🥔 Potato Growth Simulator

Watch your potatoes grow in beautiful ASCII art! 🌱➡️🥔

A mesmerizing Python program that simulates potato growth through animated ASCII art

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🎥 What This Does

Ever wondered what it looks like when a potato grows? Wonder no more! This program creates stunning ASCII animations showing the complete lifecycle of a potato from a tiny seed to a fully grown, harvest-ready tuber.

Choose your potato destiny:

• 🤎 Russet - The classic American potato
• 🟡 Yukon Gold - Creamy and delicious
• 🔴 Red - Beautiful red-skinned variety
• 🥖 Fingerling - Cute little finger-shaped potatoes

✨ Features

🎬 12 Growth Stages - From seed to harvest ready, watch every moment
🎨 4 Unique Varieties - Each with custom ASCII art patterns
⚡ Configurable Speed - Control the pace of growth
📐 Custom Canvas - Set your own animation dimensions
💾 Multiple Outputs - Terminal display, file export, or both
🎛️ CLI Interface - Professional command-line interface
⚙️ JSON Config - Save your favorite settings

🚀 Quick Start

Zero dependencies needed! Just Python 3.8+ and your terminal.

# Clone and run immediately
git clone <your-repo-url>
cd potato-growth-simulator
python3 potato.py

Sit back and watch your potato grow! 🍿

🎮 Usage Examples

🏃‍♂️ Quick & Easy

# Default magic - russet potato in terminal
python3 potato.py

# Speed run! ⚡
python3 potato.py --speed 0.5 --variety yukon_gold

# Save your masterpiece 💾
python3 potato.py --output file --file my_epic_potato.txt

# Go big or go home! 📏
python3 potato.py --width 80 --height 40

🎛️ All Command Options

Option	Short	Description	Example
--config	-c	📄 Configuration file	--config settings.json
--speed	-s	⏱️ Seconds between stages	--speed 1.5
--variety	-v	🥔 Potato type	--variety red
--width	-w	↔️ Canvas width	--width 60
--height		↕️ Canvas height	--height 30
--output	-o	📺 Where to show	--output both
--file	-f	💾 Output filename	--file potato.txt
--no-colors		🎨 Disable colors	--no-colors

⚙️ Configuration File

Create your ultimate potato-growing setup! Save this as config.json:

{
    "growth_speed": 1.5,
    "canvas_width": 50,
    "canvas_height": 25,
    "variety": "yukon_gold",
    "show_colors": true,
    "output_format": "both",
    "output_file": "my_amazing_potato.txt"
}

Then activate your settings:

python3 potato.py --config config.json

🥔 Meet the Potato Family

Each variety is a unique ASCII masterpiece with its own personality:

Variety	Emoji	Description	ASCII Style
Russet	🤎	The dependable classic	Standard box-drawing
Yukon Gold	🟡	Smooth and buttery	Double-line elegance
Red	🔴	Bold and beautiful	Thick line characters
Fingerling	🥖	Cute and compact	Curved artistic flair

Each potato tells its own growth story through carefully crafted ASCII art!

🌱 The Journey of Growth

Watch your potato transform through 12 epic stages:

Stage	Description	Visual
🌰 Seed	The humble beginning	A tiny dot in the soil
🌱 Germination	Life awakens	Roots start spreading
🌿 Sprouting	Breaking ground	Green shoot emerges
🌱 Early Vegetative	Getting stronger	Small leaves appear
🍃 Vegetative	Growing up	Stem and leaves develop
🌳 Root Development	Underground expansion	Root system grows
🌸 Flowering	Beauty blooms	Flowers appear (optional)
🥔 Early Tuber	Magic begins	First potatoes form
🥔 Tuber Formation	Getting serious	More potatoes develop
🥔 Tuber Bulking	Size matters	Potatoes grow bigger
🌿 Maturity	Almost ready	Full-grown plant
🥔 Harvest Ready	The grand finale	Time to dig up your treasure!

🏗️ Architecture

Clean, modular, and extensible design:

🏛️ potato.py              - Main program + CLI magic
🔌 potato_varieties.py     - Plugin system for varieties  
⚙️ config.json            - Your personal settings
🧪 test_potato.py          - Bulletproof test suite

🧩 Core Components

Class	Purpose	Superpower
PotatoConfig	📋 Configuration	Manages all your settings
GrowthStage	📊 Stage tracking	Knows every growth phase
PotatoArt	🎨 ASCII artistry	Creates beautiful patterns
AnimationEngine	🎬 Rendering	Brings potatoes to life
PotatoGrowthSimulator	🎭 The director	Orchestrates the whole show

🧪 Testing

Ensure everything works perfectly:

python3 test_potato.py

All tests pass? Your potatoes are ready to grow! ✅

🎪 Epic Examples

⚡ Speed Demon

# Watch a potato grow in hyperspeed!
python3 potato.py --speed 0.5

🏭 Potato Factory (All Varieties)

# Create a complete potato collection
for variety in russet yukon_gold red fingerling; do
    python3 potato.py --variety $variety --output file --file "${variety}_masterpiece.txt" --speed 0.1
done

🎬 IMAX Experience

# Go big screen with your potato!
python3 potato.py --width 80 --height 40 --speed 1.0

🎨 The Artist's Setup

# Perfect for potato connoisseurs
python3 potato.py --variety fingerling --speed 2.0 --output both --file gallery_piece.txt

🔧 Technical Specs

Requirement	Details
🐍 Python	3.8+ (no external deps!)
💻 Platform	Linux terminal (ANSI optimized)
🔤 Encoding	UTF-8 for beautiful Unicode
⚡ Performance	Memory efficient for marathon sessions
📄 Output	Plain text with Unicode magic

🤝 Contributing

Want to grow the potato empire? Here's how:

1. 🥔 New Varieties: Create subclasses of PotatoVariety
2. 🌱 Growth Stages: Extend the GrowthStage enum
3. 🎨 ASCII Art: Enhance patterns in variety classes
4. 🧪 Tests: Add tests for new functionality

Every contribution makes the potato world more beautiful!

📜 License

MIT Licensed - Grow potatoes freely!

See LICENSE.md for the legal potato growing terms.

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Made with 🥔 and ❤️

Happy potato growing! May your ASCII art be ever beautiful and your growth stages smooth!

🌱➡️🥔