Mason’s Nerdy Icon  •  Stage 3: Leave No Trace-y  •  09/09/2026
TNT Styl’n — Python Turtle Graphics Showcase

Mason’s Nerdy Icon — Leave No Trace-y

Same artwork. Functions that stand alone — every one starts and ends at a known place.
Stage 3: the architecture upgrade. Comment out any feature in main() and the rest still runs.

🐍  Stage 3 — Leave No Trace-y

The Code, Independent

“Leave No Trace-y” — the scouting principle applied to Python Turtle:
Every function starts by calling penup() → goto(x, y) → setheading(angle) to establish its own position.
Every function ends by calling penup() → goto(PARK_X, PARK_Y) to leave Tracy at a neutral spot.
No function assumes anything about where the previous one stopped.

Stage 2 organized Mason’s code into named functions — a big improvement — but each function depended on arriving at the exact position where the previous one ended. Comment out draw_glasses() in Stage 2 and the eyes end up in the wrong place. Stage 3 fixes that: every function navigates to its own starting coordinates using goto().

  • Face is centered at canvas origin (0, 0) — simpler coordinate math than Stage 1’s offset.
  • Every function opens with penup(); goto(x, y); setheading(angle) — guaranteed starting state.
  • Every function closes with penup(); goto(PARK_X, PARK_Y) — guaranteed ending state.
  • reposition_to_mouth() is eliminated — draw_mouth() just goto()s to (0, -35) directly.
  • draw_cheeks() uses goto() for every dot — zero relative navigation between dots.
  • Any line in main() can be commented out and the remaining features draw correctly.

Output

Stage 3 output: the same nerdy emoji face — identical artwork from fully independent functions

Identical to Stage 1 & 2.
Same artwork — truly independent functions.
Save your CodeHS output as
images/claudesRefactoredNerd2.png

Original artwork by Mason •  Stage 1 refactor by GitHub Copilot (Claude) •  Stage 3 architecture by GitHub Copilot (Claude) Leave No Trace-y — every function owns its starting state

All Three Stages

Open all three pages side by side to see the full progression: Stage 1 — Mason’s original 154-line flat script; Stage 2 — the same commands organized into named functions and constants; Stage 3 — functions that stand alone because every one navigates to its own starting point. The artwork is identical in all three. Only the structure changes.