DEPARTMENT OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION

ANDHRA PRADESH

Name : Gandi Govinda Naidu

Designation : Head of Computer Engg Section
Branch : Computer Engg
Institute : Govt.Polytechnic for Women,
Bheemunipatnam
Year / Semester : III Semester
Subject : UNIX & C
Subject Code : CM-304
Topic : Understand Programming Methodology

Duration : 50 Min
SubTopic : Steps in Problem Solving
Teaching Aids : PPT, Animations, Photographs

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 Objective

On completion of this period, you would be able to

learn

 How to prepare a solution for a given problem.

 What are the errors that occur in the problem.

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 What is a Computer program?

A set of instructions written by the

user/programmer.

 Programming
The process of writing a program.
 Before programming
The problem to be solved needs preparation.

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 What is a computer ?

 Neither think nor make any judgment on

its own.
 Be instructed by the user/ programmer to
solve a problem.
The user/programmer
 instruct the computer exactly what to do.
 in a step-by-step fashion.

Hence before programming

 user/programmer has to analyze the problem.

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 Contd..

Problem analysis
 The process of achieving the required level of
satisfactory details of the problem.

User/programmer should follow

 A step-by-step procedure.
 Prepare a program from a given problem.

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The steps involved in problem solving.

 Problem specification
 Outlining the solution
 Representing an algorithm and flowchart
 Transforming algorithm into a program
 Removing errors

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 Problem Specification

 Thoroughly understand the problem

 Know exactly what is to be done
 Carefully identify the input(s)
 Carefully identify the processing
 Based on the questions asked
 Carefully identify the output(s)
 The input, processing and output
most important collection of information

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 Outlining the solution

 After getting clear understanding on the problem

find a solution method to solve the problem.
 There may be several solution methods.
 Study them based on the following criteria
Computer time needed
Complexity
Error prone
 When there are no specific solutions
Either a new method must be developed
or
The problem be simplified to get a feasible
solution.

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 Removing Errors
Errors occur due to mistakes done in coding.
Errors cause wrong results.
Errors must be detected and corrected.
Program verification.
Checking whether the program is correct or not.
Debugging:
 Process of detecting and removing the errors.
Note:bug means an error in a program.

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Types of possible errors in a program

 Syntax errors
 Run-time errors
 Logical errors

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 Syntax errors

 Occur due to wrongly typed programs.

i.e., not according to the syntax or
grammatical rules.
 Detected at the time of compiling the
program.
 Error messages are displayed.

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 Examples for syntax errors

For example in English language

 Correct sentence : There is a cat.
 Incorrect sentence : There a cat
 Grammatical errors : missing verb and full stop(.)
For example in C language
 Correct statement : a=(b+(c+d))/2;
 Incorrect statement : a=b+(c+d))/2
 Syntax errors : missing left parenthesis
and semicolon.

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 Run-time Errors

 Occur due to violation of boundary rules.

 Data manipulation or memory access.
 Detected at the time of program execution.
Examples
o Divide by zero.
o Square root of a negative number.
o Logarithm of a negative number.
o Mixing of various data types.

 Error messages are not displayed.

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 Logical Errors

 Occur due to logically incorrect statements in the

program.
 Very difficult to detect.
 Can be detected only after careful observation of
the output.
 To be conducted through review of each logical
group of statements.
 If not detected, use tracing technique.
Tracing involves
 Taking printout of certain intermediate results.
 Identifying errors by viewing these results.
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 Examples for Logical errors

 Consider the following statement that calculates

multiplication of two numbers A=B+C;
 The above statement is syntactically correct.
Logically incorrect because of using “+” in place
of “ * “.

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 Summary

In this class , you have learnt about

 What are the errors that occur in the solution.

 How to prepare a solution for a given problem.

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 Quiz

1.What is needed before programming?

a) Write algorithm
b) Draw flowchart
c) Analyze the problem
d) None of them

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 Quiz

1.What is needed before programming?

– Write algorithm
– Draw flowchart
– Analyze the problem
– None of them

CM304.26 18
 Quiz

2.Important collection of information in

problem specification is ---

a) Input
b) Processing
c) Output
d) All the above

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 Quiz

2.Important collection of information in

problem specification is ---

• Input
• Processing
• Output
• All the above

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 Frequently Asked Questions

1. List out the steps involved in problem solving.

2. Explain the steps followed to solve a given

problem ?

3. List and explain the errors that may occur in a

program.

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