What would be a good back up plan?

Is writing pseudocode a good way to plan out projects? If not, what is the best way to plan a project?

• I'm currently learning Java, and when I was learning Python the author of the book I was reading talked briefly about pseudocode. Outside of the book, I've hardly heard anybody talk about it. Is this something that people commonly do, and is it effective for planning out projects? Is this a good way to plan out projects, and if not, what are good methods of planning? I learn well from outlines, particularly when I use them for biology in school, so when I saw pseudocode that was the first thing that came to my mind. Also, what are some good resources that can help me to learn how to write good pseudocode. EDIT: The author of the book also sometimes called the plans he made for some of the programs(written in pseudocode) algorithms, which is obviously a mathematical thing. Is this accurate, and do people oftentimes call their pseudocode algorithms?

• Answer:

  Generally, I do two things before writing the final code: Form planning In this, I tend to write an algorithm of the basic steps like calculate this, then find that etc. I might even write the algorithm in a flowchart kind of way i.e. break down large steps into small steps and join the workflow by arrows. This helps you in visualizing the problem that you are trying to solve. You will surprised how many extra steps might creep in that you hadn't thought of initially. But don't specify the exact methods to do that. E.g. finding an important coefficient is a step in the algorithm but don't start thinking about the specific steps to find that. Function planning Now that you know the basic steps that you need to take, break down each step into specific ones like accept values into 1st array, calculate the 2nd array and multiply with coefficient to store the final value in the 3rd array. Write down these steps in pseudo-code, where you don't follow the exact syntax but write the procedure down in steps similar to the ones used in code. Writing code in Python requires very little pseudo-code because Python is meant to be so similar to natural language. But many other languages which are more cryptic or have more complicated syntax like Java need this a lot more.