Math Course Finder

Program that uses a web-scraper to search for a specific Purdue math class that was inputted by the user, then returns alternative class times for the week.

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Inspiration

We commonly hear that people miss their math lectures because of conflicts and they don't like the way their current professor teachers. We wanted to create a program that provides an alternative.

What it does

Our program prompts the user to input their current math course and, as another option, input their preferred professor and/or days of the week they are available to attend class. With this information, the program uses a web-scraper to find classes that fit the given requirements.

How we built it

Each member of our team worked on a specific area: one worked on using a web-scraper to find the necessary information, one worked on manipulating the information in variables to pass onto the webpage, and another worked on passing user input from the webpage into an API.

Challenges we ran into

  • finding a website that did not contain JavaScript
  • taking the user input from website and converting it to String
  • creating a temporary array that can be appended and refreshed
  • unclear on how to make API public access

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • we learned to web-scrape with littler prior knowledge on how to use it
  • we were able to successfully allow for optional input

What we learned

  • how to web-scrape
  • how to work with an API

What's next for Math Course Finder

What's next for our program is to make the GUI look nicer and allow users to use a public website. We would also like to "idiot proof" for user input. And we could expand beyond just math courses.

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