Diploma in Information Technology
Module: Programing 1A
Module Code: PRG110
STUDY GUIDE
,TABLE OF CONTENTS
STUDY UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS, INTERNET AND VISUAL BASIC ..7
1.1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................7
1.2 HARDWARE, SOFTWARE AND DATA CONCEPTS .....................................................7
1.2.1 DEFINITION OF A COMPUTER? ................................................................................7
1.2.2 DATA HIERARCHY ......................................................................................................8
1.3 COMPUTER ORGANISATION .......................................................................................9
1.4 HISTORY OF VISUAL BASIC PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE AND WINDOWS
OPERATING SYSTEM..........................................................................................................9
1.4.1 MACHINE LANGUAGES, ASSEMBLY LANGUAGES AND HIGH LEVEL
LANGUAGES ......................................................................................................................11
1.5 INTERNET AND WORLD WIDE WEB ..........................................................................11
1.6 VISUAL BASIC ..............................................................................................................12
1.6.1 OBJECT ORIENTED PROGRAMMING (OOP) .........................................................12
1.6.2 EVENT DRIVEN PROGRAMMING ............................................................................13
1.6.3 VISUAL PROGRAMMING ..........................................................................................13
1.6.4 INTERNET AND WEB PROGRAMMING...................................................................13
1.7 MICROSOFT’S .NET .....................................................................................................13
1.8 EXPLANATION OF WINDOWS AZURE AND CLOUD COMPUTING .........................13
1.9 VISUAL STUDIO INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT (IDE) .................13
1.10 SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................15
1.11 TERMINOLOGY ..........................................................................................................16
STUDY UNIT 2: DIVE INTO VISUAL STUDIO EXPRESS 2012 FOR WINDOWS DESKTOP
.............................................................................................................................................17
2.1 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................17
2.2 OVERVIEW OF THE VISUAL STUDIO 2017 IDE ........................................................17
2.2.1 START PAGE .............................................................................................................17
2.2.2 HOW TO CREATE A NEW PROJECT ......................................................................18
2.2.3 THE MENU BAR AND TOOLBAR .............................................................................22
2.2.4 NAVIGATING THE VISUAL STUDIO IDE..................................................................23
2.2.5 VISUAL STUDIO .NET IDE WINDOWS.....................................................................26
2.3 SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................27
STUDY UNIT 3: INTRODUCTION TO THE VISUAL BASIC PROGRAMMING ................28
3.1 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................28
3.2 SIMPLE PROGRAM: WRITE A PROGRAM WHICH DISPLAYS YOUR NAME AND
SURNAME ...........................................................................................................................28
3.3 ANALYSING THE PROGRAM ......................................................................................32
3.4 PROGRAMMING STEPS TO BE FOLLOWED DURING PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT34
3.5 PRIMITIVE TYPES OR DATA TYPES ..........................................................................36
3. 6 VARIABLES ..................................................................................................................36
,3.7 ARITHMETIC EXPRESSIONS ......................................................................................37
3.8 DECISION MAKING: EQUALITY AND RELATIONAL OPERATORS ..........................38
3.9 SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................43
STUDY UNIT 4: INTRODUCTION TO PROBLEM SOLVING AND CONTROL
STATEMENTS: ...................................................................................................................45
4.1 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................45
4.2 ALGORITHMS ...............................................................................................................45
4.3 PSEUDOCODE .............................................................................................................46
4.4 CONTROL STRUCTURES ...........................................................................................46
4.4.1 IF……THEN STATEMENT ........................................................................................48
4.4.2 IF……THEN……ELSE STATEMENT ........................................................................48
4.4.3 IF……THEN……ELSEIF STATEMENT .....................................................................49
4.4.4 SELECT….CASE STATEMENT ................................................................................50
4.5 REPETITION STRUCTURE ..........................................................................................51
4.5.1 DO…..WHILE STATEMENT ......................................................................................51
4.5.2 DO…..LOOP STATEMENT ........................................................................................52
4.5.3 FOR…….NEXT STATEMENT ...................................................................................54
4.6 COMPOUND ASSIGNMENT OPERATORS.................................................................56
4.7 SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................56
STUDY UNIT 5: INTRODUCTION TO PROBLEM SOLVING AND CONTROL
STATEMENTS: PART 2 .....................................................................................................58
5.1 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................58
5.2 ESSENTIALS OF COUNTER-CONTROLLED REPETITION .......................................58
5.3 FOR…..NEXT REPETITION STRUCTURE ..................................................................59
5.4 SELECT CASE STATEMENT .......................................................................................61
5.5 DO WHILE…..LOOP STATEMENT ..............................................................................64
5.6 DO…..LOOP WHILE STATEMENT ..............................................................................64
5.7 DO….. LOOP UNTIL STATEMENT ..............................................................................65
5.8 EXIT STATEMENT ........................................................................................................65
5.9 CONTINUE STATEMENT .............................................................................................65
5.10 SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................66
STUDY UNIT 6: METHODS ................................................................................................67
6.1 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................67
6.2 SUB PROCEDURE .................................................................................................67
6.3 FUNCTION PROCEDURE ......................................................................................68
6.4 OPTION STRICT AND DATA TYPE CONVERSION .............................................69
6.4.1 OPTION STRICT ....................................................................................................69
6.5 PASSING ARGUMENTS: PASS-BY-VALUE VS PASS-BY-REFERENCE ...........70
6.6 TYPES OF VARIABLES .........................................................................................71
6.7 SUMMARY ..............................................................................................................71
, STUDY UNIT 7: ARRAYS...................................................................................................73
7.1 INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................73
7.2 ONE DIMENSIONAL ARRAYS ...............................................................................73
7.2.1 DECLARING ARRAYS ...........................................................................................74
7.2.2 ACCESSING ARRAYS ELEMENTS .......................................................................74
7.2.3 INITIALIZING THE VALUES IN AN ARRAY ...........................................................75
7.2.4 SUMMING THE ELEMENTS IN AN ARRAY ..........................................................76
7.3 EXCEPTION HANDLING ........................................................................................78
7.4 PASSING AN ARRAY TO A METHOD ...................................................................79
7.5 FOR EACH……NEXT STATEMENT ......................................................................79
7.6 HOW TO READ CONTENTS OF AN ARRAY IN REVERSE .................................80
7.7 SORTING DATA IN AN ARRAY .............................................................................80
7.8 SEARCHING AN ARRAY .......................................................................................81
7.9 REDIM STATEMENT ..............................................................................................82
7.10 SUMMARY ..............................................................................................................83
REFERENCES / BIBLIOGRAPHY .....................................................................................85
Module: Programing 1A
Module Code: PRG110
STUDY GUIDE
,TABLE OF CONTENTS
STUDY UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS, INTERNET AND VISUAL BASIC ..7
1.1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................7
1.2 HARDWARE, SOFTWARE AND DATA CONCEPTS .....................................................7
1.2.1 DEFINITION OF A COMPUTER? ................................................................................7
1.2.2 DATA HIERARCHY ......................................................................................................8
1.3 COMPUTER ORGANISATION .......................................................................................9
1.4 HISTORY OF VISUAL BASIC PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE AND WINDOWS
OPERATING SYSTEM..........................................................................................................9
1.4.1 MACHINE LANGUAGES, ASSEMBLY LANGUAGES AND HIGH LEVEL
LANGUAGES ......................................................................................................................11
1.5 INTERNET AND WORLD WIDE WEB ..........................................................................11
1.6 VISUAL BASIC ..............................................................................................................12
1.6.1 OBJECT ORIENTED PROGRAMMING (OOP) .........................................................12
1.6.2 EVENT DRIVEN PROGRAMMING ............................................................................13
1.6.3 VISUAL PROGRAMMING ..........................................................................................13
1.6.4 INTERNET AND WEB PROGRAMMING...................................................................13
1.7 MICROSOFT’S .NET .....................................................................................................13
1.8 EXPLANATION OF WINDOWS AZURE AND CLOUD COMPUTING .........................13
1.9 VISUAL STUDIO INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT (IDE) .................13
1.10 SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................15
1.11 TERMINOLOGY ..........................................................................................................16
STUDY UNIT 2: DIVE INTO VISUAL STUDIO EXPRESS 2012 FOR WINDOWS DESKTOP
.............................................................................................................................................17
2.1 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................17
2.2 OVERVIEW OF THE VISUAL STUDIO 2017 IDE ........................................................17
2.2.1 START PAGE .............................................................................................................17
2.2.2 HOW TO CREATE A NEW PROJECT ......................................................................18
2.2.3 THE MENU BAR AND TOOLBAR .............................................................................22
2.2.4 NAVIGATING THE VISUAL STUDIO IDE..................................................................23
2.2.5 VISUAL STUDIO .NET IDE WINDOWS.....................................................................26
2.3 SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................27
STUDY UNIT 3: INTRODUCTION TO THE VISUAL BASIC PROGRAMMING ................28
3.1 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................28
3.2 SIMPLE PROGRAM: WRITE A PROGRAM WHICH DISPLAYS YOUR NAME AND
SURNAME ...........................................................................................................................28
3.3 ANALYSING THE PROGRAM ......................................................................................32
3.4 PROGRAMMING STEPS TO BE FOLLOWED DURING PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT34
3.5 PRIMITIVE TYPES OR DATA TYPES ..........................................................................36
3. 6 VARIABLES ..................................................................................................................36
,3.7 ARITHMETIC EXPRESSIONS ......................................................................................37
3.8 DECISION MAKING: EQUALITY AND RELATIONAL OPERATORS ..........................38
3.9 SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................43
STUDY UNIT 4: INTRODUCTION TO PROBLEM SOLVING AND CONTROL
STATEMENTS: ...................................................................................................................45
4.1 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................45
4.2 ALGORITHMS ...............................................................................................................45
4.3 PSEUDOCODE .............................................................................................................46
4.4 CONTROL STRUCTURES ...........................................................................................46
4.4.1 IF……THEN STATEMENT ........................................................................................48
4.4.2 IF……THEN……ELSE STATEMENT ........................................................................48
4.4.3 IF……THEN……ELSEIF STATEMENT .....................................................................49
4.4.4 SELECT….CASE STATEMENT ................................................................................50
4.5 REPETITION STRUCTURE ..........................................................................................51
4.5.1 DO…..WHILE STATEMENT ......................................................................................51
4.5.2 DO…..LOOP STATEMENT ........................................................................................52
4.5.3 FOR…….NEXT STATEMENT ...................................................................................54
4.6 COMPOUND ASSIGNMENT OPERATORS.................................................................56
4.7 SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................56
STUDY UNIT 5: INTRODUCTION TO PROBLEM SOLVING AND CONTROL
STATEMENTS: PART 2 .....................................................................................................58
5.1 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................58
5.2 ESSENTIALS OF COUNTER-CONTROLLED REPETITION .......................................58
5.3 FOR…..NEXT REPETITION STRUCTURE ..................................................................59
5.4 SELECT CASE STATEMENT .......................................................................................61
5.5 DO WHILE…..LOOP STATEMENT ..............................................................................64
5.6 DO…..LOOP WHILE STATEMENT ..............................................................................64
5.7 DO….. LOOP UNTIL STATEMENT ..............................................................................65
5.8 EXIT STATEMENT ........................................................................................................65
5.9 CONTINUE STATEMENT .............................................................................................65
5.10 SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................66
STUDY UNIT 6: METHODS ................................................................................................67
6.1 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................67
6.2 SUB PROCEDURE .................................................................................................67
6.3 FUNCTION PROCEDURE ......................................................................................68
6.4 OPTION STRICT AND DATA TYPE CONVERSION .............................................69
6.4.1 OPTION STRICT ....................................................................................................69
6.5 PASSING ARGUMENTS: PASS-BY-VALUE VS PASS-BY-REFERENCE ...........70
6.6 TYPES OF VARIABLES .........................................................................................71
6.7 SUMMARY ..............................................................................................................71
, STUDY UNIT 7: ARRAYS...................................................................................................73
7.1 INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................73
7.2 ONE DIMENSIONAL ARRAYS ...............................................................................73
7.2.1 DECLARING ARRAYS ...........................................................................................74
7.2.2 ACCESSING ARRAYS ELEMENTS .......................................................................74
7.2.3 INITIALIZING THE VALUES IN AN ARRAY ...........................................................75
7.2.4 SUMMING THE ELEMENTS IN AN ARRAY ..........................................................76
7.3 EXCEPTION HANDLING ........................................................................................78
7.4 PASSING AN ARRAY TO A METHOD ...................................................................79
7.5 FOR EACH……NEXT STATEMENT ......................................................................79
7.6 HOW TO READ CONTENTS OF AN ARRAY IN REVERSE .................................80
7.7 SORTING DATA IN AN ARRAY .............................................................................80
7.8 SEARCHING AN ARRAY .......................................................................................81
7.9 REDIM STATEMENT ..............................................................................................82
7.10 SUMMARY ..............................................................................................................83
REFERENCES / BIBLIOGRAPHY .....................................................................................85
