Objectives

Purpose

An important skill in computer programming is the ability to understand a problem and come up with a clear and unambiguous solution. These solutions are known as algorithms. Algorithms are actually used every day in many walks of life. In this unit, students will understand the importance of algorithms, and how to develop them as the first step in learning to program computers.

They will then translate these algorithms from English into a format called "psudocode". Pseudocode is an excellent intermediate step on the path to implementing a solution in an actual programming language.

Audience

This unit is intended for senior high school and post-secondary students who are being introduced to the topic of computer programming. After completing this unit, students should be prepared to begin learning a procedural or object-oriented programming language.

Objectives

At the completion of this unit, the student should be able to:

Define and explain what an algorithm is;
Give common everyday examples of algorithms;
Write in clear, unambiguous, simple English the steps required to perform a task with which they are familiar (an algorithm);
Express the processes to perform simple mathematical calculations using pseudocode;