Is this scrapbook for you?

The topics I cover in this scrapbook start at a very basic level which progress to more complicated later on. When I started writing this scrapbook (2015) my skill level was roughly on par with this program.

#!bin/python2.7

# Palindrone
# A palindrone is an alphanumeric string or statement that is the same forwards and backwards.

# reverse a string
def reverse_my_string(x):
    """Reverse all letters of a string"""
    return x[::-1] 


def ask_for_input():
    """ Ask the user for a word """

    # treat all user input as a string
    word = raw_input("Enter a word and press enter: ")
    return word


def palindrone():
    """Determine if a word is a palindrone."""
    word = ""
    while len(word) <= 1:

        try:
            # ask user for input
            word = ask_for_input()

            # make sure the word has 2 or more characters
            len(word) >=2

        except:
            print 'Your word needs to be at least two characters'

    # reverse the users word
    word_backwards = reverse_my_string(word)

    # is the word a palindrone
    if word == word_backwards:
        print 'Congratulations, your word [%s] is a palindrone' %word
    else:
        print 'Sorry, [%s] is not the same as [%s]' %(word, word_backwards)


def main():
    """ Give the user 3 entries and stop """
    counter = 0

    # loop from 0 to 2
    for i in range(3):

        # Entry count
        counter = counter + 1
        print 'Entry %s' %counter

        # call palindrone function
        palindrone()

# run        
main()

# output
# Entry 1
# Enter a word and press enter: test one
# Sorry, [test one] is not the same as [eno tset]
# Entry 2
# Enter a word and press enter: Hello World!
# Sorry, [Hello World!] is not the same as [!dlroW olleH]
# Entry 3
# Enter a word and press enter: god dog
# Congratulations, [god dog] is a palindrone

Update: heres how I would write it in 2018

Note that I have switched to Python 3 in this example.

"""
Determine if a word is a palindrone.

A palindrone is an alphanumeric string or 
statement that is the same forwards and backwards.

Run at the terminal using -a to denote the number 
of attempts to give the user.

python3 palindrone.py -a 3 


"""
def testPalindrone(w):
    """
    Determine if a word is a palindrone.

    args
    ----
    w: string
        Represents a word to reverse


    returns
    -------
    Boolean


    example
    -------
    >>> palindrone('test')
    False
    """
    # reverse word
    word_backwards = w[::-1]

    # test palindrone
    if w == word_backwards:
        return True 
    else:
        return False


def main(attempts):
    """ 
    Give the user n attempts and stop.

    args
    ----
    attempts: integer
        Represents the number of goes to give the user.

    example
    -------
    main(1)

    Entry 1
    Enter a word with more than 2 letters and press enter: d
    words must be longer than 2 letters

    Entry 1
    Enter a word with more than 2 letters and press enter: done
    Sorry, done is not the same as enod

    Entry 2
    Enter a word with more than 2 letters and press enter: level
    Congratulations, your word level is a palindrone

    Entry 3
    Enter a word with more than 2 letters and press enter: palindrone
    Sorry, palindrone is not the same as enordnilap
    """
    counter = 1

    # attempts+1 from 0 index
    while counter < attempts+1:      
        print('\nEntry {}'.format(counter))

        # ask for word
        word = input("Enter a word with more than 2 letters and press enter: ")

        # test palindrone
        if len(word) > 2:
            counter = counter + 1
            palindrone = testPalindrone(word)

            if palindrone:
                print('Congratulations, your word {} is a palindrone'.format(word))
            else:
                print('Sorry, {} is not the same as {}'.format(word, word[::-1]))
        else:
            print('words must be longer than 2 letters')
            continue


if __name__ == '__main__':
    """
    Run in a terminal

    flags
    -----
    --attempts (-a)
        Number of attempts to give the user

    example
    -------
    python3 palindrone.py -a 3
    """
    from optparse import OptionParser

    parser = OptionParser()
    parser.add_option(
      "-a", 
      "--attempts", 
      dest="attempts",
      help="Number of words to attempt as palindrone",
      metavar="ATTEMPT"
    )
    (options, args) = parser.parse_args()

    # Run main func
    main(int(options.attempts))