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Learn what pseudocode is and how it can help you become a better programmer by planning ahead and thinking about the logic of your program before writing any code.
[MUSIC]
0:00
Hi, I'm Reggie Williams.
0:09
I hope you've enjoyed your learning so far
and are prepared to continue your journey.
0:10
In this workshop, I'll teach you how
to write something called pseudocode.
0:14
Pseudocode will help you plan your
projects ahead, communicate your ideas to
0:17
teammates, and help you identify logical
errors before you write any code.
0:20
Programs contain both logic and syntax.
0:25
Logic is the order in which the program
runs, the decisions made within
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the program, and how you structure
the different parts of the program.
0:31
Syntax is the actual programming language,
the very specific set of words and
0:35
symbols you write to
make the program work.
0:39
Each language has its own specific syntax.
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So to create a variable in JavaScript,
you write something like this.
0:45
But in C#, it would look like this.
0:48
Both lines of code do the same thing,
0:50
store the value zero into
a variable named score.
0:52
The syntax is different, but
the logic is the same in both cases.
0:55
Thinking through the logic of a program
is often the biggest challenge in
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creating a program.
1:02
And fortunately, using pseudocode,
1:03
you can easily lay out your
program's logic before coding.
1:05
Pseudocode is a notation that resembles
plain speech to describe the logic of
1:09
your program.
1:12
Here's an example of pseudocode that
describes a college admissions program.
1:13
You can see it reads very much like
English, no programming syntax required.
1:17
For example, some lines start with
verbs like set, input, and output.
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These might be the actions or
functions in the program.
1:25
Questions that may lead
to different paths or
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conditions begin with words like else or
if.
1:32
Keep in mind that pseudocode is meant for
humans, not computers.
1:35
It's not real code and
won't run on a computer.
1:39
But it does help you describe
how the program will run.
1:41
Pseudocode can also be used as
comments to document your code.
1:44
One of my favorite practices is writing
pseudocode in the text editor as comments
1:48
and then writing my code
directly under each line.
1:51
In the next video, I'll teach you some
of the basics of writing pseudocode.
1:55
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