object and set its speed, shape, and starting position.

Python

Create a screen

Screen = turtle.getscreen()

Screen.bgcolor("white")

Screen.title("USA Flag")

Set the cursor/turtle speed

Oogway = turtle.Turtle()

Oogway.speed(100)

Decide the shape of the cursor/turtle

Oogway.shape("turtle")

Flag height and width

Flag_height = 250

Flag_width = 475

Starting points

Start from the first quadrant, half of the flag width and half of the flag height

Start_x = -237

Start_y = 125

In the code above, we first create a screen object `screen` using `turtle.getscreen()`. We then set the background colour of the screen to white using `screen.bgcolor("white")` and give it a title "USA Flag" using `screen.title("USA Flag").

Next, we create a turtle object `oogway = turtle.Turtle()`. We set the speed of the turtle to 100 using `oogway.speed(100), which means the turtle will move faster. We also set the shape of the turtle cursor to "turtle" using `oogway.shape("turtle").

After that, we define the height and width of the flag as `flag_height = 250 and `flag_width = 475, respectively.

Finally, we set the starting position for the turtle cursor by defining the `start_x` and `start_y` variables. In this example, the starting position is set to `start_x = -237 and `start_y = 125, which corresponds to the first quadrant, half of the flag width, and half of the flag height.

Create a function to draw a rectangle

To create a function that draws a rectangle in Python Turtle, you can follow these steps:

First, import the necessary modules:

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Import turtle

Next, create a new Turtle object and specify the dimensions of the rectangle you want to draw:

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Turtle.forward(length) # Move the turtle forward by 'length' units

Turtle.left(90) # Turn the turtle 90 degrees to the left

To draw the rectangle, you can use a loop that repeats these movements four times:

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For _ in range(4):

Turtle.forward(length)

Turtle.left(90)

Here's an example of the complete function:

Python

Def draw_rectangle(length, width):

Turtle.forward(length)

Turtle.left(90)

For _ in range(3):

Turtle.forward(width)

Turtle.left(90)

You can then call this function with the desired length and width to draw a rectangle:

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Draw_rectangle(100, 50)

This will create a rectangle with a length of 100 units and a width of 50 units. You can adjust the values of `length` and `width` to create rectangles of different sizes.

Additionally, you can customize the appearance of the rectangle by setting the colour, thickness, or style of the Turtle's pen before calling the function. For example:

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Turtle.color("blue") # Set the colour of the pen to blue

Turtle.pensize(3) # Set the thickness of the pen to 3 pixels

Create a function to draw a star

To create a function to draw a star in Python Turtle, you can use the following code:

Python

Def draw_star(x, y, color, length):

Oogway.goto(x, y)

Oogway.setheading(0)

Oogway.pendown()

Oogway.begin_fill()

Oogway.color(color)

For turn in range(0, 5):

Oogway.forward(length)

Oogway.right(144)

Oogway.end_fill()

Oogway.penup()

In this code snippet, we define a function called `draw_star` that takes four parameters: `x` and `y` represent the coordinates where the star will be drawn, `color` specifies the colour of the star, and `length` determines the length of each point of the star.

Inside the function, we first use the goto() function to move the turtle to the specified coordinates. Then, we set the heading to 0 degrees using `setheading(0)` to ensure the star is drawn in the correct direction. Next, we use pendown() to lower the pen and begin_fill() to start filling the shape with the specified colour.

The star is drawn by iterating through a range of 0 to 5 (inclusive) using a `for` loop. In each iteration, the turtle moves forward by the specified length using `forward(length)` and then turns right by 144 degrees using `right(144)`. This creates the five points of the star.

After completing the loop, we call end_fill() to stop filling the shape, and finally, we lift the pen using `penup()` to prepare for the next drawing operation.

You can call this function by passing the desired coordinates, colour, and length as arguments. For example:

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Draw_star(-380, 230, 'white', 10)

This will draw a white star with a point length of 10 units at the coordinates (-380, 230).

To create multiple rows of stars, you can wrap the `draw_star()` function call in another loop that iterates through the desired number of rows and columns. Adjust the coordinates accordingly to position each star in the desired location.

Create a function to draw the stripes

To create a function to draw the stripes of the American flag using Python Turtle, you can follow these steps and instructions:

First, import the necessary modules and set up the screen:

Python

Import turtle

Import time

Create a screen

Screen = turtle.getscreen()

Screen.bgcolor("white")

Screen.title("USA Flag")

Next, define the turtle cursor and its properties:

Python

Oogway = turtle.Turtle()

Oogway.speed(100)

Oogway.penup()

Oogway.shape("turtle")

Set the flag dimensions and starting points:

Python

Flag_height = 250

Flag_width = 475

Start_x = -237

Start_y = 125

Stripe_height = flag_height/13

Stripe_width = flag_width

Now, create a function to draw a filled rectangle:

Python

Def draw_fill_rectangle(x, y, height, width, color):

Oogway.goto(x, y)

Oogway.pendown()

Oogway.color(color)

Oogway.begin_fill()

Oogway.forward(width)

Oogway.right(90)

Oogway.forward(height)

Oogway.right(90)

Oogway.forward(width)

Oogway.right(90)

Oogway.forward(height)

Oogway.right(90)

Oogway.end_fill()

Oogway.penup()

Finally, create a function to draw the stripes:

Python

Def draw_stripes():

X = start_x

Y = start_y

# Draw 6 red and 6 white stripes alternatively

For stripe in range(0, 6):

For color in ["red", "white"]:

Draw_fill_rectangle(x, y, stripe_height, stripe_width, color)

Y = y - stripe_height

# Draw the last red stripe

Draw_fill_rectangle(x, y, stripe_height, stripe_width, 'red')

Y = y - stripe_height

In the `draw_stripes` function, the turtle starts at the `start_x` and `start_y` coordinates. It then iterates through the range of 0 to 6, drawing a red and white stripe at each iteration. The `draw_fill_rectangle` function is used to create each stripe with the specified height and width. After drawing the 6 red and white stripes, the turtle moves down and draws the last red stripe.

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