COMP3311 23T1 Assignment 2
Python, PostgreSQL, psycopg2
Database Systems
Last updated: Wednesday 12th April 3:03pm
Most recent changes are shown in red … older changes are shown in brown.
[Assignment Spec] [Database Design] [Examples] [Testing] [Submitting] [Fixes+Updates]
This assignment aims to give you practice in
implementing Python scripts to extract and display data from a database
[optionally (but recommended)] implementing SQL views and PLpgSQL functions to support
the scripts
[optionally (but recommended)] implementing a collection of Python functions to support the
You could complete this assignment with minimal use of SQL
But it is highly recommended that you use SQL for its intended purpose
Use SQL queries, views, and functions to filter and manipulate the data
Use Python to format and display the data
The goal is to build some useful data access operations on the Pokémon database.
Marks: This assignment contributes 16 marks toward your
total mark for this course.
Submission: via WebCMS3 or give, submit the files
TBA, helpers.py, helpers.sql
Deadline: Friday 14 April 2023 @ 23:59:59
5% off the maximum achievable mark for each day late
(i.e., 0.2% per hour)
for the first 5 days, then 100% penalty after that
How to do this assignment:
read this specification carefully and completely
familiarise yourself with the database schema
create a database ass2 on the vxdb2
load the provided SQL dump file into the database
explore the database
make a private directory for this assignment (e.g. /home/$USER/COMP3311/ass2. not
under /localstorage/$USER)
put a copy of the template files there
edit the files in this directory on a host other than vxdb2 (eg vx05)
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3311/23T1/
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3311/23T1/
https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3311/23T1/assignments/ass2/schema.php
https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3311/23T1/assignments/ass2/examples.php
https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3311/23T1/assignments/ass2/testing.php
https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3311/23T1/assignments/ass2/submitting.php
https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3311/23T1/assignments/ass2/fixes.php
https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3311/23T1/assignments/ass2/schema.php
https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3311/23T1/assignments/ass2/files/files.zip
on vxdb2, test that your Python scripts produce the expected output
submit the assignment via WebCMS3 or give (as described on the Submitting page)
And, of course, if you have PostgreSQL installed on your home machine, you can do all of your
development there.
BUT don’t forget to test it on vxdb2 before submitting.
The “template files” aim to save you some time in writing Python code. E.g. they do handle the
command-line arguments and let you focus on the database interaction.
The helpers.* files are provided in case you want to defined Python functions or PLpgSQL
functions that might be useful in several of your scripts. You are not required to use them (i.e. you
can leave them unchanged), but they must still be submitted.
The template files are available in a single ZIP or TAR file, which contains the following:
helpers.sql … any views or PLpgSQL functions to assist your Python
helpers.py … any Python function to share between scripts
possible_evolutions … Python script to list pre and post evolutions of a Pokémon
attack_damage … Python script to find what move a Pokémon can use to deal the most
damage against an opponent
pokemon_density … Python script to find what density of pokemon exist at each location
my_pokemon … Python script to create your own pokemon
encounter_summary … Python script to summarise the encounters found at a given
There are even some functions given in helpers.sql and helpers.py. Freebie!
Background
Pokémon is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by
Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures.
The franchise was created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996, and is centered around fictional creatures
called “Pokémon”.
~ Wikipedia
Specifically for this assignment, we are interested in the Pokémon video games.
The Pokémon games are basically just databases with each game updating the User Interface.
~ Dylan Brotherston, 2020
Pokémon have a lot of information associated with them.
And many relationships between different game elements.
Websites like Bulbapedia, The Pokémon Database, Serebii, and even the official Pokémon website
have searchable databases of Pokémon, moves, abilities, locations, and much more.
https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3311/23T1/assignments/ass2/submitting.php
https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3311/23T1/assignments/ass2/files/files.zip
https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3311/23T1/assignments/ass2/files/files.tar
https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Main_Page
https://pokemondb.net/
https://www.serebii.net/pokemon/
https://www.pokemon.com/us/pokedex
For this assignment (with a lot of python scripts and web scraping), we have set up a PostgreSQL
database containing information about all 1008 Pokémon from all 9 generations, as well as all
moves, abilities, and locations.
The Pokémon database for this assignment is not a database for a specific Pokémon game. Rather,
it contains a large amount of general information about Pokémon capabilities. If this database was
combined with tables to hold the game state, then it would form a basis to run a specific Pokémon
game. There is much more detail on what is in the database and what all the tables represent, in the
“Database Design” page.
Setting Up
To install the Pokémon database under your PostgreSQL server on vxdb2, simply run the following
commands (after ensuring that your server is running):
$ dropdb ass2 # if it already exists
$ createdb ass2
$ psql ass2 -f /home/cs3311/web/23T1/assignments/ass2/dump.sql
We do not recommend that you copy the dump file to your own directory for this assignment.
The dump file is over 22MB in size and will take up a sizable amount of your disk quota.
For easy access to the dump file you may create a symbolic link to the dump file in the assignment
directory.
$ ln -s /home/cs3311/web/23T1/assignments/ass2/dump.sql ass2.dump.sql
If you are working from home, where file size is probably not an issue, you can download the dump
file dump.sql
It might take a minute or two to download.
If everything proceeds correctly, the load output should look something like:
CREATE TYPE
… a few of these
CREATE DOMAIN
… a few of these
CREATE TABLE
… a few of these
… a few of these
ALTER TABLE
… a whole bunch of these
You should get no ERROR messages.
The database loading should take less than 5 seconds on vxdb2, assuming that vxdb2 is not
under heavy load.
(If you leave your assignment until the last minute, loading the database on vxdb2 may be
https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3311/23T1/assignments/ass2/dump.sql
considerably slower, thus delaying your work even more. The solution: at least load the database
Right Now, even if you don’t start using it for a while.)
Note that the database must be called ass2
(when you want to access it via your Python script).
A useful thing to do initially is to get a feeling for what data is actually there. This may help you
understand the schema better, and will make the descriptions of the exercises easier to understand.
Look at the schema. Run some queries. Do it now.
$ psql ass2
… PostgreSQL welcome stuff …
ass2=# \dt
… look at the list of tables …
ass2=# \d pokemon
… examine the pokemon table …
ass2=# SELECT Name, Average_Height, Average_Weight FROM Pokemon;
… look at the Pokemon table …
ass2=# SELECT Pokemon.Name, Egg_Groups.Name FROM Pokemon JOIN In_Group ON In_G
… look at Egg_Groups …
ass2=# SELECT * FROM DBpop();
… how many records in all tables …
ass2=# … etc. etc. etc.
6% of your mark (1 overall mark for the assignment) will be based on the style of your code.
Similarly to the previous assignment, the main things to look out for are:
readability
consistency
above matching any specific style guide.
But in saying that, Python has an official style guide PEP 8 that we recommend you follow (again
not explicitly required, just a suggestion).
Python also has tools like black, autopep8, pylint, that can identify and fix many of the common style
Script Design
Python scripts should be designed with the following principles in mind:
Use SQL to extract data in a form that is easy to process
Use Python to take the data, do computation with it, and produce output
https://peps.python.org/pep-0008/
https://pypi.org/project/black/
https://pypi.org/project/autopep8/
https://pypi.org/project/pylint/
In other words Data queries, filtering, grouping, sorting, etc should be done in SQL
while data formatting, conditions, error checking, etc should be done in Python.
You should not be pulling 1000s of rows from the database and then filtering them in Python
or matching foreign key values between separate queries in Python.
Such practices typically lead to inefficient code.
Python scripts that take longer than 2 seconds to execute will be penalised.
Python scripts that take longer than 5 will be killed and receive a mark of 0.
Your Python scripts shouldn’t need more than half a second in the worst case.
And, of course, you should follow the normal abstraction practices you have learned in earlier
programming courses, e.g. repeated sections of code should be placed in functions, etc.
My Pokemon Script (3 Marks)
In the file my_pokemon write a script that takes 1 command line argument:
1. A random number generator seed value
and prints information about a created Pokémon.
You have been provided with a function menu() that prints a menu and returns the index of the
selected item.
First your program should ask the user to select what game the Pokémon should come from.
The user should be given 10 options
The options should be randomly selected from the Games table
Next your program should ask the user to select the Pokémon.
The user should be given 10 options
The options should be randomly selected from the Pokémon table.
The user should only be given Pokémon that exist in the previously selected game.
Next your program should ask the user to select the Pokémon’s Ability.
The user should be given all the Abilities that the Pokémon can have.
ordered by Abilities.ID
Lastly your program should ask the user to select the Pokémon’s Moves
The user should be given a list of all moves that the Pokémon can learn by level up.
ordered by Moves.ID
(Requirements.Assertion starts with ‘Level:’)
The user should be asked to select 4 moves.
Or, if the Pokémon learns less than 4 moves by level up, the user should be asked to select
however many moves the Pokémon learns.
The user can only select a move once, one a move has been selected it should not be available
The user should only be given moves that exist in the previously selected game.
Once the user has selected all the information, your program should print the Pokémon’s
information.
Include the following information:
Pokémon’s Name
Pokémon’s Species
Pokémon’s Type(s)
Pokémon’s ID (Regional_ID and National_ID)
Pokémon’s Ability
Pokémon’s Moves (including the move name, move type, move category, move power, and
move accuracy)
See the examples page for the exact output format.
The sample solution takes ~0.3 seconds to run in the worst case (not including input time)
Your should aim for no more than 1 seconds of execution time.
Possible Evolutions Script (5 Marks)
In the file possible_evolutions write a script that takes 1 command line argument:
1. the name of a Pokémon
and prints the Prevolutions and Evolutions of the given Pokémon.
Prevolutions are Pokémon that evolve into the given Pokémon.
Evolutions are Pokémon that the given Pokémon evolves into.
Your script should also print any requirements for the evolution to occur.
Pokémon are ordered by their ID (Pokedex_Number then Variation_Number).
Requirements are ordered first by the Evolutions.ID followed by, Evolution_Requirements.Inverted
and finally by, Requirements.ID
See the examples page for the exact output format.
Further Discussion on AND and OR requirements cna be found:
Here on the forums
Here on the forums
The sample solution takes ~0.05 seconds to run in the worst case.
Your should aim for no more than 0.2 seconds of execution time.
https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3311/23T1/assignments/ass2/examples.php#my-pokemon-example
https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3311/23T1/assignments/ass2/examples.php#possible-evolutions-example
https://webcms3.cse.unsw.edu.au/COMP3311/23T1/forums/message?message_id=2831603
https://webcms3.cse.unsw.edu.au/COMP3311/23T1/forums/message?message_id=2831620
All decimal values are kept unrounded for the entire duration of the calculation.
And finally rounded to 4 decimal places for output.
Pokemon Density Script (5 Marks)
In the file pokemon_density write a script that takes 1 command line argument:
1. the name of a region
And prints the name of each location in the given region, along with the average density of
Pokémon in that location.
See the examples page for the exact output format.
“density” here literally means the physical property of density, which is the ratio of mass to volume.
That the output is sorted by density, then by location name.
Unless the location has no Pokemon, in which case it is sorted only by location name.
Assuming that all Pokémon are perfect spheres, then the Average Height of a Pokemon is it’s
Using the diameter of a Pokémon you can calculate the volume of a Pokémon.
volume = (4/3) * π * r^3
And using that volume along with the Average Weight of a Pokémon you can calculate the density of
a Pokémon.
density = weight / volume
Note that the Average Weight of a Pokémon is in kilograms, and the Average Height is in metres.
But density is measured in grams per cubic centimetre. So you will need to convert the units
accordingly.
As not all Pokémon are equally likely to appear in a location, you will need to take that into account.
You should scale the density of a Pokémon by it’s rarity.
For example, if a Pokémon has a rarity of 40, then it should be scaled by 0.40
One you have found the density of a Pokémon in a location, find the sum of the densities of all
Pokémon within the same game at that location.
And finally print the average of each of those sums.
The density should be rounded and printed to 4 decimal places.
The density will still be considered correct if it is +/- 0.0001 of the correct answer.
For example:
https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3311/23T1/assignments/ass2/examples.php#pokemon-density-example
There are 7 games in the Kanto region that have the location of “Route 2”
Those being:
– Fire Red
– Leaf Green
– Let’s GO, Pikachu
– Let’s GO, Eevee
for each of those games, find the sum of the scaled densities of all Pokémon t
then find the average of those sums
repeat for all locations in the Kanto region
The sample solution takes ~0.07 seconds to run in the worst case.
Your should aim for no more than 0.25 seconds of execution time.
Encounter Summary Script(7 Marks)
In the file encounter_summary write a script that takes 2 command line argument:
1. the name of a location
2. the name of a game in the Pokémon series
And prints out a summary of the each Pokémon that can be encountered in the given location in the
given game.
Pokémon should be ordered their rarity (highest to lowest),
Then by their name (alphabetically),
Then by their maximum level (lowest to highest),
Then by their requirements (alphabetically).
The following information should be printed for each Pokémon:
the name of the Pokémon
the type(s) of the Pokémon
the rarity of the Pokémon
the minimum level that the Pokémon can be encountered at
the maximum level that the Pokémon can be encountered at
the egg group(s) that the Pokémon is included in
the abilities that the Pokémon can know
the requirements for an encounter
The egg group(s), abilities, and requirements should be ordered alphabetically.
See the examples page for the exact output format.
If a Pokémon isn’t part of an egg group, then the egg group(s) line should be omitted.
If a Pokémon doesn’t know any abilities, then the abilities line should be omitted.
https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3311/23T1/assignments/ass2/examples.php#encounter-summary-example
Hidden abilities should not be included in the abilities list.
Inverted requirements should be marked with a NOT at the start of the requirement.
Sorting requirements should be done before the NOT is added.
The sample solution takes ~0.08 seconds to run in the worst case.
Your should aim for no more than 0.3 seconds of execution time.
Attack Damage Script (10 Marks)
In the file attack_damage write a script that takes 3 command line arguments:
1. the name of a Pokémon (The attacking Pokémon)
2. the name of a second Pokémon (The defending Pokémon)
3. the name of a game in the Pokémon series
And prints a list of all the moves that the first Pokémon can use in the given game that will do
damage to the second Pokémon.
When a Pokémon uses a move, it may deal damage anywhere within a range of possible
damage values.
Your script should calculate minimum and maximum damage values for each move.
And print the name of the move, the minimum damage, and the maximum damage: in order of
the maximum damage (lowest to highest), then the minimum damage (lowest to highest), then
by the name of the move (alphabetically).
See the examples page for the exact output format.
The damage formula is as follows:
((((((2 * attacker-level) / 5) + 2) * attack-power * (attacker-attack / d
attacker-level is the level of the attacking Pokémon
attack-power is the power of the move being used
attacker-attack is the Attack (or Special Attack) stat of the attacking P
defender-defense is the Defense (or Special Defense) stat of the defendin
random-factor is a random number between 0.85 and 1.00
STAB is 1.5 if the attack is the same type as the attacking Pokémon, othe
type-effectiveness is the effectiveness of the attack against the defendi
https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3311/23T1/assignments/ass2/examples.php#attack-damage-example
To calculate minimum damage set the attacker-level to 1 and the random-factor to 0.85
To calculate maximum damage set the attacker-level to 100 and the random-factor to 1.00
As some Pokémon have two types:
If either of the attacking Pokémon’s types is the same as the move’s type, then the STAB is
type-effectiveness starts with a value of 1.0
If either of the defending Pokémon’s types are in the move’s type effectiveness table, then the
multiplier stored in the table should be applied.
If both of the defending Pokémon’s types are in the move’s type effectiveness table, then both
multipliers should be applied multiplicatively.
e.g. if a move has base damage 100
If the Pokémon has two weaknesses then
100 * 2 * 2 = 400 damage.
If the Pokémon has two resistances then
100 * 1/2 * 1/2 = 25 damage.
If the Pokémon has one weakness and one resistance then
100 * 2 * 1/2 = 100 damage.
Note that “weaknesses” and “resistance” here are referring to rows within the
Type_Effectiveness table.
A “weaknesses” being a multiplier of 200
A “resistance” being a multiplier of 50
The formula should be calculated using Real or Double types.
The result of this formula should be rounded to one decimal place then truncated to an
TRUNC(ROUND(Value::Numeric, 1))
Any move that does not include damage should be ignored.
Any move that deals 0 max damage after truncation of the result should be ignored.
The sample solution takes ~0.1 seconds to run in the worst case.
Your should aim for no more than 0.5 seconds of execution time.
Examples of using these scripts can be found on the Examples page.
https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3311/23T1/assignments/ass2/examples.php