Week 1 of GIS Programming - "Hello World"!

A new and exciting semester at UWF for Summer 2020 - GIS Programming

Both intimidating and exciting, now starts the journey to learning programming and scripting related to Geographical Informational Systems and spatial data analysis. I have been anticipating this course, and although I am slightly terrified of learning a new technological 'language', I am also eager to see how quickly I can catch on. Most of all, I am ready to learn more about the possibilities of computerate program solving.

The primary scripting language for ArcGIS Pro, we are being introduced to Python. Although an interface, IDLE, is included with the ArcGIS software, we are learning the Spyder IDE interface. The Spyder software includes debugging tools. Additionally, we are learning the Python window under the Analysis tab in ArcGIS Pro. I am happy to be getting familiar with the different interfaces, this will make it easier to adapt to specialized situations later on.

The first lab is mostly getting us ready for future labs, but we did have an opportunity to run a script. At the beginning of the semester (and some modules) it is a good idea to get organized. Usually, I create a folder for each week/assignment by hand. In this case, the script did it for us - results seen below:

The script created a folder for each module, and under it sub-folders for the inputs(data), outputs(results), and scripts. In order to work correctly, the script needed to be in the Student's Drive (the 'Parent" folder). My first mistake was placing it in a course folder by habit, which resulted in a few minutes of confusion before I noticed the mistake. Once I placed it in the right folder, the process took a second to complete and all my folders were there.
No manual folder-making needed!

Another unexpected challenge was the screenshot. I have been spoiled by the "Snipping Tool" that is usually pinned to my Window's tool bar. Working within UWF's VPN, the screenshot required using the function keys to capture the screen. Even on my recreational Chromebook, the screen capture is one key and the image is placed in a special folder automatically. This step was a great refresher to using basic computer functions when not on your personalized workspace.

Overall, this was a fun and simple lesson preparing us for learning Python. We completed the popular "Hello World" string and printed the result, and became familiar with popular Python scripting interfaces. Looking forward to next week's lab and learning more about GIS Programming.