For This Assignment, You Need To Create A Vending Machine

For This Assignment You Need To Create A Vending Machine

For this assignment, you need to create a program that simulates a vending machine. The program should display at least five items, each with varying prices. Users should be able to purchase more than one of any item during a transaction, with the system keeping a running total of their purchases. The user must be able to enter the amount of money they are providing, and the program should calculate and display the change. Additionally, the program must include exception handling to manage invalid inputs or errors. You should organize your code into multiple files and functions as required, and it is recommended to create a flowchart of the program's logic before implementation.

Paper For Above instruction

The development of a vending machine simulation encompasses several core programming principles, including user interaction handling, data management, and error handling. The goal of this project is to design a program that allows users to purchase items from a virtual vending machine, with the capacity to handle multiple transactions and provide appropriate change, all while maintaining a user-friendly interface and robust functionality.

Designing the Vending Machine Program

The first step involves planning the program's structure through flowchart creation. A flowchart provides a visual map of the program's logic, illustrating the sequence of actions, decision points, and data flow. It is crucial to plan the flow of user inputs, inventory display, purchase processing, and error handling before beginning coding. This pre-planning ensures a smoother development process and helps identify potential issues early on.

Implementation of Core Features

Once the plan is ready, the core features can be implemented. The program must list at least five items, each with distinct prices. This can be stored as a list or dictionary in the code, with item names and prices. The display function presents available items with their prices, inviting the user to select items for purchase. The user should be able to select multiple items, with each selection updating the total purchase amount dynamically.

Handling multiple purchases involves iterating over user inputs in a loop, allowing the user to continue purchasing until they decide to finalize their transaction. The program maintains a running total, which accumulates the cost of each selected item.

Payment Handling and Change Calculation

After the shopping selection, the program prompts the user to input the amount of money they are providing. The program then calculates the change by subtracting the total purchase amount from the payment received. It is essential to verify that the user’s input is valid numeric data; this requires exception handling to manage invalid inputs gracefully. If the user provides less money than the total amount, the program should prompt for additional funds or terminate the transaction appropriately.

Exception Handling and Data Validation

Robust exception handling is critical to prevent the program from crashing due to invalid inputs such as non-numeric entries or negative numbers. The code should include try-except blocks (or equivalent error handling mechanisms depending on the programming language) to catch and manage exceptions. Clear messages should guide the user to provide valid inputs, improving user experience and program reliability.

Code Organization and Modular Design

The program's code should be organized into multiple files and functions to promote readability, maintainability, and reusability. For instance, one file could contain functions for displaying items, processing purchases, and calculating change, while another handles user interaction. Functions such as display_items(), select_item(), calculate_total(), and process_payment() encapsulate specific functionalities and facilitate debugging and future modifications.

Conclusion

Creating a vending machine simulation requires careful planning, implementation of core features, attention to user interaction, and robust error handling. The preliminary step of designing a flowchart aids in visualizing the process and designing effective code structure. This project not only reinforces programming fundamentals but also enhances understanding of user interface design, data management, and exception handling in software development.

References

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