Programming Logic and Design

Ninth Edition

Chapter 1
An Overview of Computers and
Programming

Programming Logic and Design, Ninth Edition 1

 Objectives
In this chapter, you will learn about:
• Computer systems
• Simple program logic
• The steps involved in the program development cycle
• Pseudocode statements and flowchart symbols
• Using a sentinel value to end a program
• Programming and user environments
• The evolution of programming models

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 Understanding Computer Systems
• Computer system
– Combination of all the components required to process
and store data using a computer
• Hardware
– Equipment associated with a computer
• Software
– Computer instructions that tells the hardware what to do
– Programs
• Instructions written by programmers
– Programming
• Writing software instructions

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Understanding Computer Systems (continued -1)

– Application software such as word processing,

spreadsheets, payroll and inventory, even games, app
– System software such as operating systems like Windows,
Linux, or UNIX, Google Android and Apple IOS
• Computer hardware and software accomplish three
major operations
– Input
• Data items such as text, numbers, images, and sound
– Processing
• Calculations and comparisons performed by the central processing
unit (CPU)

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Understanding Computer Systems (continued -2)

– Output
• Resulting information that is sent to a printer,
a monitor, or storage devices after processing
• A cloud based device is accessed through the Internet
• Programming language
– Used to write computer instructions called program code
– Writing instructions is called coding the program
– Examples
• Visual Basic, C#, C++, or Java
• Syntax
– Rules governing word usage and punctuation
– Mistakes in a language’s usage are syntax errors
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 Understanding Computer Systems (continued -3)

• Computer memory
– Computer’s temporary, internal storage – random access memory (RAM)
– Volatile memory – lost when the power is off
• Permanent storage devices
– Nonvolatile memory
• Compiler or interpreter
– Translates source code into machine language (binary language)
statements called object code
– Checks for syntax errors
• Program executes or runs
– Input will be accepted, some processing will occur, and results will be
output

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 Understanding Simple Program Logic
• Programs with syntax errors cannot execute
• Logical errors
– Errors in program logic produce incorrect output
• Logic of the computer program
– Sequence of specific instructions in specific order
• Variable
– Named memory location whose value can vary

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 Understanding the Program
Development Cycle
• Program development cycle
– Understand the problem
– Plan the logic
– Code the program
– Use software (a compiler or interpreter) to translate the
program into machine language
– Test the program
– Put the program into production
– Maintain the program

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 Understanding the Program
Development Cycle (continued -1)

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 Understanding the Problem
• One of the most difficult aspects of programming
• Users or end users
– People for whom a program is written
• Documentation
– All supporting paperwork for a program

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 Planning the Logic
• Plan the steps of the program and what they include
• An algorithm is the sequence of steps or rules you
follow to solve a problem
• Most common planning tools
– Flowcharts
– Pseudocode
• Desk-checking
– Walking through a program’s logic on paper before you
actually write the program

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 Coding the Program
• Hundreds of programming languages available
– Choose based on features
– Similar in their basic capabilities
• Coding is easier than the planning step
• Experienced programmers can successfully combine
logic planning and program coding in one step

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 Using Software to Translate the
Program into Machine Language
• Translator program
– Compiler or interpreter
– Changes the programmer’s English-like high-level
programming language into the low-level machine
language
• Syntax error
– Misuse of a language’s grammar rules
– Programmer corrects listed syntax errors
– Might need to recompile the code several times

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Using Software to Translate the Program
into Machine Language (continued -1)

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 Testing the Program
• Logical error
– Results when a syntactically correct statement, but the
wrong one for the current context, is used
• Test
– Execute the program with some sample data to see
whether the results are logically correct
• Debugging is the process of finding and correcting
program errors
• Programs should be tested with many sets of data

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 Putting the Program into Production
• Process depends on program’s purpose
– May take several months
• Conversion
– The entire set of actions an organization must take to
switch over to using a new program or set of programs

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 Maintaining the Program
• Maintenance
– Making changes after the program is put into production
• Common first programming job
– Maintaining previously written programs
• Make changes to existing programs
– Repeat the development cycle

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 Using Pseudocode Statements
and Flowchart Symbols
• Pseudocode
– English-like representation of the logical steps it takes to
solve a problem
• Flowchart
– Pictorial representation of the logical steps it takes to solve
a problem

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 Writing Pseudocode
• Pseudocode representation of a number-doubling
problem
start
input myNumber
set myAnswer = myNumber * 2
output myAnswer
stop

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 Pseudocode Standards
• Programs begin with the word start and end with the
word stop; these two words are always aligned
• Whenever a module name is used, it is followed by a
set of parentheses
• Modules begin with the module name and end with
return. The module name and return are always
aligned
• Each program statement performs one action—for
example, input, processing, or output

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 Pseudocode Standards (continued -1)

• Program statements are indented a few spaces more

than the word start or the module name
• Each program statement appears on a single line if
possible. When this is not possible, continuation
lines are indented
• Program statements begin with lowercase letters
• No punctuation is used to end statements

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 Drawing Flowcharts
• Create a flowchart
– Draw geometric shapes that contain the individual
statements
– Connect shapes with arrows
• Input symbol
– Indicates input operation
– Parallelogram
• Processing symbol
– Contains processing statements
such as arithmetic
– Rectangle
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 Drawing Flowcharts (continued -1)

• Output symbol
– Represents output statements
– Parallelogram
• Flowlines
– Arrows that connect steps
• Terminal symbols
– Start/stop symbols
– Shaped like a racetrack
– Also called lozenges

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 Drawing Flowcharts (continued -2)

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 Repeating Instructions
• Program in Figure 1-7 only works for one number
• Not feasible to run the program over and over
10,000 times
• Not feasible to add 10,000 lines of code to a
program
• Create a loop (repetition of a series of steps) instead
• Avoid an infinite loop (repeating flow of logic that
never ends)

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 Repeating Instructions (continued -1)

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 Repeating Instructions (continued -2)

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 Using a Sentinel Value to End
a Program
• Making a decision
– Testing a value
– Decision symbol
• Diamond shape
• Dummy value
– Data-entry value that the user will never need
– Sentinel value
• eof (“end of file”)
– Marker at the end of a file that automatically acts as a
sentinel

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 Using a Sentinel Value to End
a Program (continued -1)

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 Understanding Programming
and User Environments
• Understanding Programming Environments
– Text Editor is used to create simple text files
– Integrated development environment (IDE) provides an
editor, compiler, and other programming tools
• Microsoft Visual Studio IDE
• Understanding User Environments
– Command line is a location on your computer screen at
which you type text entries to communicate with the
computer’s operating system
– A graphical user interface, or GUI (pronounced gooey),
allows users to interact with a program in a graphical
environment
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 Understanding Programming
Environments

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 Understanding Programming
Environments (continued -1)

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 Understanding User Environments

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Understanding User Environments (continued -1)

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 Understanding the Evolution
of Programming Models
• People have been writing modern computer
programs since the 1940s
• Newer programming languages
– Look much more like natural language
– Are easier to use
– Create self-contained modules or program segments that
can be pieced together in a variety of ways

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 Understanding the Evolution
of Programming Models (continued -1)

• Major models or paradigms used by programmers

– Procedural programming
• Focuses on the procedures that programmers
create
– Object-oriented programming
• Focuses on objects, or “things,” and describes
their features (or attributes) and their
behaviors

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 Summary
• Hardware and software accomplish input,
processing, and output
• Logic must be developed correctly
• Logical errors are much more difficult to locate than
syntax errors
• Use flowcharts and pseudocode to plan the logic
• Avoid infinite loops by testing for a sentinel value
• Use a text editor or an IDE to enter your program
statements

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