As you plan your programs, you can make a special drawing — called a flowchart — to show your plan. A flowchart is like a little map with special boxes and arrows that show the smaller parts of the whole plan. You can plan almost anything with a flowchart — a travel schedule, a recipe, a basketball play, or an app you’re making. This table shows some flowchart symbols and what each symbol means.
SYMBOLS USED IN FLOWCHARTS
|
Symbol |
Name |
What It Means |
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|
Arrow |
Shows the sequence of the program |
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|
Terminal |
Starts or ends the program |
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|
Process |
Does a task, such as a math problem |
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|
Decision |
Selects yes or no to follow a new path |
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|
Input/output |
Takes in information or tells the user something |
In this book, you plan each program with a simple flowchart. Here’s a flowchart for a program to decide on an afterschool activity. Planning a computer program with a flowchart helps you think about the big picture first. You can get your thinking straight and leave the details of writing code for later!
