Analytics Programming Flashcards
WGU course D598
What is the primary purpose of using flowcharts to represent solutions to programming problems?
To visually represent the logical flow of the program.
When creating pseudocode for a programming task, what should be the focus?
Overall logic and structure of the program
Which are the essential elements represented in flowcharts?
Input/output, process/action, decision, start/end
What are the seven best practices for a flowchart?
- Start each task description with action verbs
- Be concise
- Add hyperlinks
- Organize from left to right and top to bottom
- Use the same swimlanes from page to page
- Adjust for readability
- Maintain open space
Flowchart terminal
The terminal is an oval that indicates the beginning and end of a program. It usually contains the words Start or End.
Flowchart flowline
The flowline is a line from one symbol pointing towards another to show the process’s order of operation. This displays the flow of execution in a program.
Flowchart Input/Output
Input/output is represented by a rhomboid and indicates the input or output of data. This is similar to setting a value to a variable.
Flowchart Process
A process, represented by a rectangle, is an operation that manipulates data. Think of this as changing the value of a number-based variable using an operator such as +.
Flowchart Decision
Decisions are represented by a rhombus and show a conditional operation that will determine which path a program should take. This is similar to conditional statements which control the flow of execution in a program.
Algorithm
a series of steps for solving a problem or carrying out a task
Structural decomposition i
a process that identifies a hierarchy of building-block units for a program concept. At the lowest levels of the hierarchy are modules, The higher-level blocks,are the bigger picture or goal the program will achieve.
Tips for structural decomposition
Use a top-down approach.
Label nodes with nouns and adjectives rather than verbs.
Don’t worry about sequencing.
What does it mean to minimize dependencies in decomposition mean?
Ensuring that changing the instructions in one module or object do not require changes to other modules or objects as much as possible.
What does maximizing cohesion in decomposition mean?
Each object or module contains attributes, methods, or instructions that perform a single logical task or represent a single entity.
pattern identification
The process of finding similarities in procedures and tasks
What are businesses with the attributes name, hours of operations, and menu an example of?
Classification patterns
What is abstraction in code?
hides details, simplifies complexity, substitutes a generalization for something specific, and allows an algorithm to work for multiple inputs
Semantics
the meaning and validity of program statements.
Syntax
the order of words and the punctuation you are required to use when composing statements.
What do compilers and interpreters do>
convert your code into a program that a computer can execute.
What do virtual machines do?
Translates bytecode into machine code just prior to its execution
What is an interpreter?
a software utility that begins with the first statement in your program, preprocesses it into a binary instruction, and then executes it.
In what cases should numbers be treated as string literals?
In cases of Telephone numbers, PINs, house numbers, Social Security numbers, area codes, and zip codes
What is a constant?
a named memory location holding data that is not changed by the statements in a program.
file I/O
When code reads information from a file, it is called file input. When your code writes information to a file, it is called file output. Together they are called file input and output,
Recursion
is a strategy for approaching large problems in computer science by breaking the problem down into smaller identical problems.
Polymorphism
means that an object of a child class can be treated as though it were an object of its parent class. Inheritance and polymorphism help to avoid duplicate code within related objects.
Linked List
a chain of items (called nodes), where:
Each node stores data (like a name or a number).
And each node knows where the next node is.
What does a linked list look like?
It looks like this:
[ “Amy” ] → [ “Brian” ] → [ “Carmen” ] → None
Stacked List
a linear data structure in which the last data element added is the first element removed. The data in a stack is controlled by a last-in, first-out algorithm referred to as LIFO.
Queue
A linear data structure in which elements are removed from the front and added to the rear. The data in a queue is controlled by a first-in, first-out algorithm referred to as FIFO.
