9-12, AP Computer Science A, AP Computer Science Principles, Computer Science I

Taboo & Writing Code for a Purpose

I like writing programs when it meets a need or solves a problem in my job, life, or classroom. I’ve never really enjoyed those “puzzle a day” challenges or competitions where there isn’t an obvious use for the program. Unfortunately, its somewhat rare that my inspiration and planning time line up and I can actually write some useful code!

Long story short, I ended up writing my own Taboo game to review vocabulary words. Check it out on Replit.com here! The game currently offers the choice between AP CSA and AP CSP lists of words, but leave a comment if an important word is missing.

While there might be a more elegant solution, I wanted the code to be entirely understandable for someone in my Computer Science I course. It utilizes:

  • guizero – A great introductory library of widgets for your user interface built on tkinter. I like to teach students how to read and understand documentation for a new library using their fantastic examples. Also, a great opportunity to talk about event-driven programming.
  • Reading from a file
  • Python Dictionaries
  • and more!

Let me know if you fork it and add any features!