PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT
CYCLE AND PROBLEM-
SOLVING TECHNIQUES
CPEN21A PROGRAMMING LOGIC AND DESIGN
PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT CYCLE
• Program Development Life Cycle (PDLC) is a systematic way
of developing quality software.
• It provides an organized plan for breaking down the task of
program development into manageable chunks, each of
which must be completed before moving on to the next
phase.
PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT CYCLE
1. Understand the problem
2. Plan the logic
3. Code the program
4. Use software (compiler or interpreter) to translate the program
into machine language
5. Test the program
6. Put the program into production
7. Maintain the program
Understanding the Problem
Professional computer programmers write programs to
satisfy the needs of others, called users or end users.
When you plan a program, you think of the output first.
After you understand what the desired result is, you can
plan what to input and process to achieve it.
Does the director want a list of full-time employees
“Our department
only, or a list of full- and part-time employees
needs a list of all
together?
employees who
Does the director want people who have worked for
have been here the company on a month-to-month contractual basis
over five years, over the past five years, or only regular, permanent
employees?
because we want
to invite them to a Do the listed employees need to have worked for the
organization for five years as of today, as of the date
special thank-you
of the dinner, or as of some other cutoff date?
dinner.”
What about an employee who, for example, worked
three years, took a two-year leave of absence, and
has been back for three years?
“Our department
The user (HR director) must address these questions:
needs a list of all
employees who What data should be included for each listed
have been here employee? Should the list contain both first and
last names? Social Security numbers? Phone
over five years,
numbers? Addresses?
because we want
Should the list be in alphabetical order? Employee
to invite them to a
ID number order? Length-of-service order? Some
special thank-you
other order?
dinner.”
Should the employees be grouped by any criteria,
such as department number or years of service?
Documentation
Documentation consists of all the supporting paperwork
for a program; it might include items such as original
requests for the program from users, sample output, and
descriptions of the data items available for input.
Planning the Logic
During this phase of the process, the programmer plans the steps of
the program, deciding what steps to include and how to order them.
The two most common planning tools are flowcharts and
pseudocode.
The process of walking through a program’s logic on paper before
you actually write the program is called desk-checking.
ALGORITHM
• An algorithm is a sequence of steps to solve a particular problem or
an ordered set of unambiguous steps that produces a result and
terminates in a finite time.
• The word “algorithm” relates to the name of the mathematician Al-
Khwarizmi, which means a procedure or a technique.
CHARACTERISTICS OF AN ALGORITHM
• Algorithm has the following characteristics:
o Input: An algorithm may or may not require input.
o Output: Each algorithm is expected to produce at least one result.
o Definiteness: Each instruction must be clear and unambiguous.
o Finiteness: If the instructions of an algorithm are executed, the
algorithm should terminate after finite number of steps.
Coding the Program
Programmers choose particular languages because some have built-in
capabilities that make them more efficient than others at handling
certain types of operations.
Only after choosing a language must the programmer be concerned
with proper punctuation and the correct spelling of commands—in
other words, using the correct syntax.
Using Software to Translate the Program
into Machine Language
Each computer knows only one language: its machine language,
which consists of 1s and 0s.
Syntax error is a misuse of a language’s grammar rules.
Data that the
program uses
If there are no
syntax errors
Write and correct Compile the Executable
the program code program program
If there are
syntax errors
List of
syntax Program
error output
message
Figure 1-2 Creating an executable program
Testing the Program
A logical error results when you use a syntactically correct statement
but use the wrong one for the current context.
Once a program is free of syntax errors, the programmer can test it—
that is, execute it with some sample data to see whether the results are
logically correct.
If you execute the program, provide the
input myNumber value 2 as input to the program, and the
answer 4 is displayed, you have executed
set myAnswer = myNumber * 2
one successful test run of the program.
output myAnswer
However, if the answer 40 is displayed, maybe the program contains a logical error.
input myNumber The programmer typed “20”
set myAnswer = myNumber * 20 instead of “2”.
output myAnswer
The process of finding and correcting program errors is called debugging.
Putting the Program into Production
Once the program is tested adequately, it is ready for the organization
to use.
The process might take months if the program will be run on a regular
basis, or if it is one of a large system of programs being developed.
Conversion is the entire set of actions an organization must take to
switch over to using a new program or set of programs, can sometimes
take months or years to accomplish.
Maintaining the Program
After programs are put into production, making necessary changes is
called maintenance.
When you make changes to existing programs, you repeat the
development cycle.
Using Pseudocode Statements and
Flowchart Symbols
Pseudocode Flowchart
An English-like representation of the A pictorial representation of the same
logical steps it takes to solve a thing.
problem.
Pseudo is a prefix that means “false,”
and to code a program means to put
it in a programming language;
therefore, pseudocode simply means
“false code.”
Writing Pseudocode
Using pseudocode involves writing down
all the steps you will use in a program. start
input myNumber
set myAnswer = myNumber * 2
Pseudocode is fairly flexible because it is output myAnswer
stop
a planning tool, and not the final
product.
Writing Pseudocode
start, stop begin, end
get myNumber
input myNumber
read myNumber
calculate myAnswer = myNumber times 2
set myAnswer = myNumber * 2
compute myAnswer as myNumber doubled
display myAnswer
output myAnswer print myAnswer
write myAnswer
Drawing Flowcharts
Flowcharts allow programmers to
visualize more easily how the program
statements will connect.
Flowcharts are an excellent tool to help
them visualize how the statements in a
program are interrelated. Print Sum
Using the number-doubling program
set myAnswer = output myAnswer
input myNumber
myNumber * 2
Input symbol Processing symbol Output symbol
• Indicates an input • Rectangle is used as the • Output statement, use the
operation. processing symbol. same symbol as for input
statements.
• You write an input • It contains a processing
statement in English inside statement.
the parallelogram.
• Arithmetic operation
statements are examples
of processing
Use arrows, or flowlines, to connect the
steps and show the correct sequence of
these statements.
Most of a flowchart should read from top
to bottom or from left to right on a page.
Terminal symbols, or start/stop symbols
start are used in the beginning and end of the
flowchart.
stop
start
Flowchart Pseudocode
input myNumber
start
input myNumber
set myAnswer = set myAnswer = myNumber * 2
myNumber * 2
output myAnswer
stop
output myAnswer
stop
start
input myNumber
set myAnswer = myNumber * 2
output myAnswer
input myNumber
set myAnswer = myNumber * 2
output myAnswer
input myNumber
set myAnswer = myNumber * 2
output myAnswer You would never want to write
…and so on for 9,997 more times such a repetitious list of
instructions.
Figure 1-7 Inefficient pseudocode for program that doubles 10,000 numbers
Figure 1-8 Flowchart of infinite number-doubling program
You represent a decision in a flowchart
by drawing a decision symbol, which is
shaped like a diamond.
myNumber = 0?
The diamond usually contains a question,
the answer to which is one of two
mutually exclusive options—often yes or
no.
start
This logic is not structured.
input myNumber
Yes
myNumber = 0? stop
No
set myAnswer =
myNumber * 2
output myAnswer
Figure 1-9 Flowchart of number-doubling program with sentinel value of 0
Print Loss Print Profit
