Could you explain #likeimfive Psuedocode & its purpose?

Comments

[Samir Alajmovic]

What:

Pseudocode visualizes the steps of an algorithm, often in a human language (English, Spanish, etc.). It is usually not executable (executable code is code which produces some sort of result upon execution).

Why:

It allows people to grasp concepts / ideas before implementation, since the implementation and result of an algorithm is a cost (time, energy, money, etc.) in itself.

Real life example:

You want to program a machine to move items between location A and B. Before programming executable code to perform said task, you are given pseudocode of two algorithms, algorithm 1 and algorithm 2. By inspecting the pseudocode, you realize that the cost of algorithm 1 is 10 seconds (execution time) and cost of algorithm 2 is 20 seconds (execution time), and so you choose to implement algorithm 1.

[Emanuel Frazier]

Very well explained sir, thanks!

[tux0r]

Pseudocode is for explaining algorithms without having to know any programming language. (That may be one of the reasons why Python adopted many pseudocode conventions for syntax.)

[Ben Halpern]

Yeah. Not quite code, not quite humanspeak. I might use basic programming concepts like loops, or perhaps recursion, but speaking in general terms instead of getting caught up in the details of executable code.