This document discusses program design for larger AI programming projects. It recommends designing programs that are simple, flexible, modular, and easy to follow to reduce bugs and ease maintenance. Specific design techniques mentioned include breaking programs into smaller intuitive modules and files, using descriptive names, and creating algorithms as step-by-step procedures to solve problems.

1. A I P ro g ra m m ing
Week Seven:
Larger Programs & Design
Richard Price
rmp@ cs.bham.ac.uk
www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~rmp/
www.cs.bham.ac.uk/internal/courses/ai-prog-a/

2. R ec a p
• The Pop- 1 database.
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• Built in procedures:
– Add( )
– Present()
– foreach
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3. D es ig n
• Design is a dynamic process.
• Requiring:
– Thought
– Imagination
– Adjustment
– Planning
• A path from the problem to the solution.
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4. D es ig n
• A paper aeroplane…
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5. A g o o d des ig n
• Is:
– Simple
– Flexible
– Easy to follow
– Modular
• Results in a good program
– Easier to write.
– With fewer bugs
– That’s easier to extend.
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6. A vo ids
• Spaghetti code
• Changing data in multiple places
• Repetition
• Unintuitive modules and procedures
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7. C o m m o n fea tures
• Simple (Occam’s Razor) .
• Small intuitive procedures.
• Descriptive
– Procedure names
– Variable names.
– Comments
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8. A lg o rithm s
• A step by step procedure that leads to a
solution.
• Programmatic solution to a problem.
• Simple algorithms are best.
– Flexible.
– Efficient
– Robust.
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9. E x a m ple
• A simple board game.
– Nought’s and Crosses.
• Listing the parts.
• Interactions.
• Rules.
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10. PROCHEADER
• PROCHEADER auto- generates comments.
• Within a procedure press ENTER and type
procheader.
• Fileheader does the same for files.
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11. M a ny Files
• Instead of using one huge file we can use
many smaller ones.
• Using compilehere.
Compilehere
first file name without the .p
second file name without the .p
;
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