Question

Write a program that prints a two-column list of your friends' birthdays. In the first column, print the names of your best friends; in the second column, print their birthdays.

Short answer

The program prints a formatted table using a dictionary and loops.

Step-by-step solution

Set Up the Environment

Choose a programming language to use for the task. In this example, we will use Python, which is beginner-friendly and widely used for scripting.

Define the Data Structure

Decide on how to store the friends' names and their birthdays. A dictionary in Python is a suitable choice, as it pairs keys and values, which in this case will be friends' names and their birthdays.

Initialize the Dictionary

Create a dictionary with the names of your best friends as keys and their corresponding birthdays as values. For example: ```python birthdays = { 'Alice': 'April 5', 'Bob': 'June 18', 'Charlie': 'September 12' } ```

Print the Header

Print a header for the list to indicate what each column represents. This will involve printing the column titles: 'Name' and 'Birthday'. Use a simple print statement like: ```python print(f"{'Name':<10}{'Birthday':<12}") print("-" * 22) # Separator line ```

Iterate and Print the List

Loop through the dictionary and print each name and birthday in a formatted manner, ensuring alignment in the columns. Use the following code: ```python for name, birthday in birthdays.items(): print(f"{name:<10}{birthday}") ```

Run the Program

Execute the Python script to verify that it prints the list of friends and their birthdays accurately in two columns. Ensure that all elements align correctly, and make any necessary adjustments.

Key concepts

Dictionary Data Structure

In Python programming, a dictionary is a built-in data structure that greatly benefits beginners due to its simplicity and efficiency. It is used to store data in key-value pairs, where each key is unique and associated with exactly one value. This makes dictionaries ideal for cases where you need to represent relationships, like names and birthdays.

To declare a dictionary, you use curly braces `{}` and separate keys and values with a colon `:`. For instance, a simple dictionary storing friends' birthdays might look like this: ```python birthdays = { 'Alice': 'April 5', 'Bob': 'June 18', 'Charlie': 'September 12' } ```

• Alice, Bob, and Charlie are keys, representing each friend's name.
• 'April 5', 'June 18', and 'September 12' are the values, representing the corresponding birthdays.

This structure allows for quick access and modification, making it a powerful tool in any beginner's programming toolkit.

Print Formatting

Print formatting is essential for displaying output in a readable and organized way, which helps when presenting data such as names and birthdays. Python's print function can be customized to align text, ensuring the output is tidy and understandable.

In the context of the exercise, the task is to print each friend's name alongside their birthday in neatly organized columns. This can be achieved using the formatted string literal (or f-string) in Python, which is a powerful tool for string interpolation. Here's how it works: ```python print(f"{'Name':<10}{'Birthday':<12}") ```

• The `<10` and `<12` specify the minimum width for each column, ensuring names and birthdays are neatly aligned.
• The colon `:` is used to define a format specifier, and the `<` character ensures left alignment within the specified width.

This method of print formatting makes the output more professional-looking and easy to read, especially when dealing with lists or tables.

Beginner Programming Example

This exercise is an excellent introduction to beginner programming in Python. It covers basic yet fundamental concepts such as data structures and print formatting. The process involves creating a Python program that neatly displays the names and birthdays of friends using a dictionary to store the data. By iterating through a dictionary with a for loop: ```python for name, birthday in birthdays.items(): print(f"{name:<10}{birthday}") ```

• The `birthdays.items()` method allows you to iterate over key-value pairs easily.
• Inside the loop, each friend’s name and birthday are printed using formatted strings, ensuring each entry aligns correctly.

This example helps beginners understand how data can be structured and presented cleanly. It emphasizes understanding simple data manipulation and text output formatting in Python, providing a solid foundation for more complex programming tasks.