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Diploma in Higher Education Studies

Tracing and testing a program

HES 211 · Introduction to Programming with Python — Week 13 of 16

CourseHES 211
Week13 of 16
SemesterII
TutorOnline in the course chat

This week’s topics

Tracing and testing a program

  1. Print statements and trace tables
  2. Choosing test data

What you will be able to do

  • 5.2 Use print statements/debugger to trace a program.
  • 5.1 Identify and fix syntax and logic errors.

Activity

Trace a program with a trace table and test it with your own data.

Study materials

Further resources

  • Introduction to Computer Science, 9.3: Testing · PDF · OpenStax Introduction to Computer Science (2024), 9.3 Testing: test levels and choosing tests, pp. 468–472 · for registered students
  • Introduction to Computer Science, 2.1: Test cases · PDF · OpenStax Introduction to Computer Science (2024), 2.1 on checking an algorithm with test cases, pp. 46–51 · for registered students
  • Think Python, Appendix A: Debugging with print statements · PDF · Downey, Think Python 2e (Green Tea Press), Appendix A on adding print statements to trace what a program does, pp. 193–200 · for registered students
  • A multi-national study of reading and tracing skills in novice programmers · Open-access article · Lister et al. (2004), ACM SIGCSE Bulletin (ITiCSE working group report). Study of novices tracing code by hand, like a trace table. · for registered students
  • Software-testing education: a systematic literature mapping · Open-access article · Garousi et al. (2020), Journal of Systems and Software. Overview of how program testing and test data are taught. · for registered students
Materials marked “for registered students” open in the student portal, which is set up as soon as you receive final acceptance.
Week 12Week 14
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Course plan
  • Week 1: What is programming? High- and low-level languages
  • Week 2: Your first Python program
  • Week 3: Variables, data types and constants
  • Week 4: Input, output and calculations
  • Week 5: Making decisions: if, elif and else
  • Week 6: Repeating code: for loops
  • Week 7: Repeating code: while loops
  • Midterm: Midterm evaluation
  • Week 9: Functions: reusable code
  • Week 10: Lists
  • Week 11: Looping through data; tuples and dictionaries
  • Week 12: Finding and fixing errors
  • Week 13: Tracing and testing a program
  • Week 14: Mini project: a small program step by step
  • Week 15: Review and coursework completion
  • Final: Final assessment and submission
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