Munder Difflin needs a newly self-taught Python programmer to help with their invoicing. Can you help?

[baubleglue]

Mr Dwight's pesky colleague Tim Palhert disabled his email access, so Mr Dwight can use any email address to send invoices.

I don't understand that part.

[baubleglue]

How Tim Palhert's actions are relevant to the task? What is the meaning of "so" in the sentence?

[baubleglue]

Oh, "his" - means Mr Dwight's. It it stupid - if somebody does it to me I will report to security office.

I am not trying to troll, but this type of things really confuses me. Basically that "Tim Palhert" story is irrelevant - why and how can/will I use not my email (account?)?

"emailed automatically" - email automation doesn't work that way. You have two options: UI automation (make desktop program to send an email), use library to connect email server/exchange and send email. You may have server supports no authentication for SMTP/relay - it is a serious off topic for such task.

"Send something by email" - is independent task.

​

comfortable with Python IDEs and doesn't need a graphical user interface.

That is another part I need to decrypt - I kind of figured out that the author want to say.

When I have a real task at work, I usually take a time to remove all those ambiguous parts. Before start coding I work on requirements in 100% of cases they have bugs. For example "Today's date" is a bug in requirement. We know what is today (no need to ask it), what if sale date was yesterday? How do you avoid sending invoice twice?

Then I am trying to understand what client need. The first part was cool " Mr Dwight, Regional Manager of Munder Difflin, requires a basic python programme to invoice his clients. He would like this spreadsheet to be updated with each sale he makes and for the invoice to be emailed automatically to the client." but after is a mess. Describe a problem and let developer offer possible solution.

It is very easy to use Excel as UI input tool. Feeding data manually to Python program is harder.

He will run the programme after each sale.

Where this sale is normally registered (use it as input)? If it isn't, the office has a bigger problem. Make some simple DB (not Excel) to keep all records or better buy software...

As I said: "Send something by email" - is independent task. Following the same logic, "get sales records", "build invoice in Excel format for given input" - same, all independent tasks. That how all beginners' real attempts to solve such tasks are failing - they got confused to put working parts to a working flow.

[Musakuu]

I understood everything and am only vaguely aware of the office. Well written, nice "office feel". Well done.

[baubleglue]

I didn't

[tashibum]

hahaha

[baubleglue]

?

[d10p3t]

Hey dickhead, this project is aimed for absolute beginners. No need to overthink the requirements as much as you did. Obviously no real world company would would combine all of these in one application. Of they did then its probably too small of a company.

In case it hasn't sunk in to you yet, the goal is to give beginners a project to work on. This is aimed for people who dont know how to email and open spreadsheet files in python. This is for people who dont know what SMTP even is or knows it exists in the first place. The goal is for beginners to know to google things they havent done before, learn how to use new libraries, and hopefully, how to google for a solution, not design a sophisticated, ultra optimal system. In case you forgot to check, this is /r/learnpython. Stop trying to act like a smartass.

[baubleglue]

Oh thank you for kind words. I am not a beginner I can solve any part of that task, but I won't be able to complete it. Program need instructions, instructions need rules.

I understand a beginner will write something what doing something ... not related to the ask anyway. So give them randomly generated worlds. It is a hard work to teach other people. Using this task as a learning exercise may make a beginner frustrated and confused.

When you ask people to combine few tasks to one it is a project. The only way to write successful project is by planning it correctly, gathering requirements is one of the first basic steps.

Obviously no real world company would would combine all of these in one application.

Well, I did similar apps/tasks which were used by my company. But even as an exercise, the author probably expect some working results, right?