Information and Communication Technology (1+1)

Advantages and limitations of flowcharts

Advantages

• Better Communication : A flowchart is a pictorial representation of a program. Hence, it is easier for a programmer to explain the logic of a program to some others.
• Proper program documentation : Program documentation involves collecting, organizing, storing and otherwise maintaining a complete historical record of programs, and the other documents associated with a system.
• Efficient coding : Once a flowchart is ready, programmers find it very easy to write the corresponding program, because the flowchart acts as a road map for them.
• Systematic debugging : A flowchart is very helpful in detecting, locating and removing mistakes ( bugs) in a program in a systematic manner, because programmers find it easier to follow the logic of the program in flowchart form.
• Systematic testing : Testing is the process of confirming whether a program will successfully do all the jobs for which it has been designed under the specified constraints.

Limitations

• Flowcharts are very time consuming and laborious to draw with proper symbols and spacing, especially for large complex programs.
• Owing to the symbol –string nature of flowcharting any changes or modifications in the program logic will usually require a completely new flowchart.
• There are no standards determining the amount of detail that should be included in the flowchart.

There are 3 basic programming constructs, they are

(A) Sequential

(B) Selection

(C) Iteration