EE160 Programming for Engineers

A program that keeps track of a teller line based on input from the manager. The program prints out the status of the line after each input from the manager.

• input:
  • manager input (integer)
• output:
  • the status of the line

What are some questions the program needs to ask:
• it needs to check if the input is a -1
• it needs to check if the input is a 0

What are some tasks the program need to do:
• it needs to display the status of the line
• it needs to add a customer to the line
• it needs to remove a customer from the line

How can we arrange the questions and tasks to develop an algoirthm (step-by-step procedure) that will meet our requirements?:

Some questions to ask:
• How can we simplify the problem?
• What order should the questions be asked?
• What order should the program tasks be done?

Using words:

• do
    get manager input
    check if input is 0
      when yes, then
        check if somebody is in line (first_position_in_line != last_position_in_line)
          remove first customer in line (remove first integer of array at first_position_in_line)
          increment first_position_in_line
      otherwise
        add new customer to end of line (add input to array at last_position_in_line)
        increment last_position_in_line
  
    set display_counter to 0
    while display_counter is less than MAX_NUMBER_OF_CUSTOMERS  
      print array[display_counter]
      increment display_counter
  while input does not equal -1

Using block diagrams:
• 

• Start

  

• More Customers

  

• Less Customers

  

• Maximum Number of Customers Exceeded

  

• Start

  

• More Customers

  

• Less Customers

  

• Even More Customers