100 Days of code – 50% complete

Halfway done!

For the past 5 days, I have been playing with Python and the pygame library. I started by making a copy of the old bouncing DVD logo, like in this clip from The Office:

After that, I worked on making a model of the solar system, complete with the Moon orbiting the Earth. Both projects were a lot of fun to write! Pygame has been an absolute joy to use, to the point that I don’t want to use anything else. I’m tempted to even use pygame to create GUIs! If you want to display a circle with pygame, for example, you just type this:

pygame.draw.circle(surface, color, position, radius)

Notice how that has exactly what you need for a circle, and nothing else? Everything I’ve found in pygame so far has been that easy.

Looking back on days 1-45, I realize that I was focused on learning programming and trying to solve other people’s challenges. I learned a lot doing this, but I was getting bored. I found in the last 5 days that adding animation and working on my own projects has made this a lot more enjoyable. It also feels a lot more interactive. Maybe I’ll include some user input next, and make a game that someone can actually play!

I’m a lot more excited to see what the next 50 days has to bring. I’ll probably go back to more serious projects at some point, but for now, I’m just going to focus on having fun!