Further Words Fix and Adapt Teacher Notes

Objective

The objective is to reinforce the classes knowledge of strings and how they are printed in Go. This is achieved by correcting a program that will not run. This is used to introduce the concept of a syntax errors. Syntax errors are a prelude to debugging.

The example program will again require the class to use the text editor (either Atom or LiteIDE) to create and save the source code file and the terminal/command line to run their program.

String Reinforcement

This lesson reinforces and extends the concepts introduced in the previous Words lesson using a “Fix and Adapt” approach.

The pupils are introduced to a program that does not work and are challenged to find the mistakes and correct them. This both reinforces the patterns learned in the previous lesson and encourages their logical thinking.

This is used to introduce the concept of a syntax error which is a prelude to introducing debugging.

The logical thinking is further reinforced by challenging the pupils to update the program given only the output.

Learning outcome

The class should be able to:

• Develop their knowledge of the pattern used to print a string in Go
• Be able identify statements that do not follow the correct pattern
• Identify these lines as having syntax errors
• Be able to correct these lines so that the program runs
• Determine how to change a program given only the output. This starts to develop logical thinking and algorithms.
• Start their text editor
• Create a source code file
• Write a simple program to print strings
• Save a source code file
• Build and run their program
• Understand that the program represents a sequence
• Understand that the sequence executes in order

Teaching prerequisites

The class must have covered the Words first.

The example program is sufficiently simple that the little or no additional teaching should be required beforehand. However the class needs to have covered.

• Basic keyboard/typing and mouse skills.
• The English alphabet

Computing Links

Sequences. The program demonstrates a sequence of instructions that are executed in order to print the results to the terminal window.

Logical thinking. The final challenge requires the pupils to think logically and to work backwards for the desired output to make the required changes to the program.

Cross-Curricular links

The is a direct link to English language, both in terms of the letters and pronunciation. There is also a indirect list to Foreign languages, though the use of different non-latin writing systems. This can be further linked to Geography.

What is a String

Notes for slide 4

This is a summary of the key points of the Words lesson.

Each letter, number or symbol on the keyboard is called a character. A string is a sequence of these letters, numbers or symbols. Anything that the pupils can type on a keyboard is considered a string.

Each character in every human language has a unique number. The number is defined by the Unicode character encoding. The computer can only process numbers so it works with these unique numbers, and not with the letters or symbols themselves.

Because the concept of a character between languages can vary - for example Chinese uses logograms - Go uses the term rune.

A string in Go is therefore a sequence of runes.

The letters A, z and the symbols %, * and # can all be represented by numbers. Using The Unicode Table you can find out the numbers used for these letters and symbols. They are:

A is 65

z is 122

% is 37

* is 42

# is 35

Without any more context the numbers 65 and 81 can have two meanings. They could be the numbers used to represent the capital letter A and the capital letter Q. Or they could just be the numbers 65 ad 81.

You should emphasise the use of the number to represent a letter though an encoding.

The string pattern

Notes for slide 5

A string in Go must be typed inside inverted commas, one at each end of the string. Like this

"Strings, I see you now"

The string must also be typed on one line. This string would be illegal.

"My horse, my horse a
country for my horse"

This is a pattern. All strings in Go must follow this pattern. If the string does not it is a syntax error.

To turn the line

I have been chosen! Farewell, my friends. I go on to a better place.

into a string, you simply need to enclose it in inverted commas. Like this

"I have been chosen! Farewell, my friends. I go on to a better place."

There are two mistakes in the example string

I don't believe that man's
ever been to medical school!"

The string is incorrectly written on two lines. Remember a string must be typed on one line. Secondly, the string is a missing inverted commas at the start of the string. It would be correctly written like this

"I don't believe that man's ever been to medical school!"

The Pattern to Print a String in Go

Notes for slide 6

Printing a string on the computer’s terminal window as output requires the use of one of two functions. The two functions are called Print and Println. The functions are part of the fmt package, sort for format. Printing to the screen is a form of output.

The functions are used like this

fmt.Println("First string")
fmt.Print("and second string.")

These lines are called statements.

The pattern to print to the screen is this: the statement always starts with fmt.Print or fmt.Println. The case is significant, so the spelling must be exactly as shown. There must be a period between the fmt and the Println or Print. The string to be printed appears between the brackets, the ( and ).

The fmt.Println and fmt.Print functions are not the same. The fmt.Print prints the string that you put in between the brackets. The next fmt.Print or fmt.Println function will continue to print on the same line.

The fmt.Println function also prints the string that you put in between the brackets but also takes a new line at the end. The next string that you print with fmt.Println or fmt.Print will be on the next line.

If you had typed this into a program (ignore the line numbers, they are for illustration only)

1fmt.Println("Printed on Line 1")
2fmt.Print("Printed on Line 2")
3fmt.Println(" also printed on Line 2")
4fmt.Println("Printed on Line 3")

The output would be this

1Printed on Line 1
2Printed on Line 2 also printed on Line 2")
3Printed on Line 3

The fmt.Print function does take a new line at the end, so lines 3 and 4 in the program produce line 3 in the output.

Syntax Errors

Notes for slide 7

If a fmt.Println or fmt.Print statement does not follow the correct pattern there is an error. This is called a syntax error. Go will not run a program that contains any syntax errors. The program must be free of syntax errors first.

Following this pattern is akin to following correct spelling in English writing. If the spelling is wrong the writing does not make sense.

There are a couple of ways to find syntax errors. See how many of these your class can find. They are

• The programmer looks closely at the program and finds then. This is ultimately what is required. As the pupils learn various syntax patterns they will begin to write statements correctly in the fist instance and they will become better at spotting and correcting these mistakes.
• The programmer can notice that the syntax highlighting in their editor is not correct. This is an attempt by the editor to show the programmer that there is likely a syntax error. Obviously this only apply if the editor in use supports syntax highlighting. Both atom and LiteIDE do.
• Code review - the programmer asks a friend to review his source code. A fresh pair of eyes is often a valuable tool itself! This is really the same as the first method.
• The programmer can also try to run the program. In this case Go will find the syntax errors for the programmer and report the line with the syntax error. This approach is a double edged sword. It is very effective, but the error reports snowball. The first syntax error will often cause further lines in the program to contain syntax errors. The example badstring program demonstrates this behaviour.

Fixing a syntax error is much simpler than finding it. The line in the source code file that contains the error must be edited to remove the error. The source code file then needs saving again. Another attempt to run the program can now be made. If no syntax errors exist the program will run. Otherwise the cycle must repeat.

The badstring example program

Notes for slides 7 and 8

Lets look at the badstring.go program in more detail. Here it is again.

 1package main
 2
 3import (
 4	"fmt"
 5)
 6
 7func main() {
 8    fmt.Println("Lightning McQueen: I'm a very famous race car!")
 9    fmt.Println "Luigi: You are famous race car? A real race car?")
10    fmt.Print("Lightning McQueen: Yes, I'm a real race car, ")
11    fmt.Println(what do you think? Look at me.")
12    fmt.PRINTLN("Luigi: I have followed racing my entire life, my whole life")
13    fmt.Println(Lightning McQueen: Then you know who I am. I am Lightning McQueen.)
14    FMT.Println("Luigi: Lightning McQueen!")
15    fmt.Println("Lightning McQueen: Yes! Yes!)
16    fmt.Print(Luigi: I must scream it to the world, my excitement from the ")
17    fmt.Println("top of someplace very high. Do you know many Ferraris?")
18    fmt.Print("Lightning McQueen: No, no, no, they race on the European circuit; ")
19    fmt.Println("I'm in the Piston cup.")
20    fmt.Println"Lightning McQueen: What?"
21    Println("Luigi: Luigi follow only the Ferraris.")
22}

The program contains syntax errors and will not run until these are fixed. The syntax highlighting is indicating that something is wrong. The strings should be the only text highlighted in pink. But this is not the case. Pink is also being used to highlight the function’s names, which should be black.

The syntax errors in this program are

Line 9 - the opening ( is missing Line 11 - the opening set of inverted commas is missing at the start of the string Line 12 - PRINTLN is spelled incorrectly. It should be Println Line 13 - Both sets of inverted commas are missing around the string Line 14 - FMT is spelled incorrectly. It should be fmt Line 15 - is missing a closing inverted commas at the end of the string Line 16 - is missing an opening inverted commas at the start of the string Line 20 - is missing both brackets, the ( and ) Line 21 - is missing the fmt. before the Println

If you attempted to run the program without first correcting the errors the result would be this:

./badstring.go:9: syntax error: unexpected string literal, expecting semicolon or newline or }
./badstring.go:11: syntax error: unexpected name, expecting )
./badstring.go:11: syntax error: unexpected ?
./badstring.go:11: newline in string
./badstring.go:13: syntax error: unexpected name, expecting )
./badstring.go:15: newline in string
./badstring.go:16: syntax error: unexpected name, expecting )
./badstring.go:16: newline in string
./badstring.go:20: syntax error: unexpected string literal, expecting semicolon or newline or }

filename:line number:error message

If you look at the error messages it correctly tells you that line 9 has a syntax error. However if you look at the error message it does not make the error immediately apparent. Neither is the solution apparent.

Also notice that the errors snowball. There errors on line 9, 11, 13, 15, 16 and 20 are found, but the ones on lines 12, 14, and 21 are masked by the earlier errors.

This output is typical of a program that contains syntax errors.

How does Anyone Solve this?

The solution to this is threefold. Firstly, the class needs to learn the patterns. The error messages tell the programmer where they might have an error. We say might because this where Go detected the error. The cause may be several lines before.

The second part is to be systematic and logical. The computer is not wrong; there is a reason for the error somewhere in the program. The programmer’s task is to find it and correct the mistake. The programmer needs to look very carefully at the line. A single character added, missed or a letter in the wrong case is sufficient to trigger a syntax error. The programmer uses the patterns to find these mistakes.

The last part is to work in stages. A programmer tackles one error at a time. They start at the fist error and attempt to fix that first. They make a change that they believe fixes the mistake, save the program, and then attempt to run the program again. If the error they attempted to fix is no longer present and in general the number of errors has reduced by one, then the programmer knows the error is fixed. They then tackle the next error using the same approach.

The corrected badstring program

This is the corrected badstringprogram.

 1package main
 2
 3import (
 4	"fmt"
 5)
 6
 7func main() {
 8	fmt.Println("Lightning McQueen: I'm a very famous race car!")
 9	fmt.Println("Luigi: You are famous race car? A real race car?")
10	fmt.Print("Lightning McQueen: Yes, I'm a real race car, ")
11	fmt.Println("what do you think? Look at me.")
12	fmt.Println("Luigi: I have followed racing my entire life, my whole life")
13	fmt.Println("Lightning McQueen: Then you know who I am. I am Lightning McQueen.")
14	fmt.Println("Luigi: Lightning McQueen!")
15	fmt.Println("Lightning McQueen: Yes! Yes!")
16	fmt.Print("Luigi: I must scream it to the world, my excitement from the ")
17	fmt.Println("top of someplace very high. Do you know many Ferraris?")
18	fmt.Print("Lightning McQueen: No, no, no, they race on the European circuit; ")
19	fmt.Println("I'm in the Piston cup.")
20	fmt.Println("Lightning McQueen: What?")
21	fmt.Println("Luigi: Luigi follow only the Ferraris.")
22}

The output of the program is

Lightning McQueen: I'm a very famous race car!
Luigi: You are famous race car? A real race car?
Lightning McQueen: Yes, I'm a real race car, what do you think? Look at me.
Luigi: I have followed racing my entire life, my whole life
Lightning McQueen: Then you know who I am. I am Lightning McQueen.
Luigi: Lightning McQueen!
Lightning McQueen: Yes! Yes!
Luigi: I must scream it to the world, my excitement from the top of someplace very high. Do you know many Ferraris?
Lightning McQueen: No, no, no, they race on the European circuit; I'm in the Piston cup.
Lightning McQueen: What?
Luigi: Luigi follow only the Ferraris.

The 2nd Programming Challenge

Notes for slide 9

In order to solve this the pupils have to work logically. The pupils are shown the output and challenged to work out how to change the program to print the message. The pupils are being asked to come up with an algorithm to do this. This is a trivial example of an algorithm.

The clue to solving the challenge is on the slide. The slide says

"Change the badstring program to print this at the end"

The pupils should realise that they need to use fmt.Println statements to change the program. They need to add these to the end of the badstrings program.

To achieve this the following statements need to be added to the end of the program - between the last fmt.Println line and before the closing brace, }

The lines that need to be added are:

fmt.Println("Lightning McQueen: Okay, here we go. Focus. Speed. I")
fmt.Println("am speed. One winner, forty-two losers. I eat losers")
fmt.Println("for breakfast. Breakfast? Maybe I should have had")
fmt.Println("breakfast? Brekkie could be good for me. No, no, no,")
fmt.Println("focus. Speed. Faster than fast, quicker than quick. I")
fmt.Println("am Lightning.")

Resulting in the following revised badstrngs program

 1package main
 2
 3import (
 4	"fmt"
 5)
 6
 7func main() {
 8	fmt.Println("Lightning McQueen: I'm a very famous race car!")
 9	fmt.Println("Luigi: You are famous race car? A real race car?")
10	fmt.Print("Lightning McQueen: Yes, I'm a real race car, ")
11	fmt.Println("what do you think? Look at me.")
12	fmt.Println("Luigi: I have followed racing my entire life, my whole life")
13	fmt.Println("Lightning McQueen: Then you know who I am. I am Lightning McQueen.")
14	fmt.Println("Luigi: Lightning McQueen!")
15	fmt.Println("Lightning McQueen: Yes! Yes!")
16	fmt.Print("Luigi: I must scream it to the world, my excitement from the ")
17	fmt.Println("top of someplace very high. Do you know many Ferraris?")
18	fmt.Print("Lightning McQueen: No, no, no, they race on the European circuit; ")
19	fmt.Println("I'm in the Piston cup.")
20	fmt.Println("Lightning McQueen: What?")
21	fmt.Println("Luigi: Luigi follow only the Ferraris.")
22
23	fmt.Println("Lightning McQueen: Okay, here we go. Focus. Speed. I")
24	fmt.Println("am speed. One winner, forty-two losers. I eat losers")
25	fmt.Println("for breakfast. Breakfast? Maybe I should have had")
26	fmt.Println("breakfast? Brekkie could be good for me. No, no, no,")
27	fmt.Println("focus. Speed. Faster than fast, quicker than quick. I")
28	fmt.Println("am Lightning.")
29}

The output of the revised program is now

Lightning McQueen: I'm a very famous race car!
Luigi: You are famous race car? A real race car?
Lightning McQueen: Yes, I'm a real race car, what do you think? Look at me.
Luigi: I have followed racing my entire life, my whole life
Lightning McQueen: Then you know who I am. I am Lightning McQueen.
Luigi: Lightning McQueen!
Lightning McQueen: Yes! Yes!
Luigi: I must scream it to the world, my excitement from the top of someplace very high. Do you know many Ferraris?
Lightning McQueen: No, no, no, they race on the European circuit; I'm in the Piston cup.
Lightning McQueen: What?
Luigi: Luigi follow only the Ferraris.
Lightning McQueen: Okay, here we go. Focus. Speed. I
am speed. One winner, forty-two losers. I eat losers
for breakfast. Breakfast? Maybe I should have had
breakfast? Brekkie could be good for me. No, no, no,
focus. Speed. Faster than fast, quicker than quick. I
am Lightning.

Plenary

Notes for slide 10

There are two syntax errors in the line

fmt.Println("By the way, Penfold, your library books are overdue!

The line is missing both the inverted comma at the end of the string and the closing bracket, ). The corrected line would be

fmt.Println("By the way, Penfold, your library books are overdue!")

There is only one intended error in the second line

fmt.Print(Ah, that'll be Colonel K. Let's see what he wants, Penfold.)

The intended error is that the inverted commas around the string are missing. The unintended error is that the statement as it appears on the slide is across two lines. The corrected line would be

fmt.Print("Ah, that'll be Colonel K. Let's see what he wants, Penfold.")

The difference between fmt.Println and fmt.Print is this. fmt.Println prints a string and then prints a new line. Further output will be one a new line. fmt.Print prints the string and does not take a new line. Further output will be on the same line.

The output from the lines is

Will it be
Isaac Newton 1: Penfold nil? Tune in next time to find out!

Remember that a the output continues on the same line after fmt.Print has printed a string.