Summary: Pictures as Invariants
Owen Astrachan
Computer Science Dept.
Duke University
Durham, NC 27706
ola@cs.duke.edu
Abstract
The development, specification, and use of a loop
invariant are useful and underutilized tools in
writing code to solve a problem or implement an
algorithm. Invariants are especially useful in in-
troductory courses (CS1 and CS2) but are usu-
ally avoided because of the mathematical nota-
tion associated with them and because most text-
books have brief, if any, coverage of them. Our
intent in this paper is provide several motivating
examples of the use of pictures as loop invari-
ants and to provide pointers to literature that
more fully explores and develops the ideas of us-
ing loop invariants in specifying and developing

Source: Astrachan, Owen - Department of Computer Science, Duke University

Collections: Computer Technologies and Information Sciences