ENGR 151 - Engineering Practices I
Introduction to Computer Programming Manuals
(most in Adobe PDF format)
For the Website of Dr. Grant Baker, click Dr. G.C. Baker Website

My computer programming manuals were used when I taught ES 201-Computer Techniques. The materials were also used in some of my other classes and I often receive requests for this material. So, for convenience, I have placed links to the material (mostly Adobe PDF files).

The problem that I observed students having in most programming classes was with computer programming manuals being indexed according to the terms of the new computer language. But since students do not already know that language, they did not know what terms to look up in the index. This was very frustrating for them. So I created the ICOgram structure for indexing programs, and for writing each individual program. It refers to Input, Calculations, and Output. These terms refer to what a program does regardless of the language that it is written in. Also, the ICOgram structure describes what the student wants to do with a program and does not require any prior knowledge of a particular computer programming language. Thus the ICOgram structure and indexing helps the student tremendously for looking up terms and learning how to program. Additionally, the ICOgram structure thought process helps students interpret and organize programming from any other author regardless of the author's structure or the language.

The manuals. Each program has the ICOgram structure, and each program is indexed according to the ICOgram structure. If a student has a need to Input data, then the student can go to the Input section of the manual. There will be several programs listed with different ways to Input data into a program. The student just needs to pick the Input method that meets their needs. The terms or commands that are used are shown and are therefore easily known. This is crucial because it enables the student to know what commands are needed and what commands to look up in other textbooks if more info is needed. In addition, each individual program has the ICOgram structure so it is very clear what each part of the program is doing. This also helps students identify and organize their programming. Each manual contains about 100 programs. Back to main page for ENGR 151 and computer manuals.