[Year 12 SofDev] Slightly off topic question

[Mark]

On Wed, Dec 13, 2017 at 11:18 AM, Paragreen, Chris J <
paragreen.chris.j at edumail.vic.gov.au> wrote:

> I haven’t, but it gives me an idea …. A good way to embed some algorithmic
> thinking …?
>
> Chris
>

I fully endorse the brief exposure of SD students to the concept of
assembly code - even machine code, and how CPUs work in binary with
registers and stuff.
But... going to that depth to teach *algorithms* may be less beneficial.

You *may* risk losing sight of the overall algorithm in the tortuous and
bulky detail of the assembly code...
High level source code hides the gory complexities of CPU operations and
lets humans focus on higher, more spiritual and abstract programming
matters.
That's one of the reasons the exam only deals in generic, high-level
pseudocode.

<RANT>

In fact SD pcode is *so* high level that I have yet to see any VCAA exam
pseudocode that even calls a function using parameters!
This *really* need to happen soon.
The lack of functions in pcode is a serious deficiency in examining
students' understanding of basic modular programming.

Would it be so hard for pseudocode like...

sampletext <-- "foobar"
mode <-- "upper"
newtext <-- CHANGECASE(sampletext, mode)
DISPLAY newtext

and then include a function like

FUNCTION CHANGECASE(T,M)
  IF M == "upper" THEN
     Convert T to uppercase
  ELSEIF m == "lower" THEN
     Convert T to lowercase
  ELSE
      DISPLAY "Mode parameter must be UPPER or LOWER"
 END IF
 RETURN T
END FUNCTION

... and then a nice question about calling the function, passing some
parameters, and using the function's output?

Think of how deliciously *juicy* the exam pseudocode could become with the
added milky goodness of functions...  drool.

</RANT>

My point is, it can be all too easy to get lost in the lower-level opcodes
and forget the overall shape and intention of the algorithm one was
supposed to be working for.

I don't miss the days when I could calculate in hexadecimal as easily as I
could in decimal.
Now I expect software to carry that mundane load for me, like a faithful
servant, so I can dwell on more lofty and ethereal matters.

Like lunch.

-- 

Mark Kelly

mark at vceit.com
http://vceit.com
Twitter @vceitcom
<https://twitter.com/intent/follow?original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fvceit.com%2Fwp%2F&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&region=follow_link&screen_name=vceitcom&tw_p=followbutton>

Powered by *nybbles.*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://edulists.com.au/pipermail/sofdev/attachments/20171213/a29c5543/attachment-0001.html>