Creating a program from an algorithm
Creating a program from an algorithm
Consider this simple problem. A cinema is offering discount tickets to anyone who is under 15. Decomposing this problem, gives this algorithm:
- find out how old the person is
- if the person is younger than 15 then say “You are eligible for a discount ticket.”
- otherwise, say “You are not eligible for a discount ticket.”
In pseudocode, the algorithm would look like this:
OUTPUT "How old are you?"
INPUT User inputs their age
STORE the user's input in the age variable
IF age < 15 THEN
OUTPUT "You are eligible for a discount."
ELSE
OUTPUT "You are not eligible for a discount."
To convert the flowchart or pseudocode into a program, look at each individual step, and write an equivalent instruction. Sometimes the steps will not match exactly, but they will be fairly close.
In a flowchart, this algorithm would look like this:
Creating the program in Python
A Python (3.x) program to meet this algorithm would be:
age = int(input("How old are you?"))
if age < 15:
print("You are eligible for a discount.")
else:
print("You are not eligible for a discount.")
Note the similarities between the flowchart and pseudocode, and the finished program.