MakingDecisions

ToolsforStructuredand
ObjectOrientedDesign

Objectives
Identify,anduseinprogramdesign,the
IFTHENELSEcontrolstructure
Identify,anduseinprogramdesign,thedecision
andconnectorprogramflowchartingsymbols
Usepseudocodeasatoolinprogramdesign
Identify,anduseinprogramdesign,thenull
ELSEpattern

Objectives(continued)
Identify,anduseinprogramdesign,the
sequentialIFTHENELSEpattern
Identify,anduseinprogramdesign,thenest
IFTHENELSEpattern
Distinguishbetweenthelogicrepresentedbya
sequentialIFTHENELSEpatternandthelogic
representedbyanestedIFTHENELSEpattern

UnderstandingtheIF/THEN/ELSE
Structures
Thesecondstructureiscalledaselection
structureordecisionstructure
Youaskaquestion
dependingontheanswer,
youtakeoneoftwocoursesofaction
nomatterwhichpathyoufollow,youcontinue
withthenextevent

UnderstandingtheIF/THEN/ELSE
Structures(continued)

UnderstandingtheIF/THEN/ELSE
Structures(continued)
Theselectionstructureissometimescalledanif
thenelsebecauseitfitsthefollowingstatement:
ifsomeConditionistruethen
dooneProcess
else
dotheOtherProcess

UnderstandingtheIF/THEN/ELSE
Structures(continued)

EvaluatingBooleanExpressionstoMake
Comparisons
Theselectionstructure(sometimescalledadecision
structure)isoneofthebasicstructuresofstructured
programming

IF/THEN/ELSEFlowchart

EvaluatingBooleanExpressionstoMake
Comparisons(continued)
Adualalternative,orbinary,selection:
hasanactionassociatedwitheachoftwopossible
outcomes

Thisselectionstructureisalsocalledanifthenelse
structurebecauseitfitsthestatement:
if the answer to the question is yes, then
do something
else
do somethingElse
endif

EvaluatingBooleanExpressionstoMake
Comparisons(continued)
Asinglealternative,orunary,selection
actionisrequiredforonlyoneoutcomeofthequestion

ABooleanexpressionisonethatrepresentsonlyoneof
twostates,usuallyexpressedastrueorfalse
Everydecisionyoumakeinacomputerprograminvolves
evaluatingaBooleanexpression

UsingtheLogicalComparisonOperators
Usually,youcancompareonlyvaluesthatareof
thesametype:
comparenumericvaluestoothernumeric
values
comparecharactervaluestoothercharacters
Youcanaskeveryprogrammingquestionby
usingoneofonlythreetypesofcomparison
operatorsinaBooleanexpression

UsingtheLogicalComparisonOperators
(continued)
Foranytwovaluesthatarethesametype,youcandecide
whether:
Thetwovaluesareequal
Thefirstvalueisgreaterthanthesecondvalue
Thefirstvalueislessthanthesecondvalue
InanyBooleanexpression,thetwovaluesusedcanbe
eithervariablesorconstants
Eachprogramminglanguagesupportsitsownsetof
logicalcomparisonoperators,orcomparisonsymbols,that
expresstheseBooleantests

UsingtheLogicalComparisonOperators
(continued)
Mostlanguagesallowyoutousethealgebraicsignsfor
greaterthan(>)andlessthan(<)tomakethe
correspondingcomparisons
Additionally,COBOL,whichisverysimilartoEnglish,
allowsyoutospelloutthecomparisonsinexpressionslike
dayPastDue is greater than 30? or
packageWeight is less than
maximumWeightAllowed?
RPGusesthetwoletterabbreviationsGTandLTto
representgreaterthanorlessthan

UsingtheLogicalComparisonOperators
(continued)
Mostprogramminglanguagesalsoprovideforthree
additionalcomparisons
Foranytwovaluesthatarethesametype,youcandecide
whether:
Thefirstisgreaterthanorequaltothesecond.
Thefirstislessthanorequaltothesecond.
Thetwoarenotequal.
Anylogicalsituationcanbeexpressedusingjustthreetypes
ofcomparisons:equal,greaterthan,andlessthan

UsingtheLogicalComparisonOperators
(continued)
Comparingtwoamountstodecideiftheyarenot
equaltoeachotheristhemostconfusingofallthe
comparisons
Usingnotequaltoindecisionsinvolves
thinkingindoublenegatives,whichmakesyou
pronetoincludelogicalerrorsinyourprogram

UsingtheLogicalComparisonOperators
(continued)

IF/THEN/ELSEFlowchart

IFTHENELSEGeneric

UsingtheLogicalComparisonOperators
(continued)
Besidesbeingawkwardtouse,thenotequalto
comparisonoperatoristheonemostlikelytobe
differentinvariousprogramminglanguages
COBOLallowsyoutowritenotequalto
Pascalusesalessthansignfollowed
immediatelybyagreaterthansign(<>)
C#,C++,CandJavauseanexclamationpoint
followedbyanequalsign(!=)

UnderstandingANDLogic
Often,youneedmorethanoneselectionstructureto
determinewhetheranactionshouldtakeplace
Forexample,supposethatyouremployerwantsareport
thatlistsworkerswhohaveregisteredforbothinsurance
plansofferedbythecompany:themedicalplanandthe
dentalplan
KnownasanANDdecisionbecausetheemployees
recordmustpasstwotestsparticipationinthemedical
planandparticipationinthedentalplanbeforeyouwrite
thatemployeesinformationonthereport

UnderstandingANDLogic(continued)
Acompound,or
AND,decision
requiresanested
decision,ora
nestedifthatis,
adecisioninside
ofanother
decision

WritingNestedANDDecisionsfor
Efficiency
Whenyounestdecisionsbecausetheresultingaction
requiresthattwoconditionsbetrue,youmustdecide
whichofthetwodecisionstomakefirst
Logically,eitherselectioninanANDdecisioncancome
first
However,whentherearetwoselections,youoftencan
improveyourprogramsperformancebymakingan
appropriatechoiceastowhichselectiontomakefirst

WritingNestedANDDecisionsfor
Efficiency(continued)
InmanyANDdecisions,youhavenoideawhichoftwo
eventsismorelikelytooccur;
Inthatcase,youcanlegitimatelyaskeitherquestion
first
Inaddition,eventhoughyouknowtheprobabilityofeach
oftwoconditions,thetwoeventsmightnotbemutually
exclusive
Inotherwords,onemightdependontheother

CombiningDecisionsinanAND
Selection
Mostprogramminglanguagesallowyoutoasktwoor
morequestionsinasinglecomparisonbyusingalogical
ANDoperator
IftheprogramminglanguageyouuseallowsanAND
operator,youstillmustrealizethat
thequestionyouplacefirstisthequestionthatwillbe
askedfirst
casesthatareeliminatedbasedonthefirstquestionwill
notproceedtothesecondquestion

CombiningDecisionsinanAND
Selection(continued)
Thecomputercanaskonlyonequestionatatime

CombiningDecisionsinanAND
Selection(continued)

UnderstandingORLogic
Sometimes,youwanttotakeactionwhenoneortheother
oftwoconditionsistrue
CalledanORdecisionbecause
eitheroneconditionmustbemetor
someotherconditionmustbemet,inorderforanevent
totakeplace
Ifsomeoneasksyou,AreyoufreeFridayorSaturday?,
onlyoneofthetwoconditionshastobetrueinorderfor
theanswertothewholequestiontobeyes
onlyiftheanswerstobothhalvesofthequestionare
falseisthevalueoftheentireexpressionfalse

UnderstandingORLogic(continued)

IncorrectFlowchartformainLoop()
Thisflowchartisnotallowedbecauseitisnotstructured

WritingORDecisionsforEfficiency
Youcanwriteaprogramthatcreatesareport
containingallemployeeswhohaveeitherthe
medicalordentalinsurancebyusingthe
mainLoop()

WritingORDecisionsforEfficiency
(continued)

WritingORDecisionsforEfficiency
(continued)

WritingORDecisionsforEfficiency
(continued)
Oneoftheseselectionsissuperiortotheother
Usingeitherscenario,950employeerecordsappearonthe
list,butthelogicusedinFigure526requires1,100
decisions,whereasthelogicusedinFigure527requires
1,500decisions
Thegeneralruleis:InanORdecision,firstaskthe
questionthatismorelikelytobetrue

CombiningDecisionsinanORSelection
Ifyouneedtotakeactionwheneitheroneortheotherof
twoconditionsismet,youcanusetwoseparate,nested
selectionstructures,asinthepreviousexamples
However,mostprogramminglanguagesallowyoutoask
twoormorequestionsinasinglecomparisonbyusinga
logicalORoperator

UsingSelectionsWithinRanges
Businessprogramsoftenneedtomakeselectionsbasedon
avariablefallingwithinarangeofvalues
Whenyouusearangecheck,youcompareavariabletoa
seriesofvaluesbetweenlimits
Toperformarangecheck,makecomparisonsusingeither
thelowestorhighestvalueineachrangeofvaluesyouare
using

InefficientRangeSelectionIncluding
UnreachablePath

UnderstandingPrecedenceWhen
CombiningANDandORSelections
Mostprogramminglanguagesallowyoutocombineas
manyANDandORoperatorsinanexpressionasneeded
Thelogicbecomesmorecomplicatedwhenyoucombine
ANDandORoperatorswithinthesamestatement
WhenyoucombineANDandORoperators,theAND
operatorstakeprecedence,meaningtheirBooleanvalues
areevaluatedfirst
YoucanavoidtheconfusionofmixingANDandOR
decisionsbynestingifstatementsinsteadofusingANDs
andORs

UnderstandingtheCaseStructure
TheLogicbelowiscompletelystructured

UnderstandingtheCaseStructure
(continued)
Writingthelogicusingacasestructure,asshownin
Figure537,mightmakeiteasiertounderstand
Thecasestructureprovidesaconvenientalternativeto
usingaseriesofdecisionswhenyoumustmakechoices
basedonthevaluestoredinasinglevariable
Whenusingthecasestructure,youtestavariableagainsta
seriesofvalues,takingappropriateactionbasedonthe
variablesvalue

FlowchartandPseudocodeofHousing
ModelUsingtheCaseStructure

IFTHENELSEExamplewithnullELSE

IFTHENELSEExample

IFTHENELSEExample

NestedIFTHENELSEExample

NestedIFTHENELSEExample

IFTHENELSEPseudocodeExample

GUIIFTHENELSEExample