PyTutor

A Python tutor (Quiz app) to quickly review usage of Linux command line tools.

It supports AWK and Sed commands, with plans to add more soon.

The goal is to practice and maintain your skills. It does not teach AWK, Sed, or programming logic. It does cover the most essential features of both programs.

It uses spaced repetition learning to speed up learning. It uses the SM2 algorithm implemented with the SuperMemo2 python package.

• On the first attempt, you must answer all the questions in the module.
• You have 4 chances to answer the question before the correct answer is displayed.
• You can type help any time to see the correct answer and continue to the next question.
• Each question is assigned a date based on difficulty (Number of attempts to answer). On completion, you receive the next review date.
• Set a reminder on your calendar to run this program again and refresh your memory.

Questions answered on the first attempt appear less frequently. Questions that require help or multiple attempts get asked more often till the user begins to master them.

SETUP

PyTutor requires Python version >= 3.7 and works only on Linux. (Could work with WSL on Windows - not tested yet)

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/BennyThadikaran/PyTutor.git

Setup venv (Optional step)

python3 -m venv PyTutor
source bin/activate

Install dependencies

cd PyTutor`
pip3 install -r requirements.txt

Usage

cd src
python3 pytutor.py

PyTutor has a command line interface. You can use -h or --help to access help.

$ python3 pytutor.py -h
usage: pytutor.py [-h] [-m {awk,sed}] [-r {awk,sed}]

A Python tutor to recap usage of Linux command line tools.

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -m {awk,sed}, --module {awk,sed}
                        Load module by name.
  -r {awk,sed}, --reset {awk,sed}
                        Reset the Module to begin fresh.

To load a module directly, use the -m or --module option followed by the module name

python3 pytutor.py -m sed

To reset the review dates and start fresh, use -r or --reset followed by the module name.

python3 pytutor.py -r awk

Answering the questions

Type the answer as you would execute the program in the command line.

awk '{ print }' data/emp.data

If unsure of the answer, type help and hit enter to view the suggested solution. (There may be multiple ways to answer the same question.)

You can also write the awk program in a file and execute it in the script. PyTutor only compares the output of the program, not the actual command.

awk -f test.awk data/emp.data

How it works

The Q&A modules for AWK and Sed are JSON files in the src/qa folder.

src/data folder contains reference files used by the Q&A modules to answer the questions.

{
  "meta": {
    "referFile": "emp.data",
    "review_dt": "2022-10-06"
  },
  "questions": [
    {
      "easiness": null,
      "interval": null,
      "repetitions": null,
      "review_dt": null,
      "q": "Print every line",
      "a": "awk '{ print }' data/emp.data"
    }
  ]
}

questions are a list of Q&A dictionaries. Q&A dictionary has keys q for the question and a for the stored answer.

• The answer provided by the user and the stored answer are both executed in a command shell. If the output matches, the user has answered correctly.
• Every answer starts with 5 points for quality. With 1 point deducted for every wrong answer.
• You have 4 chances to answer the question before the correct answer is displayed.
• Using help will assign the lowest quality of 1.
• SuperMemo2 uses the quality points to assess the difficulty of the question and calculate the next review date for the question.

The earliest review date for all the questions gets saved to the JSON file under meta with key review_dt.

Learning Resources

Sed

• Sed Guide
• Sed Cheatsheet

AWK

• AWK Guide
• AWK Cheatsheet

IMPORTANT NOTE

The answers you submit and the answers in the JSON file are both directly executed on the command line.

For example, an answer like rm somefile.txt will delete that file on your system.

When answering questions or creating a Q&A module, keep this in mind.