On Monday you learned that every piece of data in a program has a type — string, integer, float, character, or date. Today we go one level deeper: how does a program actually use that data to make decisions and take action?

Think of something you do every morning that involves a decision — like checking the weather before choosing what to wear. In one paragraph: describe the steps in order, identify the decision point, and explain what would happen if the steps were in the wrong order or the decision was skipped entirely.

"A student writes these steps for making toast: 1) Eat the toast   2) Put bread in toaster   3) Press the lever   4) Wait for toast to pop up. Which two of the three algorithm properties does this violate — and how would you fix it?"

"A music app plays the next song, checks if shuffle is on, and if it is, picks a random track — then repeats. Is this algorithm linear or iterative? What is the condition that controls the loop?"

"In a flowchart, a diamond always has two exit arrows. What do those two arrows represent — and what happens to the algorithm if a diamond only has one exit arrow?"

"You're building a Track 2 PC compatibility checker. A user enters a CPU model and the tool tells them if it fits their motherboard socket. Draw in your notebook: what three symbols would appear in that flowchart, in what order, and what would the diamond's question be?"

"When would you see a cylinder in a flowchart? Give one example from Track 1 and one from Track 2."