Suggested study timetable

It is suggested that you should cover the contents of the course in about 13/14 weeks. The lessons are not equal in size or in the difficulty of their content. The following timetable is suggested.

Week 1

Try to cover most of the material in Lessons 1 to 4 during this first week. This is mainly background material for those who have not had much contact with computers before but some (or all) of it will probably be familiar to most people taking the course. During this first week try to familiarise yourself with the computer system you are going to use so that you are ready to start programming as soon as possible. Included with the course notes (The Computer Exercises) is a document about using the Borland C++ compilers, check over this and go through the suggested steps in compiling a small supplied C++ program. This activity may well expand into week 2.

Week 2

Read Lesson 5 on Algorithms. Don't worry if you find it difficult to make up your own algorithms at this stage, but do make an attempt. You'll continue to get practice at this as long as you program! Also start looking at Lesson 6 on simple programs and their features. Implement your solutions to the exercises on the computer.

Week 3

Cover Lessons 7 and 8 on assignment and implement the exercises on simple calculation type programs.

Week 4

Now study Lesson 9 on Algorithms with simple selection. Read Lesson 10 on how conditional expressions are constructed in C++.

Week 5

Study Lessons 11 and 12 on if and if-else statements and implement the exercise on programs with simple selection.

Week 6

Continue the study of selection mechanisms with Lessons 13 and 14 on nested if and if-else statements and the switch statement. The switch statement is not as fundamental as the others so spend less time on it than the other selection mechanisms.

Week 7

Study Lesson 15 on repetition constructs and practice designing algorithms using repetition. Commence Lesson 16 on the while statement.

Week 8

Continue Lesson 16 on the while statement. Also cover Lesson 17 on the do-while statement this week. Do not spend so much time on it as on the more fundamental while statement.

Week 9

Cover Lesson 18 on the for statement. This statement is used frequently and so is an important statement. Have a look at Lesson 19 on Streams and Files so that you can use an External file in the last assignment.

Week 10

Study Lesson 20 on structured design using functions. This is a very important Lesson. If you have time start on Lesson 21 on how to construct C++ functions.

Week 11

Carry on with Lesson 21 on user-defined functions. Continue on to Lesson 22. In carrying out the exercises in these Lessons you will also get further practice on using the conditional and repetition control structures.

Week 12

Study Lesson 23 which introduces the concept of arrays. Again this is an important concept in programming. The exercises for this chapter will provide you with more practice in the use of control structures and functions.

Week 13

Finish off the course and start revision.