Specifications

Program Structure and Syntax

In this section, the portion of the ‘C’ programming language that is directly

applicable to the VT1419A’ Algorithm Language will be learned. To do this, the

‘C’ Algorithm Language elements will be compared with equivalent BASIC

language elements.

Declaring Variables In BASIC, the DIM statement is typically used to name variables and allocate space

in memory for them. In the Algorithm Language, the variable type and a list of

variables is specified:

BASIC ‘C’

DIM a, var, array(3) static float a, var, array[ 3 ];

Here, three variables are declared. Two simple variables, a and var, and a single

dimensioned array, array.

Comments

Note that the ‘C’ language statement must be terminated with the semicolon

“;”.

Although in the Algorithm Language all variables are of type float, they

must be explicitly declared as such.

· All variables in an algorithm are static. This means that each time the

algorithm is executed, the variables “remember” their values from the

previous execution. The static modifier must appear in the declaration.

Array variables must have a single dimension. The array dimension

specifies the number of elements. The lower bound is always zero (0) in the

Algorithm Language. Therefore the variable array from above has three

elements; array [0] through array[2].

Assigning Values BASIC and ‘C’ are the same in this aspect. In both languages, the symbol “=” is

used to assign a value to a simple variable or an element of an array. The value can

come from a constant, another variable, or an expression. Examples:

a = 12.345;

a = My_var;

a = My_array[ 2 ];

a = (My_array[1]+6.2) / My_var;

The Algorithm Language and Environment

Program Structure and Syntax

Chapter 4 133

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