[Year 12 SofDev] Pseudocode standards

[Robert Hind]

Re: [Year 12 SofDev] Pseudocode standardsHi Andrew,

Love the "Nasty spiderman diagrams"! Haven't heard that one before.

About pseudocode in general: There have been so many changes since I first became involved in programming back in 1971 :-) Surely we do need a VCAA SofDev "style" or "expectation" so that teachers and students know what is expected in pseudocode at this level. Perhaps IT needs to take note of the Maths Study Designs that are quite specific.

Robert Hind (Semi-retired) OOF, GOM
Ashwood and Traralgon
robert at yinnar.com




  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Andrew Shortell 
  To: Year 12 Software Development Teachers' Mailing List 
  Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2011 3:05 PM
  Subject: Re: [Year 12 SofDev] Pseudocode standards


  Hi Mark

  Before we get too carried away with producing a complex definitive set of constructs I would like you (and everyone else too) to carefully read the examiners' reports since 1991 about the question(s) involving writing pseudo code or reading pseudo code and flowcharts and Nasty spiderman diagrams and match them up to the questions themselves.

  Then consider carefully the level at which these questions have had to be pitched to elicit a reasonable spread of results. (an average of 50% of the available marks is nice )

  One needs to carefully consider the purpose of VCE

  CATs/SACs/projects are very different to exams

  My 5c worth (given that the face value is nearly less than the metal in it!)

  Andrew
  -- 
  Andrew Shortell

  mailto:shortell at get2me.net 
  Heidelberg Teaching Unit
  Ph 9470 3403
  Fax  9470 3215



  On 18/05/11 11:16 AM, "Mark KELLY" <kel at mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au> wrote:


    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?


  -- 



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