[Year 12 SofDev] Pseudocode standards

[Mark KELLY]

Hi Claudia and all

Is there any news on what pseudocode we can expect to be "standard" in SD
exams?  Until recently there wasn't even a FOR structure in pseudocode, but
it's there now (Q4 in the sample questions) - a good move.
What other structures and syntaxes does VCAA consider appropriate?

Just as the lack of complex structures in flowcharts result in primitive and
bulky representations of design, a pseudocode lacking important programming
primitives must hamstring the potential of pseudocode-based questions.
I suggest we need some more powerful data and control structures in our
pseudocode that better reflect the standards seen in all modern languages.
The exact naming is neither here nor there as long as they're intelligible
to everyone...

= for assignment.  Why do we persist with  <- when it's not used in any
language and is so hard to typeset for printing??

IF-ELSEIF-ELSE-ENDIF (including AND/OR as logical operators)

The three basic loops...
FOR-NEXT
DO-WHILE
LOOP-UNTIL (or REPEAT-UNTIL like last year's exam had)

I'd like pseudocode to be able to declare variables and arrays.  It's a
vital programming concept...
DECLARE var AS type
DECLARE array(a,b) AS type

Add some decent I/O operators...
INPUT (from keyboard) and READ (from a file)
DISPLAY (onscreen), WRITE (to file) and PRINT (to paper)
OPEN - CLOSE text file
MESSAGEBOX  - hell, our language has to be GUI but there's no GUI support in
the pseudocode.

One major omission in current pseudocode is the concept of modularity: I've
never seen a subprogram or function call.
We could really improve the power and reality of algorithms by allowing
modularity with
CALL subprogram(parameters)
SUBPROGRAM(parameters)-END SUBPROGRAM
FUNCTION(parameters)-END FUNCTION (with RETURN value)

And if the examiners want to introduce new functions all they have to do is
explain them before using them. It's not too hard.

Have I left out any important programming concepts you think we could use in
pseudocode?

-- 
Mark Kelly
Manager of ICT, Reporting, IT Learning Area
McKinnon Secondary College
McKinnon Rd McKinnon 3204, Victoria, Australia
Direct line / Voicemail: +613 8520 9085, Fax +613 9578 9253
kel at mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
VCE IT Lecture Notes: http://vceit.com
Moderator: IT Applications Edulist

Want a good time? Call 0112358. Ask for Mr Fibonacci.
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