Selection Teach and Try Teacher Notes

Objective

To learn what selection statements are and how to use them.

The class will learn that selection statements are how computer programs make decisions.

The class will learn the pattern for an if statement in Go.

The class will practice using an if statement and see the effect with the worldtemperature program.

Creating these program will 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.

Learning outcome

The class should be able to:

• Start their text editor

• Create a source code file

• Save a source code file

• Build and run their program

• Understand why selection is required and what it is used for

• Understand that selection requires a condition

• Understand that the answer to the condition can only be true or false

• Understand that the condition uses the comparison operators

• Understand that Go calls section an if statement

• Understand the pattern for an if statement

• Understand how to use the if pattern in a Go program

• Understand that the program represents a sequence

• Understand that the selection can change the sequence order by causing parts of the program to be skipped over

Teaching prerequisites

The pupils must have encountered the comparison operators, <, > and = in mathematics. Comparison is fundamental to selection, so the pupils must be already familiar with the idea from mathematics.

In addition to this the pupils need to have covered Lessons 1-7 in this series.

Computing Links

Selection. The program demonstrates how to use selection and the effect of using selection statements. The selection statements change the sequence order by causing some parts to be skipped over. The program will no longer execute every line in the program.

Variables. Variables and selection are used together. The conditional part of the selection will compare the value of a variable to the value of another variable or to a fixed value.

Input and Output. The program asks the user to input the current temperature and displays if the temperate is hotter or colder than other cities around the world.

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

Cross-Curricular links

Geography. The example program compares the current temperature to that of other capital cities. The pupils may wish to find these cities on the globe.

Science. The capital cities are in both the norther and southern hemispheres. The pupils may wish to question why the seasons are reversed in each hemisphere.

Bigger or Smaller

Notes for Slide 2

Comparisons are fundamental to selection. Each selection is a comparison between two or more values. The result of the comparison must be true or false. The pupils therefore need to very familiar with the idea.

The symbols >, < and = have their usual meaning. Except in Go = is used for assignment. Equals is written differently.

The answers to the questions

12 ? 20
34 ? 18
19 ? 19

are

12 < 20
34 > 18
19 = 19

and to

6 + 4 < 5 * 8
10 * 7 > 9 * 4

are

6 + 4 < 5 * 8 is 10 < 40 which is true
10 * 7 > 9 * 4 is 70 > 36 which is true

Notice that the comparison operators are performed last. They have a lower precedence than multiplication, division, addition and subtraction.

What is Selection?

Notes for Slide 3

Selection is the method used by a computer program to make a decision. So the example when a laptop runs low on battery the computer will display a message to saying that the battery is low and the user should plug the laptop into the mains. One of the first steps in this process is a decision - is the level of the battery low? If it is then the warning needs to be displayed. If not then no addition action is required. This is selection.

The answer to the challenge is ambiguous. What does blue mean? What shade of blue does the question imply? How much cloud cover is allowed before the sky is no longer blue? Even, where are we? The sky on Mars is actually pink due to the dust and the different atmospheric composition.

The pupils will be able to adjust their answer to cope with the ambiguity of the question. So they may say, yes the sky is blue apart from the clouds. Or the sky is mostly cloudy and not blue etc.

But a computer cannot do this. The computers answer is precise. It can only be yes or no, true or false. This precision requires that the question is formed in a way so that the answer is either yes or no.

Tests and More Tests

Notes for Slide 4

A computer makes a decision by answering a question. The program has to write the question as part of the program. The computer can only answer yes or no when the program runs. The question must be unambiguous.

The test will compare the value of two variables, or compare a variable to a fixed value. In the later case the fixed value is dependent on the context of the question. E.g. to compare if the value of a variable is less than 10 then the fixed value would also be 10.

The test is known as the condition of the selection statement.

The condition is another use for variables in addition to storing user input.

True or False

Notes for Slide 5

The challenge shows some questions that are unambiguous. The answers are obvious, but the questions are precise.

Challenge the pupils to come up with their own questions. Questions that are precise. We want to encourage the pupils to think in a precise way. They will need to use this skill in programming in general and with selection in particular. This precision is one part of computational thinking.

What Can You Test?

Notes for Slide 6

Although we introduce the idea of a condition by testing the value of numbers, the idea is more general. If you remember that everything in a computer must be represented by a number then anything can be tested provided it is represented by a number. Clever pupils may realise this independently.

The value of two variables can be compared with less than, <, and greater than, >, in exactly the same ways as in mathematics. The crocodile rule still applies, the larger number is at the open end of the arrow.

Equals is slightly different. The meaning of equals is the same, but the symbol used is == i.e. a double equals sign and not a single equals sign. A single equals is already used in variable assignment so cannot be used again to mean an equals comparison.

The challenge answers are

12 < 5 is false
67 > 23 is true
45 == 54 is false
51 == 51 is true

Two Tests in One

Notes for Slide 7 & 8

Go, and most other programming languages, combine two common tests.

The first new test is the less than or equal to test, typed <=. This test is true if the number on the left is less than or equal to the number on the right. The test is false is the number on the left if greater than than the number on the right.

The second new test is the greater than or equal to test, typed, >=. This test is true if the number on the left is greater then or equal to the number on the right. The test is false if the number on the left is less than the number on the right.

The full list of comparison operators is therefore

Selection in Go

Notes for Slide 9

Go calls selection an if statement. The keyword if is used to introduce the selection statement.

The if pattern is

if condition {
	statement-block
}

The condition can be any expression that results in a true or false answer. This can be an expression involving any of the comparison operators but is not limited to these. The expression can also be the result of a logical expression, or the result of a function if the function returns a true or false answer. The condition can compare the value or two variables or the value of a variable to a fixed number.

Brackets are not required around the expression but may be used within as required.

The statement-block is any sequence of Go statements. For example Println statements, statements to read user input, or variable assignments or further if statements. The statement-block must be surrounded by a pair of braces, { and }. The opening brace, { must be on the same line as the if keyword. The closing brace, } should be on a line on its own.

If the condition evaluates to true then the statement-block, between the { and } is executed. Execution then continues with the next statement after the closing }.

If the condition evaluates to false then the statement-block, between the { and } is skipped and execution continues with the next statement after the closing }.

The result of the condition determines which instructions will be executed next. This is how selection varies the sequence within a program.

Example if Statement

Notes for Slide 10

An example of an if statement would be

1if temperature > 20 {
2	fmt.Println("Today is hot!")
3}
4fmt.Print("Today the temperature was ")
5fmt.Println(temperature)

Where temperature is a variable that has previously been declared in the program and is of type int.

The condition is an example of comparing the value of a variable to a fixed number in this case 20.

If the value of temperature is less than 20 then the condition is false so line 2 is skipped and only lines 4 and 5 are executed. For example if the value of temperature was 15 the output would be:

Today the temperature was 15

If the value if temperature was greater than 20 then the condition is true so line 2 is executed along with lines 4 and 5. If the value of temperature was 25 then the output would be

Today is hot!
Today the temperature was 25

If the value of temperature was exactly 20 then the condition is false, so line 2 would be skipped and only lines 4 and 5 executed.

The worldtemperature Program

Notes for Slide 11

Lets look at the worldtemperature program. The worldtemperature program asks the user to input the current temperature and then compares this to the temperature in various capital cities printing out if the temperature is hotter or colder then the other city.

  1package main
  2
  3import (
  4	"fmt"
  5
  6	"github.com/gophercoders/simpleio"
  7)
  8
  9func main() {
 10	var temperature int
 11
 12	var temperatureInReykjavik int
 13	var temperatureInAthens int
 14	var temperatureInBeijing int
 15	var temperatureInCaracas int
 16	var temperatureInHelsinki int
 17	var temperatureInLondon int
 18	var temperatureInMadrid int
 19	var temperatureInWashingtonDC int
 20	var temperatureInPretoria int
 21	var temperatureInSantiago int
 22	var temperatureInMoscow int
 23	var temperatureInTokyo int
 24
 25	temperatureInReykjavik = 1
 26	temperatureInAthens = 17
 27	temperatureInBeijing = 17
 28	temperatureInCaracas = 32
 29	temperatureInHelsinki = 7
 30	temperatureInLondon = 11
 31	temperatureInMadrid = 13
 32	temperatureInWashingtonDC = 16
 33	temperatureInPretoria = 15
 34	temperatureInSantiago = 25
 35	temperatureInMoscow = 12
 36	temperatureInTokyo = 16
 37
 38	fmt.Println("The worldtemperature program tells you which cities are ")
 39	fmt.Println("hotter or colder than where you live.")
 40
 41	fmt.Println("Enter the temperature in degrees Celsius today: ")
 42	temperature = simpleio.ReadNumberFromKeyboard()
 43
 44	fmt.Println("European Cities")
 45	if temperature > temperatureInReykjavik {
 46		fmt.Println("Hotter than Reykjavik in Iceland which is ")
 47		fmt.Print(temperatureInReykjavik)
 48		fmt.Println(" degrees Celsius")
 49	}
 50	if temperature > temperatureInHelsinki {
 51		fmt.Println("Hotter than Helsinki in Finland which is ")
 52		fmt.Print(temperatureInHelsinki)
 53		fmt.Println(" degrees Celsius")
 54	}
 55	if temperature <= temperatureInAthens {
 56		fmt.Println("Colder than Athens in Greece which is ")
 57		fmt.Print(temperatureInAthens)
 58		fmt.Println(" degrees Celsius")
 59	}
 60	if temperature == temperatureInLondon {
 61		fmt.Println("Exactly the same as London in the UK which is also ")
 62		fmt.Print(temperatureInLondon)
 63		fmt.Println(" degrees Celsius")
 64	}
 65	if temperature < temperatureInMadrid {
 66		fmt.Println("Colder than Madrid in Spain which is ")
 67		fmt.Print(temperatureInMadrid)
 68		fmt.Println(" degrees Celsius")
 69	}
 70	if temperature > temperatureInMoscow {
 71		fmt.Println("Hotter than Moscow in Russia which is ")
 72		fmt.Print(temperatureInMoscow)
 73		fmt.Println(" degrees Celsius")
 74	}
 75	fmt.Println("Asian Cities")
 76	if temperature > temperatureInBeijing {
 77		fmt.Println("Hotter than Beijing in China which is ")
 78		fmt.Print(temperatureInBeijing)
 79		fmt.Println(" degrees Celsius")
 80	}
 81	if temperature <= temperatureInTokyo {
 82		fmt.Println("Colder or the same as Tokyo in Japan which is ")
 83		fmt.Print(temperatureInTokyo)
 84		fmt.Println(" degrees Celsius")
 85	}
 86	fmt.Println("North American Cities")
 87	if temperature >= temperatureInWashingtonDC {
 88		fmt.Println("Warmer or the same as Washington DC in the USA which is ")
 89		fmt.Print(temperatureInWashingtonDC)
 90		fmt.Println(" degrees Celsius")
 91	}
 92	fmt.Println("Cities in Africa")
 93	if temperature > temperatureInPretoria {
 94		fmt.Println("Hotter than Pretoria in South Africa which is ")
 95		fmt.Print(temperatureInPretoria)
 96		fmt.Println(" degrees Celsius")
 97	}
 98	fmt.Println("Cities in South America")
 99	if temperature < temperatureInCaracas {
100		fmt.Println("Colder than Caracas in Venezuela which is ")
101		fmt.Print(temperatureInCaracas)
102		fmt.Println(" degrees Celsius")
103	}
104	if temperature > temperatureInSantiago {
105		fmt.Println("Hotter than Santiago in Chile which is ")
106		fmt.Print(temperatureInSantiago)
107		fmt.Println(" degrees Celsius")
108	}
109}

The output from the program if run with a temperature of 15 is

The worldtemperature program tells you which cities are
hotter or colder than where you live.
Enter the temperature in degrees Celsius today:
15
European Cities
Hotter than Reykjavik in Iceland which is
1 degrees Celsius
Hotter than Helsinki in Finland which is
7 degrees Celsius
Colder than Athens in Greece which is
17 degrees Celsius
Hotter than Moscow in Russia which is
12 degrees Celsius
Asian Cities
Colder or the same as Tokyo in Japan which is
16 degrees Celsius
North American Cities
Cities in Africa
Cities in South America
Colder than Caracas in Venezuela which is
32 degrees Celsius

Lets look at the key points of the program.

Lines 10-23 are the variable declarations. The temperature variable is the variable that the user will set when the program runs.

Lines 25-36 are the variable assignments that set the temperatures for each city. Both sets of lines should now be recognisable as following the patterns for variable declaration and variable assignment.

Line 42 is the user input line. The user is asked to enter the temperate via the Println statement on line 41. Line 42 reads a number from the keyboard and assigns the number to the temperature variable. The simpleio package is used to read the number that the user types in. The simpleio package is imported into the program on line 6. These lines follow the two part pattern to read input from the user.

The first if statement spans lines 45-49, reproduced below.

if temperature > temperatureInReykjavik {
	fmt.Println("Hotter than Reykjavik in Iceland which is ")
	fmt.Print(temperatureInReykjavik)
	fmt.Println(" degrees Celsius")
}

The if statement follows the pattern for if statements. Breaking the lines down the condition is

temperature > temperatureInReykjavik

This condition is an example of comparing the value of two variables. Both variables are of the same type, in this case they are both int types.

The statement-block is

fmt.Println("Hotter than Reykjavik in Iceland which is ")
fmt.Print(temperatureInReykjavik)
fmt.Println(" degrees Celsius")

If the condition is true then these lines will be executed. If the user input 15 as in the example then the condition becomes

15 > temperatureInReykjavik

which becomes

15 > 1

because the value of the variable temperatureInReykjavik is 1. So the condition is true and the statement-block is executed. As can be seen in the output

Hotter than Reykjavik in Iceland which is
1 degrees Celsius

Execution then continues at line 50 which is another if statement.

The remainder of the program is a similar series of if statements with the condition varying each time.

Line 55 and 81 use a less than or equal to test, <=. Line 87 uses a greater then or equal to test, >=. Line 60 uses an equals to test, ==.

The pupils need to enter a value of 11 for the temperature if they want to see the equals test on line 60 working.

Plenary

Notes for Slide 12

The operators mean

The operators also works for strings. This is not a major leap forward. Remember that strings are a sequence of runes, and every rune is a number in the Unicode table. String comparison therefore compares the rune i.e. the number at each position in the string starting with the first rune.

However it is easier to explain if statements using numbers because the operators, <, > and = will already have a familiar meaning.

The comparison is lexicographic or as it would be in a dictionary with upper case letters appearing before lower case letters. This is also the ordering of the Unicode table.

So given the examples

Aardvark < Boat is true, because A comes before B in the dictionary
zoo > zebra is false because "zo" comes after "ze" in the dictionary.

The pupils stand a fair chance of just guessing this if you remind them what a string is. Or ask them to think about the dictionary order.