Pearson BTEC International Level 3 Unit 4 Programming Assignment – Concepts of Programming

BTEC Unit 4 Programming Assignment Brief

Vocational Scenario or Context

You are a junior employee at a small software development company. Your company has been invited by a local college to give a guest lecture on programming.

Your supervisor has provided you with a portfolio of computer programs and has asked you to research the programs with regard to the concepts used to create a knowledge base and prepare for the visit.

Task 1 

Research

Review the computer programs you have been provided with and conduct research into programming languages and how programming principles have been applied to produce effective applications.

You will research principles of programming and:

• explain what computational thinking is and analyse how programmers use it to solve problems, including how programmers identify and describe problems and how they communicate features and processes. How programmers recognise patterns, generalise and abstract information required, and how programmers represent problems or systems
• explain the uses of software applications and how they can solve problems and meet the needs of clients
• explore the features and characteristics of programming languages, to explain the use of different types of programming language, what particular problems each programming language discussed can be used to solve, giving a comparison of those programming languages
• describe the constructs and techniques available in different programming languages, explain how they are implemented and documented, contrasting their implementation in different programming languages.
• analyse the application of logic to program design, considering principles of mathematical and propositional logic, the use of sets and iteration
• evaluate how design and implementation of a software application can affect its quality

When evaluating the quality software applications you should consider the degree to which user requirements are met, the robustness of the code, its maintainability, efficiency, portability and ease of use

Checklist of evidence required

A report evaluating computational thinking skills and how the principles of software design and computer programming are applied to create effective, high-quality software applications.

Criteria covered by this task:

Note to assessor:

Scenario

Learners should be provided with samples of program code and developed applications to review for task 1. These should be varied in purpose and programming language used. They should provide the learner with plenty of scope to cover the concepts listed in the unit specification.