Thinking Through Ideas With Python Turtle

I like that you can program a screen turtle very easily with a straightforward Python installation and no additional setup. I was playing with it on a plane ride and went through a progression of ideas that I figure might be nice for people to see, along with the code. Using the screen turtle is a good way to move from Logo environments like Turtle Art to more challenging text-based coding with Python.

Starting With an Iterated Shape

I learned the basics of how to program the screen turtle in Python from this blog post. From there I went to coding many shapes (flowers) randomly distributed to make a garden.

Here is the source code.

Columns and Rows

I decided I wanted a more orderly display of shapes, and after tinkering started thinking of Islamic tile mosaics and gradually came up with this.

 

Here is the source code for this.

Uniform Grid

From there I moved on to thinking of streets, grids, and light posts. There was not much to change but changing the base shape from 8 sides to 4, and to add a dot on a second pass over the grid.

Here is the code for this.

Off Kilter Grid

Finally, I felt like throwing the balance of the perfect grid off a bit by turning the turtle a slight random heading at the beginning of each section of the grid.

Here is the code I used for that.

Enough thinking for one plane ride...