Functions & Imports: Read + Jupyter

Line 1: def format_shot(scene_num, description, platform): — the three names in parentheses are parameters. They're placeholders; they get their values when someone calls the function.

Line 2: The triple-quoted string is a docstring. It doesn't run — it documents what the function does. Cursor and Python's help() both display it.

Line 3: return sends the formatted string back to whoever called the function. Without return, this function would print nothing — it would produce None.

Lines 5–7: Each call passes three arguments — the real values that fill in the parameters. Notice how the same function produces three differently formatted lines. That's the point of functions: write once, use many times with different data.

Expected output:

  Scene 1 [Kling]: Wide establishing shot
  Scene 2 [Runway]: Close-up hands on club
  Scene 3 [Veo]: Aerial pull-back

Try this: Remove the return and assign result = format_shot(1, "test", "Kling"). Print result. You'll see None. That's what Python returns when a function has no return statement.

Line 1: shot_type="general" and extension="json" are default parameters. If the caller doesn't supply these, the defaults kick in. Required parameters (like platform) must always come before defaulted ones.

Line 2: Chaining .lower().replace() is common Python style — clean the string in one readable line. If platform is "Kling AI", this produces "kling_ai".

Line 4: Returns a filename string built from all three cleaned values.

Lines 6–8: Three calls with different numbers of arguments. When you skip a defaulted parameter, Python uses the default silently — no error, no fuss.

Expected output:

kling_general.json
runway_aerial.json
veo_tracking.txt

Try this: Call generate_filename("Runway", extension="csv") — using the parameter name to skip shot_type entirely. Python calls these keyword arguments.

Line 2: len(shots) counts all shots — this becomes the first return value.

Lines 3–6: Builds a frequency dictionary. platforms.get(p, 0) is the safe way to read a dictionary key — if the key doesn't exist yet, return 0 instead of crashing. Then add 1 for this shot.

Line 7: max(platforms, key=platforms.get) finds the key (platform name) with the highest value (count). The key= argument tells max how to compare — compare by the dictionary's values, not the keys themselves.

Line 8: return total, platforms, most_common — Python quietly wraps these three values into a tuple and returns it as one object.

Line 15: total, breakdown, top = analyze_shots(shots) — tuple unpacking. Python splits the returned tuple into three separate variables in one line. This is clean, professional Python style.

Expected output:

Total: 3
Breakdown: {'Kling': 2, 'Runway': 1}
Most used: Kling

Try this: Add a fourth shot for Veo and re-run. See how the breakdown and most_common update automatically — no code changes needed.

Lines 4–5: clean_text() strips surrounding whitespace and lowercases the string. Two method calls chained together — one line does both jobs.

Line 7: validate_platform() takes a raw user-typed platform string. The valid= default parameter defines the accepted list — you can override it by passing your own list.

Line 8: Calls clean_text() from inside validate_platform(). Functions can call other functions — this is how you build layered, readable logic.

Lines 9–10: If the cleaned platform is in the valid list, return it with a capital first letter (so "kling" becomes "Kling" — consistent for display).

Line 11: If not valid, return None. The caller can check if validate_platform(...) is None: to detect bad input.

Line 13: This commented line shows the real import syntax you'll use in vault.py tomorrow: from helpers import clean_text, validate_platform. Python looks for helpers.py in the same folder and imports exactly those names.

Expected output:

Kling
None
Runway

Try this: Create a new file helpers.py in your vault folder, paste clean_text and validate_platform into it, then open a Python shell in that folder and run from helpers import validate_platform. It works — that's tomorrow's foundation.