Day 2: Wednesday the 2nd of July 2025.

Welcome back! 🎉

Yesterday you got set up with Python, VS Code, GitHub, and Git. You even created your first project repo. That’s already more than many university students ever do. Well done. Today, we’re finally going to write code. Not just any code — we’re going to start building your Cerebot’s brain.

Think of this like making your bot come to life for the very first time!

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Objectives for Today

• Practice Python basics: print(), input(), variables, and string concatenation
• Write your first chatbot-style program that talks to the user
• Understand how Python code “flows”
• Get used to writing and saving Python files in VS Code
• Push your code to GitHub

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Agenda

Time	What to do
15 min	Review Day 1: Tools check, Python version test
20 min	Warm-up: What would your ideal chatbot say first?
30 min	Python Basics: print(), input(), variables
45 min	Play around with “barebones” chatbot logic
15 min	Customize your chatbot’s responses
15 min	GitHub push + reflection
Homework	Add more responses and questions to your bot

Python Warm-Up: Say Hello!

Let’s open VS Code and create your first .py file:

# chatbot_hello.py
print("Hi! What’s your name?")
name = input()
print("Nice to meet you, " + name + "!")

Try running it from Terminal (the funny little box below your coding setup) by typing this:

python chatbot_hello.py

Just like you saw the output on the left side in programmiz, it should run here too!

✅ Key Python Concepts Today ✅

Concept	What It Means	Example
print()	Display a message	print("Hello!")
input()	Ask the user something	name = input("Your name: ")
Variable	A label for storing info	color = "blue"
String	Text (inside quotes)	"hello"
Concatenation	Stick strings together	"Hi " + name

✅ Build Your First Chatbot ✅

Try this more complete version:

# chatbot_greetings.py
print("Hello, human! What’s your name?")
name = input()

print("Cool name, " + name + "! What’s your favorite color?")
color = input()

print("Nice! I bet " + color + " suits you well.")

Once it works, this is what you do:

• Save it as chatbot_greetings.py
• Run it
• Change emojis or questions to match your own personality

If you remember the talk about the Agile method from yesterday, this might feel pleasing to you. This super super basic script is your first example of a “working prototype”! NICE WORK!

✅ File Structure So Far ✅

The diagram below is meant to illustrate the arrangement of files in your project. Here’s how your project folder might look at this point. Keeping track of our files is really useful in projects!

cerebot/
├── chatbot_hello.py
├── chatbot_greetings.py
└── README.md

🚀 Push to GitHub 🚀

Let’s save your progress online.

If using GitHub Desktop:

1. Open your repo folder
2. Click “Commit to main” – message: Add greeting chatbot
3. Click Push origin

If using Terminal:

git add chatbot_greetings.py
git commit -m "Add greeting chatbot"
git push origin main

And just like that, you’ve also taken a first step to documenting your work!

🏠 Homework for Day 2 🏠

• Add two more fun questions to your chatbot
• Example: Ask for favorite animal or what they had for lunch
• Honestly go crazy with the print statements. Tailor it to what different scenarios. Get creative.
• Push your updated chatbot to GitHub!

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🔁 Tomorrow: Decision-Making Bots! 🔁

We’ll teach your chatbot how to make decisions using if, elif, and else. These statements are only executed based on certain conditions.

It’s going to get smarter!