Summary Unit 4 - Programming Assignment 1 Distinction
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Course
Unit 4 - Programming
Institution
PEARSON (PEARSON)
This is an example of a Distinction Level Unit 4 Programming assignment 1 for a level 3 group. All assignments have been marked and approved by a teacher.
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ASSIGNMENT 4
INTRODUCTION
I am asked to review and do a research on computer program that I have been provided
with and conduct a research about different programming languages and how the
programming principles are applied to produce effective applications.
COMPUTATIONAL THINKING
Computational thinking, the step that comes before any programming. It is called the
process of breaking down problems into simple tips that even a hardware will understand.
Computers take instructions very literally, if we don’t give them instructions that are
accurate and detailed the algorithm might forget very important actions that most people
are taking for granted. A simple activity like brushing your own teeth, is sounds very simple
but it involves many steps.
Decomposition is when we look at the complex problem and ‘decompose’ it down to other
smaller more manageable problems which we can then go through and complete one by
one to eventually complete and successfully solve the overall complex problem. Take a cup
of tea for example. If we look at making a cup of tea as a problem, we can easily decompose
this problem into smaller, more manageable steps. For example, these smaller steps could
be problems like, get cup out of cupboard, Boil water in kettle, stir and brew tea bag in cup.
Decomposition has now helped us to solve the problem of making a cup of tea by breaking
down the problem into smaller steps we understand. For programming, Decomposed
When a problem does not decompose it is much difficult to solve. It is much more difficult to
deal with several different stages all at once.
Example: If we want to brush our teeth need to condiser:
The complex problem of brushing our teeth has been broken down into simpler problems
that can be examined individually, in detail.
- Which toothbrush to use
- How long to brush for?
, - How hard to press on our teeth?
- What toothpaste to use
Communicating the key features of problems & processes, once you’ve got a list of what
you want to do you need to check that you know and understand the problem. To make
sure that it will do what you want it to do. You should also suggest an alternative technique.
Further explanation: Communicating with others means that you might need to explain
technical terminology to a non-specialist.
Similarly, finding out how a complicated (Complex) system works is easier using
decomposition. Its like understanding how a bicycle really works. It is separated into smaller
parts which must be examined to see how it works in detail.
Pattern recognition, what are they? Imagine that we must draw a series of cats, all cats
share common characteristics among other things they all have eyes, tails and fur. They also
like to eat fish and make meowing sounds. Because we know that all cats have eyes, tails
and fur, we can make a good attempt at drawing a cat simply by including these common
characteristics. In computational thinking, these characterises are known as patterns. Once
we know how to describe one cat, we can describe others, simply by following this pattern.
The only things that are different are the specifics.
If we want to draw several cats finding a pattern to describe cats as in general, e.g. they all
have eyes, tails and fur, makes this task quicker and easier. We know that all cats follow this
pattern, so we don’t have to stop each time we start to draw a new cat to work this out.
From the patterns we know cats follow, we can quickly draw several cats.
IDENTIFYNG COMMON ELEMENTS IN PROBLEMS OR SYSTEMS, different type of patterns
might exist. The patterns are normally connected with communication between different
objects.
- Identifying (naming)
, - A specific measurement
What happens when we don’t look for patterns? Each time we wanted to draw a cat, we
would have to stop and work out what a cat looked like. This would slow s down. We could
still draw our cats – and they would look like cats – but each cat would take far longer to
draw.
Pattern generalisation and abstracting, as an adjective, abstraction means ‘existing in
thought or as an idea but not having a physical or concrete existence’. The standard “Hello
World” in most languages usually looks something like this:
Print(“Hello, world”) – The majority of programmers don’t know how this single line of code
works under the hood. They don’t have to either. All you need to know is what inputs to
give the “print()” function in order to make it work .That’s all an abstraction is. It is taking
something that is complex and reduces it to a simple matter of inputs and outputs.
Abstraction, it means hiding how complex a thing is from the person that is going to be
using it. For example, let’s say you press the start button on your pc, you have no idea what
is going on after that the computer turns itself on and you only know that you have pressed
the button.
The process that starts the computer and gives power to it, such as using the RAM has been
hidden from you. Abstracting in computational thinking is a technique where we divide
parts of the program into black boxes.
Only 2 parts to this phase
- Identifying the information required to solve a problem. You will need to know the
type and format of your information and when it is required.
- Filter out information you do not need and be able to justify this.
, Filtering out information, filtering out information in computational thinking is when we
break down problems. We are looking for a pattern along within the smaller problem that
adds up to one big and complex problem.
How to abstract:
The cake has a need of ingredients
Each ingredient needs a number (how much of it)
The cake needs timing
When abstracting, we remove specific details and keep the general relevant patterns.
Creating a model, this is an idea of the problem that we want to solve. Let’s say we have a
model of a cat, any cat. Like when we bake a cake.
Algorithms, since computers were created, users have devised programs, many of which
have needed to do the same thing. As a result, common algorithms have evolved and been
adopted in many programs. Algorithms are plans a step by step instructions that are used to
resolve a specific problem. In an algorithm, each instruction is identified and the order in
which they should be carried out is planned
in an algorithm, each instruction is identified and the order in which they should be carried
out is planned. Algorithms are often used as a starting point for creating a computer
program, and they are sometimes written as a flowchart or in pseudocode. If we want to tell
a computer to do something, we have to write a computer program that will tell the
computer, step-by-step, exactly what we want it to do and how we want it to do it. This
step-by-step program will need planning, and to do this we use an algorithm. Computers
are only as good as the algorithms they are given. If you give a computer a poor algorithm,
you will get a poor result – hence the phrase: ‘Garbage in, garbage out. Algorithms are used
for many different things including calculations, data processing and automation. Sorts allow
a data set to be
MAKING A PLAN, it is important to plan out the solution to a problem to make sure that it
will be correct. Using computational thinking and decomposition we can break down the
problem into smaller parts and then we can plan out how they fit back together in a suitable
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