ASCII-ART

A Go program that converts text strings into ASCII art using predefined banner templates.

Description

ASCII-ART receives a string as an argument and outputs a graphical representation of the text using ASCII characters. Each character is rendered as an 8-line tall ASCII art representation based on banner template files.

Author

Team Project

Project Structure

ASCII-ART/
├── banners/
│   ├── standard.txt
│   ├── shadow.txt
│   └── thinkertoy.txt
├── MethodsAndTesting/
│   ├── file-handling.go
│   ├── printer.go
│   └── printer_test.go
├── main.go
├── go.mod
└── README.md

Features

• Converts text to ASCII art using banner templates
• Supports all printable ASCII characters (32-126)
• Handles newline characters (\n)
• Multiple banner styles available (standard, shadow, thinkertoy)
• Comprehensive unit tests
• Clean modular code structure

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone <repository-url>
cd ASCII-ART

2. Ensure you have Go installed (version 1.16 or higher):

go version

3. Initialize the module (if not already done):

go mod init ascii-art

Usage

Basic Usage

go run . "Your text here"

Examples

Simple text:

go run . "hello"

Output:

 _              _   _          
| |            | | | |         
| |__     ___  | | | |   ___   
|  _ \   / _ \ | | | |  / _ \  
| | | | |  __/ | | | | | (_) | 
|_| |_|  \___| |_| |_|  \___/  

Uppercase text:

go run . "HELLO"

With newlines:

go run . "Hello\nWorld"

Output:

 _    _          _   _          
| |  | |        | | | |         
| |__| |   ___  | | | |   ___   
|  __  |  / _ \ | | | |  / _ \  
| |  | | |  __/ | | | | | (_) | 
|_|  |_|  \___| |_| |_|  \___/  
                                
                                
__          __                 _       _ 
\ \        / /                | |     | |
 \ \  /\  / /    ___    _ __  | |   __| |
  \ \/  \/ /    / _ \  | '__| | |  / _` |
   \  /\  /    | (_) | | |    | | | (_| |
    \/  \/      \___/  |_|    |_|  \__,_|

Special characters:

go run . "[\]^_ 'a"

Numbers and symbols:

go run . "Hello123!"

Supported Characters

The program supports all printable ASCII characters from space (32) to tilde (126):

• Lowercase letters: a-z
• Uppercase letters: A-Z
• Numbers: 0-9
• Special characters: !@#$%^&*()_+-=[]{}|;:'",.<>?/~ and space

Banner Format

Each banner file contains ASCII representations of characters where:

• Each character is exactly 8 lines tall
• Characters are separated by a newline (9 lines total per character)
• Characters are ordered by ASCII value (32-126)
• Banner files are stored in the banners/ directory

Code Structure

main.go

Entry point of the application. Handles command-line arguments and calls the formatter.

MethodsAndTesting/file-handling.go

Contains FileHandler() function that reads the banner template file.

Key Function:

func FileHandler() ([]byte, bool)

• Reads banners/standard.txt
• Returns file contents and success status
• Handles file reading errors

MethodsAndTesting/printer.go

Contains FormatPrinter() function that processes the input string and generates ASCII art.

Key Function:

func FormatPrinter(input string) string

• Splits input by \n to handle multiple lines
• Maps each character to its ASCII art representation
• Builds output line by line (8 rows per text line)
• Returns formatted ASCII art string

Algorithm:

1. Load banner file using FileHandler()
2. Split banner content into lines
3. Split input string by \n
4. For each word/line:
   • If empty, add a newline
   • For each of 8 rows:
     • For each character, find its representation in banner
     • Calculate line index: (ASCII_value - 32) * 9 + 1 + row
     • Append character's row to output
5. Trim final newline

MethodsAndTesting/printer_test.go

Unit tests for the FormatPrinter() function.

Test Cases:

• Simple text ("hello")
• Special characters ("[\]^_ 'a")
• Newline handling ("hello\n")
• Multiple newlines ("hello\n\n")

Running Tests

Execute all tests:

go test ./MethodsAndTesting

Run tests with verbose output:

go test -v ./MethodsAndTesting

Run specific test:

go test -run TestFormatPrinter ./MethodsAndTesting

Error Handling

The program handles the following errors:

1. Incorrect number of arguments:

   error: enter 2 arguments

2. Banner file not found:

   Error

(Program terminates with fatal error)

3. Empty input: Program returns without output

4. Invalid characters: Characters outside ASCII 32-126 are silently skipped

Implementation Details

Character Mapping

Each ASCII character (32-126) occupies 9 lines in the banner file:

• Lines 1-8: ASCII art representation
• Line 9: Empty separator

Formula:

lineIndex = (charASCII - 32) * 9 + 1 + rowNumber

Where:

• charASCII: ASCII value of character
• rowNumber: Current row (0-7)
• 32: ASCII value of space (first printable character)

Newline Handling

Input string "Hello\nWorld" is split into:

["Hello", "World"]

Each segment is processed separately with 8-line output.

Empty segments (from "\n\n") produce single newline in output.

Technical Requirements

• Language: Go (Golang)
• Go Version: 1.16 or higher
• Packages: Standard library only
  • os: File operations and command-line arguments
  • fmt: Formatted I/O
  • strings: String manipulation
  • log: Error logging
  • testing: Unit tests

Good Practices

✅ Modular code - Functions separated by responsibility
✅ Unit tests - Comprehensive test coverage
✅ Error handling - Proper error checking and reporting
✅ Clean code - Readable and maintainable
✅ No external dependencies - Uses only standard library

Learning Objectives

This project helps you learn about:

• Go file system (fs) API
• Data manipulation in Go
• String processing
• ASCII character encoding
• Command-line argument handling
• Unit testing in Go
• Code organization and modularity

Future Enhancements

Potential improvements:

• Support for multiple banner styles (shadow, thinkertoy)
• Custom banner file selection via command-line flag
• Color output support
• Export to file option
• UTF-8 character support
• Interactive mode

License

This project is part of an educational program.

Troubleshooting

Problem: Error message when running

• Solution: Ensure banners/standard.txt exists in the correct location

Problem: Wrong output format

• Solution: Verify banner file format (8 lines per character + 1 separator)

Problem: Tests failing

• Solution: Run from project root directory where banners/ folder is accessible

Problem: Characters not displaying

• Solution: Check if character is in printable ASCII range (32-126)

Contact

For questions or issues, please contact the development team.

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Note: This is an educational project demonstrating ASCII art generation and Go programming concepts.