An introduction to Flowcharts
What is a Flowchart?
Flowchart is a graphical representation of an algorithm. Programmers often use it as a program-planning tool to solve a problem. It makes use of symbols which are connected among them to indicate the flow of information and processing.
The process of drawing a flowchart for an algorithm is known as “flowcharting”.
Basic Symbols used in Flowchart Designs
- Terminal: The oval symbol indicates Start, Stop and Halt in a program’s logic flow. A pause/halt is generally used in a program logic under some error conditions. Terminal is the first and last symbols in the flowchart.
- Input/Output: A parallelogram denotes any function of input/output type. Program instructions that take input from input devices and display output on output devices are indicated with parallelogram in a flowchart.
- Processing: A box represents arithmetic instructions. All arithmetic processes such as adding, subtracting, multiplication and division are indicated by action or process symbol.
- Decision Diamond symbol represents a decision point. Decision based operations such as yes/no question or true/false are indicated by diamond in flowchart.
- Connectors: Whenever flowchart becomes complex or it spreads over more than one page, it is useful to use connectors to avoid any confusions. It is represented by a circle.
- Flow lines: Flow lines indicate the exact sequence in which instructions are executed. Arrows represent the direction of flow of control and relationship among different symbols of flowchart.
Advantages of Flowchart:
- Flowcharts are better way of communicating the logic of system.
- Flowcharts act as a guide for blueprint during program designed.
- Flowcharts helps in debugging process.
- With the help of flowcharts programs can be easily analyzed.
- It provides better documentation.
- Flowcharts serve as a good proper documentation.
Disadvantages of Flowchart:
- It is difficult to draw flowchart for large and complex programs.
- In this their is no standard to determine the amount of detail.
- Difficult to reproduce the flowcharts.
- It is very difficult to modify the Flowchart.
Example : Draw a flowchart to input two numbers from user and display the largest of two numbers
C
// C program to find largest of two numbers#include <stdio.h>int main(){ int num1, num2, largest; /*Input two numbers*/ printf("Enter two numbers:\n"); scanf("%d%d", &num1, &num2); /*check if a is greater than b*/ if (num1 > num2) largest = num1; else largest = num2; /*Print the largest number*/ printf("%d", largest); return 0;} |
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C++
// C++ program to find largest of two numbers#include <iostream>using namespace std;int main(){ int num1, num2, largest; /*Input two numbers*/ cout << "Enter two numbers:\n"; cin >> num1; cin >> num2; /*check if a is greater than b*/ if (num1 > num2) largest = num1; else largest = num2; /*Print the largest number*/ cout << largest; return 0;} |
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Java
// Java program to find largest of two numbersimport java.util.Scanner;public class largest { public static void main(String args[]) { int num1, num2, max; /*Input two numbers*/ Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in); System.out.println("Enter two numbers:"); num1 = sc.nextInt(); num2 = sc.nextInt(); /*check whether a is greater than b or not*/ if (num1 > num2) max = num1; else max = num2; /*Print the largest number*/ System.out.println(max); }} |
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C#
// C# program to find largest of two numbersusing System;using System.IO;class GFG{ static public void Main () { int num1, num2, max; /*Input two numbers*/ Console.WriteLine("Enter two numbers:"); num1 = Convert.ToInt32(Console.ReadLine()); num2 = Convert.ToInt32(Console.ReadLine()); /*check whether a is greater than b or not*/ if (num1 > num2) max = num1; else max = num2; /*Print the largest number*/ Console.WriteLine(max); }}// This code is contributed by NamrataSrivastava1 |
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Output
Enter two numbers: 10 30 30
References:
Computer Fundamentals by Pradeep K. Sinha and Priti Sinha
