DIT1302 / CIT2103 – INTRODUCTION TO STRUCTURED PROGRAMMING

LESSON ONE

What is structured programming?

This is a style in programming paradigm of dividing a problem into sub- problems, and sub –
problems into sub-sub- problems, and so on, (top down design) then solving each sub-sub –
problems individually to produce sub sub-solutions, and combining the sub-solutions to form the
solution (bottom up design). Therefore, a complex problem is broken up and made more
understandable, and thus easier to solve.

Each sub-solution is implemented as a function (or groups of related functions/modules). Another

name of a function is a procedure, and therefore, this style is also known as procedural style of
programming.

The most common techniques used in structured programming to solve all problems are called
constructs. Sequence, selection, and repetition constructs. These constructs are also called control
structures. Using these three basic control structures, it is possible to write standardized programs,
which are easy to read and understand.

The final computer program (consisting of all the function) will be the solution.

Why do we use structured programming?

➢ Structured programming breaks up a problem into sub- problems and this makes problems
more understandable and therefore easy to solve.
➢ The solution to the problem is also modifiable in future. Having sections of something always
makes the whole thing modifiable.
➢ Structured programming also makes the program more efficient. When having many sub –
solutions(functions), we can at one time load.
➢ Having small sections of a program running saves memory space and also CPU’S.

Other programming paradigms

➢ Another programming paradigm popular nowadays is the object-oriented programming
style.
➢ This style uses the concept of classes and objects in programming, but also uses functions to
implement these concepts. Therefore, it applies structured programming.
➢ Still another programming paradigm is event driven programming whereby programs
procedures respond to events from the user.
➢ Events include mouse button’s click or double click, mouse, dragging, keyboard key press, etc.
➢ Structured programming is universal starting level of learning programming.
 Steps in developing structured programs

a) How do we break the problems into sub- problems (top- down approach)

Given a programming problem, we first ask ourselves what results(output) is the program required
to produce, and then what inputs we require to get such outputs we list both these.

We then list the sequence of tasks that we need to do to convert the inputs into the outputs. In large
scale programming, each task may require other task, and this results to sub-sub-task.

This forms our sub- problems.

b) How do we then produce the sub -solution (bottom- up)

We design the program, whereby we specify how to solve each of the above task. Here we write a
design (an algorithm) specifying the exact logic and formulae of solving each task.
We then convert the algorithms into actual program. The algorithms for each task are implemented
as a function.

STEPS OF PRODUCING STRUCTURED PROGRAMS

1. Analyze the problem.
This involves specifying the program’s output, inputs, variables, constants and the general
steps needed to transform the inputs into the outputs.
2. Design the program using a design tool
A program’s design is a step-by-step description of how the above steps should be exactly
carried out so as to solve the problem. It represents the exact logic of the solution to the
problem. It includes all the appropriate formulae to be used in the solution. The design is also
known as the algorithm.
Algorithm is a procedure for solving a problem in terms of the action to be executed, and the
order in which these actions are executed
Two mostly used tool for designing a program are pseudo codes and flowchart.
a) pseudo codes
pseudocodes are an artificial and informal language that helps you develop algorithm. They
are English like statements that look similar to many procedural- programming languages. For
example, to specify that you need to input a variable x, you can use the pseudo code statement

input x

To specify the formula for computing the area of a rectangle, the pseudo code line might be
Syntax
Begin
 Constants
Inputs
Processes/computation
outputs
End

Area = Length * Width

Pseudo codes do not follow exact rules of writing statements unlike program statements, but
require that a statement
Pseudo codes do not follow exact rules of writing statements unlike program statements, but
require that a statement is clear, meaningful, and representative of the exact logic of solving the
problem. For example, we could have written the immediate above statement to compute the area
as
Let Area= (Length * Width)
Thus, we add the word Let, as well as brackets.
b) Flowchart symbols
These are symbols used to design a program, and are alternative to pseudo codes. They are a
diagrammatic way of representing the program’s logic. There are many flowchart symbols
used in the design of programs. The mostly used symbols are shown below;
Commonly used flowchart symbols
Symbol Meaning

Begin/End or Start/Stop

Process/computations (e.g. calculations, assignments)

Input, Output
 Shows Logic flow

condition? False

True

Decision making (test condition inside. If it is true, follow the down side
arrow. Else, follow the right-side arrow)

Qualities of a good algorithm

• It should be clear, precise and easy to follow. This is important in avoiding errors, as well
as making the design modifiable by future programmers.
• A program’s design should also show the exact logic of the program. For the calculation
that need to be done, it should show the appropriate sequence of formulae.
• It should also be general, i.e. not specific to a programming language. Thus, the design
should be understandable to a programmer of any programming language, such that it can
be converted into a program using any programming language.

For example, the pseudo code statement for outputting the value of variable x (of integer
type) could be written as

Output x
This statement is understandable to a programmer of any language.
A C programmer is able to understand this algorithm statement and convert it into the C
statement.
printf(“%d”, x);

Similarly, a C++ programmer’s statement for the same will be

Count<<x;
A java programmer on the other hand, will write

[Link](x);

3. Code the program

The algorithm produced in step (ii) above is then converted into actual program
using an appropriate programming language e.g. C. The actual statements of the
program are also known as the code of the program.
This process is also known as coding the program.
4. Compile
Compiling is the process of converting the source codes into object code.
5. Test
a) Component or unit testing-Individual components are tested independently;
Components may be functions or objects or coherent groupings of these entities.
b) System testing-Testing of the system as a whole. Testing of emergent
properties is particularly important.
c) Acceptance testing-Testing with customer data to check that the system meets
the customer’s needs.
6. Run
What happens when you run the compiler is run?
To produce the executable program from the source code requires three stages. The
first two stages are carried out independently for each .CPP file
a) Pre- Process- First the C preprocessor is run on each source (.c) file. This
interprets preprocessor directives, which are indicated by # symbol e.g.
#include<stdio.h>.
b) Compile –The expanded source code file resulting from preprocessing is
converted into its equivalent Objects codes files(.obj)
c) Linking- The object code file(.obj) is combines with standard library files to
produce an (.exe) file by the linker. The loader loads the .exe file for execution

7. Maintain the program

This involve making changes to improve the functionality of the program (e.g. to
improve on the usability of the program), to remove possible previously undetected
errors, to cater for newly discovered user needs, or to cater for changed technology.
EXERCISE

a) Design and write a program to compute the sum of two integer values.
b) Design and write a program to compute the average of three numbers.
c) Design and write program to compute the area and circumference of a
circle.
N.B More examples will be given by your tutor in class so do miss
it…….

Basic programming terms.

1. Data Can be define as raw facts that the computer needs in its processing. It is the details
that are needed to process something (the information).
2. Information processed data.
3. Processing is the conversion of data into information. It involves activities such as;
• Computing a particular value out of a given set of data.
• Sorting a set of data.
• Rearranging of a set of data.
• Searching for a value in a set of data, etc.

Examples of what processing involves

Data Processing Information

Two numbers Computing the sum of the The sum

numbers

A set of numbers Computing the mean of the The mean

numbers

The Radius of a circle Computing the area The circle’s area

Unsorted set of data Sorting the data The sorted set of data

Unarranged set of data Arranging the data The arranged set of data

A set of data Searching for a value in the The position of the value in
set the set.
 A set of data Computing the Variance of The Variance
numbers

Employee’s details e.g. Computing the net pay The net pay
basic pay, grade, etc.

4. A Computer
A Computer is an electronic device for doing data processing. It is a hardware tool that
follows Instructions in it that instructs it on how exactly to do processing.
Computer is just a hardware tool that will do nothing unless instructed on what to do. It
requires instruction that instruct it on what to do. The term computer is however used to
refer to both the hardware and these instructions. Computer also does data storage.
5. Inputs and Outputs; Inputting and Outputting
The data that the computer receives from the user (through the inputs device e.g. keyboard)
is called inputs, while what is displayed to the user (through the outputs device e.g.
monitor) is called the outputs.
Receiving inputs from the user is called Inputting, while displayed the outputs to the user
is knows as Outputting.
6. Programming personnel
a) A computer Programmer-This is the person who develops computer programs. In
large scale programming, the programmer is however assisted by.
b) A system analyst-who obtains user requirements from the intended user of the program
(e.g. what outputs the user expects), analyzes the problem, write the requirements of
how the system should work (system requirements what inputs are required to
produce the outputs), and produces the design of the program.
c) A Database developer-designs the database in case the program is to be linked to
database.
d) A clerk-helps the programmer in clerical works eighties the actual program into
computer, carries out testing of the program, document the program etc.
e) A Software engineer- is a very important person in software development who is
responsible for ensuring the software being produced certifies the required
standards. The engineer also supervises and co-ordinates the overall process of
software development including analysis, design, program writing, testing and
maintenance.
f) An analyst programmer does the combined work of both the system analyst and the
programmer.

7. A computer program is a set of coded instructions given to the computer, and represents
a logical solution to a problem. It directs a computer in performing various operations/tasks
 on the data supplied to it. Computer programs may be written by the hardware
manufacturers, Software houses, or a programmer to solve user problems on the computer.
Examples of Programs
a) A program to compute the information shown above.
b) The calculator is one of the simple’s type of computer that contains some software
instruction.
c) System software’s.
8. Programming: Programming is the process of designing a set of instructions (computer
programs) which can be used to perform a particular task or solve a specific problem. It
involves use of special characters, signs and symbols found in a particular programming
language to create computer instructions.

The programming process is quite extensive. It includes analyzing of an application, designing of

a solution, coding for the processor, testing to produce an operating program, and development of
other procedures to make the system function.

The program created must specify in detail the logical steps to be taken & the method of processing
the data input into the computer in order to carry out the specified task.

9. A programming language is a set of symbols (a language) which a computer programmer

uses to solve a given problem using a computer.

The computer must be able to translate these instructions into machine-readable form when
arranged in a particular sequence or order.

A computer program performs the following:

A Computer program typically:

a) Receive some data from the user i.e. inputs the data;
b) Processes the inputs to obtain results (or computes the information) using
appropriate formulae.
c) Shows the results to the user i.e. outputs the results.
Every computation to be done involves a sequence of steps or task that need to be done in order to
accomplish the computation. These steps fall under the immediate above three things that a
typically does.
EXAMPLE 1
In the problem of computing the area and the circumference of a circle, Steps are;
a) Inputs the radius.
b) Process the data(radius) as
i. Compute the area (using appropriate formula);
ii. Computer the circumference (using appropriate formula);
 c) Output the area and the circumference.
EXAMPLE 2
In Computing the variance of the set of numbers, the steps might be;
a) Inputs all the numbers;
b) Process the data (list of numbers) as
i. Calculate the mean of the numbers using appropriate formula.
ii. Compute the variance using the appropriate formula;
c) Output the variance.

EXAMPLE 3
In computing the net pay of an employee, the steps might be;
a) Input the basic salary, the grade, etc.;
b) Process the inputs as
i. Computes the deductions;
ii. Compute the allowances;
iii. Compute the net pay (basic salary-deductions+ allowances);
c) Output the net pay.

These steps are implemented as instruction or statements in the program. The program should
consist of a sequence of statements that instruct the computer on the exact steps, formulae and
logic of solving the problem.

Examples of software used in organization

1) Tailor Made programs

These are programs written specifically for a particular area of application in a particular
organization. Such a program is designed to be used only in a particular organization for that area
application.
Examples
• Payroll system
• School/College/University Management System
• Accounting programs
• Point of sale programs (used in supermarket)
• Any program that is written to be used for a particular application in an organization.

The organization may either hire its own programmers to writes the programs or outsource
this work to a software development company.

2) General software
 These are programs meant to be used for wide variety of applications and can be used by any
type of organization. They are also known as application packages. An application packages
contain set of programs for doing general work under a broad area of application. These
packages are typically commercial programs i.e. are produced by software development
companies for sale. i.e.
• Word processor.
• Spreadsheet.
• Database.
• Presentation.
• Multimedia programs etc.

Classification of programming languages

Programming languages are basically classified into:

a. Low Level Programming languages

i. Machine level languages (1st Generation languages)
ii. Assembly level languages (2nd Generation Languages)
b. High Level Programming languages
i. General-purpose high-level languages
ii. Specific purpose high level languages
iii. Commercial languages
iv. Scientific languages.

1. The Machine Language. (1st Generation languages)

Machine language is written using machine codes (binary digits) that consist of 0’s & 1’s.

The computer can readily understand Machine code instructions without any translation.

A programmer is required to write his program in strings of 0’s & 1’s, calculate & allocate the core
memory locations for his data and/or instructions. Different CPU’s have different machine codes,
e.g., codes written for the Intel Pentium processors may differ from those written for Motorola or
Cyrix processors. Therefore, before interpreting the meaning of a particular code, a programmer
must know for which CPU the program was written.

A machine code instruction is made up of 2 main parts;

(i). An Address (operand):

It specifies the location (address) of the computer memory where the data to be worked
upon can be found.
(ii). A Function (operation) code:
It states to the Control Unit of the CPU what operation should be performed on the
data/item held in the address, e.g., Addition, Subtraction, Division, Multiplication, etc.

Note. The computer can only execute instructions which are written in machine language. This
is because; it is the only language which the computer can understand. Therefore, any program
written in any other programming language must first be translated into machine language
(binary digits) before the computer can understand.

2. Assembly language (2nd Generation Languages).

Assembly languages were developed in order to speed up programming (i.e., to overcome the
difficulties of understanding and using machine languages).

The vocabulary of Assembly languages is close to that of machine language, and its instructions
are symbolic representations of the machine language instructions.

 Assembly language programs are easier to understand, use & modify compared to Machine
language programs.
 Assembly language programs have less error chances.

To write program statements in Assembly language, the programmer uses a set of predefined
symbols (operation codes) called Mnemonic codes.

The code could be a 2 or 3 shortened letter word that will cause the computer to perform specific
operation. E.g., MOV – move, ADD - addition, SUB – subtraction, RD - read. Example;

RD PAT, 15 (read the value 15 stored in the processor register named PAT)

SUB PAT, 10 (subtract 10 from the value in register PAT)

A program written in an Assembly language cannot be executed/obeyed by the computer

hardware directly. To enable the CPU, understand Assembly language instructions, an
Assembler (which is stored in a ROM) is used to convert them into Machine language.

The Assembler accepts the source codes written in an Assembly language as its input, and
translates them into their corresponding computer language (machine code/ object code)
equivalent. Comments are incorporated into the program statements to make them easier to be
understood by the human programmers.

 Assembly languages are machine-dependent. Therefore, a program written in the Assembly

language for a particular computer cannot run on another make of computer.
Advantages of Low-level languages
1. The CPU can easily understand machine language without translation.
2. They have a closer control over the hardware, are highly efficient & allow direct control of
each operation.
3. They are therefore suitable for writing Operating system software Game programs, which
require fast & efficient use of the CPU time.
4. The program instructions can be executed by the hardware (processor) much faster. This is
because; complex instructions are already broken down into smaller simpler ones.
5. They require less memory space.
6. They are stable, i.e., they do not crash once write.

Disadvantages of Low-level languages

Very few computer programs are actually written in machine or Assembly language because of
the following reasons;

1. Low-level languages are difficult to learn, understand, and write programs in them.
2. Low-level language programs are difficult to debug (remove errors from).
3. The programs are very long; hence, writing a program in a low-level language is usually
tedious & time consuming
4. The programs are difficult to develop, maintain, and are also prone to errors (i.e., it requires
highly trained experts to develop and maintain the programs)
5. Low level languages are machine-dependent (specific), hence non-portable.
This implies that, they are designed for a specific machine & specific processor, and therefore,
cannot be transferred between machines with different hardware specifications.

6. They have a collection of very detailed & complex instructions that control the internal
circuiting of the computer. Therefore, it requires one to understand how the computer codes
internally.
7. Relating the program & the problem structures is difficult, and therefore cumbersome to
work with.
8. It is not easy to revise the program, because this will mean re-writing the program again.

3. High Level Language

High level languages were developed after low level languages with the aim of making
programmers work easier. HLL are also referred (High level) because they are near to the
human beings’ languages like English words are used to represent instructions so as to
make programming easier. These words include if, else, while, for, do, begin, end etc. the
language is user- friendly. A program is made such that it’s very easy for the user to use,
and for the programmer to write or modify. The language is thus easier to use in writing
programs.
Classification of high-level languages

High level languages can be classified as follows.

a) Commercial languages
They are meant for commercial applications. An example is COBOL (Common Business
Oriented Languages).
b) Scientific languages.
They are meant for scientific applications. They include FORTRAN(FORmulaTRANlation),
ALGOL(ALGorithmic Oriented Language).
c) Special Purpose languages
These include CSL- for simulation application, ADA- for real time application, SQL
(Structured Query Languages)- for Database querying, prolog- for programming in logic.
d) General Purpose Languages.
These are multi-purpose languages that can cope with different types of applications. They
include:
❖ BASIC (Beginners All Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code). A language used since
many years ago, and which has been very simple for beginners of programming to
learn. Another language Visual Basic, was developed out of this language. Visual
Basic is a windows-based application popular for creating user- friendly graphical user
interface applications. It is event based, meaning that the program reacts to user’s
events including mouse click, key press, form load, etc. it is popular with creation of
business-oriented computer application. Another language that operates very similar to
Visual Basic is Delphi.
❖ Pascal –A language popular for training of beginners of programming because of its
nearness to English language, thus easy to learn.
❖ C Language- a popular high level, yet ’low level’ language that also provides for
programming at hardware level (low level). its popular with development of the system
software e.g. operating systems.
❖ C++ Language- it is an extension of C Language to provide for object-oriented
programming is a technique of grouping related things together into classes into a class,
and specifying the type of data that can be stored for any of the objects and the operation
that can be applied to each object. Any occurrence of class (a member of the group) is
an object.
❖ Java- an object-oriented programming language that is popular for creation on
networks.

Advantages of HLL
❖ HLL are simple to use.
❖ They are machine independent i.e. the program can be executed by different types
of computer hardware.
 ❖ A High-level statement can be translated into many machine language statements.

❖ Cab be directly typed and executed.

❖ No translator program is required.
❖ Machine code is quick in program operation and makes economical use of
computer time.
Limitation of HLL

• Lack of portability: program that runs on one machine can’t run on the other.
• Programs are generally longer than equivalent programs written in high level languages.
• Programmer requires intimate knowledge of the internal working of the particular
computer he is working on.
• A High-level program must be translated into the equivalent machine language program,
making the speed of execution slower than a machine language program.

Though an assembly language program must be translated, it is still faster than a

high-level program. The high-level programs are much higher compared to
assembly language programs, meaning a lot of interfacing features that need more
time for translation.

Source program and object code.

a) Source program (source code)-Source program refers to the program statements that
the programmer enters in the program editor window, and which have not yet been
translated into machine-readable form. Source code is the code understood by the
programmer, and is usually written in high-level language or Assembly language.

b) Object code (object program). -Object code refers to the program code that is in
machine-readable (binary) form. Object code is the code the computer can understand,
and is produced by a Compiler or Assembler after translating the Source program into
a form that can be readily loaded into the computer.

LANGUAGE TRANSLATORS

A Translator is special system software used to convert the Source codes (program statements
written in any of the computer programming languages) to their Object codes (computer language
equivalents). The Translators reside in the main memory of the computer, and use the program
code of the high-level or Assembly language as input data, changes the codes, and gives the output
program in machine-readable code.

In addition, translators check for & identify some types of errors that may be present in the program
being translated, e.g., Syntax/grammatical errors. They will produce error messages if there is a
mistake in the code.
Each language needs its own translator. Generally, there are 3 types of language translators:

1. Assembler.
2. Interpreter.
3. Compiler.
Note. Interpreters & Compilers translate source programs written in high-level languages to their
machine language equivalents.

1. Assembler

An Assembler translates programs written in Assembly language into machine language that the
computer can understand and execute.

Functions of an Assembler.

1). It checks whether the instructions written are valid, and identifies any errors in the program.
The Assembler will display these errors as well as the complete source and object programs.
If the program has no errors, the job control will let it run immediately, or save the object
program so that it may run it later without translating it again.

2). It assigns memory locations to the names the programmer uses.

E.g., the Assembler keeps a table of these names so that if an instruction refers to it, the
Assembler can easily tell the location to which it was assigned.

3). It generates the machine code equivalent of the Assembly instructions.

Usually, the Assembler generates a machine code only when no errors are detected. Some
of the errors include;

- Typing mistakes.
- Using the wrong format for an instruction.
- Specifying a memory location outside the range 0 – 2047.

Note. The Assembler cannot detect Logic errors. The programmer knows of these errors
only when the program is run & the results produced are incorrect (not what the programmer
expected). The programmer must therefore, go through the program & try to discover why
an incorrect result was being produced.

2. Interpreter

An Interpreter translates a source program word by word or line by line. This allows the CPU to
execute one line at a time. The Interpreter takes one line of the source program, translates it into a
machine instruction, and then it is immediately executed by the CPU. It then takes the next line,
translates it into a machine instruction, and then the CPU executes it, and so on.

The translated line is not stored in the computer memory. Therefore, every time the program is
needed for execution, it has to be translated.

3. Compiler

A compiler translates the entire/whole source program into object code at once, and then executes
it in machine language code. These machine code instructions can then be run on the computer to
perform the particular task as specified in the high-level program.

The process of translating a program written in a high-level source language into machine language
using a compiler is called Compilation.

For a given machine, each language requires its own Compiler. E.g., for a computer to be able
translate a program written in FORTRAN into machine language; the program must pass through
the FORTRAN compiler (which must ‘know’ FORTRAN as well as the Machine language of the
computer).

The object code file can be made into a fully executable program by carrying out a Linking
process, which joins the object code to all the other files that are needed for the execution of the
program. After the linking process, an executable file with an .EXE extension is generated. This
file is stored on a storage media.

Points to note.

 The job of a Compiler is much more difficult than that of an Assembler in that, a single
statement in a high-level language is equivalent to many machine instructions.

 The format of an Assembly instruction is fairly fixed, while high-level languages give a lot of
freedom in the way the programmer writes statements.

Functions of a compiler.
A Compiler performs the following tasks during the compilation process:

1). It identifies the proper order of processing, so as to execute the process as fast as possible &
minimize the storage space required in memory.
2). It allocates space in memory for the storage locations defined in the program to be executed.
3). It reads each line of the source program & converts it into machine language.
4). It checks for Syntax errors in a program (i.e., statements which do not conform to the
grammatical rules of the language). If there are no syntax errors, it generates machine code
equivalent to the given program.
5). It combines the program (machine) code generated with the appropriate subroutines from the
library.
6). It produces a listing of the program, indicating errors, if any.
Differences between Compilers and Interpreters

Interpreter Compiler

1. Translates & executes each statement of the 1. Translates all the source code statements at
source code one at a time. once as a unit into their corresponding
The source code instruction is translated & object codes, before the computer can
immediately obeyed by the computer execute them.
hardware before the next instruction can be A Compiler translates the entire source
translated. program first to machine code, and then the
code is executed by the CPU.
(Translation & execution go together).
(Translation & execution are separate
phases)

2. Translates the program each time it is 2. Compiled programs (object codes) can be
needed for execution; hence, it is slower saved on a storage media and run when
than compiling. required; hence they execute faster than
interpreted programs.

3. Interpreted object codes take less memory 3. Compiled programs require more memory
compared to compiled programs. as their object files are larger.

4. For a Compiler, the syntax errors are

4. For an Interpreter, the syntax (grammatical) reported & corrected after the source code
errors are reported & corrected before the has been translated to its object code
execution can continue. equivalent.

5. An Interpreter can relate error messages to

the source program, which is always 5. Once the source program has been
available to the Interpreter. This makes translated, it is no longer available to the
debugging of a program easier when using Compiler, so the error messages are usually
an Interpreter than a Compiler. less meaningful.