OCR Coding Challenges - Solutions

As a background task, I've started work on possible solutions to the OCR Coding Challenges. Remember that my solution is just one of a number of possible solutions, and I don't claim that it's necessarily the best one. If you want a Python reference or would like to recap any programming techniques, I have also added a Python course to the Computing and ICT in a Nutshell YouTube channel.

Note that, although I have been programming for almost 40 years, I don't claim to be an expert in Python, or even believe that Python is the best language to use in school. For that reason, I have avoided using any techniques, such as list comprehension, that are particularly Pythonic.

No.	Link
1	Factorial Finder - Iteration Factorial Finder - Recursion
2	Speed Tracker
3	Thief!
4	Classification
5	Fruit Machine
7	Credit Card Validator
8	Arithmetic Test*
9	Happy Numbers
10	Number Names
13	Caesar Cipher
15	Pangrams - ASCII version Pangrams - Dictionary version
16	Kaprekar
17	Number Table
18	Years in Range
19	Logic Gate
20	Palindrome - String Slicing Palindrome - Recursion
23	Fibbing
33	Mor-se Coding
34	What's the day?
36	Triangulate
37	Fizz Buzz
38	Sing Along
41	Prime Factorisation
67	What have the Romans ever done for us?
71	Goldbach

* Some of the tasks are more open-ended and I have included similar examples from other sources, such as previous coursework tasks.

You'll notice that I tend to use lists or tuples in my code to avoid the need for multiple IFs, and also demonstrate how it can be used to improve a common Magic 8 Ball program here. You can also make use of True and False to avoid the need for a lot of IFs in your code. Finally, there is a video on recursion, in which I explain how the factorial, palindrome and prime factorisation programs work.

If you prefer to use a local IDE, you can download these programs. You can also download further programming examples in BASIC, JavaScript and Python.