School of Engineering and Computer Science Te Kura Mātai Pūkaha, Pūrorohiko

Python Program example

An Application for studying for the Driver's Licence Theory Test.

Task:

Write a program for an application that will help the user study for the theory test for their driver's licence. The application will repeatedly ask the user questions and keep track of how many times they have answered each question correctly. It will choose questions from its question bank at random, and will ask questions multiple times until the user has learned the answer correctly. It won't ask any question once the user has answered it correctly a specified number of times. The user can specify this limit at start up. The program will keep track of how many times the user has answered each question correctly. The count for a question starts again whenever the user gets the question wrong.

Many of the questions in the test are multiple choice questions. You can choose how your program will ask them:

Option 1.
Ask the question, and present all of the possible answers. The user has to type "a", "b", etc. to answer the question. This means that you have to store the four (or more) possible answers along with each question, and also store which of the choices is correct.
For example:
  • You are driving in a 100km/h zone and you see an accident sign, what speed should you slow down to?
    1. 70km/hr
    2. 50km/hr
    3. 30km/hr
    4. 20km/hr

Option 2.
Turn each question into a collection of yes/no questions, and treat them as separate questions. The user has to type yes or no to answer them. This means that you only have to store true/false with each question.
For example:
  • You are driving in a 100km/h zone and you see an accident sign, what speed should you slow down to? 50km/hr?
    true or false:

Other considerations

Your program should allow the user to quit at any time by typing "quit" or "q" to one of the questions.

You can give your program a GUI if you want, but it is OK to use a text interface. If you use a text interface, you won't be able to use the questions that involve a diagram.

Note, you do not have to use questions for the driving test. You can use a set of questions for any topic that you would want to study for.

Design (true/false question option): 

Data/Information
   * Questions:    a list of strings. Each string is a question and a possible answer.
   * Answers:      a list of correct answers to the question (true/false)
   * Counts:        a list of the number of times each question has been answered correctly.
   * limit:            number of times a questions must be answered correctly to not be asked any more.

Main module: 
   parameters: none 
   returns:        nothing
      Create empty lists in Questions, Answers, and Counts
      Set up the questions (call setup module, passing Questions, Answers, and Counts)
      Ask user for the number of times to repeat a question --> Limit
      While there are still questions to ask (call numberOfQuestionsLeft module passing Counts and limit)
          Choose a question number (call chooseQuestion module passing Counts and limit)   --> qnNum
          Ask question  (call askQuestion module, passing question and answer)  -->  result
          If result was that the user wants to quit, then quit, 
          if result was correct, then increment qnNum'th count, 
          otherwise reset qnNum'th count to 0
      Display completion message, depending on whether they completed all questions or not

Setup module: 
   function:       Sets up the lists of questions
   Parameters: Questions, Answers, Counts, 
   returns:        nothing
      Call addQuestion module, passing question and answer, Questions, Answers, Counts, 
      (repeat this for every question)

addQuestion module:
   function:       adds a question and its answer to the lists and initialises its count
   parameters:  question (String), answer (true/false), Questions, Answers, Counts,   
   returns:        nothing  
      add question to list of Questions
      add answer to list of Answers
      add 0 to list of Counts

numberOfQuestionsLeft module:  
   function:      works out how many questions haven't reached the limit and still need to be asked
   parameters: Counts (list of numbers), limit (number),  
   returns         number of questions left
      set numLeftto 0
       for each element of Counts
          if the element is less than the limit, add one to numLeft.
      Return the numLeft


chooseQuestion module:
   function:      chooses a question at random until it finds one whose count is less than the limit
   parameters: Counts (list of numbers), limit (number)
   returns:        index of a question 
      repeat 
          choose an index of Counts at random ? qnNum
      until the qnNum'th count in Counts is less than the limit.
      Return qnNum
    

askQuestion module:
   function:      asks the user a question, and returns true or false depending on whether they answered correctly.
                      If the user answered with 'q', then it should return "quit"
   parameters: question (String), answer (boolean)
   returns:        whether answer was correct or not, or if the user wants to quit.
      Print out the question, and ask for true/false  -> answer
      repeat 
          If answer is 'q' or "quit" then return the value "quit"
          If answer is valid, 
              check against correct answer
              print out an appropriate message
              return true or false for success or failure.
          If answer is invalid, repeat the question and say what the valid answers are.

Sample Questions

When are you allowed to pass another vehicle?
  • When you are coming up to a blind corner or blind bend.
  • When a vehicle has stopped at a pedestrian crossing.
  • * When you can see at least 100 meters of clear road in front of you once you have finished passing.
  • When you are less than 10 meters away from a railway level crossing

Passengers in your vehicle are 15 years of over. Who is responsible for making sure they wear a safety belt?
  • * The passengers themselves
  • The parents of the passengers
  • You as the driver of the vehicle
  • Other passengers in your vehicle

Which of your vehicle's light do you have on if you are drving in a fog?
  • Park lights
  • Headlights on high beam
  • Hazard lights
  • * Dipped headlights

Alternative (true/false)
  • Passengers in your vehicle are 15 years of over. Who is responsible for making sure they wear a safety belt? Other passengers in your vehicle?
  • Passengers in your vehicle are 15 years of over. Who is responsible for making sure they wear a safety belt? The parents of the passengers?
  • Passengers in your vehicle are 15 years of over. Who is responsible for making sure they wear a safety belt? The passengers themselves
  • Passengers in your vehicle are 15 years of over. Who is responsible for making sure they wear a safety belt? You as the driver of the vehicle?
  • When are you allowed to pass another vehicle? When a vehicle has stopped at a pedestrian crossing.
  • When are you allowed to pass another vehicle? When you are less than 10 meters away from a railway level crossing
  • When are you allowed to pass another vehicle? When you can see at least 100 meters of clear road in front of you once you have finished passing.
  • Which of your vehicle's lights do you have on if you are driving in a fog? Dipped headlights?
  • Which of your vehicle's lights do you have on if you are driving in a fog? Hazard lights?
  • Which of your vehicle's lights do you have on if you are driving in a fog? Headlights on high beam?
  • Which of your vehicle\'s lights do you have on if you are driving in a fog? Park lights?
  • When are you allowed to pass another vehicle? When you are coming up to a blind corner or blind bend.

A possible answer (not checked yet)

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