String Art

A Python library to explore string art.

Install

pip install stringart

Requires Python 3.9 or later.

Quick Start

from stringart import *

make_circle(18)

for i in range(18):
    connect(i, i+6)

show()

show() displays the art in a Jupyter notebook. In a plain Python script, use save("art.svg") to save it as an svg file instead.

Functions

Point numbers wrap around the circle. With 18 points, connect(17, 20) is the same as connect(17, 2). That is why connect(i, i+6) works for every i in the loop above.

Examples

pentagon.py	pentagonal-star.py	radials.py

See the examples directory for the programs. To regenerate the svg files after changing them, run make in that directory.

Why

StringArt was born out of a desire to teach programming to beginners in a fun, interactive way.

Every program draws a picture, so students see right away what their code does, and a mistake looks wrong instead of just printing a wrong number.

The API has just four functions, but the possible complexity is far from small. Connecting each point by hand quickly becomes tedious, and the need for a loop comes naturally. When the same pattern shows up again and again, the need for a function follows. Ideas like generalization and abstraction, which are hard to convey, emerge on their own in this medium.

Development

uv sync
make -C examples
uv build

License

MIT. See LICENSE.