1 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

LESSON ONE : PROGRAMMING

1. A computer program is a series of organized instructions that directs a

computer to perform tasks. Without programs, computers are useless.

2. A program is like a recipe. It contains a list of variables (called

ingredients) and a list of statements (called directions) that tell the
computer what to do with the variables.

3. Like a recipe, a program can be written in different programming

languages which may express the steps differently according to the
programming languages syntax, but deliver the same end result.

4. Programming is a creation of a set of commands or instructions which

directs a computer in carrying out a task.

5. Later these commands or instructions will be compiled and / or interpreted

and then transformed to executable instructions that a computer or
electronic device can execute or run.

6. Programming language is a set of words, symbols, and code that enables

human to communicate with computers.

7. It is a language used for writing computer programs that direct a computer

perform computation and to organize the flow of control between
mechanical devices.

8. Hundreds of programming languages exist today. Each language has its

own standard or rules for writing the commands and / or instructions.

9. Examples of programming languages are :

o Basic (Beginner’s All Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code)
o Pascal
o C
o Smalltalk
2 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

LESSON TWO : GENERATIONS OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES

1. Levels of programming languages :

a) Low-level language b) High-level language
2. A low-level programming language is a programming language that
provides little or no abstraction from a computer’s microprocessor.
3. A high-level programming language is a programming language that is
more abstract, easier to use, and more portable across platform.
4. Generations of programming languages :
a) First Generation Language – machine language
b) Second Generation Language – assembly language
c) Third Generation Language – COBOL, BASIC, C, Ada,
Compilers, Interpreter
d) Fourth Generation Language – Report Generators, Query
Language Application generators
e) Fifth Generation Language – natural language
5. First and Second Generation Programming Language are Low-level
Programming Languages.
6. Third, Fourth and Fifth Generation Programming Language are High-
Level Programming Language.

FIRST GENERATION PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

1. The first generation of programming language, or 1GL, is machine
language.
2. Machine language is a set of instructions and data that a computer’s
central processing unit can execute directly.
3. Machine language statements are written in binary code, and each
statement corresponds to one machine action.

SECOND GENERATION PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

1. The second generation programming language, 2GL, is assembly
language.
2. Assembly language is the human-readable notation for the machine
language used to control specific computer operations.
3. An assembly language programmer writes instructions using symbolic
instruction codes that are meaningful abbreviations or mnemonics.
3 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

4. An assembler is a program that translates assembly language into machine

language.
5. Since assembly language consist of human readable abbreviations, the
assembler must first convert assembly language into machine-readable
language before the computer can readily understand its instructions.

THIRD GENERATION PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

1. The third generation of programming language, 3GL, or procedural
language uses a series of English-like words that are closer to human
language to write instructions.
2. High-level programming languages make complex programming simpler
and easier to read, write and maintain.
3. Programs written in a high-level programming language must be translated
into machine language by a compiler or interpreter.
4. PASCAL, FORTRAN, BASIC, COBOL, C and C++ are examples of third
generation programming languages.

FOURTH GENERATION PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

1. The fourth generation programming language or non-procedural
language, often abbreviated as 4GL, enables users to access data in a
database.
2. Example: SQL can be used to query data.
3. A very high-level programming language is usually limited to a very
specific application that might use syntax which is never used in other
programming languages.
4. SQL, NOMAD and FOCUS are examples of fourth generation
programming languages.

FIFTH GENERATION PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

1. The fifth generation programming language or visual programming
language is also known as natural language.
2. It provides a visual or graphical interface, called visual programming
environment for creating source codes.
3. Fifth generation programming allows people to interact with computers
without needing any specialized knowledge.
4 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

4. People can talk to computers and the voice recognition systems cam
convert spoken sounds into written words, but these systems do not
understand what they are writing; they simply take dictation.
5. Prolog and Mercury are the best known fifth generation languages.
5 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

LESSON THREE : PROGRAMMING APPROACHES

There are different approaches in programming :

a) Structured Programming
b) Object-Oriented Programming

STRUCTURED PROGRAMMING
1. Structured programming often uses a top-down design model where
developers map out the overall program structure into separate subsections
from top to bottom.

2. A program may have a module or several modules.

3. Structured programming is beneficial for organizing and coding computer

programs which employ a hierarchy of modules.
4. This means that control is passed downwards only through the hierarchy.
5. Examples of structured programming languages include Ada, Pascal and
FORTRAN.
6 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING
1. The object-oriented approach refers to a special type of programming
approach that combines data with functions to create objects.

2. In object-oriented program, the objects have relationships with one

another.
3. For example, if bicycle is an object, then mountain bike, road bike and
tandem bike would be other objects that have some common features of a
bicycle, but yet have a few differences.
4. Among these differences are: a mountain bike has multiple gears, a road
bike has an engine, and a tandem bike has two sets of seats and pedals for
two riders.
5. One of the earliest OOP languages is Smalltalk.
6. Java, Visual Basic and C++ are examples of popular OOP languages.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN STRUCTURED AND OBJECT-ORIENTED

PROGRAMMING
1. Structured programming often uses a top-down design model
2. The object-oriented programming approach uses objects.
7 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

LESSON FOUR : TRANSLATORS

1. All software packages or programs are written in high-level languages, for

example, C++, Visual Basic and Java.
2. In order for the computer to be able to carry out the instructions, the high-
level languages must be translated into machine language before the
computer can understand and execute the instructions in the program.
3. The translation of high level languages to machine language is performed
by a translator.
4. There are three translation methods of programming: assembler,
interpreter and compiler.
5. A programmer will write a source code which consists of the instructions
needed to run a program.
6. Then the compiler or interpreter with assembler will translates the source
code into machine language which is made of a sequence of bits (eg.
01100011)
7. The computer will load the machine code ad run the program.

ASSEMBLER
1. An assembler is a computer program for translating assembly language –
essentially, a mnemonic representation of machine language – into
machine language that can be executed by the computer.
2. For example, in Intel 80836, the assembly language for the ‘no operation’
command is NOP and its machine code representation is 10010000.
3. Example of assemblers are MACRO-80 Assembler and Microsoft MASM.

INTERPRETER
1. Interpreter is a program designed to interpret and execute program directly
from its source codes without compiling it first.
2. The source code of an interpreted language is interpreted and executed in
real time when the user executes it.
3. The interpreter will read each code converts it to machine code and
executes it line by line until the end of the program.
4. Examples of interpreter-based language are BASIC, Logo and Smalltalk.
8 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

COMPILER
1. Compiler is a computer program that translates source code text which is
written in a high level programming language into a lower level language
(e.g. assembly language or machine language) and will create an executed
file.
2. The source code (in text format) will be converted into machine code
which is a file consisting of binary machine code that can be executed on a
computer.
3. If the compiler encounters any errors, it records them in the programming-
listing file.
4. When a user wants to run the program, the object program is loaded into
the memory of the computer and the program instructions begin executing.
5. A compiled code generally runs faster than programs based on interpreted
language.
6. Several programming languages like C++, Pascal and COBOL use
compilers as their translators.
9 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

LESSON FIVE : INSTALLATION OF MICROSOFT VISUAL BASIC 6.0

1. Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 was designed to be easy to learn and use.
2. The language not only allows programmers to easily create simple GUI
applications, but also has the flexibility to develop fairly complex
applications as well.
3. Programming in Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 is a combination of visually
arranging components or controls on a form.
4. Hence a simple program can be created without the programmer having to
write many lines of code.

VISUAL BASIC 6.0 MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

o Microsoft Windows 95 or later
o 486DX / 66 MHz or higher processor
o 16 MB of RAM for Windows 95 / 98 or 32 MB of RAM for
Windows XP
o A minimum of 290 MB of free had disk space
To install Visual Basic 6.0, you must key in the product number and user ID.

VISUAL BASIC 6.0 FEATURES

1. Microsoft Visual Basic is fast and easy with intuitive tools that enable you
to rapidly build your own Windows applications.
2. You can use Microsoft Visual Basic to develop programs such as games,
calculator, phonebook database and lots more.
3. The word “Visual” refers to the technique used to build the Graphical User
Interface (GUI).
4. Visual Basic features an easy “drag and drop” method to produce an
interactive Graphical User Interface (GUI) for your program.
5. The “Basic” part refers to the BASIC (Beginners All-Purpose Symbolic
Instruction Code) language, a high level programming language develop
by Microsoft.
6. Among the main features of Visual Basic are drag and drop user interface,
data access features, ActiveX technologies and Internet capabilities.
10 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

7. Drag and drop user interface allows you to instantly create an interactive
user interface for your software without dozens of codes.
8. Data access features allow your application to access information from a
database such as a telephone book program.
9. ActiveX technologies allow you to make use of the functionality provided
by other applications.
10. Internet capabilities allow your program to interactively utilize the
Internet.

INSTALLING VISULA BASIC 6.0

1. Insert the Visual Basic 6.0 CD. Windows should start the Setup program
automatically.
2. Follow the instructions given by the setup wizard.
3. When finished successfully, you should be able to locate Visual Basic 6.0
within your Program Files.

EXPLORE THE VISUAL BASIC ENVIROMENT

o Toolbar
o Toolbox
o Properties window
o Project window
o Form layout window
o Form window editing area
o Active form
11 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

LESSON SIX : BASIC ELEMENTS IN PROGRAMMING

There are five basic elements in programming :

1. Constant
2. Variables
3. Data types
4. Operators
5. Control Structures

CONSTANT
1. Constant is a data container that stores information.
2. The value will never change (remain constant) at any time during the
course of a program.
3. Declare is the official term used in programming to announce to the
program the condition of statement in programming.
Const number = 12.5

VARIABLES
1. Variable is a data container that stores information.
2. The value inside may change at any time during the course of a program.
3. Declaring variables :
Dim marks As Integer
Marks = 25

DATA TYPES
O
P ERA
T ORS

Operator is a symbol that tells what action to perform.

12 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

CONTROL STRUCTURES
Control structures allow the programmer to control the flow of a program.
13 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

LESSON SEVEN : CONSTANTS AND VARIABLES

1. The renter has to pay the rental of RM26 each month. This is the fixed
value. So we call it a constant value.
2. The values that may change are total calls and service tax. They are called
variables.

CONSTANTS & VARIABLES

Constant is a virtual data container that stores information. The value will
never change (remains constant) at any time during the course of a program.
Declaring constant : Const PI = 3.142
Const g = 9.8
Variable is a virtual data container that stores information. The value inside
may change at any time during the course of a program.
Declaring variable : Dim Total As Integer
Dim NAME As String

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CONSTANTS AND VARIABLES

Constants Variables

Value is not changeable Value can be changed

Characteristi
during the course of the anytime during the course
c
program. of the program.

Use constant when you

Use variable to store data
want to declare something
that may or will change
Usage that won’t be changed
during the running of the
midway in your program
program.
execution.
14 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

LESSON EIGHT : DATA TYPES

1. Data type determines the type of data a variable can store, for example a
number or a character.
2. Examples of data type are integer, double, string and boolean.
Data Types Examples
Integer 18, 79, 21
Double 41.5, 31.47
String Kok Keong, Ali
Boolean TRUE, FALSE
INTEGER
1. Integer data type contains any whole number value that does not have any
fractional part.
2. This is how we declare an integer type constant in Visual Basic statement:
Const Year_Birth = 1990
3. This is how we declare an integer type variable in Visual Basic statement:
Dim Age As Integer
Age = 17
DOUBLE
1. Double is any number value that may and could contain a fractional part
2. This is how we declare a double type constant in Visual Basic statement:
Const PI = 3.142
3. This is how we declare a double type variable in Visual Basic statement:
Dim Marks As Double
Marks = 60.5
STRING
1. String is any value that contains a sequence of characters.
2. This is how we declare string type constant in Visual Basic statement:
Const Name = “AHMAD”
3. This is how we declare string type variable in Visual Basic statement:
Dim Address As String
Address = “Kuala Lumpur”

BOOLEAN
6. Boolean type consists either a True or False value. Programmers usually
use it to store status.
7. This is how we declare a Boolean type constant in Visual Basic statement:
Const Input_Status = true
3. This is how we declare a Boolean type variable in Visual Basic statement:
Dim Input_Status As Boolean
Input_Status = true
15 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

LESSON NINE : OPERATORS

1. Operator is a symbol or notation that tells

a computer to perform certain actions or
operations.
2. An example : the plus (+) notation will tell
the computer to perform the “add”
operation.
3. There are three types of operator:
o Mathematical operator
o Relational operator
o Logical operator

MATHEMATICAL OPERATOR
1. Plus : + 2. Minus : –
3. Multiply : * 4. Divide : /

RELATIONAL OPERATOR
1. Equal to : = 2. Greater than : > 3. Less than : <
4. Greater than or equal to : >= 5. Less than or equal to : <=

LOGICAL OPERATOR
1. AND 2. OR
3. NOT

FUNCTION OF MATHEMATICAL OPERATORS

Mathematical operators are notations
that tell the computer to perform
mathematical operations.
The program in Visual Basic 6.0 on
the right shows an example of a
mathematical operation that calculate
total marks based on the total marks
of section one and section two.
16 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

The examples declare three variables named TotalMark, SectionOneMark and

SectionTwoMark.
FUNCTION OF RELATIONAL OPERATORS
Relational operators perform comparison between two elements.
They return an element of logical 1
(True) where the relation is true,
and element of logical 0 (False)
where the relation is false.
The table shows some common
relational operators and their
expression.

Example :

In this program, A>=B is used to

test if the value of left expression
(A) is greater than or equal to that
of the right expression (B).
If the conditions are met, then the
program will return a logical 1 and
proceed to print “A is greater than
or equal to B” else it will return a
logical 0 and proceed to print “A is
less than B”.

FUNCTION OF LOGICAL OPERATORS

Logical operators are notations that tell the computer to perform logical
operations.
Example of logical operators are : AND, OR and NOT.
Logical operator compares two conditions and return a TRUE or FALSE
value.
17 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

AND operator
The diagram shows a truth table of AND
operator.
Notice that truth value of X AND Y is True (1)
if only both X and Y are True (1), Else it is
false (0)
OR operator
The diagram shows a truth table of OR
operator.
Notice that truth value of X OR Y is True (1) if
either X or Y are True (1) or both X and Y are
true (1). Else it is false (0).

NOT operator
The diagram shows the truth table of
NOT operator.
NOT X is the negation of X. It is
essentially the 1’s complement
operation.
Notice that truth value of NOT X is
True (1) when X is False (0) and vice versa.
Logical operators perform logical operations such as checking the condition of
two Boolean values.
18 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

DIFFERENCE IN MATHEMATICAL, RELATIONAL AND LOGICAL

OPERATOR
1. Function

Mathematical operators Relational operators Logical operators

perform mathematical perform element-by- perform logical
operations such as plus element comparison operations such as
or substract. between two arrays. checking the condition
of two Boolean values.
2. Symbols
These operators have their own symbols based on the programming
language.
19 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

LESSON TEN : PSEUDO CODE

1. Pseudo code is text only sentences that describe the logic and program
flow of a computer program.
2. Pseudo code resembles plain English.
3. It usually does not have any specific programming language syntax and
grammar.
4. Pseudo code is directly linked to the computer codes because each pseudo
code statement can often be converted into the programming language
virtually line by line.
5. There are no set rules for writing pseudo code.
6. A programmer can have his or her personalized pseudo code.
7. He or she must use consistent language and syntax in the pseudo code, so
that he or she can understand it at a later stage.
8. Below is a complete pseudo code from BEGIN to END that illustrates the
following program.
20 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

AN EXAMPLE PROGRAM BASED ON A PSEUDO CODE

This program will basically calculate the volume of a sphere based on the
given value r.
21 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

LESSON ELEVEN : FLOW CHART

There are five main elements in a flow

chart :
1. Terminator shows the beginning or
end of a program
2. Flowline and arrowhead use to
connect symbols and indicate the
sequences of operation.
3. Input or output shows either an
input operation (e.g. an INPUT from
the user) or an output operation (e.g.
PRINT some messages).
4. Process shows a process to be carried out (e.g. calculation).
5. Decision shows a decision (or choice) to be made. The program should
continue along one of two routes (e.g. if …..else).
A flow chart is a diagram using symbols to show the step-by-step sequence of
procedures in a program.
A flow chart describes the logic and program flow of a computer system
graphically.

EXAMPLE OF A FLOW CHART

22 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

A student requests his mark from

the program.
The program will then check
whether his mark is more /equal to
50 or not.
If the mark is over or equal to 50,
the program will print a
congratulatory message together
with the mark.
If the mark is lower than 50, then
the program will print a
motivational message together with
the result.
23 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

LESSON TWELVE : CONTROL STRUCTURES

1. Control structure is a
structure of
statements in
programming that
allows the
programmer to
control the flow of a
program.
2. Control structure can
be divided into :
(i) sequence control structures
(ii) selection control structures
(iii) repetition control structures
3. We will concentrate on the sequence control structure and selection control
structure.

SEQUENCE CONTROL
In sequence control, the statements
are executed one by one in
consecutive order.

Example :
This program on the left
diagram will request the user’s
24 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

date of birth and then request today’s date, calculate the age and finally will
print the user’s age.
For example, today’s date is 1-
Jan-2006, then the results will be
shown as follows:

Another example of pseudo

code and result that has
sequence control structure :

Diagram below shows the flow

chart for a general sequence
control structure.

The flow chart on the left represents a program that

will request the user’s date of birth and then request
today’s date, calculate the age and finally the user’s
age.
25 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

SELECTION CONTROL
There are times when you want your
program to make a decision based on
the situation given.
A program that stores student’s marks
may respond differently to different
marks.
For example, a simple mathematical
program will display its result as odd or
even based on the result.

Selection control enables the programmer to assign different events for

different situations.
An example of selection control is “If…..Then…….Else” statement.
The basic pseudo code for “If…..Then……Else” statement is as follows:

BEGIN
Request condition
If condition is true Then
give positive response
Else
give negative response
End If
End

Let’s see a pseudo code example for the “If……Then……..Else” statement for
a program that will print “You are too heavy to ride the toy car” if the student’s
weight is more than or equal to 50. Otherwise it will print “you can ride the toy
car”.
BEGIN
Request student’s weight
If student’s weight is more than of equal to 50 kg Then
26 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

Print “You are too heavy to ride the toy car.”

Else
Print “You can ride the toy car.”
End If
End

Let see a program that will respond

differently for different service hours
in a school library.
A student requests her service hours
in a library from the program. The
program will then check whether her
service hours are more than / equal to
30 or not.
If the service hours are over or equal
to 30, the program will print a
message “Thank you for your
service.”
If the service hours are lower than 30,
then the program will print a message “Please continue to serve in the library.”
This program will declare a
constant pi equal to 3.142. Then
the program declares two
variables to be used in the
program (r and volume)
The program will then assign
some value to the r variable.
The program will then calculate
the volume using the formula
volume = (4/3) πr3 and display the
volume calculated with a message
box.
27 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

Write a program that will retrieve

the current date from the system.
If today’s date is more than 15
then the program will display a
message box with the message
“We are towards the end of the
month.”
Else the program will print “We
are at the beginning of the
month.”
Answer as shown on the right.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SELECTION CONTROL AND

SEQUENCE CONTROL
1. Execution flow
Sequence control executes statement one by one in linear or consecutive
order.
Selection control will execute different statements for different conditions.
2. Usage
Programmers use sequence control if they want to execute the code line by
line regardless of the condition. It does not use the decision symbol.
Programmers use selection control if they want to implement decision
making process in the program as it can execute different codes for
different circumstances. It uses the decision symbol.
3. Flow Chart
28 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

LESSON THIRTEEN : PRGRAM DEVELOPMENT PHASES

In program development, there are five main

phases as shown in the diagram on the left..
These phases are a series of steps that
programmers undertake to build computer
programs.
PROBLEM ANALYSIS PHASE
oThe programmer will interview the client to
find out what the client’s needs are.
oFor example, the client might be a school
that wishes to set up school registration
program. So, the school administrator might tell the programmer they need
to record students’ data such as name, date of birth, gender, class, parents’
names, addresses and contact numbers.

PROGRAM DESIGN PHASE

o Based on that, the programmer will design a flow chart that represents the
needs of the client, which in this case is the school registration program.

CODING
o Once the flow chart is confirmed, the programmer will perform coding.

TESTING AND DEBUGGING PHASE

o The school registration program will be tested by the users at the client’s
site. In this case, it will be the school office administrators. IF there are
any errors, the programmer will do a debugging of the program.

DOCUMENTATION PHASE
o After this, the programmer will complete the documentation for the
program; this includes the user manual, a clear layout of the input and
output records and a program listing.
29 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

LESSON FOURTEEN : PROBLEM ANALYSIS PHASE

In this phase, a programmer must

o review and define the problems,
o identify the data input, process and output for the program.

1. In this study, the programmer reviews and defines the problems faced by
the school administrators : The school enrolment has increased so much
that it has become very difficult for them to perform student registration
without the help of a computer program or system.
2. The programmer must indicate the purpose of the program before
continuing to the next task : In this case, the purpose of the school
registration program is to computerize the registration of new students.
3. In this situation, the programmer identifies the data input, process and
output for the program :
o First step : The programmer identifiers the data input, for example
student’s name, student’s NRIC, gender, telephone number, date of
birth, parents’ name and address.
o Second step : The programmer identifies the process for the program.
Any new student who enrolls in the school should have all his or her
data keyed into the school’s registration program.
o Third step : The programmer identifies the output for the program. For
example, the student who has been registered will be notified of his or
her class in the coming academic year or term.
LESSON FIFTEEN : PROGRAM DESIGN PHASE
30 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

In program design, these are three popular tools used, namely

o the top-down design model,
o pseudo code,
o flow chart.
In this case study, the programmer generates a top-down design model.
This
top-
down

model consists of three modules, namely input module, process module and
output module.
Then the programmer writes the pseudo code
for the program based on the top-down design
model.

Next, the programmer draws the flow chart that shows the data flow of the
program.
31 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming
32 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

LESSON SIXTEEN : CODING PHASE

1. It is the software that we run on computers which instruct computers what

to do.
2. These software contain instructions in the form of special symbolic code,
which have been written by computer programmers.
3. The process of writing instructions or code for computers is known as
coding.
4. Hence without coding, there would be no software to help us perform
useful tasks on computers.
5. In coding phase, a programmer uses a program development tool which
generates or provides some or all codes.
6. Coding is the process of writing the solution using the computer
programming language. After finishing the coding process, the

programmer will type the programming language code into the computer.
7. There are many different programming languages in the market. Examples
of the popular programming language used in Malaysian secondary school
are Visual Basic and C language.
8. Each of these programming languages has its own particulars syntax.
9. A programming language’s syntax is a set of rules specifying a style of
writing instructions for a solution.
33 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

TO WRITE CODE USING MICROSOFT VISUAL BASIC 6.0

Here is an example which generates Visual Basic code.
1. Select “File”
2. Select “New Project”
3. Click “Open”
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35 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming
36 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

CODING USING GUI OF VISUAL BASIC 6.0

Case Study : Student Registration Program
1. Select “File”
2. Select “New Project”
3. Single click “OK” (to choose Standard “exe”)
37 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming
38 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming
39 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

LESSON SEVENTEEN : TESTING & DEBUGGING PHASE

o If errors are uncovered during testing, the programmer will proceed to

debugging.
o Debugging involves tracing the source of errors in the program and
making the necessary corrections.
o After correcting the errors, it is normal for programmers to test run the
program again just to make sure that the errors have been properly fixed.

TESTING & DEBUGGING

o Once the programmer has finished the coding, the next step is to test it.
o The Purpose of program testing is to ensure the program runs correctly and
is error-free.
o There are three types of errors uncovered during this phase: syntax errors,
logic errors and run-time errors.
o When the code violates the syntax of the programming language, a syntax
error occurs.

SYNTAX ERROR
o A syntax error is caused by wrong spelling in command and declaration.
Other syntax errors include case sensitive, punctuation and wrong word
command.
40 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

o They either show up as you type the program code, or if you have turned
off the automatic syntax error check, the syntax errors show up when you
try to run or compile the program.
oW
hen

syntax error is located, a message is displayed on the screen.

o The programmer must review and correct all syntax errors.
41 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

LOGIC ERROR
o If the expected output and actual output do not match for any set of data,
the program has a logic error.
o A logic error is an error in the design that causes inaccurate outputs.

o We can use desk check technique to test logic errors. There are 3 steps to
perform desk checking.
a. First, create a set of test data that includes input and output data.
b. Second, use the test data to test the coding and record the result.
c. Lastly, compare the manual results with the computer generated
results.
42 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

RUN-TIME ERROR
o Run-time error is an error that occurs while the program is running or
executing.
o A run-time error may cause the program to stop running.

DEBUGING
o The process of locating and correcting of syntax and logic errors in a
program is known as debugging the program.
o The program errors themselves are called bugs. Thus removing the errors
is called debugging.
43 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

LESSON EIGHTEEN : DOCUMENTATION PHASE

o Documentation refers to the written description and pseudo code of

computer programs.
44 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

o Although documentation is stated as the last phase in program

development, it is actually performed throughout all the five main
phases of program development.

o Documentation consists of materials generated during each phase.

o Thus the documentation package is made up of the detailed problem

definition, the program plan (flow chart or pseudo code), comments
within the source program and testing procedures.
45 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

o Other items in the documentation package also include a detailed

description of the program, clear layouts of input and output records,
and a program listing.
46 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

o The programmer should ensure that all documentation is complete

and accurate.
o Documentation becomes especially valuable when the program
requires changes in the future.
o Proper documentation greatly reduces the amount of time a new
programmer spends in learning about the existing programs.
o Internal documentation consists of comments within the program.
o These two types of comments are global comments and internal
comments.

o Global comments, usually stated at the top of the program, explain

the program’s purpose and identify the program’s name, its author
and the date the program was written.
47 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

o Internal comments, which appear throughout the body of the

program, explain the purpose of the code statements within the
program.

o Internal comments are mostly addressed to other programmers who

may have to make corrections or other modifications in
programming language.
48 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

LESSON NINETEEN : DEVELOP A PROGRAM

o A project is a set of activities with a fixed start date and end date.
o Some examples of projects are the construction of your school building
and the setting up of your school library.
o Program development is also a project.
o A successful program development project will result in one or more
programs that are error-free, affordable, relevant to the needs of users and
delivered on time.
o All the software that you find so helpful, educational and enjoyable today
is the outcome of successful program development projects.
o For a program development project to succeed, the people involved must
possess the appropriate set of communication, management and technical
skills.

APPLY PROGRAM DEVELOPMEN PHASES TO SOLVE PROBLEMS

In library where the number of books is increasing, librarians face problems in
registering or cataloguing their books without the help of a computer program.
Therefore programmers can help librarians to analyse their requirements and
set up the relevant system.
49 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming
50 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming
51 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

Type miss match

52 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming
53 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

AN EXAMPLE USING VISUAL BASIC 6.0

54 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

Click Check
55 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

LESSON TWENTY : THE LATEST PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

FIFTH GENERATION LANGUAGES

o Fifth generation programming language (5GL) is an advance programming
language which concentrates on
solving problems using
constraints given to the program.
o In fifth generation language, the
programmer just need to define
the problem to be solved and the
program will automatically code
the program based on the problem
definition.
o Fifth generation languages are
designed to make the computer solve the problem for you.
o Fifth generation languages are mostly used in artificial intelligence
research.
o Examples of fifth generation languages include Prolog and Mercury.

NATURAL LANGUAGE
o Natural Language programming aims to use natural language such as
English to write a program.
o Instead of using a specific programming language syntax, natural language
programming will use normal English as the input to program software.
56 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming

o Such a technique would

mean less technical
programming knowledge is
required to write a
program.
o The programmer needs to
define the program using
normal language.
o An example of a tool for
natural language is Metafor
created by researchers from
the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology.

OPENGL (GRAPHIC LIBRARY)

o OpenGL is a standard specification to describe the standard Application
Programming Interface (API) for 3D/2D computer graphic applications.
o OpenGL specification declares a set of functions and the exact behaviours
that the 3D/2D application must perform.
o OpenGL was developed by Silicon Graphics.
o OpenGL is widely used in virtual reality, scientific visualization, flight
simulation and video game development.

3D / 2D
57 Form 5 Lesson Notes Part 1 Program & Programming