How do you understand pseudo code?

Answer 1

Pseudo code is "not a real programming language." In other words, it is designed to "look" like an actual programming language, but this code is usually not compilable by any known compiler, or even if it were, would probably be incompatible with the specific syntax of that compiler.

If you understand logic programming, then you should be able to grasp pseudo code without much difficulty. The advantage of pseudo code is, once written, other developers can translate the algorithm depicted in the pseudo code into actual compiled code.

For example, given a typical "Hello World" example, you might write the following:

Clear the screen

Write "Hello World" to the screen

A C programmer might write:

void main(void) {

clrscr();

printf("Hello World");

}

A shell programmer might write:

clear; echo "Hello World"

A Forth programmer would write:

WIPE "Hello World" .

The point is, each programmer would be able to look at the pseudo code, and be able to translate into a useable form for their specific programming language.

Pseudo code typically covers the following aspects:

Memory: variables, which are used for storing input or calculations. Usually written as "Let Variable = " (a syntax borrowed from BASIC).

Branch Control: Loops, conditional branches.

Subroutines: usually similar to "Function FunctionName (Parameter1, Parameter2)". Typically will be called using "CALL FunctionName(x, y)".

Math Operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and others. Usually written as the form a programmer would use: "Let Total = SubTotal + SalesTax."

Almost all programming eventually boils down to these basic concepts, called "logic programming", and once you understand the fundamentals, you can apply this knowledge to learn any number of programming languages with relative ease.