Pseudo code

PSEUDO CODE:

v   Pseudo code consists of short, readable and formally styled English languages used for explain an algorithm.

v   It does not include details like variable declaration, subroutines.

v   It is easier to understand for the programmer or non programmer to understand the general working of the program, because it is not based on any programming language.

v   It gives us the sketch of the program before actual coding.

v   It is not a machine readable

v   Pseudo code can’t be compiled and executed.

v   There is no standard syntax for pseudo code.

Guidelines for writing pseudo code:

v   Write one statement per line

v   Capitalize initial keyword

v   Indent to hierarchy

v   End multiline structure

v   Keep statements language independent

Common keywords used in pseudocode

The following gives common keywords used in pseudocodes.

1. //: This keyword used to represent a comment.

2. BEGIN,END: Begin is the first statement and end is the last statement.

3. INPUT, GET, READ: The keyword is used to inputting data.

4. COMPUTE, CALCULATE: used for calculation of the result of the given expression. 5. ADD, SUBTRACT, INITIALIZE used for addition, subtraction and initialization.

6. OUTPUT, PRINT, DISPLAY: It is used to display the output of the program.

7. IF, ELSE, ENDIF: used to make decision.

8. WHILE, ENDWHILE: used for iterative statements.

9. FOR, ENDFOR: Another iterative incremented/decremented tested automatically.

Syntax for if else:

IF (condition)THEN       

statement   

...                    

ELSE       

statement   

...                    

ENDIF    

Example: Greates of two numbers          

BEGIN

READ a,b

IF (a>b) THEN

DISPLAY a is greater

ELSE

DISPLAY b is greater

END IF

END

Syntax for For:         

FOR( start-value to end-value) DO   

statement   

...                    

ENDFOR     

Example: Print n natural numbers

BEGIN

GET n

INITIALIZE i=1

FOR (i<=n) DO

PRINT i

i=i+1

ENDFOR

END

Syntax for While:

WHILE (condition) DO  

statement   

...                    

ENDWHILE           

Example: Print n natural numbers

BEGIN

GET n

INITIALIZE i=1

WHILE(i<=n) DO

PRINT i

i=i+1

ENDWHILE

END

Advantages:

v   Pseudo is independent of any language; it can be used by most programmers.

v   It is easy to translate pseudo code into a programming language.

v   It can be easily modified as compared to flowchart.

v   Converting a pseudo code to programming language is very easy as compared with converting a flowchart to programming language.

Disadvantages:

v   It does not provide visual representation of the program’s logic.

v   There are no accepted standards for writing pseudo codes.

v   It cannot be compiled nor executed.

v   For a beginner, It is more difficult to follow the logic or write pseudo code as compared to flowchart.

Example:

Addition of two numbers:

BEGIN

GET a,b

ADD c=a+b

PRINT c

END