In our daily life, we routinely encounter and solve problems. We pose problems that we need or want to solve. For this, we make use of available resources, and solve them. Some categories of resources include: the time and efforts of yours and others; tools; information; and money. Some of the problems that you encounter and solve are quite simple. But some others may be very complex. In this unit we introduce you to the concepts of problem-solving, especially as they pertain to computer programming. The problem-solving is a skill and there are no universal approaches one can take to solving problems. Basically one must explore possible avenues to a solution one by one until s/he comes across a right path to a solution. In general, as one gains experience in solving problems, one develops one’s own techniques and strategies, though they are often intangible. Problem-solving skills are recognized as an integral component of computer programming. It is a demand and intricate process which is equally important throughout the project life cycle especially – study, designing, development, testing and implementation stages. The computer problem solving process requires: 

1. Problem anticipation 
2. Careful planning
3. Proper thought process
4. Logical precision
5. Problem analysis
6. Persistence and attention. 

At the same time it requires personal creativity, analytic ability and expression. The chances of success are amplified when the problem solving is approached in a systematic way and satisfaction is achieved once the problem is satisfactorily solved. The problems should be anticipated in advance as far as possible and properly defined to help the algorithm definition and development process.

Computer is a very powerful tool for solving problems. It is a symbol-manipulating machine that follows a set of stored instructions called a program. It performs these manipulations very quickly and has memory for storing input, lists of commands and output. A computer cannot think in the way we associate with humans. When using the computer to solve a problem, you must specify the needed initial data, the operations which need to be performed (in order of performance) and what results you want for output. If any of these instructions are missing, you will get either no results or invalid results. In either case, your problem has not yet been solved. Therefore, several steps need to be considered before writing a program. These steps may free you from hours of finding and removing errors in your program (a process called debugging). It should also make the act of problem solving with a computer a much simpler task.

All types of computer programs are collectively referred to as software. Programming languages are also part of it. Physical computer equipment such as electronic circuitry, input/output devices, storage media etc. comes under hardware. Software governs the functioning of hardware. Operations performed by software may be built into the hardware, while instructions executed by the hardware may be generated in software. The decision to incorporate certain functions in the hardware and others in the software is made by the manufacturer and designer of the software and hardware. Normal considerations for this are: cost, speed, memory required, adaptability and reliability of the system. Set of instructions of the high level language used to code a problem to find its solution is referred to as Source Program. A translator program called a compiler or interpreter, translates the source program into the object program. This is the compilation or interpretation phase. All the testing of the source program as regards the correct format of instructions is performed at this stage and the errors, if any, are printed. If there is no error, the source program is transformed into the machine language program called Object Program. The Object Program is executed to perform calculations. This stage is the execution phase. Data, if required by the program, are supplied now and the results are obtained on the output device.

Objective

After going through this unit, you should be able to:

1. apply problem solving techniques
2. define an algorithm and its features;
3. describe the analysis of algorithm efficiency;
4. discuss the analysis of algorithm complexity; and
5. design flowcharts