Lecture – 03 & 04

Computer Programming
14 Computer Systems Engineering – Second Semester

By: Mr. Ali Asghar Manjotho, Lecturer, CSE-MUET

 Contents
• Problem solving (LL 04)
• Six steps towards problem solution (LL 04)
• Basic problem solving concepts (LL 04)
• Data types (LL 04)
• Data literals(LL 04)
• Variables (LL 04)
• Constants (LL 04)
• Rules for naming variable and constant (LL 04)
• Operators (LL 02)
LL 02 = Learning Level 02 – Understanding, LL 04 = Learning Level 04 – Analysis

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 Problem Solving

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 Problem Solving
• In every day life people make decisions to solve many problems.

• The problems may be unimportant as what to watch on TV or as important

as choosing a new profession.

• If a bad decision is made, time and resources are wasted.

• So it is important that people know how to make decisions well.

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 Six Steps Towards Problem Solution
• There are six steps to follow to ensure the best decision:

List
Understand Identify Select the
Identify the instruction Evaluate
the alternative best
problem to solve the solution
problem solutions solution
problem

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Step 01: Identify the problem

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 Step 01: Identify the problem
• The first step towards solving a problem is to identify the problem.

• If you don’t know what the problem is, you cannot solve it.

• In a classroom situation, most problems have been identified for you and
given to you in the form of written assignments or problems out of a book.
However, when you are doing problem solving outside the classroom, you
need to make sure you identify the problem before you start solving it.

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Step 02: Understand the problem

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 Step 02: Understand the problem
• You must understand what is involved in the problem before you can
continue toward the solution.

• You cannot solve a problem if you do not know the subject.

• For example, to solve a problem involving average of numbers, you must

know how to calculate average; to solve a problem of trigonometry, you
must know trigonometry.

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Step 03: Identify alternative solutions

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 Step 03: Identify alternative solutions
• A single problem can be solved in many different ways.

• Identify and list all the possible solutions to the problem.

• For example there are multiple ways to sort the numbers as:
• Insertion sort
• Selection sort
• Bubble sort

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Step 04: Select the best solution

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 Step 04: Select the best solution

• Analyze and identify the pros and cons of every alternative solution.

• Choose the solution that is optimal and best matches with your
requirements.

• For example out of all the sorting options you choose bubble sort as your
best solution.

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Step 05: List instructions to solve problem

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 Step 05: List instructions to solve problem

• Write down general step by step procedure to solve the problem.

• For example to solve problem of calculating average of three numbers:

• Step 01 : Ask numbers a, b, and c from the user
• Step 02 : Add a, b, c and store result in sum
• Step 03 : Divide sum by 3 and store result in avg
• Step 04 : Display avg

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Step 06: Evaluate the solution

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 Step 06: Evaluate the solution
• Finally evaluate and test the solution, means to check its result to see if it is
correct and satisfies the needs.

• For example, when a person needs a pen to write a letter, buying him marker
may be a correct solution, but it may not be very satisfactory.

• If the result is either incorrect or unsatisfactory, then the problem solver

must review the list of instructions to see that they are correct or start the
process all over again.

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Basic Problem Solving Concepts

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 Data Types

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 Data Types
• Every problem involves some sort of data in it.
• The data can be:
• Numbers
• Integers (e.g. 24, 5874, -547)
• Floating (e.g. 45.214, 0.2547, -658.748)
• Characters (e.g. ‘a’, ‘f’, ‘#’, ‘?’, ‘!’, ‘w’)
• String (e.g. “mehran”, “computer”, “MUET CSE”)
• Logical (e.g. True and False, Yes and No, 0 and 1)

• The type of data is known as data type of that data item.

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 Data Types
Data Item Example Value Data Type
Age of a person 35 Integer
Current year 2014 Integer
Radius of circle 27.58 Floating
Value of PI 3.14159 Floating
A vowel e Character
A key on keyboard ? Character
Person’s name Ali Asghar String
Address of an office Department of CSE-MUET String
Is 1st number greater than 2nd ? True or T or Yes or 1 Logical
Is 7 less than 5 ? False or F or No or 0 Logical

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 Do it yourself
Data Types
Data Item Example Value Data Type
Number of students
Brand name of smartphone
Is 5 an even number?
Count of cars in parking
Speed of a car
Your grade in result
Is 13 a prime number ?
Title of book chapter
Percentage of marks
Option in MCQ

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 Data Literals

• A fixed value that any data type can take is called as literal.
• A number literal is always written without quotes. (15, 68, 25.14, 578.14)
• A character literal is always written in single quotes. (‘a’, ‘f’, ‘#’, ‘?’, ‘!’)
• An string literal is always written in double quotes. (“mehran”, “computer”)
• An logical literal is always written without quotes. (True, False, T, F, Yes, No, 1, 0)

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 Data Literals
Data Literal Type of Literal
“Ali” String
‘b’ Character
25.2 Floating
“87.5” String
‘4’ Character
4 Integer
4.0 Floating
“true” String
false Logical
“mehran” String

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 Variables
• In programming, a variable is the memory (RAM) location that can store the
data temporary.
• Every program uses some sort of data and each data item is stored
temporarily in the variables.
• Every variable has:
• Name
• Data type
• Value
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 Variables
radius
• The name of the variable is called as the identifier.
25.5
• Consider two of the examples.
• In first example, we have a variable whose name is radius,
its data types is floating and its value is 25.5. option

• In second example, we have a variable whose name is b

option, its data type is character and its value is b.

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 Variables

• The data type of the variable defines that what type of the data will be
stored in a variable.

• Once the data type of variable is defined, it cannot hold any value of other
data type.

• The value of the variable is changeable but its data type is not.

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 Constants

• In programming, a constant is a variable whose value remains fixed through

out the program.

• In certain programs some sort of data remains unchangeable through out

the program, hence we use constants to stored that data so that it can not be
altered.

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 Constants
PI

• Consider three of the examples.

3.141
• In first example, we have a constant whose name is PI, its
data types is floating and its value is 3.141.

E
• In second example, we have a constant whose name is E
(Euler’s number), its data type is floating and its value is
2.718
2.718.

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 Constants

SPEEDOFLIGHT

• In third example, we have a constant whose name is

SPEEDOFLIGHT, its data types is floating and its value 3E8
is 3 x 108.

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 Rules for naming Variables and Constants
• The name of any variable for constant is called as identifier.
• There are certain rules to follow when setting the identifier.

• Rule 1: May contain letters (A-Z, a-z), digits (0-9) or an underscore sign.
• Rule 2: It must start with letter or underscore sign.
• Rule 3: Should not contain any space in between.
• Rule 4: Should not be like any keyword of language like, int, cout, float.
• Rule 5: It is case sensitive i.e. radius is not same as Radius or RADIUS.
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 Rules for naming Variables and Constants
• Rule 6: Must be unique i.e. no any two variables have same identifier.
• Rule 7: Must be relevant i.e. var1 is inappropriate identifier to store the area
of circle, use area of area_circle instead.
• Rule 8: The identifier for constant is written with all capital letters. i.e. PI,
SPEEDOFLIGHT, E etc.

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Rules for naming Variables and Constants
Identifier Valid/Invalid Remarks
first_number Valid
first number Invalid Must not contain space in between
number_1 Valid
1st_number Invalid Must start with a letter or underscore sign
first# Invalid Must not contain invalid character $
int Invalid Must not be like keyword
firstNumber Valid
int_first_number Valid
first_number_$ Invalid Must not contain invalid character #
1st_# Invalid Must start with a letter or underscore sign
Must not contain invalid character #

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 Do it yourself
Rules for naming Variables and Constants
Identifier Valid/Invalid Remarks
number of items
#_of_items
price/item
number_items
itemCount
item#Price
itemPrice_1
5_itemPrice
ITEM_PRICE
$_per_item

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 Operators

• Computer performs several operations on the data. The operations are

represented by symbols known as operators.

• Operands are the data on which the operation is performed.

• Operand may be constant or stored in one of the variable.

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 Operators
• Example 1: a+b
• + is the operator
• a and b are the operands
• Both a and b are variables
• Example 1: 2 * length
• * is the operator
• 2 and length are the operands
• 2 is constant and length is a variable

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 Arithmetic Operators

Operator Symbol Example Operation Resultant

Addition + 10 + 26 36

Subtraction - 10 - 8 2

Multiplication * 4 * 20 80

Division / 25/5 5

Remainder/Modulus % 13 % 5 3

Power ^ 2^4 16

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 Relational Operators

Operator Symbol Example Operation Resultant

Greater Than > 5>6 false

Less Than < 10 < 15 true

Greater Than or Equals To >= 41 >= 90 true

Less Than or Equals To <= 16 <=16 true

Equals To == 15 == 19 false

Not Equals To != 14 != 80 true

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 Logical Operators
Operator Symbol Example Operation Resultant

AND & true & true true

true & false false
false & true false
false & false false
OR ¦ true ¦ true true
true ¦ false true
false ¦ true true
false ¦ false false
NOT ! ! true false
! false true

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Logical Operators (AND)

A B A&B

True True True

True False False

False True False

False False False

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Logical Operators (OR)

A B A¦B

True True True

True False True

False True True

False False False

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Logical Operators (NOT)

A !A

True False

False True

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