Computer Programming Concepts and Visual Basic David I. Schneider

The meaningful procedure names, along with relevant comments, identify the
tasks performed by the modules.
The meaningful variable names help the programmer to recall the purpose of
each variable.
4. Easy to change.
Because a structured program is self-documenting, it can easily be deciphered
by another programmer.
Modifying a structured program often amounts to inserting or altering a few
procedures rather than revising an entire complex program. The programmer
does not even have to look at most of the program. This is in sharp contrast to
the situation with unstructured programs that require an understanding of the
entire logic of the program before any changes can be made with confidence.
SUMMARY
1. A general procedure is a portion of a program that is accessed by event procedures
or other general procedures. The two types of general procedures are Sub
procedures and Function procedures.
2. Sub procedures are defined in blocks beginning with Sub statements and ending
with End Sub statements. They are accessed by Call statements.
3. Function procedures are defined in blocks beginning with Function statements
and ending with End Function statements. A function is activated by a reference
in an expression and returns a value.
4. In any procedure, the arguments appearing in the calling statement must match
the parameters of the Sub or Function statement in number, type, and order.
They need not match in name.
5. A variable declared in the (Declarations) section of (General) is form-level.
Such a variable is available to every procedure in the form’s code and retains its
value from one procedure invocation to the next. Form-level variables are often
initialized in the Form_Load event procedure.
6. A variable appearing inside a procedure is local to the procedure if it is declared
in a Dim statement within the procedure or if it is not a form-level variable and
does not appear in the parameter list. The values of these variables are reinitialized
each time the procedure is called. A variable with the same name
appearing in another part of the program is treated as a different variable.
7. Structured programming uses modular design to refine large problems into
smaller subproblems. Programs are coded using the three logical structures of
sequences, decisions, and loops.
PROGRAMMING PROJECTS
1. The numbers of calories per gram of carbohydrate, fat, and protein are 4, 9, and
4, respectively. Write a program that requests the nutritional content of a 1ounce
serving of food and displays the number of calories in the serving. The
input and output should be handled by Sub procedures and the calories computed
by a function. A sample run for a typical breakfast cereal is shown in
Figure 3-8.
Programming Projects 97