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Program Development Life Cycle (PDLC) ArrayName [Position] <---- Value to be assigned

 Analysis (Requirements specification, Abstraction-eliminate Conditional Statements/SELECTION

unnecessary details, Decomposition-break problems into smaller IF-ELSE

subproblems)

 Design (Flowcharts, Pseudocodes, Flowcharts)

 Coding

 Testing(Trace tables)
CASE…OF…OTHERWISE…ENDCASE – Multiple conditions and
 Maintenance
corresponding consequences(SIMILAR TO IF-ELSE)
 Algorithm: Ordered steps to solve a problem

Note: IF-ELSE/ CASE OF are SELECTION

Loop Structures: (Also known as Iteration)

FOR…TO…NEXT : Count-Controlled Loop; Will run for a

determined/known amount of times

o Variable – Memory Location that stores data which changes

during execution of the program (due to user input) REPEAT… UNTIL : Post-condition Loop; Will run at least once till

o Constant – Memory Location that stores data that remains the same condition is satisfied; Verification is done after running code. Here,
during the execution of the program the Condition has to be TRUE to stop the loop.
Basic Data Types

 Integer – Whole Number e.g. 2; 8; 100

o Real – Decimal Number e.g. 7.00; 5.64

WHILE…DO…ENDWHILE – Pre-Condition Loop; May not ever run;
o Char – Single Character e.g. a; ‘Y’
Verification is done before running code. Here, the
o String – Sequence of Multiple Characters (Text) e.g. “ZEBA”
Condition has to be TRUE to continue the loop.
o Boolean – Only 2 Values e.g. True/False; Yes/No; 0/1

Input & Output

INPUT identifier/variable

OUTPUT variable, “Message”, ….

Standard methods used in algorithm:
Declaration of variable - A variable/constant can be declared by

the following manner

 Totalling : Totalling means keeping a total that values are added to.

Total ← 0
DECLARE [Variable Name] : [DATATYPE OF VARIABLE]
FOR pos ← 1 TO N
Array: It can store multiple values of same datatype under single
Total ← Total + ArrayName[pos]
name
NEXT pos
DECLARE [ARRAYNAME] : ARRAY [Lower Limit : Upper Limit ] OF

[DATATYPE]  Counting: Keeping a count of the number of times an action is

Assignment - Each variable is assigned using a left arrow.(Store) performed is another standard method.

VARIABLE_NAME <---- Value to be assigned

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PassCount ← 0 ENDIF

FOR Counter ← 1 TO LoopLimit  Bubble Sort: Iteratively compare and swap adjacent elements in a
INPUT Value list to sort them. Start from the first element and continue until the
IF Value > Range second-to-last element. After each pass, the last element is in its
THEN correct place. However, other elements may still be unsorted.

PassCount ← PassCount + 1 Repeat the process, excluding the last element, until only one
ENDIF element remains or no swaps are needed.

NEXT Counter FOR Pass ← 1 to Last-1

 Maximum, minimum and average : Finding the largest and FOR Position ← 1 to Last -1

smallest values in a list are two standard methods that are frequently IF Array[Position] > Array[Position + 1]

found in algorithms THEN

MaximumValue <--- ArrayName[1] Temp ← Array[Position]

MinimumValue <--- ArrayName[1] Array[Position] ← Array[Position + 1]

Maxpos  0 Array[Position + 1] ← Temp

Minpos  0 ENDIF

FOR Position ← 2 TO END NEXT Position

IF ArrayName[Position] > MaximumValue NEXT Pass

THEN Test Data-It refers to input values that helps identify errors and

MaximumValue ← ArrayName[Position] assess how the program handles different scenarios

Maxpos  Position Normal Data

 Normal data is the test data which accepts values in acceptable
ENDIF
range of values of the program
IF ArrayName[Position] < MinimumValue

THEN
 e.g. in a program where only whole number values ranging from 0 to

100 (inclusive) are accepted, normal test data will be : 23, 54, 64 , 2
MinimumValue ← ArrayName[Position]
and 100
Minpos  Position
Abnormal Data
ENDIF
 Test data that would be rejected by the solution as not suitable, if
NEXT Position
the solution is working properly is called abnormal test data /
 Linear Search: In a linear search, each item in the list is inspected
erroneous test data.
sequentially until a match is found or the entire list is traversed.
 e.g. in a program where only whole number values ranging from 0 to
INPUT Value
100 (inclusive) are accepted, abnormal data will be: -1, 151, 200,
Sepos  0
67.2, “Sixty-Two” and -520
FOR Position  1 to LAST
Extreme Data
IF Value = ArrayName[Position] THEN  Extreme data are the largest and smallest values that are

Sepos  Position accepted.

ENDIF  e.g. in a program where only whole number values ranging from 0 to
NEXT Position 100 (inclusive) are accepted, extreme data will be: 0 and 100
IF Sepos <> 0 Boundary Data
THEN  At each boundary two values are required: one value is

OUTPUT Value , " found at position " , Sepos, " in the list." accepted and the other value is rejected.

ELSE

OUTPUT Value , " not found."

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 e.g. in a program where only whole number values ranging from 0 to

OPENFILE “filename.txt” FOR READ/WRITE
100 (inclusive) are accepted, one example of boundary data will be: CLOSEFILE “filename.txt”

100 and 101. 100 will be accepted and 101 will not be accepted. Writing in a file:

WRITEFILE “filename.txt”, line

 A trace table is utilized to document the outcomes of every step in
Reading a file:
an algorithm. It is employed to record the variable's value each time
READFILE “filename.txt”, line
it undergoes a change.
Library Routines
 A dry run refers to the manual process of systematically executing

an algorithm by following each step in sequence..

 Library routines are pre-tested and ready for use subroutines,

making programming tasks easier.

 Rules: First line is for initialization; Every input/output takes
 Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) typically include a
you to the next line.
standard library of functions and procedures.
Validation (REPEAT….UNTIL)

Validation in computer systems involves automated checks to  Standard library routines perform various tasks, including string

ensure that data is reasonable and within bounds. handling.

 MOD – returns the remainder of a division

 Range check-A range check verifies that a numerical

value falls within specified upper and lower limits.  DIV – returns the quotient (i.e. the whole number part) of a division

 Length check-This can either ensure that data consists of  ROUND – returns a value rounded to a given number of decimal

a precise number of characters. places

 Type check-A type check verifies that the entered data  RANDOM – returns a random number.

corresponds to a specific data type. Examples:

 Presence check-A presence check checks to ensure that  Value1 <--- MOD(10,3) returns the remainder of 10 divided by 3

some data has been entered and the value has not been  Value2 <---- DIV(10,3) returns the quotient of 10 divided by 3

left blank  Value3 <--- ROUND(6.97354, 2) returns the value rounded to 2

 Format Check-A format check checks that the characters decimal places

entered conform to a pre-defined pattern LIKE  Value4 <--- RANDOM() returns a random number between 0 and 1

DD/MM/YYYY etc inclusive

Verification Creating a Maintainable Program

Verification is checking that data has been accurately copied from A maintainable program should:

one source to another

 use meaningful identifiers

There are 2 methods to verify data during entry.

 use subroutines-procedures and functions
1. Double Entry-Data is inputted twice, potentially by different
 have comments. Comments are written using // in pseudocode.
operators.
String Handling
2. Screen/Visual check-A screen/visual check involves the user
 In IGCSE Computer Science, you will need to write algorithms and
manually reviewing the entered data.
programs for the following string methods:
File Handling
o Length: Determines the number of characters in a string, including
Key point: When writing/storing in a file, the program is
spaces.
outputting the data to the file, and when reading a file, the
 Finding the length of a string: LENGTH(String variable
program in inputting the data from the file
or String)
There are 3 ways a file can be opened in a program i.e. to write, to

read and to append  Example 1: LENGTH(“Computer”) returns 8

Opening and Closing a file:

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 Example 2: Purpose To execute a To execute a sequence of

sequence of statements and return a
X <- “Computer” statements. result.
Return Does not return a Returns a single value.
Y <- LENGTH(X) Value value.
Call Can be called by its Can be called by its name
OUTPUT (Y) name. and used in expressions.
Impact on Can modify global Can modify global variables,
o Substring: Extracts a portion of a string. Variables variables. but primarily used to return
a value.
 Extracting a substring from a string:  When defining procedures and functions, the header is the first

SUBSTRING(Variable, Position, Length) statement in the definition.

 Example:  The header includes: the name of the procedure or function,

 SUBSTRING("Computer Science", 10, 7) parameters passed to the procedure or function, along with their

data types, and the data type of the return value for a function.
 // returns the next 7 values starting from the 10th value of
Local and Global Variable
the string "Computer Science" i.e. "Science"

o Upper: Converts all letters in a string to uppercase.

 Any part of a program can use a global variable – its scope covers

the whole program

 UCASE("Text here")

 UCASE(Variable)  A local variable can only be used by the part of the program it is

declared in – its scope is restricted to that part of the program.

 Lower: Converts all letters in a string to lowercase.

 LCASE("Text here")  SQL:

 LCASE(Variable)

Subroutines

A piece of code / a module that is written once and can be called

multiple times.

Advantages of subroutines:

 Programs become easier to read, understand and

 LOGIC GATES:
maintain.

 Easy to test subroutines separately.

 Code reuse.

 Can be called with different sets of data.

Procedures and Functions

Functions can be called as:

variable  FuncName(value1, value2,…)

Feature Procedure Function

Definition A block of code that A block of code that
performs a task. performs a task and returns
a value.