Skip to content

03. Formatting of code on the platform

Jump to bottom
Alex Parry edited this page Mar 13, 2023 · 2 revisions

Inline code

A single line of code or pseudocode should be written inline inside a content block using the triple backticks to start and end the statement e.g. PRINT("Hello pseudocode")

Generally, you should avoid using inline code because it will appear only in a single language and there will be no syntax highlighting.

Code segments

Code segments are lines of code that would form part of a subroutine. Code segments are generally used only in the programming concepts topic where a specific structure (such as selection) is discussed.

  • The code must be inside a tabbed code block where the tab title is the name of the language e.g. Pseudocode
  • You should only include statements (lines of code) that are needed to illustrate the learning objective (no extra inputs or outputs).
  • Variables may be set with test data to illustrate a concept e.g. age = 18

The Github link must reference a version of the code that can be downloaded and run. This means that extra code must be provided to make the program viable (see GitHub section below).

Subroutines

A subroutine should contain all of the statements (lines of code) needed for the subroutine to make sense.

  • Subroutines must be inside a tabbed code block, where the tab block title is the name of the language.
  • In pseudocode, the keywords PROCEDURE or FUNCTION should be used (not SUBROUTINE)
  • The subroutine must have a meaningful name (generally one that starts with a verb) or it should be named main.
  • You do not need to show the subroutine being called unless this is necessary to meet a learning objective. However, the explanation should make it clear that the subroutine would need to be called.
  • If there is more than one subroutine, main should appear first in pseudocode, C#, Visual Basic and Java. In Python, main() should be the last function.

Code on GitHub compared to code on the platform

The code on GitHub should always be a complete program that can be downloaded and run. This means that code may look different to the code on the platform, for example:

  • All of the code will appear in named subroutines or, at the very least, in a main subroutine
  • Input or output commands may have been added to make the program more useable
  • Test data may be provided that allows the user to run the program e.g. an array of data to use in a binary search

Questions and quick questions

Generally, we use only pseudocode in questions and quick questions.

Code must be inside a tabbed code block so that the "Pseudocode" heading is displayed.

Clone this wiki locally