CSC 120

LECTURE 1
Problem solving

ZUBAIR ADAM
EKOUNIVERSITY OF MEDICINE AND HEALTH SCEINCE, IJANIKIN LAGOS
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 Computers as a problem solving tool

Problem Solving is the sequential process of

analyzing information related to a given situation
and generating appropriate response options.
 Computer science is all about solving problems
with computers (regardless of the area of study).
 Real-world or abstract world problems can be
tackled with computer science.
 We need to have a standard systematic approach 2
to solving problems.
Systematic approach to solving problems

Understand the Problem

1. Understand the Problem
2. Formulate a Model Formulate a Model

3. Develop an Algorithm Develop an Algorithm

4. Write the Program Write the Program

5. Test the Program Test the Program

6. Evaluate the Solution Evaluate the Solution

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 A problem scenario

 Consider a simple example of how the

input/process/output works on a simple problem
which requires calculating the average grade for
all students in a class.
1. Input: Get all the grades … perhaps by typing them
in via the keyboard or by reading them from a USB
flash drive or hard disk.
2. Process: add them all up and compute the average
grade.
3. Output: Output the answer to either the monitor, to
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the printer, to the USB flash drive or hard disk …
 Understand the Problem

 The first step to solving any problem is to make sure that you understand the
problem that you are trying to solve. One needs to know:
1. What input data/information is available?
2. What does it represent?
3. What format is it in?
4. Is anything missing?
5. Do I have everything that I need?
6. What output information am I trying to produce?
7. What do I want the result to look like text, a picture, a graph?
8. What am I going to have to compute?
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 Understand the Problem

 In our example, we well understand that the input is a bunch of grades. But we need to understand the
format of the grades.
 Each grade might be a number from 0 to 100 or it may be a letter grade from A+ to F. If it is a number, the
grade might be a whole integer like 73 or it may be a real number like 73.42.
 We need to understand the format of the grades in order to solve the problem.
 We also need to consider missing grades. What if we do not have the grade for every student (e.g., some
were away during the test) ? Do we want to be able to include that person in our average (i.e., they received
0) or ignore them when computing the average ?
 We also need to understand what the output should be. Again, there is a formatting issue. Should we output a
whole or real number or a letter grade ? Maybe we want to display a pie chart with the average grade. It is
our choice.
 Finally, we should understand the kind of processing that needs to be performed on the data. This leads to
the next step 6
 Formulate a model

 Now we need to understand the processing part of the problem.

 To achieve that we break down the problem into smaller problems that require some
kind of simple mathematical computations to process the data.
 In our example, we are going to compute the average of the incoming grades. So, we
need to know the model (or formula) for computing the average of a bunch of
numbers. If there is no such “formula”, we need to develop one
 Assuming that the input data is a bunch of integers or real numbers x1,x2,…,xn
representing a grade percentage, we can use the following computational model:
Average = (x1 + x2 + x3 + … + xn) / n where the result will be a number from 0 to
100. 7
 Develop an Algorithm

 Now that we understand the problem and have formulated a model, it is time to come
up with a precise plan of what we want the computer to do.
 An algorithm is a precise sequence of instructions for solving a problem.
 To develop an algorithm, we need to represent the instructions in some way that is
understandable to a person who is trying to figure out the steps involved. Two
commonly used representations for an algorithm is by using
 Pseudo code, or
 Flow charts.
 Pseudocode is a simple and concise sequence of English-like instructions to solve a
problem
 Flowchart is simply a graphical representation of steps in sequential order and is 8
 Flowchart
ANSI/ISO Shape Name Decription

Shows the process's order of operation. A line coming from one symbol and
Flowline
pointing at another. Arrowheads are added if the flow is not the standard top-
(Arrowhead)
to-bottom, left-to right.

Indicates the beginning and ending of a program or sub-process. Represented

as an oval or a rounded (fillet) rectangle. They usually contain the word
Terminal
"Start" or "End", or another phrase signaling the start or end of a process,
such as "submit inquiry" or "receive product".

Represents a set of operations that changes value, form, or location of data.

Process
Represented as a rectangle.

Shows a conditional operation that determines which one of the two paths the
Decision program will take. The operation is commonly a yes/no question or true/false
test. Represented as a diamond (rhombus).

Indicates the process of inputting and outputting data, as in entering data or

Input/Output
displaying results. Represented as a rhomboid. 9
 Flowchart
ANSI/ISO Name Decription
Shape

Indicating additional information about a step in the program. Represented as an

Annotation
open rectangle with a dashed or solid line connecting it to the corresponding
(Comment)
symbol in the flowchart.

Shows named process which is defined elsewhere. Represented as a rectangle with

Predefined Process
double-struck vertical edges.

Pairs of labeled connectors replace long or confusing lines on a flowchart page.

On-page Connector
Represented by a small circle with a letter inside.

A labeled connector for use when the target is on another page. Represented as a
Off-page Connector
home plate-shaped pentagon.

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 Pseudocode Vs Flowchart

Consider the following example (from Wikipedia) of solving the problem of a

broken lamp. To the right is an example of a flow chart, while to the left is an
example of pseudocode for solving the same problem:
Pseudocode
1. IF lamp works, go to step 7.
2. Check if lamp is plugged in.
3. IF not plugged in, plug in lamp.
4. Check if bulb is burnt out.
5. IF blub is burnt, replace bulb.
6. IF lamp doesn’t work buy new lamp.
7. Quit ... problem is solved. 11
Figure 1: Flowchart
 Write the Program

 Writing a program is often called "writing code" or “implementing an

algorithm”.
 The code (or source code) is the program itself.
 The code is written by using a programming language that is best suited for the
job.
 A programming language is a vocabulary and set of grammatical rules for
instructing a computer or computing device to perform specific tasks.
 Some examples of programming language are BASIC, C, C++, COBOL, Java,
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FORTRAN, Ada, Python (etc).
 Algorithm (Pseudocode) to Program
S/N Pseudocode Processing code (i.e., program)

1. set the sum of the grade values to 0. int sum = 0; int sum = 0;

2. load all grades x1 … xn from file. byte[] x = loadBytes("numbers");

3. repeat n times{ for (int i=0; i <x.length; i++)

4. get grade xi sum = sum + x[i];

add xi to the sum
}
5. compute the average to be sum / n. int avg = sum / x.length

6. print the average. print(avg);

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 Test the Program

 Once you have a program written that compiles, you need to make sure that it solves the problem
that it was intended to solve and that the solutions are correct.
 Therefore the program is run in order to evaluate the compiled instructions.
 After running the program, if all is well, then a correct output displayed.
 It is possible however, that the program works correctly for some set of data input but not for all.
 If the output of the program is incorrect,
 it is possible that the algorithm was not converted properly into a proper program.
 It is also possible that the algorithm itself is flawed.
 Or some instructions where written and performed out of sequence.
 Whatever happened, such problems with your program are known as bugs. 14
 Test the Program

 Bugs are problems/errors with a program that cause it to stop working or produce incorrect or
undesirable results.
 One should fix as many bugs in ones program as possible.
 To find bugs effectively, the program must be evaluated with many test cases (called a test suite).
 It is also a good idea to have a third-party test ones program because they may think up situations or
input data that the writer may never have thought of.
 The process of finding and fixing errors in your code is called debugging and it is often a very time-
consuming “chore” when it comes to being a programmer.
 If one takes time to carefully follow problem solving steps 1 through 3, this should greatly reduce
the amount of bugs in ones programs and it should make debugging much easier.
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 Assignment

 Look up all abbreviations used in the slides.

 Draw a flowchart of the Pseudocode in Slide 13.
 What is the difference between verification and validation of a
program during a testing phase.

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Reference

 Flowchart Drawing Kit

 https://app.diagrams.net

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