**CS 111 f19 - Lecture 13 Worksheet**
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# Write a program vs write a function
Let's say our task is to compute the sum of a list. How would you describe the difference between writing a program to do this and writing a function do to this?
Writing a program would get input from the user or read in the list from a file. It would compute the sum and output it, either to the screen or a file. In contrast, a function would take the list as a parameter, compute the sum and return it.
# Absolute value of a list
Write two versions of a function that takes a list of numbers and returns a list with the absolute value of each of those numbers. The first version should modify the original list. The second version should create a new list.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Python
def version1(nums):
for i in range(len(nums)):
nums[i] = abs(nums[i]) # modifies the original list
return nums
def version2(nums):
new_nums = []
for num in nums:
new_nums.append(abs(num))
return new_nums
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+++++
# Diamonds
Write code that given a variable `n`, prints out a diamond `2*n + 1` stars tall. For example, `n = 3` would print out this:
*
***
*****
*******
*****
***
*
and `n = 5` would print
*
***
*****
*******
*********
***********
*********
*******
*****
***
*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Python
n = 5 # works for any value of n
for i in range(n):
line = ""
spaces = ""
for x in range(n - i):
spaces = spaces + " "
for x in range(2 * i + 1):
line = line + "*"
line = spaces + line + spaces
print(line)
line = ""
for x in range(2 * n + 1):
line = line + "*"
print(line)
for i in range(n):
line = ""
spaces = ""
for x in range(i + 1):
spaces = spaces + " "
for x in range(2 * (n - i) - 1):
line = line + "*"
line = spaces + line + spaces
print(line)
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