IAD1193

Problem Solving Methods

Class 01
Your Instructor
2
• Faudzi bin Ahmad
• Phone Number / Whatsapp: 019 643 2511
• Email Address: [email protected]
• Facebook: Search by my email address / Faudzi Purd Ahmad
• Twitter (@faudzipurd), IG (faudzi.purd.ahmad), TikTok
(viktor_ahmadeyev)
• Office: 2nd Floor, FCVAC (1st wing near the toilet and staircase)
Your course 3
• Midterm Exam – 20
• Assignments – 40
• Final Exam: 40 (written exam)
• 3 hours
Requirements in my class 4
• You are in my class to learn, therefore, the ground rules are…
• A class is a formal area, so …
• Come early
• Dress nicely (shoes! SHOES! SHOESSS!!!)
• If you have million-dollar business and need to conduct it, do it elsewhere (that
includes phone calls or social networking)
• You may stop me anytime to ask questions … and when I do ask you questions,
please do your best to answer
Program Design 5
• Programming is an art
• Do you need to be good at mathematics to do programming?
• Given the right tools (including the right mindset and logical thinking),
following the right steps, anyone can write well-designed programs
• It is definitely a task worth doing, as it is both stimulating and fulfilling
• So what is programming?
• Development of a solution to an identified problem
• Setting up a related series of instructions that when directed through computer
hardware produce the desired result
 6
• The first part of the definition that satisfies the programmer’s creative needs –
design a solution to an identified problem
• This step is so often overlooked
• Programmers tend to jump straight to into the coding phase without first
designing a proper solution
• This usually results in a program that contains many errors – when this happens,
programmers will spend a significant amount of time trying to find the errors and
correcting them
• Therefore, a good practise is to design a solution to the program first BEFORE
embarking into the coding part of the program
• Dry run through the solution to check on the correctness of the design
• Once satisfied, program it into a computer using the programming language of choice
The 7 basic steps in program development 7
• Define the problem
• Outline the solution
• Develop the outline into an algorithm
• Test the algorithm for correctness
• Code the algorithm into a specific programming language
• Run the program
• Document and maintain the program
Define the problem 8
• Involves carefully reading and rereading the problem until you understand
completely what is required
• With this initial analysis the problem should be divided into THREE separate
components
• what are the inputs?
• what are the desired outputs?
• what are the processes or steps required to produce the desired outputs?
Outline the solution 9
• Once you have defined the problem you may decide to break it down into
smaller tasks or steps and establish a solution outline
• It is a rough draft of the solution and may include
• the major processing steps involved
• the major subtasks (if any)
• the user interface (if any)
• the major control structures (decisions, loops, etc)
• the major variables and record structures
• the mainline logic
Develop the outline into an algorithm 10
• The solution outlined beforehand is expanded into an algorithm – a set of
precise steps that describe exactly the tasks to be performed and the order in
which they are to be carried out
• One of the ways to achieve this is by using a pseudocode – a form of structured
English to represent the solution algorithm
• Flowcharts can be used to represent the algorithm in a pictorial / visual
representation
Test the algorithm for correctness 11
• This step is one of the most important in the development of a program but
almost always sidelined by programmers
• The main purpose of checking the correctness of the algorithm (sometimes
called as dry run) is to identify major logic errors early so that they may be
easily corrected
• Test data needs to be walked through each step in the algorithm to ensure that
the instructions written actually do what they are supposed to do
• The programmer ‘walks through’ the logic of the algorithm exactly as a
computer would by keeping track of all major variables on paper
• You may use a desk check table for this purpose
Code the algorithm – run the program 12
• When you are satisfied with the correctness of your algorithm, you can then start
coding the algorithm into a proper program by using the programming language
of your choice
• Running a program uses a program compiler and programmer-designed test data
to machine test the code for
• syntax error – detected at compile time
• logic error – detected at run time
• This is usually the most rewarding step in program development process
• If the program has been well designed, the time-wasting frustration and despair
often associated with program testing are reduced to a minimum
• This step may need to be performed several times until you are satisfied that the
program is running as required and coming up with the desired output
Document and maintain the program 13
• This is actually not the last step because this is done throughout the other steps of
the program design
• Documentation includes both external documentation and internal documentation
• External – can include the solution algorithm, the test data results etc.
• Internal – embedded within the computer program itself
• Program maintenance refers to changes that may need to be made to a program
throughout its life cycle
• It may be done by a different programmer
• The documentation may aid another programmer in maintaining the current program
which will make life extremely easier as compared to trying to maintain a program
without any documentation – reading a computer program is definitely
DAUNTING!!!!
Program design methodology 14
• Fundamental principle of program design is based on the fact that a program
accepts input data, process the data, deliver the output
• INPUT  PROCESS  OUTPUT
• A number of different approaches to program design have emerged and the
most common are:
• procedure-driven (structured programming)
• event-driven
• data-driven (object-oriented programming)
Procedure-driven program design 15
• Based on the idea that the most important feature of a program is what it does
– its processes or functions
• Programmer identifies and organises the processes in the program solution
• The flow of data into and out of each process or function is then considered
and a strategy developed to break each function into smaller and more specific
flows of data
• The details about the actual structure of the data are not considered until all
the high-level processes or functions of the program have been identified
Event-driven program design 16
• Based on the idea that an event or interaction with the outside world can
cause a program to change from one known state to another
• The initial state of a program is identified then all the triggers that represent
valid events for that state are established
• Each of these events results in the program changing to a new defined state
where it stays until the next event occurs
Data-driven program design 17
• Based on the idea that the data in a program is more stable than the processes
involved
• It begins with an analysis of the data and the relationships between the data in
order to determine the fundamental data structures
• Once these data structures have been defined, the required data outputs are
examined in order to establish what processes are required to convert the
input data into the required output
So? What then? 18
• The choice between procedure-driven, event-driven or data-driven program
design methodologies is usually determined by the selection of a programming
language
• Most legacy programming languages like Fortran and Pascal are procedure-
driven
• Current programming languages like Java, C# can be procedure-driven or
mostly used as data-driven
• Systems that use visual interface like Visual C# or Visual Java with buttons and
such can include all procedure-driven, data-driven and event-driven
The end for this session
We shall continue