How can I submit an exercise authored by me to be included in the Python track?
Thank you for your interest.
The Python track is not currently accepting exercise contributions from new contributors. We just don’t have the bandwidth at the moment. But if you are interested in discussing a new potential practice exercise that might be included in problem specifications, the cross-track exercise repository, you can do that here.
I’d start with what your exercise proposal is, and what test data might look like. If it looks good and is accepted, it would be available for different tracks to then sync/include.
Hi @BethanyG
the exercise is simple. Mary wants to get fit, but she is not good in programming, she asks you a script to remind her how long she has been able to avoid sweets. Her goal is to avoid sweets for 4 months. The script is automatically updated everyday.
In Python, my solution would be like that, but it could be improved:
import datetime
d0 = datetime.date(2024, 2, 6)
now = datetime.date.today()
total = now - d0
print(f"Time without sweets: {total}! Go ahead!")
Apart from Bethany’s comments, it would be best if you also thought about the direction of the exercise. Why does it exist? What should people learn from doing it, that other exercises are not yet covering?
For example, adding and subtracting datetime objects is also done in gigaseconds. And meetup is also playing with calendars.
If you have that scaffolding you should put it in a frame so that experienced programmers would need about 5 to 10 minutes to solve it. The tests should be structured in a way that they fit a unit-test approach. Some edge cases can be inserted, even error checking, but you do not have to cover every nook and cranny.
Then you can think about a nice story. Try to make the story inclusive for all the people on Exercism. you can go all out. Take names, festivities, and places from all over the world and beyond. It is a lot of fun to come up with cool ideas to sell a programming exercise.
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