Smarter Book Filter

This is a guided practice notebook where you’ll build a flexible book filter using Python dictionaries, conditionals, string methods, and loops.

What You'll Build

A program that:

• Prompts the user to input a starting letter.
• Filters and displays only books that start with that letter and are currently Available.
• Counts and displays the total number of matching books.

Core Concepts Practiced

• Python dictionaries
• For loops
• Conditional statements
• String methods like .startswith(), .upper(), and .strip()
• User input handling

Bonus Challenges

Once you’ve completed the basic functionality, try extending the project with these ideas:

• Let the user input multiple starting letters (e.g., T,S,M).
• Allow the user to choose whether to filter by "Available", "Checked Out", or show all books.
• Add functionality to insert new books into the library dictionary.
• Allow users to update the status of a book (e.g., from "Checked Out" to "Available").

How to Run

You can run this notebook in any environment that supports Jupyter Notebooks:

1. Clone this repository.
2. Open the .ipynb file in Jupyter Lab, Jupyter Notebook, or VS Code with the Jupyter extension.
3. Follow the instructions and fill in the missing code cells as you go.
4. Add, commit, and push when you are finished.