Lecture Transcript Notes

Introduction

• Lecturer: Ajay
• Topic: Programming Languages and Flowcharts
• Aim: Discuss and understand Flowcharts, problem-solving approaches in programming, and basic program creation.

Importance of Problem-Solving Skills

• Key Areas to Focus:
  • Problem Understanding
  • Identifying Given Values
  • Approach to Solution
  • Breaking Down Problems
  • Implementing Approach into Code
• Emphasis on understanding problem-solving and improving thought processes.

Steps to Solve a Problem

1. Understand the Problem: Identify what the problem is.
2. Identify Given Values: Verify given inputs/values.
3. Approach to Solution: Formulate an approach by breaking down the problem.
4. Implementing Approach: Write the program based on the approach.
5. Execution: Ensure the program runs and works correctly by converting it into a machine-understandable format if needed.

Flowcharts

• Definition: Diagrammatic representation of a solution approach.
• **Components: **
  • Start/End (Terminator): Indicates starting and ending points.
  • Process Box: Denotes processing steps or calculations.
  • Input/Output Box: Represents input and output operations (parallelogram shape).
  • Decision Box: Used for decision making (diamond shape).
  • Connectors: Shows the flow and connections between different parts.

Example: Adding Two Numbers

1. **Start: **Start point of the program
2. Read Values: Read number inputs (A, B)
3. Calculation: Add A and B (Sum = A + B)
4. Output: Print Sum
5. End: End point of the program

Example: Checking Even/Odd Number

1. Start: Start point of the program
2. Read Number: Read a number N
3. Check Condition: If N modulo 2 is 0 -> Even, Else -> Odd
4. Output: Print Even/Odd
5. End: End point of the program

Pseudo Code

• Definition: A way to express logic of the program in simple, readable terms.
• **Characteristics: **
  • General representation, not specific to any programming language
  • Easy to understand, written in plain English
• Example:
  • Problem: Adding Two Numbers

    Read A, B
    SUM = A + B
    Print SUM
  

Programming Language Overview

• Definition: A language to instruct computers to perform tasks.
• Importance: Needed to make the computer understand and execute tasks.
• Syntax and Semantics: Each programming language has its own set of rules (grammar).
• Translation Needs: Source code (written by a programmer) needs to be converted into machine code (binary) to be executed by a computer.
• Compiler Role: Translates source code to executable machine code.

Tasks/Examples

Task: Flowchart for Calculating Simple Interest

• Formula: SI = (P * R * T) / 100

1. Start: Starting point
2. Read P, R, T: Inputs principal, rate, and time
3. Calculate SI: Apply the formula to calculate simple interest
4. Output: Print SI
5. End: End point

Example: Printing Numbers from 1 to N

1. Start: Starting point
2. Read N: Input the end limit
3. Initialization: Initialize value (iteration start point)
4. Loop: Iterate from 1 to N and print each number
5. End: End point

Task: Check if Given Number is Prime

1. Start: Starting point
2. Read N: Input number
3. Prime Check: Loop from 2 to N-1, check if N is divisible by any number
4. Output: Print Prime/Not Prime
5. End: End point

Summary

• Flowcharts: Used to visualize the problem-solving process.
• Pseudo Code: Simplified, universal way to represent program logic.
• Programming: Use programming languages to instruct and perform tasks on computers.
• Compiler: Turns source code into machine-readable code.

**Tips: **

• Practice creating flowcharts for various problems
• Write pseudo code before actual programming
• Understand basic syntax and rules of the programming language you are using