Gain insights into using Python for mechanical and aerospace engineering. Learn about basics, graphing techniques, airfoil plotting, and dynamic pressure and orbital modeling in 2D and 3D.

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In this course, you will learn about the Python programming language in the context of mechanical and aerospace engineering. 

You will start with the basics of Python, like variables, collections, and different types of loops. Once you have the basics out of the way, the real fun begins. You will learn how to: graph thrust available and thrust required, graph dynamic pressure during a rocket launch, and how to plot airfoil coordinates. 

Towards the end, you will get a strong overview of orbital parameters and learn how to model both 2D and 3D static orbits. Once you’ve completed this course, you will have a better understanding of Python and how it works in the context of mechanical/aerospace engineering.

Python for Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

# Understanding the issues
You wanted to graph an airfoil, not a giant greater-than sign. Let’s catalog all of the issues:

1) The points are not graphed correctly; the points should look like an airfoil
2) The x-axis and y-axis are flipped, and the numbers are on top of each other
3) The airfoil name did not display
4) The background should be white

`Matplotlib` is supposed to automatically graph (left to right) from negative x to positive x and (down to up) negative y to positive y. Basically, `Matplotlib` is supposed to graph like a normal graph automatically. Fortunately, addressing issue 1 will also address issue 2. We can address issues 3 and 4 as well.

# Fixing the issues

Since we are pulling the airfoil coordinates from a website and getting the coordinates as `strs`, you might be having an issue where `Matplotlib` is trying to graph the `str` of the coordinates, not the coordinates as actual numbers. You can solve this issue by casting each x and y value as `float(x.strip())` and `float(y.strip())` instead of just writing `x.strip()` and `y.strip()`. It is also common to run into issues when splitting a text file at the beginning and/or end of the file. In your case, you clearly have at least one issue at the end: you definitely assigned `plot_title` to the first line of the file, but it is displayed on the graph as an empty `str`. There are at least three ways to solve the problem: 

1) Add an additional `if` statement to verify that line contains more than an empty `str` (Remember how an empty `str` is inherently `False` in Python?)
2) Add a `found_title` boolean and add an `elif` statement to check if `found_title` is `True`
3) Use `enumerate()` to assign the plot title if the index is 0 (the first line we read) and use a try-except clause to catch the `ValueError` if the split tries to happen. 

All three options are shown below:



Getting Comfortable with Python

FizzBuzz

Graphing Thrust Available and Thrust Required

Graphing Dynamic Pressure During a Rocket Launch

Getting and Plotting Airfoil Coordinates

Modeling a 2-Body Orbit in 2D and 3D

Unit Conversions

Introduction to Web Scraping

Modeling Camera Shutter Effect

Writing Reports with Pweave

The End

Troubleshooting Your Program

Understanding the issues