Pseudo code

[Kerberonix]

Hello, this is for my AS Computing exam

 

My teacher is fairly clueless so I was just wondering if this is correct?

 

It's about Nested Statements

 

Write your own nested statement in pseudo code to print ?Accepted? if someone is a member and

over 18, ?Not a member? if they are not a member or ?Underage? if they are not 18.

 

if person EQUALS Member

if person EQUALS >= 18

PRINT "Accepted"

ELSE

PRINT "Underage"

End if

ELSE

PRINT "not a member"

End if

 

Im mostly concerned about if this is in the right format, should the ELSE PRINT "not a member" come last? and is >= appropriate for pseudo code?

 

Thanks in advance

[Andre S. Veteran]

That looks correct, with the exception that "EQUALS >=" is nonsense, either write "greater than or equal" or ">=", but not both.

 

Pseudo-code has no formal rules, just keep it consistent. For instance some of your keyword are all-caps and some aren't, that's not good. Pick a style and stick with it.

[Kerberonix]

  On 01/03/2014 at 16:38, Andre S. said:

That looks correct, with the exception that "EQUALS >=" is nonsense, either write "greater than or equal" or ">=", but not both.

 

Pseudo-code has no formal rules, just keep it consistent. For instance some of your keyword are all-caps and some aren't, that's not good. Pick a style and stick with it.

 

Ahh I see,

 

So it could be

 

IF person = Member

IF person >=18

PRINT "Accepted"

etc

 

Thank you!

[+theblazingangel MVC]

For your exam... So are your posting this question during it???

 

Your answer looks pretty good to me, the only thing I would change (apart from consistency of capitals) is the use of the word "EQUALS". A person is a person, a person does not equate directly to a membership status or a number. This would be better:

If person is a Member

    If age of person is greater than or equal to 18

        PRINT "Accepted"

    Else

        PRINT "Underage"

    End if

Else

    PRINT "Not a member"

End if

Rules on pseudo code are pretty lax, as long as the logic is sound and it makes sense, it really doesn't matter too much. With specific regard to use of '>=' and similar expressions, think about who will be reading the pseudo code you've written (I'm talking in general here, not specifically about the exam). If you're writing it just for yourself or for others who understand programming, it's obviously going to be fine; whereas if someone unfamiliar with programming were to need to look at it, who may perhaps be unfamiliar with the expression you are intending on using, it may be best to revert to words to avoid confusion.

 

The order of conditional checks in your logic is perfectly sound. If you were to attempt to follow the precise order of logical requirements in the question, you may end up with this:

If person is a Member

    If age of person is greater than or equal to 18

        PRINT "Accepted"

    End if

Else, if person is not a member

    PRINT "Not a member"

Else, if age of person less than 18

    PRINT "Underage"

End if

Which would be incorrect because the logic does not actually work!

  On 01/03/2014 at 16:46, Kerberonix said:

Ahh I see,

 

So it could be

 

IF person = Member

IF person >=18

PRINT "Accepted"

etc

 

Thank you!

 

No, see above!

[Kerberonix]

  On 01/03/2014 at 16:49, theblazingangel said:

For your exam... So are your posting this question during it???

 

Your answer looks pretty good to me, the only thing I would change (apart from consistency of capitals) is the use of the word "EQUALS". A person is a person, a person does not equate directly to a membership status or a number. This would be better:

If person is a Member

    If age of person is greater than or equal to 18

        PRINT "Accepted"

    Else

        PRINT "Underage"

    End if

Else

    PRINT "Not a member"

End if

Rules on pseudo code are pretty lax, as long as the logic is sound and it makes sense, it really doesn't matter too much. With specific regard to use of '>=' and similar expressions, think about who will be reading the pseudo code you've written (I'm talking in general here, not specifically about the exam). If you're writing it just for yourself or for others who understand programming, it's obviously going to be fine; whereas if someone unfamiliar with programming were to need to look at it, who may perhaps be unfamiliar with the expression you are intending on using, it may be best to revert to words to avoid confusion.

 

The order of conditional checks in your logic is perfectly sound. If you were to attempt to follow the precise order of logical requirements in the question, you may end up with this:

If person is a Member

    If age of person is greater than or equal to 18

        PRINT "Accepted"

    End if

Else, if person is not a member

    PRINT "Not a member"

Else, if age of person less than 18

    PRINT "Underage"

End if

Which would be incorrect because the logic does not actually work!

 

No, see above!

I looked at a few similar questions against the mark scheme and some of them allow the use of expressions, but some of them don't even list them... but they all include the use of words such as the ones you used. So the safe option is to write it to a standard (like you did with actually writing "greater than" etc) which everyone may be able to read, which is what I shall do from now on.

 

And my exam isn't until the end of june :p

 

Thank you!