Programming techniques and object-oriented programming

A level programming from GCSE upward: data types, operations and exceptions, subroutines passed by value and by reference, scope and debugging, then paradigms and object-oriented programming, ending with a robot controller built from behaviour classes.

Module A1A level10 lessons

Start in the simulator
  1. A1.1 Data types and programming constructs The A level data types, references and user-defined types, constants, and definite and indefinite iteration.
  2. A1.2 Operations, strings and random numbers Integer division and MOD with negatives, rounding and truncation, XOR, string and date conversions, and pseudo-random…
  3. A1.3 Exception handling try, except, else and finally, raising your own exceptions, and keeping the motors safe when something goes wrong.
  4. A1.4 Subroutines, parameters and passing by reference Out-of-line subroutines and their interfaces, returning several values, and passing by value and by reference.
  5. A1.5 Scope, lifetime and debugging in an IDE Local and global variables, why locals are good practice, and breakpoints, stepping, watches and tracebacks.
  6. A1.6 Programming paradigms and procedural programming Procedural, object-oriented, declarative and low-level paradigms, the structured approach, and hierarchy charts.
  7. A1.7 Classes and objects Classes, objects, attributes, methods and constructors; encapsulation, access specifiers, getters and setters, and…
  8. A1.8 Inheritance, polymorphism and overriding Subclasses and super, overriding, polymorphism, and abstract, virtual and static methods, with robot behaviours as…
  9. A1.9 Aggregation, composition and class diagrams Has-a relationships, drawing them on class diagrams, and the design principles that favour composition over inheritance.
  10. A1.10 Project: the behaviour controller Get past a wall to the dock with prioritised behaviour classes, a controller that aggregates them, and an exception to…