Categories: All Variables and Constants  String manipulation  Builtin functions  Input and output  Arrays  Conditional logic  Repetition / Iteration  Functions / Procedures 

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This resource is designed as a quick revision guide for use by students during a NEA providing that internet access is allowed. It has not been endorsed by any exam boards. If you spot any mistakes, please let me know and I'll fix them asap.

Introduction

This website aims to give a quick reference for VB.NET, Python and pseudocode and is aimed primarily at teachers & students working towards a GCSE in Computer Science

VB.NET and Python are both programming languages designed to be understood and followed by computers. Pseudocode is not a programming language: it's written to be understood by humans so that they can turn it into any programming language.

Each exam board has published a document saying how they'll write pseudocode in their exams. The whole idea of syntax (a set of rules) for pseudocode is silly - it's not designed to be a programming language that is run by a computer. With this in mind, all exam boards state that you don't have to follow the syntax for 'their' version of pseudocode when you write out your own algorithms, but you should be able to understand their version of pseudocode when reading an algorithm in an exam.

Top Tips:

  • Explore the different categories of skills at the top of this page
    Each skill has example code in VB.NET, Python and Pseudocode for Edexcel, Eduqas and OCR GCSE.
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Skill
Description
Pseudocode (Edexcel)
VB.NET
Python
Pseudocode (OCR)
Pseudocode (Eduqas)
IF statement
   

If you want your code to make a decision you'll need an IF statement.

This example asks the user how old they are and checks that they've entered a number bigger than 0

RECEIVE age FROM (INTEGER) KEYBOARD IF age < 0 THEN SEND "You can't be less than 0 years old!" ENDIF
Dim age As Integer age = Convert.Int32(InputBox("How old are you?")) If age < 0 Then MsgBox("You can't be less than 0 years old!") End If
age = int(input("How old are you?")) if age < 0: print("You can't be less than 0 years old!")
age = int(input("How old are you?")) if age < 0 then print("You can't be less than 0 years old!") endif
{ user input not specified in eduqas pseudocode reference } age is integer output "How old are you?" set age = input if age < 0 then output "You can't be less than 0 years old!" end if
IF ... ELSE statement
   

If you want your code to choose between two possibilities you'll need an IF ... ELSE statement.

This example asks the user what their name is. If they answer the question it says hello. If they don't answer the question it displays an error message.

SEND "What's your name?" TO DISPLAY RECEIVE name FROM (STRING) KEYBOARD IF name = "" THEN SEND "You have to enter your name" TO DISPLAY ELSE SEND "HELLO " & name TO DISPLAY END IF
Dim name As String name = InputBox("What is your name?") If name = "" Then MsgBox("You have to enter your name") Else MsgBox("Hello " & name) End If
name = input("What is your name?") if name == "": print("You have to enter your name") else: print("Hello " + name)
name = input("What is your name?") if name == "" then print("You have to enter your name") else print("Hello " + name) endif
{ user input not specified in eduqas pseudocode reference } output "What is your name?" name is string set name = input if name == "" then output "You have to enter your name" else output "Hello " + name end if

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