THINKING PROCEDURALLY OR CONCURRENT
(SIMULTANEOUSLY OR SIDE BY SIDE OR IN LOGICAL
ORDER
A- IDENTIFY THE COMPONENTS OF A PROBLEM
B-IDENTIFY THE COMPONENTS OF A SOLUTION TO A PROBLEM
C- DETERMINE THE ORDER OF THE STEPS NEEDED TO SOLVE A
PROBLEM
D- IDENTIFY SUB-PROCEDURES NECESSARY TO SOLVE A
PROBLEM
GENERALLY SPEAKING, ALL PROBLEMS BEGIN
WITH AN IDEA. FINDING THE CONNECTION
BETWEEN THIS INFORMATION AND THE SOLUTION
LIES AT THE HEART OF PROBLEM SOLVING. TO DO
THIS, THE FOLLOWING STRATEGIES CAN BE
UTILISED.
•The Programming Process
Developing a program involves steps similar to any
problem-solving task. There are five main ingredients in
the programming process:
1.Defining the problem
2.Planning the solution
3.Coding the program
4.Testing the program
5.Documenting the program
A- IDENTIFY THE COMPONENTS OF A PROBLEM
• Decomposition
• Part of being a computer scientist is breaking down a big problem
into the smaller problems that make it up. If you can break down a
big problem into smaller problems then you can give them to a
computer to solve. For example if I gave you a cake and asked you to
bake me another one you might struggle, but if you watched me
making the cake and worked out the ingredients then you'd stand a
much better chance of replicating it. If you can look at a problem and
work out the main steps of that problem then you'll stand a much
better chance of solving it.
•Pattern generalisation and abstraction
•Once we have recognised a pattern we need to
put it in its simplest terms so that it can be used
whenever we need to use it. For example, if you
were studying the patterns of how people speak,
we might notice that all proper English sentences
have a subject and predicate.
ALGORITHM DESIGN
ONCE WE HAVE OUR PATTERNS AND ABSTRACTIONS WE CAN START
TO WRITE THE STEPS THAT A COMPUTER CAN USE TO SOLVE THE
PROBLEM. WE DO THIS BY CREATING ALGORITHMS. ALGORITHMS
AREN'T COMPUTER CODE, BUT ARE INDEPENDENT INSTRUCTIONS
THAT COULD BE TURNED INTO COMPUTER CODE. WE OFTEN WRITE
THESE INDEPENDENT INSTRUCTIONS AS PSEUDO CODE. EXAMPLES OF
ALGORITHMS COULD BE TO DESCRIBE ORBIT OF THE MOON, THE
STEPS INVOLVED IN SETTING UP A NEW ONLINE SHOPPING
ACCOUNT OR THE SEQUENCES OF TASKS INVOLVED FOR A ROBOT
TO BUILD A NEW CAR.
declare robot;
robot.on;
robot.get(body);
robot.get(roof);
do robot.weld(roof, body);
until (robot.weld == success)
robot.off;
SUPPOSE THAT, AS A PROGRAMMER, YOU ARE CONTACTED
BECAUSE YOUR SERVICES ARE NEEDED. YOU MEET WITH
USERS FROM THE CLIENT ORGANIZATION TO ANALYSE THE
PROBLEM, OR YOU MEET WITH A SYSTEMS ANALYST WHO
OUTLINES THE PROJECT. SPECIFICALLY, THE TASK OF
DEFINING THE PROBLEM CONSISTS OF IDENTIFYING WHAT
IT IS YOU KNOW (INPUT-GIVEN DATA), AND WHAT IT IS
YOU WANT TO OBTAIN (OUTPUT-THE RESULT). EVENTUALLY,
YOU PRODUCE A WRITTEN AGREEMENT THAT, AMONG
OTHER THINGS, SPECIFIES THE KIND OF INPUT, PROCESSING,
AND OUTPUT REQUIRED. THIS IS NOT A SIMPLE PROCESS.
B-IDENTIFY THE COMPONENTS OF A SOLUTION TO A PROBLEM
• Evaluate whether the order in which activities are undertaken will result
in the required outcome.
• look the role of sub-procedures(routine) in solving a problem. DON’T
REINVENT THE WHEEL
C- DETERMINE THE ORDER OF THE STEPS NEEDED TO SOLVE A
PROBLEM
• Identify when decision-making is required in a specified
situation.
• Identify the decisions required for the solution to a specified
problem.
• Identify the condition associated with a given decision in a
specified problem.
• Apply logical rules for real-world situations.
D- IDENTIFY SUB-PROCEDURES NECESSARY TO SOLVE A PROBLEM
• Check the syntax and the logical error
• call the subroutine correctly and what it will do when it is
called. Such as the number of parameters, and the type of
each parameter.
• This is the information needed to write a subroutine call
statement that can be successfully compiled.
int smallest;
int x;
int y;
int z;
if (x <= y && x <= z) {
return x;
}
else if
(y <= x && y <= z) {
return y;
}
else return z;
}
Parameters
Sub-routine
Functions
Parameters
PUBLIC CLASS SUB {
PUBLIC STATIC VOID MAIN (STRING[] ARGS){
Sub-routine
INT NUMBEROFSTARS=5;
Functions
FOR (INT I = 0; I < NUMBEROFSTARS; I++) {
SYSTEM.OUT.PRINT('*');
}
SYSTEM.OUT.PRINTLN();
}
}