Fundamentals of Programming

Fundamentals of Programming

1. Data Types

   • Most Common Data Types: • integer • real/float • Boolean • character • string • date/time • pointer/reference • records (or equivalent) • arrays (or equivalent).
   • Different Data Types are held differently in the computers memory
   • Variables declared as pointer or reference data types are used as stores for memory addresses of objects created at run time

2. An algorithm is a set of rules or a sequence of steps specifying how to solve a problem

   • Each algorithm has an input, a process and an output

3. Programming Concepts

   • Programming Constructs
     • There are 3 basic programming constructs
     • Sequence, Selection and Iteration
   • A sequence is two or more statements following one after the other
   • Assignment is when a value is assigned to a variable
   • Selection statements are used to select which statement will be executed next depending on a condition
   • Conditions are formulated using relational operators
   • Iteration is a loop of statements performed in a program
     • Indefinite Iterations is where the iterations continues until a specified condition is met
     • Definite Iteration is where the iteration happens for a prespecified number of times
   • A case statement is an alternative to a nested IF statement
   • A variable is an identifier which is given to a memory locations whose content may change over the course of a program
     • A constant is a variable whose content never changes
   • Exception handling routines specify what should happen if an error occurs that would normally crash the program

4. A subroutine is a block of code which performs a specific task within a program

5. A subroutine is recursive is it is define in terms of it self. I.E: It calls it self within the subroutine

   • A recursive subroutine must have: a stopping condition/base case, input values other than the stopping condition, the stopping condition to be reached after a finite number of calls