CS 115 Lab 2, Part B: Compute the area of a square

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The Big Picture

The instructions below will help you write a program that:

• Asks the user to enter the side length of a square
• Calculates the area of the square
• Prints the calculated area

You should be able to trace through the execution of this program and understand how the values of the variables change after each statement.

Instructions

1. First, create and open a new Python source code file:
   • [local] Open IDLE. Go to the File menu and select "New File." You will type (or copy) the program below into the new window.
   • [remote] Type emacs lab02bcd.py to create a new file named lab02bcd.py and edit it with emacs.
2. In the lab02bcd.py window, copy-paste the following program exactly as written, substituting your name for the italicized text:

   """
   Program: CS 115 Lab 2b/c/d
   Author: Your name
   Description: This program will compute the area of a square,
       given the side length.
   """
   
   
   def main():
       # Get the side length
       length = float(input('Enter a numeric value: '))
   
       # Compute the area of the square
       square_area = length * length
   
       print("The area of a square with side length ", length,
             " is ", round(square_area, 3), ".", sep="")
   
   
   main()
   

3. Save your file:
   • [local] Go to "Save As", and save your file as lab02bcd.py in the default directory.
   • [remote] Save your program and exit emacs by pressing CTRL-x followed by CTRL-c and then y.
4. Run your program:
   • [local] Go to the Run menu, then select Run Module. Your program will run in the other window (the "Python Shell" window).
   • [remote] Once you have exited emacs, type
     python3 lab02bcd.py
5. Run the program twice to complete the table in Question 5 of your Moodle writeup.
   • Each time you execute the program, you will be prompted to enter a value. When that happens, type in the information from one cell of the Input Value column in your writeup, exactly as it appears, then press ENTER.
   • Record the numeric value that your program reports for the area of the square.
6. Run the program one more time, and type something that isn't a number. Answer Question 6 in your writeup.
7. Continue to Part C.