How to write this in Pseudocode?

Question

You own the Boll Weevil Landscaping Company and want to create a program to estimate the cost of the services you provide. You provide the following services:

Service	Cost per square yard
Mowing	.02
Fertilizing	.05
Insecticide	.05
Fertilize and Insecticide	.08
Tilling	.10
Mulching	.12

 The program will create the following output to the screen:

                           Boll Weevil Landscaping Company

                             Yard Maintenance Cost Estimate

Cost Estimate for customer # - 123 for 1412.00 square yards of yard.

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Cost Estimate for Mowing at .02 per square yard:                         $ 0.00

Cost Estimate for Fertilizer at .05 per square yard:                        $ 0.00

Cost Estimate for Insecticide at .05 per square yard:                       $ 0.00

Cost Estimate for Fertilizer and Insecticide at .08 per square yard:            $ 112.96

Cost Estimate for Tilling at .10 per square yard:                            $ 0.00

Cost Estimate for Mulching at .12 per square yard:                        $ 169.44

 

Total cost of the job is:                                                 $ 282.40

 

The shapes used are: Square, Triangle, Circle, Partial Circle and Ellipse. Based on the dimensions entered, calculate the square yards for each shape selected in the application. Keep a running total of the square yards. The flow of the application is to first prompt the users for the customer number, then prompt the user for which service or services they want performed. Then prompt the user to enter the shape of the yard and calculate the square yards for that shape. The customer can request more than one service and have more than one shape for the total job. You will need to keep a running total for each service based on the total area of the yard (include all shapes). Output the results to the screen. You must find the formulas to use in your flowchart or pseudo-code for the shapes and use the accumulator variable to save the running totals.

Answer 1

TLDR: While this answer does not include a specific solution to the problem, it does highlight some steps in developing an algorithmic or pseudocode solution to the problem.

To approach this sort of problem, I often consider that nearly every algorithm can be broken into the following set of phases:

1. Collect the input.
2. Perform transformative calculations (transform the input into the output).
3. Produce the output.

Keep in mind that these phases may overlap depending upon the nature of the problem. For instance, in this case it appears there will be multiple inputs which are accumulated into a total which implies that there will be some overlap between the first and second phases. I recommend reducing the problem to a single input in your first draft of the solution, and then expand the solution to accommodate multiple inputs later. I think you'll find that it simplifies the process and helps understanding repetition (looping) easier.

So without giving away an actual algorithm for this problem, a basic outline of this simplified version of the problem (not really an true algorithm yet, and definitely not pseudocode) might look something like this (I've identified the phases described above)...

Collect dimensions from user (phase 1)

Determine area based on selected shape (phase 2)

Add area to total area (phase 2)

Determine costs for each service based on total area (phase 2)

Determine total cost (phase 2)

Output cost for each service (phase 3)

Output total cost (phase 3)

I recommend going into much further detail than this before moving on. An algorithm and pseudocode should clearly define each step or action of the solution to the problem. "Determine area based on selected shape" does not fully describe how the area is to be calculated or the shape determined, but those details should be included in your answer. Likely you will need at least 20-30 instructions to adequately get those details.

Of course, this outline still does not allow for multiple shapes to be entered, but the purpose of creating a starting draft solution is to work out all the details before complicating the solution by allowing repetition. Once you have all those instructions worked out, consider which instructions would need to be duplicated in order to allow for multiple inputs.

Now instead of just copying and pasting those duplicated instructions, you should incorporate some sort of repetition or looping structure into your psuedocode. In order to do that, you need to consider how to control the repetition. Do you ask the user how many shapes will be involved, thus count the number of inputs as they are entered? Or do you use some sentinel technique like having the user type "quit" when they are done? Determining what kind of repetition is to be done will change how your solution will be structured.

Writing a well thought out algorithm/pseudocode will eventually save lots of time when coding, so expect this process to take a while. Also, there will likely by multiple ways of solving this problem, so your solution would probably vary quite a bit from anyone else's (including my own) for this problem.