PAPER NO. 8 PROGRAMMING CONCEPTS
GENERAL OBJECTIVE
This paper is intended to equip the candidate with knowledge, skills and attitudes that will
enable him/her develop basic computer programs
LEARNING OUTCOMES
A candidate who passes this paper should be able to:
- Apply good programming concepts in problem solving
- Write elementary programs using Visual Basic programming language
- Test and debug errors in computer programs
- Write simple documentation (user manual) to support user
CONTENT
Introduction to programming
- Overview of programming languages
- Types of programming languages
- Characteristics of a good program
Generations of programming languages
- Machine language
- Assembly language
- Third generation languages
- Fourth generation languages
- Fifth generation languages
Programming approaches
- Imperative programming
- Logic programming
- Structured programming
- Unstructured programming
- Procedural programming
- Event-driven programming
- Visual programming
- Functional programming
- Object oriented programming
Program translation
- Overview of translators
- Types of language translators
- Program errors and bugs
Program development steps
- Problem statement/definition
- Analysing a problem
- Program design
- Coding
- Testing
- Implementation
- Documentation
- Maintenance
Program design tools
- Overview of algorithms
- Flowcharts
- Pseudocodes
- Using flowcharts and pseudocodes with control statements
Visual Basic programming language
- Data types
- Identifiers
- Variables and constants
- Statements
- Expressions and operators
- Control structures
- Creating user interface
- Developing a case program
Emerging issues and trends