Lectures 1-5

Question 1

What is the five step computer programming process

Answer 1

1. designing
2. writing
3. debugging/troubleshooting
4. validating
5. maintaining

Question 2

What is programming?

Answer 2

Programming is a way of thinking about problem solving. It is not just writing down matlab commands

Question 3

What is a computer program?

Answer 3

a set of instructions that performs a specified task by accepting input, processing it, and producing output. a program consists of source code and an excecutable

Question 4

What are three basic constructs of programming?

Answer 4

1. sequential construct
2. decision making construct (conditional statements)
3. Iterative construct (looping)

Question 5

What are the rules of naming a variable?

Answer 5

1. start with a letter
2. any letter, number of underscore (no spaces or special characters)
3. case sensitive
4. avoid global variables

Question 6

,
;
\:
[]
()
.

Answer 6

horizontal separator
vertical separator (also suppresses)
indicates an inclusive range of variables
defines the contents of an array
addresses specific contents of an array
when put before * / ^ performs element by element

Question 7

What is good programming style?

Answer 7

header info
data input
data processing
data output