input: Write a function to calculate the total cost of a shopping cart considering the item prices, quantity, shipping cost, and any applicable taxes. The function should return the total cost as a float.
  
  def calculate_total_cost(items, shipping_cost, tax_rate):
      total_cost = 0
      for item in items:
          total_cost += item['price'] * item['quantity']
      total_cost += total_cost * tax_rate
      total_cost += shipping_cost
      return total_cost
  
  assert calculate_total_cost([ {"name": "widget", "price": 10, "quantity": 5 }, {"name": "thingy", "price": 7, "quantity": 3 }, {"name": "doodad", "price": 5, "quantity": 2 } ], 7.50, 0.095) == 98.075
  assert calculate_total_cost([ {"name": "apple", "price": 1, "quantity": 10 }, {"name": "banana", "price": 0.5, "quantity": 15 } ], 5.00, 0.10) == 27.0
  assert calculate_total_cost([ {"name": "book", "price": 20, "quantity": 2 }, {"name": "pen", "price": 2, "quantity": 5 } ], 3.50, 0.08) == 54.42
  assert calculate_total_cost([], 0.00, 0.05) == 0.0
  assert calculate_total_cost([ {"name": "notebook", "price": 5, "quantity": 3 } ], 2.00, 0.0) == 17.0
output: def calculate_total_cost(items, shipping_cost, tax_rate):
      total_cost = 0
      for item in items:
          total_cost += item['price'] * item['quantity']
      total_cost += total_cost * tax_rate
      total_cost += shipping_cost
      return total_cost