#----------------------------------------------
# Animated Banner Program
#----------------------------------------------

#allows us to clear the console screen.
import os

import time

#the width of the display
#(the windows console is 153 characters wide).
WIDTH = 153

#the message we wish to print
message = "hello! vcksquare!!!".upper()
#the printed banner version of the message
#this is a 20-line display, stored as 20 strings
#initially, these are empty.
printedMessage = [ "","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","" ]

#a dictionary mapping letters to their 20-line
#banner display equivalents. each letter in the dictionary
#maps to 20 strings, one for each line of the display.
characters = { " " : [ " ",
                       " ",
                       " ",
                       " ",
                       " ",
                       " ",
                       " ",
                       " ",
                       " ",
                       " ",
                       " ",
                       " ",
                       " ",
                       " ",
                       " ",
                       " ",
                       " ",
                       " ",
                       " ",
                       " ",
                       " "],

               "C" : [ "  ***",
                       " *   ",
                       "*    ",
                       "*    ",
                       "*    ",
                       " *   ",
                       "  ***" ],

               "E" : [ "*****",
                       "*    ",
                       "*    ",
                       "*****",
                       "*    ",
                       "*    ",
                       "*****" ],

               "H" : [ "*   *",
                       "*   *",
                       "*   *",
                       "*****",
                       "*   *",
                       "*   *",
                       "*   *" ],

               "O" : [ "*****",
                       "*   *",
                       "*   *",
                       "*   *",
                       "*   *",
                       "*   *",
                       "*****" ],

               "L" : [ "*    ",
                       "*    ",
                       "*    ",
                       "*    ",
                       "*    ",
                       "*    ",
                       "*****" ],

               "!" : [ "  *  ",
                       "  *  ",
                       "  *  ",
                       "  *  ",
                       "  *  ",
                       "     ",
                       "  *  " ],

               "V" : [ "*       *",
                       "*       *",
                       "*       *",
                       " *     * ",
                       "  *   *  ",
                       "   * *   ",
                       "    *    " ],

               "Q" : [ "*****  ",
                       "*   *  ",
                       "*   *  ",
                       "*   *  ",
                       "* * *  ",
                       "*  **  ",
                       "****|  "],

               "U" : [ "*   *",
                       "*   *",
                       "*   *",
                       "*   *",
                       "*   *",
                       "*   *",
                       "*****" ],

               "R" : [ "*****  ",
                       "*   *  ",
                       "*   *  ",
                       "*--*   ",
                       "*  ''  ",
                       "*   '' ",
                       "*    ''"],

                "K" : ["*    / ",
                       "*   /  ",
                       "*  /   ",
                       "***    ",
                       "*  ''  ",
                       "*   '' ",
                       "*    ''"],

               "S" : [ "*****",
                       "*    ",
                       "*    ",
                       "*****",
                       "    *",
                       "    *",
                       "*****" ],

               "A" : [ " *** ",
                       "*   *",
                       "*   *",
                       "*****",
                       "*   *",
                       "*   *",
                       "*   *" ]

               }

#build up the printed banner. to do this, the 1st row of the
#display is created for each character in the message, followed by
#the second line, etc..
for row in range(7):
    for char in message:
        printedMessage[row] += (str(characters[char][row]) + "  ")

#the offset is how far to the right we want to print the message.
#initially, we want to print the message just off the display.
offset = WIDTH
while True:
    os.system("cls")
    #print each line of the message, including the offset.
    for row in range(7):
        print(" " * offset + printedMessage[row][max(0,offset*-1):WIDTH - offset])
    #move the message a little to the left.
    offset -=1
    #if the entire message has moved 'through' the display then
    #start again from the right hand side.
    if offset <= ((len(message)+2)*6) * -1:
        offset = WIDTH
    #take out or change this line to speed up / slow down the display
    time.sleep(0.05)