Objectives

• Understand and use data types: integer, real, char,

string and Boolean
• Declare and use constants and variables
• Use input, output and assignment statements
• Use arithmetic operators including MOD and DIV
• Use string handling functions
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

Starter
• What is a data type?
• How many can you name?

• An arithmetic operator is a symbol

that will perform an operation on numbers
• + is an example of an arithmetic operator
that uses two numbers, e.g. 5 + 2
• How many arithmetic operators can you name?
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

Starter
• What is a data type?
The kind of values that can be used in a data item
• How many can you name?
integer, real / float, char / character, string, Boolean
• An arithmetic operator is a symbol that will perform
an operation on numbers
• + is an example of an arithmetic operator that uses
two numbers, e.g. 5 + 2
• How many arithmetic operators can you name?
+, -, *, /, ^, MOD, DIV
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

IGCSE pseudo-code
• Throughout these lessons, computer code will be
written using IGCSE pseudo-code
• Sometimes the syntax may be different
or not possible in the programming
language you are studying
• Sometimes examples will
demonstrate a concept in a
real language – this will be
in Python unless
stated otherwise
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

Using variables in a program

• You have probably used variables in many different
ways in programs you have already written
numberOfStudents ← numberOfStudents + 1
circleArea ← 3.142 * radius^2
WHILE NOT found…
answer ← 'Y'
OUTPUT studentName
• What are the data types of each of the
above variables?
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

Data types
• Variables will typically be one of the following types:
• Integer, Boolean, real, char or string

• For the variables given, the data types would be:

• numberOfStudents Integer
• circleArea Real
• found Boolean
• answer Char
• studentName String
• The data type used will determine the amount of
memory that needs to be allocated for the variable
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

Definitions of data types

Typical amount of
Data type Type of data
memory
Whole number such as 156, 0 -
integer 2 bytes
54
Number with a fractional part
real 4 bytes
such as 1.5276, -68.4, 20.0
A single ASCII character such
char 1 byte
as A, b, 3, ! or space
Zero or more characters –
1 byte per character in the
string these are put inside quote
string
marks – e.g. "Thank you"
Theoretically just one bit,
Can only take the values True
Boolean but in high level languages
or False
often one byte
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

Declaring variables
• Before using variables they should be declared
• Declaring a variable gets it ready for use in the program
• The data type is given to the variable – the programming
language (compiler) can check that it is being used correctly
• Examples of declaring and using variables
DECLARE sidesInShape : INTEGER
DECLARE name : STRING
sidesInShape ← 4
Name ← "Jody"
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

Constants
• As well as variables, you can define constants
in a program
CONSTANT Pi ← 3.14157926535
CONSTANT VAT ← 0.2
CONSTANT MaxPlayers ← 6

• Constants are often shown in uppercase

• Words are separated with an underscore, e.g. MIN_AGE
• This is known as snake case

• Why declare a constant instead of a variable?

• Can a constant ever change its value?
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

Constants
• Why declare a constant instead of a variable?
• This prevents the value from being changed accidentally by a
part of code
• It shows a programmer that the value should stay the same
throughout the program
• Can a constant ever change its value?
• A constant cannot be changed when the program is running
• A constant can be changed by a programmer before the
program is compiled or translated
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

Input and output statements

• Most programs accept data from the user, process it
in some way, and output a result
OUTPUT "How many hours a night do you
sleep?"
INPUT hoursPerNight
hoursPerWeek ← hoursPerNight * 7
OUTPUT hoursPerWeek
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

INPUT statement
• In many high-level programming languages such as
Python, an input statement can have a prompt for
the user:
firstName = input("What is your name? ")
• This statement first displays the message “What is
your name?” and then waits for the user to enter
some text and press Enter
• The response is then assigned to the
variable firstName
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

Arithmetic operators
• The operators +, -, * and / are used for addition,
subtraction, multiplication and division
• ^ is used for an exponent (power of)

• The operator DIV is used for integer division, also

known as quotient
• MOD (modulus) is used to find the remainder when
dividing one integer by another
• What is the result of the following operations?
• weeks ← 31 DIV 7
• daysLeft ← 31 MOD 7
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

MOD and DIV

• weeks ← 31 DIV 7
• The variable weeks is assigned the value 4
• This is because 7 goes into 31 four times (remainder 3)

• daysLeft ← 31 MOD 7
• The variable daysLeft is assigned the value 3
• This is because the remainder after the division is 3
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

Orders of precedence
• Remember BIDMAS
• Brackets
• Indices
• Division
• Multiplication
• Addition
• Subtraction
• Calculate: x ← (5 – 2) + (16 – 6 / 2)
y ← 7 * 3 + 10 / 2
Are brackets needed in the first expression?
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

Worksheet 1
• Now complete Task 1 on Worksheet 1
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

Strings and numbers

• Strings and numbers used in calculations are
represented differently in binary
• The string "17" is represented in binary as
• 0011000100110111
• The integer 17 is held as in binary as
• 00010001
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

Inputting numeric variables

• Inputs from the user are strings
• Therefore if you are inputting an integer or real
number, you have to convert it before it can be used
in a calculation
• This doesn’t matter when writing pseudocode for IGCSE, but it
is important when writing in a real language such as Python
OUTPUT "Please enter number of tickets required: "
INPUT tickets

• In Python:
tickets = int(input("Please enter number of tickets required: "))

This converts the string input into an integer

Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

Concatenating strings
• Concatenating means joining together
• The + concatenate operator is used to join together strings
firstname ← "Rose"
surname ← "Chan"
fullname ← firstname + " " + surname
OUTPUT fullname
• What will be output?
• What will be output by the program?
x ← "6" + "3"
OUTPUT x
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

Concatenating strings
firstname ← "Rose"
surname ← "Chan"
fullname ← firstname + " " + surname
OUTPUT fullname
• What will be output? "Rose Chan"
• What will be output by the program
x ← "6" + "3"
OUTPUT x
"63"
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

String handling functions

Function Example Result
LENGTH(str) word ← "Algorithm" 9
OUTPUT LENGTH(word)
SUBSTRING(str, start, length) OUTPUT(word,3,6) "gorith"
LCASE(str) LCASE(word) algorithm
UCASE(str) UCASE(word) ALGORITHM

• What will be the values of a, b

and c below?
zooName ← "London Zoo"
a ← LEN(zooName)
b ← SUBSTRING(zooName,2,3)
c ← LCASE(zooName)
d ← UCASE(zooName)
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

String handling functions

Function Example Result
LENGTH(str) word ← "Algorithm" 9
OUTPUT LENGTH(word)
SUBSTRING(str, start, length) OUTPUT(word,3,6) "gorith"
LCASE(str) LCASE(word) algorithm
UCASE(str) UCASE(word) ALGORITHM

• What will be the values of a, b

and c below?
zooName ← "London Zoo"
a ← LEN(zooName) 10
b ← SUBSTRING(zooName,2,3) ond
c ← LCASE(zooName) london zoo
d ← UCASE(zooName) LONDON ZOO
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

Uppercase and lowercase

• In Python, a string can be converted to uppercase or
lowercase letters as follows:
phrase1 = "Good morning"
phrase2 = "HAPPY BIRTHDAY"
print(phrase1.upper()) #"GOOD MORNING"
print(phrase2.lower()) #"happy birthday"
• What is the output of the following program?
a ← "The quality of mercy is not strained."
b ← LENGTH(a) – 30
c ← SUBSTRING(a,1,b)
d ← SUBSTRING(c,1,LEN(c)-1)
OUTPUT d
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

String handling
• What is the output of the following program?
a ← "The quality of mercy is not strained."

b ← LENGTH(a) – 30 b ← 37 - 30
b ←7
c ← SUBSTRING(a,1,b)
c ← "The qua"
d ← SUBSTRING(c,1,LEN(c)-1)
d ← "The qu"

OUTPUT d "The qu"

Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

Using comments
• You should use comments in your programs:
• to describe the purpose of the program
• to state the author of the program
• to explain what the code does

• Pseudo-code comments start with a // symbol

• In Python, comments start with #
• In Java and C#, comments start with //
• In VB, comments start with '

• Comments are ignored when your program is

translated to machine code and executed
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

Worksheet 1
• Now complete Task 2 and Task 3 on Worksheet 1
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

Plenary
• In pairs give:
• 5 different data types
• 4 arithmetic operators
• 3 functions used for string operations
• 2 arithmetic operators used for integer division and remainder
• 1 concatenate operator
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

Plenary
• 5 different data types
• Integer, real / float, char / character, string, Boolean

• 4 arithmetic operators +, -, *, /, ^
• 3 functions used for string operations
• LENGTH(string), LCASE(string), UCASE(string),
SUBSTRING(string, start, length)
• 2 arithmetic operators used for integer division and
remainder
• DIV (integer division), MOD (remainder)

• 1 concatenate operator +
Data types and operations
Unit 9 Key programming concepts

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