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Many programmers sketch out their programs using pseudocode—a language that falls somewhere between English and a formal programming language. Anyone who understands English should be able to follow pseudocode. Here’s
140 Chapter 4 n The Standard Template Library: Hangman
an example: Suppose I want to make a million dollars. A worthy goal, but what do I do to achieve it? I need a plan. So I come up with one and put it in pseudocode.
If you can think of a new and useful product Then that’s your product
Otherwise
Repackage an existing product as your product Make an infomercial about your product
Show the infomercial on TV
Charge $100 per unit of your product Sell 10,000 units of your product
Even though anyone, even a non-programmer, can understand my plan, my pseudocode feels vaguely like a program. The first four lines resemble an if statement with an else clause, and that’s intentional. When you write your plan, you should try to incorporate the feel of the code that you’re representing with pseudocode.