How do i write this pseudocode?

[Damien]

Hi guys,

I'm currently working on writing a psuedocode which would show a list of total sales between any two dates.

Here is what I came up with thus far:

Use Variables: Date 1, Date 2 of Type Integer

Sales, Total Sales of Type Real

Begin

Display ?Enter Start Date?

Accept Date 1

Display ?Enter End Date?

Accept Date 2

For (Date 1>=Start Date, Date 2<=End Date, +1)

Accept Sales

Total Sales:= Total Sales + Sales

End For

Print Total Sales

End

Am I going about this in the right manner? Was the For loop the correct method to use? I would appreciate any advice or suggestions. :)

[The_Wizard]

I'm pretty sure thats fine for pseudocode, the only thing I would suggest is capitalizing the commands like DISPLAY, to make it more obvious they are commands.

[Andre S. Veteran]

The logic is easy to understand and seems fine, so I'd say the pseudocode is ok. There is no "official" pseudocode notation so as long as you've got something coherent it should be fine.

[Damien]

Sweet, thanks guys. Now on to flowcharts *groan* :pinch:

[AnthonySterling]

A good approach is to write your pseudo code as potential comments or instructions for writing code, not using code, but plain english to save duplication. You then comment out each line as write the appropriate line of code, self documenting if you will.

for each user in user collection
allow user access to repo
then save

would become...

<?php
#for each user in user collection
foreach($usercollection as $user){
	#allow user access to repo
	$user->allow('repo', true);
	#then save
	$user->save();
}
?>

[ajua]

  On 05/07/2010 at 11:26, AnthonySterling said:

A good approach is to write your pseudo code as potential comments or instructions for writing code, not using code, but plain english to save duplication. You then comment out each line as write the appropriate line of code, self documenting if you will.

for each user in user collection
allow user access to repo
then save

would become...

<?php
#for each user in user collection
foreach($usercollection as $user){
	#allow user access to repo
	$user->allow('repo', true);
	#then save
	$user->save();
}
?>

Writing instructions this way could help you and others know what the potential code will do once it is written. A good advice.

Just try to keep them as simple as possible.

[Damien]

Thanks yet again!

[Aeonandromere]

  On 05/07/2010 at 11:26, AnthonySterling said:

A good approach is to write your pseudo code as potential comments or instructions for writing code, not using code, but plain english to save duplication. You then comment out each line as write the appropriate line of code, self documenting if you will.

for each user in user collectionallow user access to repothen save

would become...

<?php#for each user in user collectionforeach($usercollection as $user){	#allow user access to repo	$user->allow('repo', true);	#then save	$user->save();}?>

This is acceptable practice for when you are first beginning to program. Do not do this when you get beyond introductory stuff. You will end up annoying experienced developers far more than you will be helping them. Wading through twice as many lines of code because someone likes to include commenting gems like the following is annoying, and not nearly as helpful as the likely well intentioned author probably meant them to be.

Bad:

// increment integer i by 1
i = i + 1
// remove Item from a list using remove() method.
list.remove(Item)

Also not good (because it is self-explanatory by glancing at the logic):

<?php
#for each user in user collection
foreach($usercollection as $user){
        #allow user access to repo
        $user->allow('repo', true);
        #then save
        $user->save();
}
?>

Basically, you don't want to be wasting your time while coding and someone elses time while maintaining, by commenting very obvious things especially on a line-by-line basis. Documenting code is an art. Doing it by simply replacing line-by-line the pseudo-code/notes/whatever with actual code is a terrible practice to get into. A good comment should succinctly explain the purpose of the a chunk of logic, give a brief overview of what is occurring, document any pre-conditions or post-conditions, and in general be summary of what the code is doing without unnecessary verbosity.

However, there is a time and a place to comment line-by-line. If you have some truly obscure algorithm stuff going on then it is necessary. Similarly, if you have a complicated Regex rule then it is also extremely helpful. These are all edge cases though.

[XakepaBG]

  On 04/07/2010 at 17:13, DaMiEn said:

Hi guys,

I'm currently working on writing a psuedocode which would show a list of total sales between any two dates.

Here is what I came up with thus far:

Use Variables: Date 1, Date 2 of Type Integer

Sales, Total Sales of Type Real

Begin

Display ?Enter Start Date?

Accept Date 1

Display ?Enter End Date?

Accept Date 2

For (Date 1>=Start Date, Date 2<=End Date, +1)

Accept Sales

Total Sales:= Total Sales + Sales

End For

Print Total Sales

End

Am I going about this in the right manner? Was the For loop the correct method to use? I would appreciate any advice or suggestions. :)

Why Date1 AND Date2 controlling the For loop ?

Usually it's just one variable, and it gets incremented until the second condition is no longer true..

i.e. Date 1 <= End Date, instead of Date 2 <= End Date

[bj55555]

  On 04/07/2010 at 17:13, DaMiEn said:

Hi guys,

I'm currently working on writing a psuedocode which would show a list of total sales between any two dates.

Here is what I came up with thus far:

Use Variables: Date 1, Date 2 of Type Integer

Sales, Total Sales of Type Real

Begin

Display ?Enter Start Date?

Accept Date 1

Display ?Enter End Date?

Accept Date 2

For (Date 1>=Start Date, Date 2<=End Date, +1)

Accept Sales

Total Sales:= Total Sales + Sales

End For

Print Total Sales

End

Am I going about this in the right manner? Was the For loop the correct method to use? I would appreciate any advice or suggestions. :)

This problem requires a set operation, and it wouldn't make sense to use a for loop. If anything, you'd use a while loop provided that all the records are sorted by "sales date".

The pseudo code would look something like this:

Begin

Display ?Enter Start Date?

Accept Date 1

Display ?Enter End Date?

Accept Date 2

Sort SalesRecords by Sales Date Ascending

Found := false

While Not EOF(SalesRecords)

If (Sales Date >= Date 1)

Found:= true

End If

Next SalesRecord

End While

If Found = false

Print 0

Return

End If

Total Sales := 0

While Sales Date <= Date 2 And Not EOF(SalesRecords)

Total Sales := Total Sales + Sales

Next SalesRecord

End While

Print Total Sales

End

BTW, this is the kind of use case that a technology like Microsoft's LINQ turns into a triviality:

var totalsales = dc.Sales.Where(x => x.SalesDate >= Date1 && x.SalesDate < Date2.AddDays(1)).Sum(x => x.SalesAmount);