Pseudocode

Could someone help me to understand what a pseudocode is? I am taking programming concepts and the class started out with that and I am lost.
I would appreciate the help.
Thank you.

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Comments

Webmaster

Simply put it's code that doesn't adhere to a particular programming language, syntax, or architecture, but makes it easier to discuss what needs to be done.

Tip: if you need to find the explanation/definition for a particular world use Google.com and prefix the keyword with "define:" (without the quotes).

For example: http://www.google.com/search?q=define:pseudocode

mamakat0

Could you give me an example of one?
Thank you.

Webmaster

Well, you could take a Visual Basic loop and replace the = > < and other signs by plain English words and you have what you could consider psuedo code.

vb code:

Dim unanswered As Int32 = 0
       For i = 0 To Exam.Questions.Length - 1
            If Exam.Questions(i).Answered = False Then unanswered += 1
       Next

psuedocode:
"Record total number of unanswered questions by checking for each question in Questions collection of Exam if question is answered."

Probably not a great example. I'll ask JDMurray if he can give his 2 cents in this topic. I never gave it much thought and I don't know if there's a standard, but I assume there are at least unwritten rules/guidelines.

What also may help: other words for psuedo are: fake, simulated, artificial, pretend.

mamakat0

Thank you very much.

JDMurray

Webmaster just about nailed the explanation. Psuedocode is a written language that's used to teach humans logic algorithms and is not intended to be compiled or interpreted by a computer. There is no official standard for pseudocode, so use whatever style is the clearest explanation of what idea you are trying to teach. The simplest is probably a list of logical tasks:

GET the file name
CHECK if the file EXISTS
IF the file EXISTS THEN 
  OPEN the file
ELSE 
  CREATE the file
ENDIF

You can also use a generic pseudocode that can be translated into any other computer language, such as:

LOOP 1 TO 10
  CALL FUNCTION DisplayValue ARG1=LOOPCOUNTER
  INCREMENT LOOPCOUNTER
END LOOP

The operators in pseudocode are usually names rather than symbols (for example, "NOT EQUALS" rather than "!=" or "<>") that can be translated to any other language using a substitution chart.

For further reading: Pseudocode article in Wikipedia

mamakat0

Thank you. I think I understand it now.