1. Dr Scott Turner

2. Why do you needed to develop problem solving skills?  One definition of programming is it is applied problem solving  You have a problem (E.g Need a program to calculate the area of the circle).  What needs to be done?  What inputs and outputs are needed?  How does what is entered produce the right output?

3.  “…many students have almost no mathematical background and some even arrive with a built-in phobia against anything involving formulae or syntax.” Carter (2004)

4.  “Programming is a complex activity…. Problem Solving is not trivial and requires component skills including relativity; decision making; identification of the central issues; recognition of relationships, familiar situations and patterns; development of an algorithm and the translation of the algorithm into executable code. ” Beaumont and Fox (2003)

5.  Beaumont C and Fox C (2003) “LEARNING PROGRAMMING: ENHANCING QUALITY THROUGH PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING.” [online] 4th Annual conference of the LTSN Centre for Information and Computer Science Galway 26-28th August 2003 http://www.ics.ltsn.ac.uk/pub/conf2003/index.htm accessed on 16th October 2003 http://www.ics.ltsn.ac.uk/pub/conf2003/index.htm  Carter C (2004) “Say it another way Sam: Different Learning Paths” [online] LTSN-ICS One Day Workshop on the Teaching of Programming university of Huddersfield 15 th March 2004 http://www.ics.ltsn.ac.uk/pub/programming04/index.html accessed on: 16th July 2004. http://www.ics.ltsn.ac.uk/pub/programming04/index.html

6. Mistakes  An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a very narrow field. Niels Bohr

7. Mistakes Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. Albert Einstein Albert Einstein

8. Simplicity  Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction. Albert Einstein Albert Einstein

9. Simplicity  Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. Albert Einstein Albert Einstein  All quotes taken from:http://www.brainyquote.com/ Accessed on 18/9/2006

10. How do this course split  Weeks 1-8  Problem Solving  Weeks 9-24  Java Programming

11. Stepwise refinement  Take the problem and break it down in to smaller and smaller chunks that are now manageable.

12. Basics  Problem statement  Analysis  Design  Implementation  Testing

13. Analysis – Sample thoughts  What does it have to do?  What does it need?  What rules/algorithms are needed?  When testing what does it take to prove it works?  Can I break this down further?

14. Things to remember  There is often more than one solution to a problem  You can often solve a problem in many different ways, that each have advantages and disadvantages.  Two heads are better than one  Part of some problem solving techniques can be as simple as discussing issues.  For example: Why did you do that?

15. Problem 1.1  Write a routine to calculate the area of the circle.  First pass  Input  Calculation  Display

16.  Second pass  Input  Input radius of the circle  Calculation  Area=Pi x radius x radius  Display  Display area on the screen

17.  Third pass  Put a message of the screen telling the user to enter the radius of the circle.  Read in from the keyboard what the radius of the circle is  Calculation Area=Pi x radius x radius  Display the following message on the screen “The area of the circle is “ and display the result of the calculation on the screen

18. Problem 1.2:  In groups of 2-3 write a routine for calculating the area of a rectangular room.  First pass  Input  Calculation  Display

19. What assumptions did you make?  Did you assume that the measurements of the room were already taken?  What units of measurement did you use?  What does area of the room mean?  Area of the floor?  Area of the floor and area of all the walls?

20. Problem 1.3  An Ant is in the corner of the a sqaure room. (taken orginally from: Vickers P (2009) How to Think Like a Programmer ISBN 978-84480-903-5 Cengage)  Goal: Is to get to a bowl of sugar in the opposite diagonal corner on the floor. What is the shortest route?  Restrictions: It can’t fly or be blown across the room

21. Hints  The key to this problem is to re-arrange the problem.  Try flattening the walls.

22. University of Minnesota – Five steps in problem solving  Understand and isolate the problem  Brainstorm for ideas to solve the problem  Design a solution that might work  Test your solution to see if it will work  Assess whether the solution is good enough to do it  See http://cda.mrs.umn.edu/~fauxr/computing/pro blemsolve.html

23. Understand and isolate the problem  What does it take to succeed with a particular problem?  What is the vital information?  Identify the parts of the problems – analysis.  What are the inputs and outputs?

24. Understand and isolate the problem  Identify the parts of the problems – analysis.  What are the inputs and outputs?  What are the limitations?  What are the rules?

25. Brainstorm for ideas to solve the problem  Note down all the solutions  Have solutions been used in similar way before?  Keep solutions that have common features.  Two heads are better than one.  When all the solutions have been found weed-out less reasonable ones.  Can be solo or group activity.

26. Design a solution that might work  The design of a solution can be created using diagrams, algorithms and other models. The main purposes of creating a design that can be viewed by others is to communicate the solution. Providing a diagram or algorithm of what you THINK is going on and is needed will provide others a chance to see what your thinking is.

27. Test your solution to see if it will work  Take the time to trace through your design with some test information.  Try more than one scenario.  Try to find information that tests the borders.  Choose some information that isn't supposed to work and be certain that the design handles it.  Give your algorithm or diagram to another person.

28. Assess whether the solution is good enough to do it  Is this solution really worth doing?  Would another solution be better for this situation?

29. Problem 1.4  Write a routine that lets the user convert pounds Stirling into the Northampton dollar and display the results  What information do you need?  What does the routine need to do?