General things to remember

·         Indentations

·         The use of subroutines

·         Constants

·         Use  of comments

·         In text files all data are stored as strings

·         Text files can only be opened and read in a text editor

·         Binary files use different data types

·         Binary files can only be interpreted by the application that created them 

·         Easier reuse of routines in other programs

·          Routine can be included in a library

·         Helps to make the program code more understandable

·         Ensures that the routine is self-contained  routine is independent of the rest of the program

·         (Global variables use memory while a program is running) but local variables use memory for only part of the time a program is running

·         reduces possibility of undesirable side effects

·         Using global variables makes a program harder to debug

·         A compiler may not exist for the hardware

·         The device may be small and embedded

·          The programmer wants a fine level of control over their program

·          Maintaining old code/machinery

·         Assembly language is easier for humans to read

·          A human programmer is less likely to make mistakes in assembly language

·          It is easier to remember the assembly instructions than the binary codes

• makes code more understandable
• makes it easier to update the code
• debugging is easier 
• need only change the value of the constant once 

Black - using test data to test for an expected outcome. This is done during the development testing stage of a system.

White - checking all the pathways through the code, looking inside it and potentially adding extra commands to check what is happening

A machine with a finite number of states

Used for:

• designing systems
  • they force developers to think of all possible inputs/outputs and states
• describing systems
  • explaining interactions between inputs and outputs and all the processes within the system