PP#2 Flowchart Diagram

Question

INSTRUCTIONS BELOW:

Programming Assignment #2

 

Write a program that outputs a downwards facing arrow composed of a rectangle and a right triangle. Arrow dimensions are defined by user specified arrow base height, arrow base width, and arrow head width.

Note: this program is designed for incremental development. Complete each step and submit for grading before starting the next step. Only a portion of tests pass after each step but confirm progress.

Step 1. Input the arrow base height (int) and width (int). Draw a rectangle using asterisks (height x width).

Hint: use a nested loop in which the inner loop draws one row of *s, and the outer loop iterates a number of times equal to the height.

 

Test Case #1

If input is:

6 4

Sample output is:

****

****

****

****

****

****

 

Step 2. Input the arrow head width and draw a right triangle.

Hint: use a nested loop. 

 

Test Case #2

If input is:

4 3 4

Sample output is:

***

***

***

***

****

***

**

*

 

Step 3. Modify the program to only accept an arrow head width that is larger than the arrow base width. Use a loop to continue inputting the arrow head width until the value is larger than the arrow base width. 

 

Test Case #3

If input is:

4 3 3 2 4

Sample output is:

***

***

***

***

****

***

**

*

 

Answer 1

For this program, try to think about in terms of what you would do if writing it out by hand. I will explain what I mean using the Step 1 you posted.

For step 1, think about the shape it wants you to make. In this case, it is a rectangle. If you are having trouble thinking about this from a coding perspective, think of it from a math perspective.

Are there any formulas you know for rectangles that could be related to this problem? There are! The most helpful one to think about is the area formula, which is width times height, or a = l * w

This formula just means each row (l) is w units long. So how would you draw this out on a piece of paper?

You would start at the first row and draw out w dots.

Then you move down one row, and draw out w dots again.

You repeat this until you have drawn out all the rows.

Now think of this from a coding perspective.

How do you repeat something? You use loops!

Start with drawing out one row. In this case, you would use the following pseudocode:

for i = 1 until i = w, add 1 to i and print *

Lets call this printRow

Now how can we print multiple rows? Loops again!

for j = 1 until j = l, add 1 to j and do printRow

And that’s all you need for Step 1!

You can use similar logic for step 2 and 3. A hint for step 2 is to think of how a triangle can be drawn using multiple rectangles.