Month: January 2026

Posted on

How I’m Training Myself to Drink Water Like an Adult

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

Today’s main objective is simple, practical, and surprisingly difficult: drink water on schedule.

My wife recently bought us matching one-liter water bottles with hour-by-hour drinking markers printed right on them. The idea is elegant—drink steadily throughout the day instead of realizing at 8 p.m. that you’ve consumed approximately nothing.

Everyone should drink water regularly, kidney issues or not. In my case, it’s non-negotiable. My doctor reminds me—firmly—that I need at least 1.5 liters a day. Concentrated urine is not something my already overworked kidneys appreciate, and kidney stones are absolutely not on my wish list.

The problem is not knowing this.
The problem is forgetting.

Over the past week, my routine has been hijacked by distractions: lab appointments, our anniversary dinner, Thanksgiving. All good things—but all excellent at pulling me away from my desk, my notebook, and any awareness of hydration. By the time I noticed, I was hours behind.

So I did what any desperate person would do: I guzzled water to catch up.

This was a mistake.

My body did not appreciate the late-day hydration sprint and politely informed me of its displeasure by waking me up in the middle of the night with a bladder emergency. Lesson learned: hydration is not a cram session.

My wife bought these bottles because she forgets to drink water when she’s writing, reading, or deeply focused on anything at all. She wisely bought one for me too, because I apparently have the same flaw.

Before this bottle, I had no real sense of how much water I was drinking. Now I can see it clearly—and unfortunately, that clarity revealed that several days last week ended with frantic water catch-up. There’s no good excuse for that.

We buy five-gallon jugs from the grocery store and use a water dispenser at home. Between the two of us (and occasional help from the refrigerator dispenser), we now go through about five gallons a week. Ever since getting these bottles, that number has become very consistent—which strongly suggests we were under-hydrating before.

So today, I’m doing things differently. No catch-up drinking. No late-night flooding. Just steady, boring, responsible hydration—one hour mark at a time.If all goes well, my reward will be the most luxurious thing of all:
an uninterrupted night’s sleep.

Back

Posted on

Choose Your Own Debugging Adventure

Day 17 of 100 Days Coding Challenge: Python

When I was a kid, I got hooked on those old-school text-based games—the ones where you’d type “go north” and end up in a cave with a troll and no map. Pure magic. Eventually, I leveled up to MUD games (multi-user dungeons, for those blessed with youth), which were basically fantasy novels with attitude. Today, I’m not diving headfirst into building a full-blown MUD, but I am reliving those glory days by coding up a little interactive adventure. Because sometimes, the best way to feel powerful is to fight imaginary dragons in your terminal.

Today’s Motivation / Challenge

Today’s project is a nod to nostalgia—and to logic. A text-based adventure game might seem like retro fun, but it’s also a perfect beginner’s playground. It lets you practice the fundamentals of coding in a way that doesn’t feel like homework. Plus, if you’ve ever wanted to boss around a computer with “take sword” or “open door,” this is your moment.

Purpose of the Code (Object)

This program is a simple adventure game where the player makes choices and the story branches based on those decisions. Think of it as a choose-your-own-adventure book, but the computer is the narrator and slightly sassier. It lets you explore, pick up items, and either escape gloriously or fail hilariously.

AI Prompt:

Write a Python text-based adventure game with an inventory system, random events, and health tracking. Keep the story short, funny, and beginner-friendly.

Functions & Features

  • Player can choose paths (left or right) with different story outcomes
  • Inventory system to collect key items like swords or gems
  • Random events (find food, get injured, discover treasure)
  • Basic health tracking for survival stakes
  • A few different endings, some happy, some… less so

Requirements / Setup

You need at least Python 3 to run this program. You do not need any extra libraries for this!

Minimal Code Sample

python

CopyEdit

inventory = []

health = 100

def random_event():

    import random

    outcome = random.choice([“nothing”, “injury”, “found_food”])

    if outcome == “injury”:

        print(“You got hurt! Be careful out there.”)

This function shows how the game randomly triggers events that change what happens next.

Adventure Game

Notes / Lessons Learned

I think this kind of game is secretly a coding bootcamp wearing a fun costume. You get to mess with if, elif, and else without feeling like you’re grinding through math problems. It’s also a nice reminder that logic can be creative. Now, someone like my husband would power through this game in ten minutes flat and ask, “Where’s the final boss?” So next time, I might go full nostalgia and build one of those endless-choice games I used to lose hours in: more dragons, more traps, more ridiculous death scenes.

Optional Ideas for Expansion

  • Add a save/load system so players can return to their adventure
  • Introduce simple combat mechanics with attack and defense options
  • Create a branching map system that tracks where the player’s been

Day 16
Day 18

Posted on

Scraping Smiles: When Quotes and Jokes Collide

Day 16 of 100 Days Coding Challenge: Python

Back in the day, I used to hunt for quotes like a digital philosopher—scrolling through pages of wisdom, looking for that one line to slap on a journal page or a sticky note. Some days were tough, and nothing hits quite like a well-timed dad joke to lift the spirits. At one point, I even had one of those “joke-a-day” calendars perched on my desk like a tiny comedian in paper form. So today, I figured, why not build my own quote-and-joke fetching machine? Just a little web scraping magic to keep inspiration (and groans) flowing.

Today’s Motivation / Challenge

Today’s project is all about turning the internet into your personal mood board—one quote and one groan-worthy joke at a time. The goal? Learn the basics of web scraping without frying your brain. You’ll send a polite request to a webpage, receive a heap of HTML in return, and pick out the good stuff—like a claw machine that actually works. It’s a small but mighty step into real-world automation.

Purpose of the Code (Object)

This script scrapes quotes from a publicly available website and fetches a dad joke from an API. It prints both to your terminal for an instant dose of motivation and humor. There’s no fancy GUI or app—just simple code that works behind the scenes like a cheerful assistant with a dry sense of humor.

AI Prompt: Make it cleaner

Create a Python script that scrapes quotes from http://quotes.toscrape.com and fetches a random dad joke from https://icanhazdadjoke.com. Display both in the terminal using clean formatting.

Functions & Features

  • Scrapes inspirational quotes and author names from a static website
  • Pulls a random dad joke from an online API
  • Prints both quote and joke to the terminal in a readable format

Requirements / Setup

pip install requests

pip install beautifulsoup4

Python 3.6+ recommended.

Minimal Code Sample

import requests

from bs4 import BeautifulSoup

# Get quote

soup = BeautifulSoup(requests.get(“http://quotes.toscrape.com”).text, “html.parser”)

quote = soup.find(“span”, class_=”text”).get_text()

author = soup.find(“small”, class_=”author”).get_text()

# Get dad joke

joke = requests.get(“https://icanhazdadjoke.com/”, headers={“Accept”: “text/plain”}).text.strip()

print(f”{quote} — {author}”)

print(f”Joke of the Day: {joke}”)

This snippet shows the basic scraping and fetching process in just a few lines.

Dad Joke Fetcher

Notes / Lessons Learned

The program itself was refreshingly simple—point, click, extract. However, once the quote and joke came flying out of the terminal like a stand-up act with no stage, I realized something: terminal text isn’t exactly audience-friendly. It’s like watching Shakespeare on a Post-it note. Formatting matters. Also, working with APIs felt smoother than HTML scraping—less messy, like ordering takeout instead of cooking with whatever’s left in the fridge.

Optional Ideas for Expansion

  • Save daily quotes and jokes to a .txt or .csv file to build your own “Laughspiration” archive
  • Schedule the script to run automatically each morning (with cron or Task Scheduler)
  • Add categories for quotes (e.g., motivational, funny, philosophical) and let users choose

Day 15
Day 17

Posted on

When One Missed Task Knocks Over the Whole Day

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

Today, I learned—once again—that my schedule is only as intense as its weakest forgotten task.

The first crack appeared when I realized I hadn’t prepared the kombucha bottles on Wednesday. Typically, I fill them with sanitizing solution so they’re ready to rinse on Thursday and usable by Friday. This time? Completely skipped. That meant starting the process today and planning to rinse them after we returned from my sister’s house. Already, the day was improvising without my consent.

Next came the laundry problem. I had also forgotten how being away would collide with my laundry schedule—specifically, sheet-changing day. We do have a second set of sheets, but the matching pillowcases disappeared during one of our last two moves and have never been seen again. That meant the current ones had to be washed, dried, and put back on the bed all in the same day.

No pressure.

After my shower, I started the laundry, timing it carefully in my head and hoping it would finish washing just in time to move everything into the dryer before we left. This was optimistic math.

One thing occupational therapy taught me after my brain injury was how essential time management systems are. Trauma made me more forgetful and shortened my attention span. I can easily lose track of what I’m doing—or what I was about to do.

So, through trial and error, I built a system. I remember one anchor task in the morning and linking everything else to it in a chain. Wake up → medication → breakfast → next task → next task. It works beautifully… until it doesn’t.

Holidays are natural enemies of systems.

I love Thanksgiving. Truly. But it rearranges routines just enough to break everything quietly. I suddenly realized I’d missed a few steps earlier in the week, and now I was paying for it in delayed laundry and bottle logistics.

We had already told my sister we’d be on a specific schedule. The plan was to complete everything before leaving. Reality disagreed. The washing machine still needed ten more minutes when it was time to go, meaning the dryer would have to wait until we returned.

At that point, I could feel the pressure building. Too many tasks were being deferred to “later,” and I knew that meant a busier, more chaotic evening. Still, there wasn’t much choice. The schedule had already gone off the rails—I was just managing the damage now.

Some days, the system wins.
Some days, the holiday wins. Today was clearly the latter—but at least I know why.

Back

Posted on

Python Regex Tester, Refined and Ready for Work

Day 15 of 100 Days Coding Challenge: Python

Regex: the ancient incantation whispered into the void to extract meaning from chaos—or at least, that’s how it feels when you’re debugging it. At work, I’ve been diving into Power Automate, and with a little AI sidekick magic, I managed to whip up a subroutine. Here’s the catch: management is monitoring AI usage as if it were a high-budget Netflix subscription. So if I want to justify it, I have to show results—preferably in PDF form or extracted text using OCR. That’s where regex comes in, acting like a digital highlighter that says, “Hey, this is the bit I want.”
Sure, there are online regex testers, but handing my data to a mystery site on the internet? Not ideal. So, why not just build my own? And voilà—Regex Tester was born, with all the drama of pattern matching and none of the corporate paranoia.

Today’s Motivation / Challenge

Today’s goal was all about building something practical and safe. When you’re automating document workflows at work—especially with sensitive PDFs or scanned images—you want something you can trust. This project enables me to test patterns locally without sharing data, providing me with full control and peace of mind. Additionally, it’s oddly satisfying to watch regex do its detective work in real-time.

Purpose of the Code (Object)

This simple GUI-based tool lets you test regular expressions against any input text. You type in a pattern, paste some text, and instantly see what matches—along with where they appear. It’s a private sandbox for your regex experiments, with none of the “Oops, I just uploaded company secrets to a sketchy website” anxiety.

AI Prompt:

Write a Python program using Tkinter that creates a GUI for testing regular expressions. The user should be able to input a regex pattern and a test string. When a button is pressed, the program should display all matching strings and their positions. Display errors if the pattern is invalid. Keep the interface clean, responsive, and beginner-friendly.

Functions & Features

  • Input fields for both regex pattern and test string
  • “Test Regex” button to trigger evaluation
  • Results window showing matches and positions
  • Error handling for invalid patterns
  • All offline—no data ever leaves your machine

Requirements / Setup

bash

CopyEdit

Python 3.x (Tkinter is included in standard library)

No need to install anything—just run the .py file.

Minimal Code Sample

import re

compiled = re.compile(pattern)

matches = compiled.finditer(test_string)

This finds all the places your pattern matches the test string—like a digital bloodhound sniffing out structure.

Regex Texter GUI

Notes / Lessons Learned

I tested it with some of the Frankenstein-like regex I use at work—and it worked like a charm. Finally, no more awkward toggling between browsers and paranoia over leaking sensitive data. And best of all? It feels good to have built something so useful with my own keyboard and caffeine. Regex might still be cryptic sorcery, but now at least it’s my sorcery.

Optional Ideas for Expansion

  • Add a checkbox for case-insensitive search
  • Highlight matches directly in the test text field
  • Save and reload common patterns from a local file

Day 14
Day 16

Posted on

Scan, Save, Share: QR Codes to the Rescue

Day 14 of 100 Days Coding Challenge: Python

I honestly can’t pinpoint when QR codes became part of our daily visual diet. One day, strange hieroglyphics appeared on a poster, and the next, they were everywhere—from ketchup bottles to gravestones.

I’ve been eyeing them for blog promotion—imagine pointing your phone at a code and instantly landing on a beautifully written post (like this one, for example). It’s a hands-free way to impress your friends and confuse your cat. I even considered slapping a QR code on my GitHub repository just for fun. Why type a URL when you can just scan your way into the internet like a wizard?

Today’s Motivation / Challenge

Today’s project taps into one of the most useful real-world tools you can build with Python: a QR code generator. It’s simple, sleek, and satisfying. If you’ve ever wanted to look like a tech-savvy genius without having to build a rocket, this is your moment. Whether you’re promoting your portfolio, sharing your Wi-Fi, or sending someone directly to your meme collection—QR codes make it smooth and snappy.

Purpose of the Code (Object)

This code takes any text—like a URL, message, or even an email—and turns it into a QR code image that anyone can scan. It simplifies how people access your content, and saves you from typing out long, typo-prone links. Think of it as a shortcut to being impressive.

AI Prompt: Please write a code for “QR code generator” in Python. #provide me, description, #main function, #Repositely name. Make it a GUI Version.

Functions & Features

  • Takes user input and generates a QR code
  • Saves the code as a PNG file
  • Let the user choose where to save the file via GUI
  • Shows a preview of the generated QR code

Requirements / Setup

Make sure you have Python 3.x and install these packages:

css

CopyEdit

pip install qrcode[pil] Pillow

Minimal Code Sample

qr = qrcode.make(“https://example.com”)

qr.save(“example.png”)

GR Generator

Creates a QR code for the link and saves it as an image file.

Notes / Lessons Learned

The first version of this code worked fine—until I forgot to add “.png” to the filename. The result? A mysterious, extension-less file that no image viewer wanted to be friends with.

Then came the GUI upgrade, which was a game changer. Not only could I see the QR code before saving it, but I could also choose exactly where to drop the file—no more hunting around my project folder like a digital bloodhound. It made the process smoother, less error-prone, and oddly satisfying. I didn’t expect a humble little square to make me feel so accomplished.

Optional Ideas for Expansion

  • Add a field to customize QR code color (neon green, anyone?)
  • Embed a logo in the center of the QR code for branding
  • Create a batch mode to generate QR codes from a list of links in a CSV file
Day 13
Day 15

Posted on

A Day of Labs, and Strategically Skipping a Run Without Guilt

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

After checking the weather forecast yesterday and mentally mapping out today’s schedule, I reached a firm conclusion: squeezing in a run would be heroically unpleasant. I have a blood draw scheduled for 1:30 p.m., which makes a midday run less “healthy habit” and more “logistical nightmare.”

My wife kindly took the day off to drive me to the lab. My nephrologist recently changed lab locations, and what used to be a walkable errand is now a 39-minute drive. Progress, apparently, comes with mileage.

Since she already had the day off, my wife suggested stopping by a secondhand bookstore on the way home. We haven’t been in nearly a year, but we like wandering through shelves where books cost less and come with mysterious past lives. Used books don’t bother either of us—stories age well.

The drive itself was pleasant. Being driven to a lab is significantly nicer than walking there, especially when the destination includes an underground parking garage shared by two identical buildings. Naturally, we took the wrong elevator and ended up in the wrong building.

Everything looked… medical. That was the problem. After a moment of quiet confusion and mutual suspicion, I realized we were definitely not where we were supposed to be. Medical offices are impressively interchangeable. We regrouped, descended, ascended again, and eventually found the correct lab.

Afterward, we rewarded ourselves with a visit to the bookstore. My wife browsed happily and found Lolita, which she’s wanted to read but avoided because of its eye-watering Amazon price. The secondhand copy solved that problem instantly. She didn’t care that it wasn’t new—victory is victory.

Once we returned home, reality resumed. Supper needed cooking. Pies need to be baked for tomorrow’s feast. And just like that, the run officially exited today’s agenda.

Lessons Learned

I usually try to schedule appointments on non-running days to avoid this exact situation, but the lab’s availability didn’t cooperate this time. So it goes.

Being out for several hours tightened the rest of the day’s schedule—for both of us. Even on her day off, my wife had to reshuffle everything to fit the lab visit. Efficiency never truly clocks out.

At least I’ve already completed my running goals for the year, so I feel no pressure to “make up” today’s missed run. If anything, the extra rest might help me recover fully and push harder on Friday.

Sometimes progress looks like running.

Sometimes it looks like skipping a run—with intention, books, and pie preparation waiting at home.

Back
Next

Posted on

Python File Renamer: Turning Folder Chaos into Digital Zen

Day 13 of 100 Days Coding Challenge: Python

Have you ever dumped a bunch of photos from your phone or camera onto your computer, only to be greeted by a wall of files named IMG_2034 or DSC_0198? That was me last week. We’d just come back from visiting my dad in Indiana, and I spent hours renaming photos just so I’d know what was what later. By hour three, I started questioning my life choices.

Today’s app was born out of that chaos. It’s for anyone who’s ever opened their Downloads folder and felt genuine fear. You know the scene—screenshot(385).png, resume_final_final_really_FINAL.docx, and misc.zip (which, let’s be honest, contains nothing but regret).

Eventually, I snapped. I built a File Renamer. Because at some point, every coder realizes the real enemy isn’t broken code—it’s bad file names. My little app brought order to the madness, one underscore at a time. Justice was served. Silently.

Today’s Motivation / Challenge

File naming seems trivial—until it isn’t. Whether it’s organizing screenshots, exported reports, or the fifth version of your side project’s logo, we’ve all played the “rename, regret, repeat” game. This challenge gave me a chance to bring order to chaos, while flexing my Python skills in a way that solves a real, everyday annoyance. Plus, there’s something oddly satisfying about watching a folder transform from digital dumpster to methodical masterpiece.

Purpose of the Code (Object)

This Python app batch-renames files in a folder using a pattern you choose—like photo_1.jpg, photo_2.jpg, and so on. It lets you preview changes, filter by file type, and confirm before anything happens. The final version even adds an undo option and keeps a time-stamped log of renamed files.

AI Prompt:

“Please create a Python code File renamer.”

“Can you add the following function to the GUI version? #Add an undo feature #Add a log file to save old/new names.”

Functions & Features

  • Select a folder with a file dialog (no more mistyped paths)
  • Set custom prefix and starting number
  • Filter files by extension (e.g., .txt, .jpg)
  • Preview all renaming before it happens
  • Automatically log all rename operations with a timestamp
  • Undo your most recent renaming session

Requirements / Setup

  • Python 3.6+
  • No extra libraries needed (just tkinter, which comes with Python)

Minimal Code Sample

for i, file in enumerate(files, start=start_number):

    ext = os.path.splitext(file)[1]

    new_name = f”{prefix}{i}{ext}”

    os.rename(os.path.join(folder_path, file), os.path.join(folder_path, new_name))

This is where the magic happens: renaming each file while keeping its original extension.

File Renamer GUI

Notes / Lessons Learned

So all your files become lovely, logical things like file_1.txt, file_2.txt, and file_3.txt. It was beautiful. It was organized. It was… terrifyingly powerful. That’s when I remembered something crucial: I never get folder paths right. Backslashes, forward slashes, hidden Unicode weirdness—my fingers always betray me.

So I thought, “Let’s make this a GUI.” Because honestly, why should I suffer when I can just click a folder like a functioning adult?

New version, new vibe. It had buttons. It had folder selection dialogs. It even had a preview feature, like the app was politely saying, “Here’s what you’re about to do. You sure about this?” If there were no files to rename, it didn’t throw a tantrum—it simply shrugged and bowed out.

And just when I thought it was “done,” I asked myself:

What if I mess this up?

Enter: undo button and activity log.

Because if we’re going full Renamer Pro Mode™, I want receipts. I added:

  • A complete log of what each file used to be called
  • A timestamp of when the operation occurred
  • An undo feature, because I’m not about to manually rename everything back like it’s 2003

Once I tested everything (successfully, I might add—zero casualties), I realized something strange and wonderful:
This tiny project gave me an idea for improving a workflow at my day job. Turns out, renaming a bunch of files can actually inspire how to batch-handle documents in Power Automate. Who knew?

Oh, and one last grown-up move: I finally added a license to the project.

Here’s what I learned:

A License Type

  • MIT: Super chill. Basically says, “Take it, use it, remix it—just don’t sue me.”
  • GPL: More of a Robin Hood. If you improve it, you share it.
  • Apache 2.0: Like MIT but with a legal helmet.
  • No License: Says, “I’m not ready for commitment.” Basically off-limits.

I went to MIT because this little renamer deserves to be free.

Optional Ideas for Expansion

  • Add a “dry run” mode to simulate renaming without touching files
  • Add support for multiple undo steps (not just one session)
  • Export the log as a CSV file for spreadsheet nerds (no judgment)

Day 12
Day 14

Posted on

Soup Season, Anniversary Planning, and the Great Headset Experiment

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

Today felt properly cold—the kind of cold that makes you question every life choice involving going outside. Thankfully, we had already scheduled soup for dinner, which felt like winning the weather lottery.

Normally, I’m not a big soup person. It’s fine, it’s food, it’s warm—but I don’t dream about it. That said, once the temperature drops, soup and I get along much better. And this particular soup has quietly been promoted to “winter favorite” status in our house.

Aside from making soup, today turned into a planning day. First, there’s Friday: my wife and I are celebrating our wedding anniversary by going to a new restaurant. This is a departure from our usual routine, which means my inner scheduler immediately asked, “Okay, but when are we running?” I have to adjust my plan for today.

Time Management

After checking the restaurant’s opening time and backtracking our ideal departure, I calculated that I’ll need to start my run by 9:00 a.m. to be cleaned up and ready to leave on time. To make sure this is realistic and not fantasy math, I’m going to test it tomorrow: start the run at 9, then see what time I’d theoretically be ready to go out.

Headset Charging Logistics

The second problem looming over my otherwise simple life: headset charging logistics.

My previous headset battery died a tragic early death, likely because I had been charging it overnight like a phone. With the new one, I’ve switched to a healthier habit—charging it at my desk while I eat breakfast. So far, this has worked beautifully, and the battery seems to be aging more gracefully than the last one.

But there’s a catch.

Once spring comes, I’ll shift my runs back to before breakfast. That means my “charge while eating” system may no longer guarantee enough power to get me through a full run—or a mowing session. Future-me would be very annoyed to discover a dying headset at kilometer three.

So, I need a new plan.

Right now, I’m leaning toward setting an 8:00 p.m. reminder on my phone to plug in the headset. That gives it about an hour to reach a full charge before I get ready for bed around 9. Later this week, I’ll run a little experiment: fully charge it by 9 p.m., then see if that charge comfortably lasts the 12 hours until I’m done with my morning run or yard work.

It’s a small thing, but having these pieces in place—soup simmering, anniversary plans mapped out, and a charging schedule for my headset—makes the week feel a little more under control.

Cold days are easier to face when the soup is hot, and the logistics are quietly cooperating.

Back
Next

Posted on

Type Like No One’s Watching (But Save That High Score)

Day 12 of 100 Days Coding Challenge : Python

Long before I was writing Python, I was tapping away on a keyboard—but not as a programmer. Nope. I was just a kid in the ’70s with a front-row seat to the future.

My school had not one, but two full rooms of NEC computers (shout-out to NEC, Japan’s pride in beige technology). We even had an official typing class, which sounded very cool… until it started.

See, I thought I’d crush it. I played the piano from a young age, and I was confident—too confident. I figured typing would be the same thing: fingers flying, rhythm flowing, applause optional. Spoiler: it wasn’t.

Turns out, typing is hard when you don’t know where any of the keys are, and your muscle memory insists “A” should make a musical note.

Still, the basic typing program we used worked its magic, and I slowly learned my way around the keyboard. Though to this day, alphanumeric typing still trips me up (looking at you, @ and &).

But hey—nostalgia + Python = today’s challenge:

Today’s Motivation / Challenge

I wanted to recreate the magic of those old typing tutor programs—not because I needed one, but because I was curious if I could build one myself. It was part nostalgia, part challenge, and entirely satisfying to see it work. For any beginner, it’s a great way to practice coding while revisiting a skill we’ve all struggled with at some point: typing fast without panicking.

Purpose of the Code (Object)

This program is a simple typing speed test that measures how fast you can type a sentence. It starts timing when you begin typing and stops when you hit Enter. Then, it tells you how many words you typed per minute. It’s a fun way to practice your typing skills—like those old-school typing tutor programs, but one you built yourself!

AI Prompt: 

Please give me the Python code for the #Typing speed test. After the speed test, it gives you the typing speed per minute. The speed test has started button. #save the last highest score #restart button. Create in GUI.

In the code, I did not want to do it in the Python code environment; rather, I want to do it in a GUI environment. But with a GUI, I need a “Start Button”. 

Functions & Features

List the program’s main capabilities using bullet points. Keep each point brief. Focus only on the essential, core functions.

Example:

  • Calculates typing speed in words per minute
  • Starts the timer when you begin typing
  • Saves high score locally for future runs

Requirements / Setup

State any software, Python version, or libraries needed. Keep it clean and minimal.

pip install requests

Minimal Code Sample

First, we start the clock with start_time = time.time(). Think of it like shouting “Go!” at yourself before a typing race—only the stopwatch is a Python function that quietly counts milliseconds since 1970. Then comes the heart of the drama: typed_text = input(“Start typing: “). This line patiently waits while you furiously hammer out your response, possibly misspelling every third word in your panic to go fast.

Once you hit Enter, we slam the brakes with end_time = time.time(), capturing exactly how long your typing sprint lasted. And now for the moment of truth: Python does the math with print(“WPM:”, len(typed_text.split()) / ((end_time – start_time) / 60)). This gem splits your sentence into words, counts them, and divides by how many minutes you spent typing—voilà, words per minute (WPM)! It’s like a speedometer for your fingers.

And just in case the future, you forget what this code does, there’s a kind little comment: # Calculates words per minute from start to finish. Consider it the sticky note you didn’t know you’d need.

Typing Speed Test

Notes / Lessons Learned

In the code, I did not want to do it in the Python code environment; rather, I want to do it in a GUI environment. But with a GUI, I need a “Start Button”. It helps me to control when I actually started typing. 

Optional Ideas for Expansion

  • Add sound effects when the test begins and ends
  • Track accuracy by comparing typed text to the original
  • Display a leaderboard with names and scores

Day 11
Day 13