INTRODUCTION TO STRUCTURED PROGRAMMING
DEFINITION OF TERMS
A computer: is an electronic device that is used to accept user input, process it and display
output (information) for decision making.
A computer is made up of two main components
Hardware- tangible parts of a computer
Software- These are computer instructions written by a programmer to perform specific tasks or
solve a given problem.
Classification of computer software
System software: System software aids the user and the hardware to function and interact with
each other. Basically, it is software to manage computer hardware behavior so as to provide
basic functionalities that are required by the user. In simple words, we can say that system
software is an intermediate or a middle layer between the user and the hardware.
Application Software: Also known as end-user programs or productivity programs are software
that helps the user in completing tasks such as doing online research, jotting down notes, setting
an alarm, designing graphics, keeping an account log, doing calculations or even playing games.
They lie above the system software. Unlike system software, they are used by the end-user and
are specific in their functionality or tasks and do the job that they are designed to do.
Application programs can be developed by the users themselves using suitable programming
languages. There are many programming languages that allow us to write compute instructions
in a text form.
BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL, PASCAL, C, Java is some well-known programming languages.
However, writing application programs using such languages requires expertise and experience
in programming and only experienced programmers can write good quality application
programs.
A computer works by executing a set of instructions known as a program or software
Computer programming: is the process of developing computer instructions used to solve a
particular task. It involves use of special characters, signs and symbols found in a particular
programming language.
Program: is a set of instructions written in a particular programming language(high or low) used
to guide a computer on how to perform a given task or to solve a given problem.
Programming language: a special set of symbols that can be translated into machine readable
form by the computer when arranged in a particular sequence or order.
Structured Programming: is a programming paradigm aimed at improving the clarity, quality,
and development time of a computer program by making extensive use of the structured control
flow constructs of selection (if/then/else) and repetition (while and for), block structures, and
subroutines.
Characteristics of structured programming
Program code is broken into modules
The modules are loosely coupled
Go to statements are not allowed
There is one and only one logic path into each module and one logic exit from each
module
Advantages of Structured Programming Approach:
1. Easier to read and understand
2. User Friendly
3. Easier to Maintain
4. Mainly problem based instead of being machine based
5. Development is easier as it requires less effort and time
6. Easier to Debug
7. Machine-Independent
8. Increase in productivity by allowing multiple programmers to work on different parts of
the project independently at the same time.
Disadvantages of Structured Programming Approach:
1. Since it is Machine-Independent, So it takes time to convert into machine code.
2. The converted machine code is not the same as for assembly language.
3. The program depends upon changeable factors like data-types. Therefore it needs to be
updated with the need on the go.
4. Can support the software development projects easily up to a certain level of complexity.
If complexity of the project goes beyond limit it becomes difficult to manage
5. Lack of encapsulation
6. Lack of information hiding.
