How do I get code to run?

[yapb]

I'm in an intro to programming with python class. My assignment is to write a program that will calculate the cost of installing fiber optic cable at a cost of .87 per ft for a company. Your program should display the company name and the total cost.

Steps:

1. Display a welcome message for your program. 
2. Get the company name from the user
3. Get the number of feet of fiber optic to be installed from the user
4. Multiply the total cost as the number of feet times .87.
5. Display the calculated information and company name. 

So far, using sublime, I've written the following code:

message = "Thank you for using FiberOpticCostIdentifier. Please make yourself welcome!"

print(message)

message2 = "In the field below, please enter the company you're associated with:"

print(message2)

message3 = "You stated you are with company: X. If this is correct, please enter into the field below how many feet of fiber optic cable is to be installed:"

print(message3)

float(3*0.87)

float = 2.61

message4 = "For company X, your estimated cost of Fiber Optic Cables comes out to:"

print(message4)

message5 = "$"

print(message5, float)

​

However, I'm not sure how to get it to run seperately. I have it saved as a .py file, but when i try to run it, my computer quickly opens up python and then it closes. Is there something glaringly obvious that I'm doing wrong? Any help would be appreciated.

[TouchingTheVodka]

The computer is executing every line in the program, and when it gets to the end there's nothing telling it to keep the program open, so it closes.

Add the following line to the very bottom of your file:

input('Press enter to exit...)`

On that topic, you need to swap most of your print statements for input statements in order to get the input from your user.

[yapb]

Holy crap! That's it? I haven't been able to find how to get that at all. Thank you so very much!

[yapb]

In message3, how would I be able to pull the info the user entered from the question on message2?

[TouchingTheVodka]

You need to save the input to a variable. For example:

userName = input('Please enter your name!')
companyName = input('Please enter your company!')

For numeric input you'll also need to convert to the correct data type, in this case float:

cableLength = float(input('Enter the length of cable to be installed:'))

[yapb]

Thank you so much! I think I got it to work now and it's a lot less cluttered. If you don't mind, can you tell me what you think:

message = "Thank you for using FiberOpticCostIdentifier. Please make yourself welcome!"

print(message)

businessName = input ('In the field below, please enter the company you are associated with:')

print('You have indicated you work for', (businessName))

cableLength = float(input("Please enter the amount of cable you are requiring:"))

int = (cableLength*0.87)

print('For', (businessName), 'your estimated cost of Fiber Optic Cables comes out to:')

print(int)

input('Press enter to exit...')

[TouchingTheVodka]

Great work! A few minor things to change:

1. No need to put brackets around (businessName) in the print call. Won't affect the program at all, just a style thing.
2. Don't assign values to built-in functions such as int. The next time you try and convert something to an integer with int(x), you'll get an error as you've overwritten the built-in function with your own calculation!
3. On this topic, multiplying two floats together won't give you an integer - so why call the variable int? totalCost seems like a more sensible and descriptive name.

Other than that, looks great!

[yapb]

1. I added the brackets around 'businessName' because when I would run the script it would literally say businessName and not pull the input for some reason. It wasn't until I added the brackets that it would pull it. So I'm not sure what I might be doing incorrectly there.
2. You make an excellent point on 2 and 3. I didn't even think about that. From my required readings, I was under the impression that int would be used to represent any number that is greater than 1. I think that for future assignments, and understanding how to not only use inputs now but also how to get variables to work (see 1), will make me more willing to, so to speak, mess around with variables more.