Lab 03: Fizz Buzz Boom, Palindromes

The goal of this lab assignment to allow you to explore repeated execution by writing Python programs that utilize for and while loops to solve common programming interview challanges.

For this assignment, record your work in a Jupyter Notebook and upload it to the form below by 11:59 PM Friday, February 15.

Internet Resources

While you are generally encouraged to use the Internet as a resource for programming assignments, for this lab, you are asked to refrain from looking up information specific to the these problems because the programming challanges are so popular and there are many solutions available.

Remember that any code you submit must be your own and that you must be able to explain every line of your program.

Activity 0: Starter Notebook

To help you get started, we have provided you with a starter notebook, which you can download and then use to record your answers. To utilize the starter notebook, download it to wherever you are running Jupyter Notebook and then use the Jupyter Notebook interface to open the downloaded file.

Download Starter Notebook

The starter notebook is already formatted for all the various sections you need to fill out. Just look for the red instructions that indicates were you need to write text or the cyan comments that indicate where you need to write code.

Activity 1: Fizz Buzz Boom

For the first activity, you are to write a solution to a variant of the infamous FizzBuzz problem:

Write a program that prints the numbers from 1 to 100. But for multiples of three print "Fizz" instead of the number and for the multiples of five print "Buzz". For numbers which are multiples of both three and five print "FizzBuzz".

For this activity, the problem has a few additional requirements:

For multiples of seven, print "Boom".
For multiples of three and seven, print "FizzBoom".
For multiples of five and seven, print "BuzzBoom".
For multiples of three, five, and seven, print "FizzBuzzBoom".

Function

To write this program, you will need to implement the following function:

def fizz_buzz_boom(start, end):
    ''' For all the numbers between start and end (inclusive),

    - Display Fizz for multiples of 3
    - Display Buzz for multiples of 5
    - Display Boom for multiples of 7
    - Display FizzBuzz for multiples of both 3 and 5
    - Display FizzBoom for multiples of both 3 and 7
    - Display BuzzBoom for multiples of both 5 and 7
    - Display FizzBuzzBoom for multiples of 3, 5, and 7
    - Display the number if it doesn't meet any of the criteria above.
    '''

Here are some examples of the function in action:

>>> fizz_buzz_boom(3, 7)
Fizz
4
Buzz
Fizz
Boom

>>> fizz_buzz_boom(10, 20)
Buzz
11
Fizz
13
Boom
FizzBuzz
16
17
Fizz
19
Buzz

The fizz_buzz_boom function takes in the start and end of the range to iterate through:

It should include both the start and the end.
It should output the appropriate number or word based on the requirements specified above for FizzBuzzBoom.
It should use both conditional and repeated execution statements.
It should use the modulo operator.

Testing

Once you have implemented the function above, you are to use the following A1_TESTS list to verify your code is working properly:

A1_TESTS = [
   [3, 7],
   [1, 10],
   [10, 35],
   [100, 110],
]

You are to write a loop that uses each sub-list in A1_TESTS as the start and end parameters to the fizz_buzz_boom function and outputs the following:

fizz_buzz_boom(3, 7)
Fizz
4
Buzz
Fizz
Boom

fizz_buzz_boom(1, 10)
1
2
Fizz
4
Buzz
Fizz
Boom
8
Fizz
Buzz

fizz_buzz_boom(10, 35)
Buzz
11
Fizz
13
Boom
FizzBuzz
16
17
Fizz
19
Buzz
FizzBoom
22
23
Fizz
Buzz
26
Fizz
Boom
29
FizzBuzz
31
32
Fizz
34
BuzzBoom

fizz_buzz_boom(100, 110)
Buzz
101
Fizz
103
104
FizzBuzzBoom
106
107
Fizz
109
Buzz

Reflection

After you have completed the program above, answer the following questions:

Describe the flow control of your program. What sort of conditional or repeated execution statements did you use?
Why do you think this question often trips up candidates interviewing for programming positions? What was the trickiest part of this problem for you?

Activity 2: Palindromes

For the second activity, you are to write a solution to a variant of the popular palindromes problem:

A palindrome is a word, number, phrase, or other sequence of characters which reads the same backward as forward, such as "madam" or "racecar" or the number 10801.

In this variant, you will be given a list of numbers and you must determine if the sequence can be read the same backward as forward.

Function

To write this program, you will need to implement the following function:

def is_palindrome(numbers):
  ''' Return True if the numbers list is a palindromic sequence,
  otherwise return False '''

Here are some examples of the function in action:

>>> is_palindrome([1, 2])
False

>>> is_palindrome([1, 2, 1])
True

The is_palindrome function takes in a list of numbers and returns True if it is a palindrome and False otherwise:

It should keep track of both the front and back of the list.
It should use both conditional and repeated execution statements.

Tests

Once you have implemented the function above, you are to use the following A2_TESTS list to verify your code is working properly:

A2_TESTS = [
    [1],
    [1, 2],
    [1, 2, 1],
    [1, 2, 2, 1],
    [1, 2, 3, 1],
    [1, 3, 2, 1],
    [1, 2, 3, 2, 1],
]

You are to write a loop that uses each sub-list in A2_TESTS as the numbers parameter to the is_palindrome function and outputs the following:

is_palindrome([1]) -> True
is_palindrome([1, 2]) -> False
is_palindrome([1, 2, 1]) -> True
is_palindrome([1, 2, 2, 1]) -> True
is_palindrome([1, 2, 3, 1]) -> False
is_palindrome([1, 3, 2, 1]) -> False
is_palindrome([1, 2, 3, 2, 1]) -> True

Reflection

After you have completed the program above, answer the following questions:

Describe the flow control of your program. What sort of conditional or repeated execution statements did you use?
Why do you think this question often trips up candidates interviewing for programming positions? What was the trickiest part of this problem for you?

Submission

Once you have completed your lab, submit your Jupyter Notebook using the form:

Submit Lab Notebook