Topic 5 of 8 · Form 1
Algorithm design and problem-solving
Analysis, design, coding and testing.
Notes for this topic 1 file, in order
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The program development life cycle
Analysis, design, coding and testing.
Computational thinking
Abstraction (removing unnecessary detail), decomposition (breaking problems into smaller parts) and pattern recognition.
Representing algorithms
Structure diagrams, flowcharts and pseudocode.
Standard methods
Totalling, counting, finding maximum, minimum and average, linear search and bubble sort.
Worked example: Pseudocode to find the largest of 10 numbers.
Max ← -9999
FOR Count ← 1 TO 10
INPUT Num
IF Num > Max
THEN
Max ← Num
ENDIF
NEXT Count
OUTPUT Max
Validation and verification
Validation: range, length, type, presence, format and check digit checks. Verification: double entry and visual check.
Test data
Normal, abnormal (erroneous), extreme and boundary data.
Trace tables
Track variable values through an algorithm to find output and identify errors.
Check yourself
- What is abstraction?
- For a mark from 0 to 100, give one extreme and one abnormal value.
- Which standard algorithm compares adjacent items and swaps them?
Show answers
- Removing unnecessary details to focus on what is important.
- Extreme: 0 or 100; abnormal: −5, 150 or "ten".
- Bubble sort.
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