Objectives

• Understand the benefits of solving problems and

modelling the real world using:
• Decomposition
• Abstraction

• Understand the benefits of using subprograms

Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

Starter
• Computer Science is about studying problems and
how to solve them
• Discuss some solutions to the following:
• How can you route pieces of information across a network to
the other side of the world?
• How can you make the images in a computer game look
more realistic?
• How can you program a computer to work out the
school timetable?
• How can you search 1,000,000 items quickly?
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

Starter
• The answers to these problems are too long to
write here – some aspects that you may have
considered in your discussions
• Some problems such as ‘how can you search 1,000,000 items
quickly?’ require a specific algorithm to be considered
• There may be many different algorithms that solve the
same problem
• Problems such as ‘How can you make the images in a computer
game look more realistic?’ need abstractions, where we
consider the important components of a realistic image
• Routing items of data around the world requires many different
protocols. This is a result of decomposing the problem into
smaller tasks
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

What is an algorithm?
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

Algorithms
• An algorithm is a set of instructions for solving a
problem or completing a task
• The task could be:
• Making a chocolate cake
• Summing the numbers 1 to 1000
• Building a Lego model
• Think of some more …
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

Strategies for problem-solving

• One strategy for solving a large problem is to first try
and solve a similar but smaller problem
• How do you set about doing a jigsaw puzzle?
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

Algorithmic thinking
• Solving these puzzles involves algorithmic thinking
• If you are using a computer to find the answer, you
have to figure out how to solve the problem, and
then write down the steps
• Not all solutions are equally efficient
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

Divide and conquer

• Here is a problem
• Ask a friend to think of a number between
1 and 1000
• Guess the number by asking: “Is the number greater
than n?” (where n is your guess)
• How many guesses will you need to find the number?
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

Worst case scenario

• Search for the number at the mid-point (500)
• If it’s the number we are searching for, then stop
• If it’s lower than 500, then search at the mid point of the lower
numbers (250)
• Otherwise, if it’s higher than 500, then search at the mid point
of the higher numbers (750)
• The worst case scenario for this algorithm would be
a search for numbers such as ‘1’ or ‘367’
• With this algorithm, any number can be guessed within
10 guesses
• 1 = 500,250,125,63,32,16,8,4,2,1
• 367 = 500,250,375,312,344,360,368,364,366,367
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

Worksheet 1
• Now complete Task 1 on Worksheet 1
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

Abstraction
• Abstraction involves removing unnecessary detail
from a problem so that you can focus on the
essential components
• The London Underground map is a good example
of abstraction
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

Modelling the real world

• We often build models that are
simplified versions of the
real world
• These will remove
unnecessary details
• What are the details that
have been removed in this
model house?
• What functionality may have
been built into the house?
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

Modelling the real world

• Some details removed from the model house
• House number
• Letterbox
• Internal wall paper

• Possible functionality built in

• Open/close doors
• Turn on/off lights
• Play sound effects

• When we create programs, functionality is

implemented using subprograms
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

Using abstraction
• Real world dice have many properties, such as their
temperature, size and curved edges
• When you write a program to play a game involving
dice with a computer, the
programmer needs to use
abstraction to remove
unnecessary details.
This models the
real world
• How does the program
‘roll the dice’?
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

Rolling dice
• When a computer rolls a dice we can use
abstraction to remove many unnecessary details
• It will depend on the problem being solved as to what is and
isn’t important
• A computer game may need to show a graphical
representation of a dice, but they may be able to abstract
away all the details about the surface it rolls onto and the
physics of the bounce
• Many programs just need a random number. In which case
they don’t need to worry about how the dice appears, its
weight or how the spots are arranged – they can just find a
random number with one line of programming code
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

Decomposition
• Decomposition involves breaking down a large
problem into smaller sub-problems
• Then the sub-problems can be broken down further
until each small task is manageable
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

Decomposing a dice game

• Suppose you want to create a dice game to be
played on the computer
• You need to think of the main tasks that need to be
performed – for example:
• Display the rules
• Establish whether this particular game is to be a two-player
game, or one person against the computer
• Display the ‘board’ if there is one
• Play the game
• Display the result when the game is over
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

Decomposition - advantages
• The problem becomes easier to solve when it
consists of a number of small subtasks
or subprograms
• Some subprograms may be reusable in other
programs, saving development time
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

Structure diagrams
• A structure diagram is used to show how a problem
is broken down
• It will show subtasks which accomplish an identifiable task
and their links to other subtasks
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

Benefits of subprograms
• In the dice program one subprogram might be
showResults()
• The code for this may be:
def showResults():
for result in resultsTable:
print(result)
• Another subprogram may be rollDice(6)
• A different programmer has developed this function. The
programmer just calls it to get a dice roll between 1 and 6
• What are the benefits of using subprograms?
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

Benefits of subprograms
• Subprograms can be reused many times in
a program
• There may be many times in the dice game that we need to
show the results. By using the subprogram displayResults()
the programmer can reuse this whenever they need to
• This reduces the amount of code needed

• Code will be easier to maintain and have fewer bugs

• It makes it easier to adapt the program – if displayResults() is
updated or a bug fixed then it would be fixed everywhere that
displayResults() is called
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

Worksheet 1
• Now complete Task 2, Task 3 and Task 4 on
Worksheet 1
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

Plenary
• With a partner define the following terms:
• Abstraction
• Decomposition
• Algorithm
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

Plenary
• Definitions
• Abstraction – removing unimportant parts of a problem in
order to concentrate on those that are important
• Decomposition – breaking down a problem into smaller more
manageable ones
• Algorithm – a sequence of steps that are followed to complete
a task
• Note that a computer program is an implementation of an
algorithm and that an algorithm is not a computer program
Decomposition and abstraction
Unit 1 Computational thinking

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