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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Hi Andrew,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Love the "<FONT size=3 face=Calibri>Nasty spiderman
diagrams"! Haven't heard that one before.</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>About pseudocode in general: There have been so many
changes since I first became involved in programming back in 1971
:-) Surely we do need a VCAA SofDev "style" or "expectation" so that
teachers and students know what is expected in pseudocode at this level. Perhaps
IT needs to take note of the Maths Study Designs that are quite
specific.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Robert Hind (Semi-retired) OOF, GOM<BR>Ashwood and
Traralgon<BR><A
href="mailto:robert@yinnar.com">robert@yinnar.com</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
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style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=shortell@get2me.net href="mailto:shortell@get2me.net">Andrew
Shortell</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=sofdev@edulists.com.au
href="mailto:sofdev@edulists.com.au">Year 12 Software Development Teachers'
Mailing List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, May 18, 2011 3:05
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Year 12 SofDev] Pseudocode
standards</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Hi Mark<BR><BR>Before we get too carried away with
producing a complex definitive set of constructs I would like you (and
everyone else too) to carefully read the examiners’ reports since 1991 about
the question(s) involving writing pseudo code or reading pseudo code and
flowcharts and Nasty spiderman diagrams and match them up to the questions
themselves.<BR><BR>Then consider carefully the level at which these questions
have had to be pitched to elicit a reasonable spread of results. (an average
of 50% of the available marks is nice )<BR><BR>One needs to carefully consider
the purpose of VCE<BR><BR>CATs/SACs/projects are very different to
exams<BR><BR>My 5c worth (given that the face value is nearly less than the
metal in it!)<BR><BR>Andrew<BR>-- <BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><FONT
face="Apple Casual"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Andrew
Shortell<BR></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT
face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><BR><A
href="mailto:shortell@get2me.net">mailto:shortell@get2me.net</A>
<BR>Heidelberg Teaching Unit<BR>Ph 9470 3403<BR>Fax 9470
3215<BR><BR><BR><BR>On 18/05/11 11:16 AM, "Mark KELLY" <<A
href="kel@mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au">kel@mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au</A>>
wrote:<BR><BR></SPAN></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE><FONT face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Hi Claudia and all<BR><BR>Is there any news on what
pseudocode we can expect to be "standard" in SD exams? Until recently
there wasn't even a FOR structure in pseudocode, but it's there now (Q4 in
the sample questions) - a good move. <BR>What other structures and syntaxes
does VCAA consider appropriate?<BR><BR>Just as the lack of complex
structures in flowcharts result in primitive and bulky representations of
design, a pseudocode lacking important programming primitives must hamstring
the potential of pseudocode-based questions.<BR>I suggest we need some more
powerful data and control structures in our pseudocode that better reflect
the standards seen in all modern languages.<BR>The exact naming is neither
here nor there as long as they're intelligible to everyone...<BR><BR>= for
assignment. Why do we persist with <- when it's not used in
any language and is so hard to typeset for
printing??<BR> <BR>IF-ELSEIF-ELSE-ENDIF (including AND/OR as logical
operators)<BR><BR>The three basic
loops...<BR>FOR-NEXT<BR>DO-WHILE<BR>LOOP-UNTIL (or REPEAT-UNTIL like last
year's exam had)<BR><BR>I'd like pseudocode to be able to declare variables
and arrays. It's a vital programming concept...<BR>DECLARE var AS
type<BR>DECLARE array(a,b) AS type<BR><BR>Add some decent I/O
operators...<BR>INPUT (from keyboard) and READ (from a file)<BR>DISPLAY
(onscreen), WRITE (to file) and PRINT (to paper)<BR>OPEN - CLOSE text
file<BR>MESSAGEBOX - hell, our language has to be GUI but there's no
GUI support in the pseudocode. <BR><BR>One major omission in current
pseudocode is the concept of modularity: I've never seen a subprogram or
function call. <BR>We could really improve the power and reality of
algorithms by allowing modularity with<BR>CALL
subprogram(parameters)<BR>SUBPROGRAM(parameters)-END
SUBPROGRAM<BR>FUNCTION(parameters)-END FUNCTION (with RETURN
value)<BR><BR>And if the examiners want to introduce new functions all they
have to do is explain them before using them. It's not too hard.<BR><BR>Have
I left out any important programming concepts you think we could use in
pseudocode?<BR></SPAN></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT
face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><BR>--
<BR></SPAN></FONT>
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