Thinking Ahead

Thinking Ahead

1. Identifying the Inputs & Outputs for a problem.

   • The original problem needs to be simplified and broken down into key components.
     • When determining inputs and outputs, the Data Type, Structure of Data, Validation, Number of Arguments and any preconditions needs to be checked.

2. Identifying Preconditions

   • Some problems, when broken down into smaller sub-problems, have specific preconditions which must be met and abstracted.
   • It is very common for setting up the initial data structures to be a precondition.

3. Reusable Components

   • Programmers often use reusable components such as Procedures, Functions and Library Modules. This is because reusing code makes writing solutions far easier and more efficient.

4. Validation For Inputs

   • If invalid data is allowed into a module then bugs may occur which could crash the module or allow hackers to bypass security mechanisms.
   • Validation is a crucial consideration when defining an input.