ITF+ Certification Cram Notes

Assembly language is a low-level programming language that is specific to a particular computer architecture. It is often used to write programs that are closely related to the computer's hardware, such as operating systems, device drivers, and embedded systems. Assembly language uses mnemonic codes to represent machine language instructions. It is typically more difficult to write and read than high-level languages, but it offers more control over the hardware and can result in more efficient code.

4.2 Given a scenario, use programming organizational techniques and interpret logic.

Organizational techniques

Organizational techniques such as pseudocode and flowcharts are used to plan and organize the logical structure of a program before actual coding begins. Pseudocode is a non-standard language that uses plain English to outline the basic steps of the program, while flowcharts use graphical symbols to illustrate the program's logic flow.

When writing a program, branching and looping are essential components of the program's logic. Branching allows the program to make decisions based on certain conditions, while looping enables the program to repeat a set of instructions until a condition is met.

For example, consider the following scenario:

You are tasked with creating a program that calculates the average of a set of user-entered numbers.

To start, you might create a pseudocode outline that looks like this:

1. Ask the user to enter the total number of values to be averaged
2. Set a variable "total" to 0
3. Set a variable "count" to 0
4. Loop through the number of values entered by the user
5. Ask the user to enter a value
6. Add the value to "total"
7. Increment "count" by 1
8. Calculate the average by dividing "total" by "count"
9. Display the average to the user

Next, you might create a flowchart to illustrate the program's logic flow:

Start -> Ask user for number of values -> 
         Set total and count variables to 0 -> 
         Loop through number of values -> 
             Ask user for value -> 
             Add value to total variable -> 
             Increment count variable -> 
         End loop -> 
         Calculate average -> 
         Display average -> 
         End program

Within this program, branching and looping are used in the loop through number of values section. This loop allows the program to repeat the steps of asking the user for a value, adding it to the total, and incrementing the count until the loop has iterated through the specified number of values. The calculation of the average then uses the total and count variables to perform a division operation. Finally, the result is displayed to the user, and the program ends.