2.2   Programming Fundamentals 

• the use of variables, constants, operators, inputs, outputs and assignments

• the use of the three basic programming constructs used to control the flow of a program:

• • • Sequence - running programs in order 1st line to last

    • Selection - skipping lines if they don't meet the criteria

    • Iteration -  (count controlled and condition controlled loops)

      • • Count controlled 

          • for loop (eg for x=1 to x=10) 

        • Condition Controlled  

          • Do While and Do Until loops

• the use of basic string manipulation

eg if a variable called string contains the words "Good Morning"

• • • string.length = 12 (including the space)

    • string.upper = "GOOD MORNING"

    • string.lower = "good morning"

    • string[3] = 'd' (positions start at zero)

    • string.subString[3,4] = 'd Mo' (positions start at zero)

    • you can also join 2 or more strings together this is called CONCATENATION

      • • eg "Good" + "Morning"

          • • will produce "GoodMorning"

        • "Good" + " " + "Morning"

          • • will produce "Good Morning"

• the use of basic file handling operations:

• ⃝Open

• Read

• Write

• Close

• the use of arrays - including both one and two dimensional arrays

• An array is a data structure that holds similar, related data.

• An array will have a variable name

• it can hold multiple values

• the values must all be of the same data type - you cannot mix strings and integers

• A one dimensional array is like a row within a table

• A two dimensional array is like a table

• you can retrieve an individual value from the array by using the variable name and the position number . 

• position values start at zero so in an array called players,  players[3] would retrieve the 4th value from a 1d array

• playerScores[3][4] would return a value from the 4th column and 5th row of a 2d array

• more information on the BBC site here

• the use of records to store data

• the use of SQL to search for data

• • • The BBC Bitesize site has a good explanation of SQL - with some examples  click here

• how to use sub programs 

• • • sub-programs are either functions or procedures

    • a function is subroutine which does something and always returns a value to the main program

    • a procedure - does something and does NOT have to return a value to the main program.

•  Random Number Generation

• the use of data types:

• •  integer

    • whole numbers

  •  real

    • decimal numbers

  •  Boolean

    • Yes or No values

  • character 

    • single letters or digits

  • string

    • alphanumeric data 

• casting (converting from one data type to another)

• the common arithmetic operators

+, -, *(multiplication), / (division), 

^ power of (2^3 gives 8), 

DIV or // --> divide and ignore remainder - (10 DIV 3 gives 3) 

MOD or % -->  divide and return only the remainder (10 MOD 3 gives 1)

• the common Boolean operators

==  ie 2 equals signs tests if value on left is equal to the value on the right

!= or <>  is not equal to

< is less than

> is greater than

<= is less than or equal to

>= is greater than or equal to