LAB_Activity_CreateAConditionalStatement
May 8, 2024
1 Activity: Create a conditional statement
1.1 Introduction
Conditional statements are a powerful structure that help in achieving automation when you need
to make sure conditions are met before certain actions are executed. For example, security analysts
can use conditional statements in Python to check if users are approved to access a device.
In this lab, you will practice writing conditional statements in Python.
Tips for completing this lab
As you navigate this lab, keep the following tips in mind:
• ### YOUR CODE HERE ### indicates where you should write code. Be sure to replace this
with your own code before running the code cell.
• Feel free to open the hints for additional guidance as you work on each task.
• To enter your answer to a question, double-click the markdown cell to edit. Be sure to replace
the “[Double-click to enter your responses here.]” with your own answer.
• You can save your work manually by clicking File and then Save in the menu bar at the top
of the notebook.
• You can download your work locally by clicking File and then Download and then specifying
your preferred file format in the menu bar at the top of the notebook.
1.2 Scenario
You’re working as a security analyst. First, you are responsible for checking whether a user’s
operating system requires an update. Then, you need to investigate login attempts to a specific
device. You must determine if login attempts were made by users approved to access this device
and if the login attempts occurred during organization hours.
1.3 Task 1
You are asked to help automate the process of checking whether a user’s operating system requires
an update. Imagine that a user’s device can be running one of the following operating systems: OS
1, OS 2, or OS 3. While OS 2 is up-to-date, OS 1 and OS 3 are not. Your task is to check whether
the user’s system is up-to-date, and if it is, display a message accordingly. To do this, complete
1
the conditional statement using the keyword if. Be sure to replace the ### YOUR CODE HERE ###
with your own code before you run the following cell.
[1]: # Assign a variable named `system` to a specific operating system, represented␣
,→as a string
# This variable indicates which operating system is running
# Feel free to run this cell multiple times; each time try assigning `system`␣
,→to different values ("OS 1", "OS 2", "OS 3")
system = "OS 2"
# If OS 2 is running, then display a "no update needed" message
if system == "OS 2":
print("no update needed")
no update needed
Hint 1
Use a comparison operator that will allow you to check whether the system is running "OS 2".
Hint 2
Use the == comparison operator to check whether the system is running "OS 2".
1.4 Task 2
Now try assigning the system variable to different values ("OS 1", "OS 2", and "OS 3"), run the
cell, and observe what happens. Keep the conditional statement as is. Be sure to replace the ###
YOUR CODE HERE ### with your own code.
[3]: # Assign `system` to a specific operating system
# This variable represents which operating system is running
# Feel free to run this cell multiple times; each time try assigning `system`␣
,→to different values ("OS 1", "OS 2", "OS 3") and observe the result
system = "OS 1" # Misalnya, kita coba nilai OS 1 terlebih dahulu
# If OS 2 is running, then display a "no update needed" message
if system == "OS 2":
print("no update needed")
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Question 1 What happens when OS 2 is running? What happens when OS 1 is
running?
[Double-click to enter your responses here.]
1.5 Task 3
Nothing is displayed when the system is not equal to "OS 2". This is because the condition didn’t
evaluate to True.
It would be beneficial if an alternative message is provided to them when updates are needed.
In the following cell, add the appropriate keyword after the first conditional so that it will display
a message that conveys that an update is needed when the system is not running OS 2. Be sure
to replace each ### YOUR CODE HERE ### with your own code.
Then, set the value of the system variable to indicate that OS 2 is running and run the cell. After
observing what happens, set the value of system to indicate either that OS 1 is running or that
OS 3 is running and run the cell.
[4]: # Assign `system` to a specific operating system
# This variable represents which operating system is running
system = "OS 1" # Misalnya, kita coba nilai OS 1 terlebih dahulu
# If OS 2 is running, then display a "no update needed" message
# Otherwise, display a "update needed" message
if system == "OS 2":
print("no update needed")
else:
print("update needed")
update needed
Hint 1
Use the else keyword.
Question 2 In this setup what happens when OS 2 is running? And what happens
when OS 2 is not running?
[Double-click to enter your responses here.]
1.6 Task 4
This setup is still not ideal. If the variable system contains a random string or integer, the
conditional above would still display update needed.
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To improve the conditional, you will need to add the elif keyword. In the following cell, you will
add two elif statements after the if statement, to create the final code. The first elif statement
will display update needed if system is "OS 1". The second elif statement will display the same
message, if system is "OS 3". Complete the second elif statement, and then run the cell with the
variable system set to a different string each time. Observe what happens when each operating
system is running. Also try assigning the system variable to some strings other than "OS 1", "OS
2", and "OS 3" (for example "OS 4").
Be sure to replace each ### YOUR CODE HERE ### with your own code.
[ ]: # Assign `system` to a specific operating system
# This variable represents which operating system is running
system = "### YOUR CODE HERE ###"
# If OS 2 is running, then display a "no update needed" message
# Otherwise if OS 1 is running, display a "update needed" message
# Otherwise if OS 3 is running, display a "update needed" message
if system == "OS 2":
print("no update needed")
elif system == "OS 1":
print("update needed")
elif ### YOUR CODE HERE ###
### YOUR CODE HERE ###
Question 3 Under this setup what happens when OS 2 is running? What happens
when OS 1 is running? What happens when OS 3 is running? What happens when
neither of those three operating systems are running?
[Double-click to enter your responses here.]
1.7 Task 5
Writing code that is readable and concise is a best practice in programming.
The conditional above can be written more concisely.
In the following cell, use a logical operator to combine the two elif statements from the previous
setup into one elif statement. Be sure to replace each ### YOUR CODE HERE ###. Then, assign
the system variable to a value and run the cell. Like you did in the previous task, use "OS 1", "OS
2", "OS 3", and other strings.
[5]: # Assign `system` to a specific operating system
# This variable represents which operating system is running
system = "OS 3" # Misalnya, kita coba nilai OS 3 terlebih dahulu
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# If OS 2 is running, then display a "no update needed" message
# Otherwise if OS 1 is running, display a "update needed" message
# Otherwise if OS 3 is running, display a "update needed" message
if system == "OS 2":
print("no update needed")
elif system == "OS 1":
print("update needed")
elif system == "OS 3":
print("update needed")
update needed
Hint 1
Use the or logical operator.
Hint 2
Use the or operator between two conditions that each use the == operator.
Question 4 What do you observe about this conditional?
[Double-click to enter your responses here.]
1.8 Task 6
Now you’ll move on to the next part of your work. You’ve been asked to investigate login attempts
to a specific device. Only approved users should log on to this device.
You’ll start with two authorized users, stored in the variables approved_user1 and
approved_user2. You’ll need to write a conditional statement that compares those variables to a
third variable, username. This will be the username of a specific user trying to log in. Be sure to
replace each ### YOUR CODE HERE ### with your own code.
[ ]: # Assign `approved_user1` and `approved_user2` to usernames of approved users
approved_user1 = "elarson"
approved_user2 = "bmoreno"
# Assign `username` to the username of a specific user trying to log in
username = "bmoreno"
# If the user trying to log in is among the approved users, then display a␣
,→message that they are approved to access this device
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# Otherwise, display a message that they do not have access to this device
### YOUR CODE HERE ### username == approved_user1 or ### YOUR CODE HERE ###:
print("This user has access to this device.")
### YOUR CODE HERE ###
print("This user does not have access to this device.")
Hint 1
Use the if keyword in the first conditional statement and the else keyword in the second condi-
tional statement. Make sure both statements end with the proper syntax of a colon (:).
Hint 2
Use a comparison operator that will allow you to check whether the user trying to log in is an
approved user.
Hint 3
Use the == comparison operator to check whether the user trying to log in is an approved user.
1.9 Task 7
The number of approved users has now expanded to five. Rather than storing each of the ap-
proved users’ usernames individually, it would be more concise to store them in an allow list called
approved_list.
The in operator in Python can be used to determine whether a given value is an element of a
sequence. Using the in operator in a condition can help you check whether a specific username is
part of a list of approved usernames. For example, in the code below, username in approved_list
evaluates to True if the value of the username variable is included in approved_list.
Complete the code in the following cell to display the same messages that you used in the previous
step. When the condition evaluates to True, the following message will be displayed: "This
user has access to this device." When it evaluates to False, the following message will be
displayed: "This user does not have access to this device." Then, run the cell to observe
its behavior. Be sure to replace each ### YOUR CODE HERE ### with your own code. Afterwards,
reassign the username variable to a username that is not approved and run the cell to observe what
happens.
[6]: # Assign `approved_user1` and `approved_user2` to usernames of approved users
approved_user1 = "elarson"
approved_user2 = "bmoreno"
# Assign `username` to the username of a specific user trying to log in
username = "bmoreno"
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# If the user trying to log in is among the approved users, then display a␣
,→message that they are approved to access this device
# Otherwise, display a message that they do not have access to this device
if username == approved_user1 or username == approved_user2:
print("This user has access to this device.")
else:
print("This user does not have access to this device.")
This user has access to this device.
Hint 1
Use the else keyword in the second conditional statement.
Hint 2
Use the print() function to display messages.
Question 5 What happens when an approved user tries to log in? What happens
when an unapproved user tries to log in?
[Double-click to enter your responses here.]
1.10 Task 8
Now you’ll write another conditional statement. This one will use a organization_hours variable
to check if the user logged in during specific organization hours. When that condition is met,
the code should display the string "Login attempt made during organization hours.". When
that condition isn’t met, the code should display the string "Login attempt made outside of
organization hours.".
The organization_hours variable will have a Boolean data type. If organization_hours has a
Boolean value of True, that means the user is logged in during the specified organization hours. If
organization_hours has a Boolean value of False, that means the user is not logged in during
those hours.
Complete the conditional in the following cell. Be sure to replace each ### YOUR CODE HERE ###
with your own code before running the following cell.
[7]: # Assign `organization_hours` to a Boolean value that represents whether the␣
,→user is trying to log in during organization hours
organization_hours = True
# If the entered `organization_hours` has a value of True, then display "Login␣
,→attempt made during organization hours."
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# Otherwise, display "Login attempt made outside of organization hours."
if organization_hours == True:
print("Login attempt made during organization hours.")
else:
print("Login attempt made outside of organization hours.")
Login attempt made during organization hours.
Hint 1
Use the == comparison operator to check whether the user is logged in during the specified organi-
zation hours. Compare organization_hours to the appropriate Boolean value.
Hint 2
Use the print() function to display messages.
Hint 3
Use the else keyword in the second conditional statement.
Question 6 What happens when the user logs in during organization hours? What
happens when they log in outside of organization hours?
[Double-click to enter your responses here.]
1.11 Task 9
The following cell assembles the code from the previous tasks. It includes the conditional statement
that checks if a user is on the allow list and the conditional statement that checks if the user logged
in during organization hours.
Run the cell below a few times. Each time, enter a different combination of values for username
and organization_hours to observe how that affects the output.
[8]: # Assign `approved_list` to a list of approved usernames
approved_list = ["elarson", "bmoreno", "tshah", "sgilmore", "eraab"]
# Assign `username` to the username of a specific user trying to log in
username = "bmoreno"
# Assign `organization_hours` to a Boolean value that represents whether the␣
,→user is trying to log in during organization hours
organization_hours = True
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# If the user trying to log in is among the approved users, then display a␣
,→message that they are approved to access this device
# If the entered `organization_hours` has a value of True, then display "Login␣
,→attempt made during organization hours."
# Otherwise, display "Login attempt made outside of organization hours."
if username in approved_list:
print("This user has access to this device.")
if organization_hours == True:
print("Login attempt made during organization hours.")
else:
print("Login attempt made outside of organization hours.")
else:
print("This user does not have access to this device.")
This user has access to this device.
Login attempt made during organization hours.
Question 7 What happens when the user trying to log in is not among the approved
users? What happens when the user trying to log in is among the approved users?
What happens when the user tries to log in outside of organization hours?
[Double-click to enter your responses here.]
1.12 Task 10
You can also provide a single message about the login attempt. To do this, you can join both
conditions into a single conditional statement using a logical operator. This will make the code
more concise.
Examine the code in the following cell and add the missing operator that would allow for a single
message. Be sure to replace each ### YOUR CODE HERE ### with your own code before running
the following cell. Then run the cell, entering different combinations of information, and observe
what happens.
[9]: # Assign `approved_list` to a list of approved usernames
approved_list = ["elarson", "bmoreno", "tshah", "sgilmore", "eraab"]
# Assign `username` to the username of a specific user trying to log in
username = "bmoreno"
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# Assign `organization_hours` to a Boolean value that represents whether the␣
,→user is trying to log in during organization hours
organization_hours = True
# If the user is among the approved users and they are logging in during␣
,→organization hours, then convey that the user is logged in
# Otherwise, convey that either the username is not approved or the login␣
,→attempt was made outside of organization hours
if username in approved_list and organization_hours == True:
print("Login attempt made by an approved user during organization hours.")
else:
print("Username not approved or login attempt made outside of organization␣
,→hours.")
Login attempt made by an approved user during organization hours.
Hint 1
Use the logical operator that would allow you to check both conditions in the if statement (the
condition that the entered username is in the approved list and the condition that the login attempt
is occurring during organization hours).
Hint 2
Use the and logical operator to check both conditions in the if statement (the condition that the
entered username is in the approved list and the condition that the login attempt is occurring
during organization hours).
Question 8 In this setup, what happens when the user trying to log in is an approved
user and doing so during organization hours? What happens when the user either is
not approved or attempts to log in outside of organization hours?
[Double-click to enter your responses here.]
1.13 Conclusion
What are your key takeaways from this lab?
[Double-click to enter your responses here.]
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